Quality printer with low(est) running costs?

Forums › Digital Imaging › Quality printer with low(est) running costs?

Batman

Mad Scientist
29760 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#107010 4-Aug-2012 22:39

Hi we bought an inkjet HP printer for $50 but the ink costs more than the printer each time... it uses normal paper ...

Looking to buy a new printer if running costs are lower and quality is better ... SO:

1) must have easy wifi networking
2) photo quality printer would be nice: inkjet vs laser??
3) cheapest photo quality paper? (are the two mutually exclusive?)
4) cheapest ink (ie price / number of prints)

Or stick with my current printer?

mattwnz

20141 posts

Uber Geek

#667643 4-Aug-2012 23:04

joker97: Hi we bought an inkjet?HP printer for $50 but the ink costs more than the printer each time... it uses normal paper ...

Looking to buy a new printer if running costs are lower and quality is better ... SO:

1) must have easy wifi networking
2) photo quality printer would be nice: inkjet vs laser??
3) cheapest photo quality paper? (are the two mutually exclusive?)
4) cheapest ink (ie price / number of prints)

Or stick with my current printer?

How about trying one of the continuous ink refill systems.

KevinL

656 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#667644 4-Aug-2012 23:05

It's generally cheaper to have photos printed professionally - generally you pay a substantial premium for the convenience of being able to print at home (about double, give or take).

On a per-page basis, laser printing is substantially cheaper than inkejet for black and white (not so much for colour). You can generally pick up a reasonably laser printer for <$100.

If you do a lot of printing at home, I'd recommend a laser +/- a colour inkjet (but only for "emergencies" - if you're printing a large number of photos you're better off going to a store).

mattwnz

20141 posts

Uber Geek

#667646 4-Aug-2012 23:09

KevinL: It's generally cheaper to have photos printed professionally - generally you pay a substantial premium for the convenience of being able to print at home (about double, give or take).

On a per-page basis, laser printing is substantially cheaper than inkejet for black and white (not so much for colour). ?You can generally pick up a reasonably laser printer for <$100.

If you do a lot of printing at home, I'd recommend a laser +/- a colour inkjet (but only for "emergencies" - if you're printing a large number of photos you're better off going to a store).

Plus printing on fuji paper at a store will last a lot longer than home ink jet printed images with fade after a relatively short period of time.

Talkiet

4792 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#667650 4-Aug-2012 23:37

joker97: Hi we bought an inkjet HP printer for $50 but the ink costs more than the printer each time... it uses normal paper ...

Looking to buy a new printer if running costs are lower and quality is better ... SO:

1) must have easy wifi networking
2) photo quality printer would be nice: inkjet vs laser??
3) cheapest photo quality paper? (are the two mutually exclusive?)
4) cheapest ink (ie price / number of prints)

Or stick with my current printer?

As a very serious photographer, I have tried all the printing options...

Inkjet is the best (reasonable price) quality option you can do at home... Colour laser are nowhere near as good. Dye Sublimation are great but even worse running costs.

I had a continuous ink system on a Canon i9950 and when it worked it was great, but they are temperamental and need to be pretty much be used every day.

My advice?

Buy a second hand B&W laser for home and when it runs out of toner, buy another 2nd hand laser :-) They cost $100 or so.

Get photos printed at a shop... Choose the cheapest place (Harvey Normans often) for 6*4, and photo shops for larger more important images.

After several printers and many thousands of dollars this is what I settled on as by FAR the least stress and highest quality options...

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

Batman

Mad Scientist
29760 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#667659 5-Aug-2012 00:38

what about let me ask another question:

which inkjt printer ink costs the least per general colour page?

my current hp printer has a single b&w cartridge and a single all-in-one colour cartridge ... is this the most efficient?

and is there an online shop to buy cheap ink?

tukapa1

725 posts

Ultimate Geek

#667670 5-Aug-2012 06:58

Separate colour ink tanks are generally better value than a tri-colour single tank. You only have to replace each individual tank as they run out whereas the tri-colour tanks may still have ink in one or two of the colours when you replace it.

