Traveling with a Printer

[lenp]

My latest Brother is a larger unit with both 11x17 AND a 8.5x11 paper trays. I did not take it with us for this winters trip - just too big. I was concerned about print heads drying out while we were gone for six months. Manual says to leave it plugged in but turned OFF and the print heads will be "cleaned" periodically. Did that and it works great after sitting for six months. Did have a nearly empty ink cartridge though.

 

Perhaps if your storing the unit for extended periods without being plugged in your print heads are not getting cleaned properly?????

 

Lenp

[Fun2travel]

We have a printer and would not want to be without it

[theeyres]

Like Stan & Bill B, I gave up on inkjets. The ink jet cartridges are expensive, dry up before you get a chance to use them and clog too easily.

Our all-in-one Brother laser printer uses a dry powder and heat process instead of wet ink cartridges. Cost per page is much less.

Mark

I certainly agree that laser is better...but if you are doing a lot of photos and other stuff in color...forget lasers.

[2gypsies]

Laser cartridges are VERY expensive.

[skp51443]

Laser cartridges can be expensive, different brands can have very different prices too. The actual cost of the cartridge for a laser printer is only part of the equation, what you really need to look at for ink is the cost per page printed.

 

As an example Brother offers three different capacity cartridges for my printer, starter (only shipped with new printers) standard and extended life. You also need to consider other replaceable parts and that varies by brand. Again for the Brother you replace the ink supply and print drum as separate units, with the drum being replaced at somewhere over 20,000 pages. Other brands may have that as part of the ink cartridge so it is replaced with the new ink, it is usually all added into the cost per page numbers keeping it from being too hard to compare units. If you are really into saving money you can buy off-brand cartridges, refilled cartridges or even refill your empties, what options are available again differ by brand, some being easy while others refuse to work with anything but new same brand supplies.

 

 

If looking at a bigger laser printer read the Amazon and NewEgg reviews and look for issues with high startup surge currents, as an example the Brother HL-6180 really needs a dedicated breaker as it has a huge startup draw when the fuser is heating.

[Chalkie]

I have Dell color laser printer that we take with us. Have had it for 3 years now any only had to replace the toner cartridges once. I paid about $180 for it (on sale) and aside from printing on glossy paper will print as good or better than most inkjet printers. While cartridges can be expensive they are not for this printer. I paid $39 for a set of high yield cartridges which is competitive (or cheaper) than inkjet cartridges. There is an initial high startup surge with it but I run all my computer equipment in the trailer through a rather large capacity APC UPS which takes the load (with some minor "yelling") so the surge is not hitting the circuit breaker in the trailer.

 

I gave up on inkjet printers and will never go back to one.

[richfaa]

We have always had a printer onboard since we started our on the road experience in 2006. Mostly HP's all in one types and never a problem.

[Kevin H]

I don't print a lot, but when I do, I use my Brother laser. I am the most boring computer user in the world.

I don't need color so I switched from ink jet to laser a couple years ago. Love it. I bought the cheapest Brother I could find at Staples - Oops - Best Buy. Somewhere around $100. Both my ink jet and the laser work fine after many, many miles.

An interesting note on lasers - when you get the message that the toner is low, Google how to reset the toner warning for your brand. You will get 100s more pages from the cartridge.

The original cartridge on our Brother was supposed to be for about 300 pages. That was pretty accurate. When the light came on I looked up the steps to reset it and I got at least that many, and perhaps more before the cartridge was indeed spent.

SOLO 18 - Google the warranty. If it's just been a few months, you should be able to replace it. I think you have a faulty printer.

[bobsallyh]

We travel fulltime. A number of years ago the printer we had finally went belly-up. The new one needed to fit in the same space as the old. So the only one that would fit was an H-P, the only H-P computer product that I'll buy, and I do some talking to it sometimes. It sits on the computer desk on a non-skid mat whenever we are parked or moving. We travel in a fiver. About 6 months in the desert, and then any type of climate.

[jerryneal]

Several have shared their print heads have clogged. Seems to happen more with refurb ink cartridges of which that's all I use. Simple fix. Take a make-up pad or a paper towel you can tear and fold into a 3 inch square. Remove ink cartriges from printer. Release print head. Each printer has a different function or series of buttons to push to release the head - usually can find in a Google search. Soak pad in finger nail polish remover, place inside printer and push print head over pad. Let sit for 15 minutess then move head left and right to scrub the head. The pad will look like the dickins' after a minute. You may need to do this a couple of times depending on th amount of ink goo that's built up. I've done this on dozens of printers and it works every time.

[Smitty77_7]

We knew we'd be printing small volumes on the road. Wanted small storage footprint, and fuss free setup and go printing. Another member on this board recommended the Canon PIXMA iP100 Mobile Photo Printer to us. Don't know if the model is still available, but some searching to see what the closest equivalent is should yield a comparable printer.

 

It's served us well now for three years, takes less then two minutes to setup and start printing. We just replaced our first cartridge about four months ago.

 

Best to all,

Smitty

[WYnWest]

Laser is by far usually cheaper than inkjet per page printed. Plus toner is just plastic so you don't get the dried print head problems that inlets get.

 

Like another user we simply use a photo service of some type to print on the road.

 

We use a Dell color laser printer but the real consideration for someone looking at a newer printer is to pick one with daily available and replaceable toner.

 

For the folks that need scanning consider something as simple as a standalone scanner. The Scansnap is one we used and it does receipts, good color scanning and had been reliable for a long long time. You can simply scan and print if you want to copy.

 

We started this so we could get rid of all the paper and scan all out succulents and only keep the most important passport like titles. The rest is all stored digitally.

 

We chose online storage and back up to flash and a hard drive but all that is based upon your needs and comfort levels.

