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recommend Ink Jet all in one please ? |
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#1 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 351
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recommend Ink Jet all in one please ?
What is the best inkjet that accepts compatible cartridges at the moment ?
My Canon all-in-one printer totally died recently ( MP550) due to a 'faulty print head' error. There is a lot of suspicion online that Canon have put a product obsolescence thing into an update. |
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#2 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: A small Greek island
Posts: 3,651
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I would recommend not buying an "all in one" because if one function fails, you've lost the lot. In addition, since there's more to go wrong, it's more likely to fail than a single-function peripheral.
I've given up on inkjets. I now use a colour laser printer by "Brother". If I need photo quality prints, it's cheaper to get them done by a local shop. |
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#3 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Wirral Peninsula
Posts: 4,775
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Hey OP,
Why don't you say how much you want to pay, what features you are looking for, e.g. duplex printing, or A3, or automatic feeder, or fax, or memory card slots, or whether you want a screen, or one that's good for photo printing, or cards, wi-fi, ethernet, mobile printing? Perhaps whether size/weight is a factor or the quallty of the scan/copier, your main priorities, and anything else useful. Your question as it stands is pretty unhelpful. Re the compatible carts I think everyone will have different opinions depending on how they use their printer. It's not that easy anyway because probably all printers will accept compatible carts. Usually too several companies will sell compatible carts for each printer and who can say which is the best? A further problem is that some printer manufacturers for some models will update the firmware after x amount of time, and if you haven't disabled updates suddenly you can't use your compatible carts anymore. You're best finding a few printers in your price range that'll do what you want and then see what the situation is re compatible carts, user reviews perhaps, and then make your final decision and hope for the best. |
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#4 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Herefordshire
Posts: 22,785
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I have never been a fan of all in ones to be honest, you may get a great printer with an Ok scanner, but I can understand how useful they can be for copying without turning the computer on and space saving.
i have a canon printer and it works perfect, I do not believe that Canon have put a product obsolescence thing into an update, how old was your old printer, how often was it used? My old Canon printer died with print head problem, but it was getting to be a few years old, the one I have now is just over two years old, I just checked and it is used a fair bit and still working fine. i get my ink from The ink Squid, always been good quality and a good price. if I was getting an all in one i would certainly go for another Canon. |
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#5 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 351
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Well I just need a basic printer really. I've had the Canon for a good few years and it was indeed a great printer whilst it worked. It was the way that it suddenly stopped working that makes me suspicious . My old ancient Epson 750 would at least try to print, with a slightly bad quality as it expired. ( the Epson cost £350 !)
The Canon is (was) a good printer and I hardly used it. Probably the thing that caused it to fail, perhaps the ink dried up and clogged the heads. I would probably get another all in one and have £40 of Tesco vouchers so was thinking of buying one on tesco.com. Must admit I'm thinking it's possibly time to give up on Inkjets, The only thing I really need it for is printing out CV's though since I'm unemployed. I might investigate printing at the library, hopefully they'll have a decent laser printer. I know there was a scandal regarding HP blocking compatible cartridges a while back which I see they reversed with an update. Are the HP printers reliable ? There is a very long thread and canon were taken to court in US http://community.usa.canon.com/t5/Pr...p/65759/page/2 |
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#6 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: It's Grim
Posts: 24,400
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I assume you have investigated "fixing" the MP550?
Is the head removable? maybe it needs re-seating? ------------------------- Just done a search and there don't seem to be any cheap mono/colour laser printers available at the moment. |
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#7 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 351
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Quote:
I assume you have investigated "fixing" the MP550?
Is the head removable? maybe it needs re-seating? ------------------------- Just done a search and there don't seem to be any cheap mono/colour laser printers available at the moment. |
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#8 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: It's Grim
Posts: 24,400
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Did you try dabs of oil on the contacts on the printhead? (leaving on a thin layer of oil)
I suggest this only because the fix you tried worked for a while which does suggest some kind of seating/contacts issue. Not that I know anything about printers specifically. |
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#9 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 351
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Quote:
Did you try dabs of oil on the contacts on the printhead? (leaving on a thin layer of oil)
I suggest this only because the fix you tried worked for a while which does suggest some kind of seating/contacts issue. Not that I know anything about printers specifically. |
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#10 |
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Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: It's Grim
Posts: 24,400
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Here's a theory, usage produces little vibrations which wears down the gold on the contacts over many years.
A 'pin' to a 'flat' might well do that. 3-in-1 oil will do, WD40 is fine. GT85 is another one. Just a thin smear is enough. No need to worry about confining the oil to the pads, just smear it across the whole back plate. |
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#11 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 351
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Quote:
Here's a theory, usage produces little vibrations which wears down the gold on the contacts over many years.
A 'pin' to a 'flat' might well do that. 3-in-1 oil will do, WD40 is fine. GT85 is another one. Just a thin smear is enough. No need to worry about confining the oil to the pads, just smear it across the whole back plate.
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#12 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: It's Grim
Posts: 24,400
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Thinking about it, regardless of whether my idea works it's a bad design practice to go with multi-contacts on a unit (printhead) that is designed for the life of the printer.