Try inkvenus.co.nz for replacement ink tanks.

timmmay

20574 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#667682 5-Aug-2012 08:27

Epson Artisan 730 ($322)
RIHAC Continuous Ink System (AU$140 plus postage)

I use slightly earlier models of these. The RIHAC CIS is awesome, sometimes I don't use it for a month and it still works fine. Ink costs are around 90-95% less than Epson ink. Each ink tank is 100ml instead of the 7ml or something in a cartridge. I print a dozen documents a week, and in summer I print album proofs on plain paper, which end up being 20 pages of full color. I've had it 18 months and I'm still on my original ink and it's more than half full. I got a set of refills when I bought the printer, I might use them after 3 years. I can't recommend it enough. I'm not associated with RIHAC in any way.

The only downside with the Epson is printing CDs is slightly mode fiddly than with Canon. However I've had 3 Canon printers and they all failed just outside the warranty period, so I won't buy one any more. If my Epson failed right now I'd buy another one. With the RIHAC you need to put the 15x10x10cm ink tanks on the same level as the printer (NOT above), and with some printers it comes with a small clip that holds the printer slightly open to prevent the ink cables being crushed.

Equinox IT

Cloud spending continues to surge globally, but most organisations haven’t made the changes necessary to maximise the value and cost-efficiency benefits of their cloud investments. Download the whitepaper From Overspend to Advantage now.

Batman

Mad Scientist
29760 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#668846 7-Aug-2012 12:18

hmm unfortunately we have small kids and the fiddly nature of the continuous system is a time bomb waiting to be raided ...

might just stick with our current printer until it dies and then i'll ask the question again for the best printer at that time

cheers

jonb

1771 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#668855 7-Aug-2012 12:31

You don't need to have continuous ink - we have the same kind of thing but with re-fillable cartridges using a Brother printer. They are one of the easiest brands for using 3rd party ink refills. There are some good Brother all in one printers with wi-fi networking for around $100 which would be good for you. We have an older, non wi-fi one I got for $20 off trademe which has been a good worker for the past year or so. Bought re-fillable ink cartridges and two bottles of black ink, and one each of the three colours. This has been a good, cheap and reliable print solution for us, and print photos as required at Noel Leeming/Harvey Norman etc when they do a 10c offer.

Batman

Mad Scientist
29760 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#668863 7-Aug-2012 12:37

where do you get 3rd party ink from?

need that to do a backward search to find the right printer

Fred99

13684 posts

Uber Geek

#670009 9-Aug-2012 12:08

mattwnz:

Plus printing on fuji paper at a store will last a lot longer than home ink jet printed images with fade after a relatively short period of time.

That depends on the printer/ink/paper combination.
Epson/Canon pigment ink prints may outlast wet-process colour prints many times over.

Batman

Mad Scientist
29760 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#670254 9-Aug-2012 20:14

i just saw an ad and brother claims to have lower running costs ... certainly the ink store says brother ink has much higher print pages capable ...

is that true?

Nancyjj

37 posts

Geek

#833262 9-Jun-2013 21:40

Hi, we both have Canon printers, my man does all his own photo processing with a 6600D, we also have an IP3600, and my older i560. We get ink cartridges from Christchurch, they include ordinary and photo ink, phone the order, pay by Credit card or bank direct, posted same or next day. Top quality, fraction of refill cost anywhere, at any stationery shop, no leaking, true colours. Can I put the firm's name here? Please advise. p.s. printers use black and 3 colours, the 6600D also has 2 photo cartridges, and I cannot do better than this. Regards, Nancyjj

Nancyjj

37 posts

Geek

#833263 9-Jun-2013 21:42

Hi, further to my comments above, the same firm has cartridges for most brands of printers, and will email all details of prices, and advise of any specials coming up. Regards, Nancyjj