[SpaceNorman]

We keep a cheap Epson "all in one" WiFi enabled printer/scanner/copier in the coach. To be honest - I think I've printed and/or copied maybe 10 pages total with it since I bought it and keep my fingers crossed every time I do print something as I wonder if the ink cartridge and/or print head will be "dead" from non-use. I do however use its scanner capability pretty regularly - so it earns its keep that way. Even though I don't use it much - I'm gonna get every bit of the $49 I paid out of it.

[lb311]

I've tried to be as paperless as possible, so don't print much. But when I do, I'm glad I have a Canon travel printer. I have the ip100, but they now have a newer version with built-in wifi -- the ip110.

It was expensive to buy, but it's been a rock-solid traveler and takes up very minimal room in my small Class C. The ink cartridges seem to last about a year without drying up or clogging with minimal use. It does a good job at printing photos (for the few times I've done it). I used to print sheets of business cards with it too, but now just buy those via Vistaprint (much cheaper than buying ink and specialized card paper, and looks much more professional too).

[ms60ocb]

I have a HP Office Jet 8600 Pro all in one with Document Feeder and is wireless. Yes its takes space but is rugged and has been moved many times.

It rides in the nose sometimes on the closet floor and sometime on top the chest of drawers in the same closet.

Scan everything I need to keep longer than a month and commonly print 100 page documents. I think it going years old now and many thousands of miles.

 

Clay

[RichardS-VA]

Laser printers use considerably more amps when starting but are far cheaper in the long run if you tend to print often. Brother and Samsung are very good models. Stick with original, non-generic toner. Can find toner cheap as unused open box items on eBay.

[justRich]

X3 on the Canon Pixma i100 (https://www.amazon.com/Wireless-Mobile-Printer-Airprint-Compatible/dp/B00NV9LL9Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1471010557&sr=8-1&keywords=canon+ip100+pixma) it is small, light weight and reliable. We've had it several years. Cartridges still good. That printer and a Visioneer sheet fed scanner make for a powerful small on the road office. We don't do bulk printing.

 

 

For bulk printing we print to a pdf file, save it to a jump drive, take it to an office store and they will print it out and supply a binder for it.

[Nuke-E]

We switched to a small Brother laser and gave up on inkjets. The Brother lasted a bit over 10 years until a thunderstorm and cheap power strip took it out. Only maintenance was dusting and a new print cartridge at around 3000 pages.

 

These days there are smallish color lasers if you really need color but they are a bit larger and more expensive than the black only ones.

 

I print a fair amount, and also travel with a Brother laser printer. Mine is the HL-L8350CDW, which does color, duplex, and has USB, ethernet, wireless, and a bunch of "cloud"/mobile printing features (which I don't use). I upgraded from a smaller Samsung ML-1630 (black only, none of the other bells and whistles)--what surprised me is that despite being a much bigger printer, the Brother needed about 1/3 the power while warming up (about 500W compared to about 1500W). In the winter time, that meant that a 1500W space heater and the printer could co-exist on the same circuit.

 

Most probably don't need something that big, and the little brothers (sorry...couldn't resist) would be the HL-3170CDW (about $210, smaller paper capacity and single-sheet front tray but all the other features) and the HL3140CW (about $170, does away with duplexing). When comparing to a lot of inkjet printers where you have exposed paper trays that have to be open to print, the size difference is pretty negligible. The laser printer's boxy shape might actually be easier to find a place for, as during normal operation you really only need to be able to open the paper drawer and grab your stuff off the top.

 

I keep 2 separate scanners--one flatbed Canon scanner that is powered via USB that I've had forever and mostly collects dust (a <$50 item close to 10 years ago), and a Fujitsu ScanSnap S300, which is a double-sided sheet-fed scanner that gets used almost daily. It's been replaced by a newer model, but is really only different cosmetically.

[skp51443]

Brother has a lot of products, color http://www.brother-usa.com/Printer/Color_Laser_Printers/ and B/W http://www.brother-usa.com/Printer/BW_Monochrome_Laser_Printers/ that make good traveling companions.

The HL-3140CW looks great at 325 watts surge and it is a bit smaller which might fit in more places.

Looking at B/W printers the HL-23xx series are in the 450-600 watt range, doable but if you are using 30 amps and other power it might take some management. The HL-5XXX series are a bit over 600 watts, my HL61XX and its siblings are no longer shown but the peak is over 1200 watts. The HL-62XX series is in the high 600s as is the HL-63XX while the HL-64XX ones are around 700 watts. Starting around $

 

 

The HL-2340DW is an Amazon best seller at $90 with a starter toner that is good for 500-1000 pages.

 

https://smile.amazon.com/Brother-EHLL2340DW-Wireless-Monochrome-Refurbished/dp/B01D1GDCMM/ref=sr_1_1?s=office-electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1471211432&sr=1-1&keywords=brother+laser+printer&refinements=p_n_condition-type%3A6358196011%2Cp_n_feature_six_browse-bin%3A5662335011%2Cp_89%3ABrother

 

 

Whatever you pick don't be like me and assume it will be a good fit, my HL-5250 worked so well for so many years I just grabbed one that was listed as a replacement without reading the fine print. 1200 watt surges aren't good in a house, in an RV with limited power I'd have to have sent it back and eaten a hefty restocking fee. As it is I have it high on my "replace this" list and I'll probably donate it when it runs low on ink. If I wasn't so cheap it would go out the door now as it is the most aggravating thing I own.

[Kirk W]

As fulltimers we traveled with printers all of the time and found that the wireless ones were a big improvement. Now that we are back to part time in a smaller RV we don't carry one any longer and just run to an office supply store with a thumb drive for the occasional print we need. That has taught me that much of what I used to print can actually be done from a digital image. I guess even grandpa is moving toward the digital age!