It smacks of built-in obsolescence. For a removable ink cartridge it makes sense, and Canon used to do that I believe. But it does not make sense for a printhead. Easily lot's of vibrations at the print head, it will wear down the gold on both the pin and the flat and gradually electrical resistances will build up and could easily stop the thing working. |
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#13 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Hertfordshire
Posts: 2,935
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I recently looked at a 10-year old Canon printer with a print head failure. The contacts on both the head and the printer were absolutely pristine. No sings of wear at all, so this conjecture about planned obsolescence through 'lots of vibrations' causing contact wear seems a bit far reaching for me. Quote:
Are the HP printers reliable ?
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#14 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 4,058
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I gave up on Canon after my all-in-one's paper feed roller failed and Canon told me they no longer support that model - it was 5 years old. So bought an HP 5520. Hate the machine so much - noisy, uses a lot of ink, funereally slow, often turns off its wifi.
I live in a small flat so need an all in one as need copier/scanner. Have you spoken to Canon and got an idea of replacement part cost or if they are available? I take it from your post that they no longer support your model? |
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#15 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: It's Grim
Posts: 24,400
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Quote:
I recently looked at a 10-year old Canon printer with a print head failure. The contacts on both the head and the printer were absolutely pristine.
No sings of wear at all, so this conjecture about planned obsolescence through 'lots of vibrations' causing contact wear seems a bit far reaching for me. . Was it gold-plated pins on the printer side? |
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#16 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Hertfordshire
Posts: 2,935
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Quote:
While interesting, the example you give does not disprove the theory in itself.
Was it gold-plated pins on the printer side? It's not a theory. You have no facts and no evidence. That makes it conjecture or speculation. |
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#17 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 11,476
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Quote:
I would recommend not buying an "all in one" because if one function fails, you've lost the lot.
Imagine how much space seperate scanners, printers and copiers would take up (and a fax machine, if you need one). You can buy a Canon device that does all of this, for peanuts (I recently picked one up for $60). As per other posters above - the HP OfficeJets are overrated. Flaky, expensive by comparison, and the software is usually crap. For the last three I've had, I've stuck with Canon and had no issues. My first one was very old and needed to be upgraded, the second one I gave away to a friend when I was moving house and upgraded to a new one when I got settled in the new house. |
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#18 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Herefordshire
Posts: 22,785
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Quote:
Well I just need a basic printer really. I've had the Canon for a good few years and it was indeed a great printer whilst it worked. It was the way that it suddenly stopped working that makes me suspicious . My old ancient Epson 750 would at least try to print, with a slightly bad quality as it expired. ( the Epson cost £350 !)
The Canon is (was) a good printer and I hardly used it. Probably the thing that caused it to fail, perhaps the ink dried up and clogged the heads. I would probably get another all in one and have £40 of Tesco vouchers so was thinking of buying one on tesco.com. Must admit I'm thinking it's possibly time to give up on Inkjets, The only thing I really need it for is printing out CV's though since I'm unemployed. I might investigate printing at the library, hopefully they'll have a decent laser printer. I know there was a scandal regarding HP blocking compatible cartridges a while back which I see they reversed with an update. Are the HP printers reliable ? There is a very long thread and canon were taken to court in US http://community.usa.canon.com/t5/Pr...p/65759/page/2 |
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#19 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Herefordshire
Posts: 22,785
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Quote:
yes, I've followed Canon's instructions to re-seat the print head about 3 times. I also rinsed it out with water and dried it, which fixed it for a couple of days. I think I only paid about £40 for the printer which was maybe 6 years ago and I've never bought Canon ink. It just seems a shame to throw out such a nice printer. The computer it was connected to is also in pieces at the moment LOL ( but that's another story)
My old Star dot matrix many years ago lasted for over ten years, in the end the print head went belly up and I had to bin the printer .
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#20 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: South Wales/Gran Canaria
Posts: 8,294
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Get an Epson, ink is cheap and they work well.
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#21 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 351
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Quote:
Printers are chuck away items these days which is a shame and after 6 years they are deemed to have had their day unless you pay a fortune for one, even laser printers seems to have a 5-6 life span,
My old Star dot matrix many years ago lasted for over ten years, in the end the print head went belly up and I had to bin the printer . |
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#22 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: It's Grim
Posts: 24,400
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You should look into the downsides of Instant Ink.
One downside is that if there is an account problem your printer will be disabled remotely and you won't be able to print until that problem is resolved. I'm sure it'll all be great during the trial period... https://blogs.which.co.uk/technology...it-good-value/ |
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#23 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Herefordshire
Posts: 22,785
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Quote:
They are actually more like freemium items. The cost of the printer is offset in the hopes of people buying ink. Hence why I want one that works with compatible ink. The HP instant ink seems quite good, although 50 pages a month literally means 50 pages apparently. I might try the 3 month trial for free and then see if I can switch to compatibles.
Not sure if i would want a ink subscription, if they go by pages, then there must be a lot of wasted ink and HP uses a system that replaces the ink head as it is built into the cartridge or used to be. |
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#24 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: The City and County of Bristol
Posts: 2,621
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Quote:
Get an Epson, ink is cheap and they work well.
![]() I’ve not been to worried about the cost lately as I bought a cheap Samsung laser printer for general mono printing so now only have to buy a Epson pack once a year.
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#25 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Herefordshire
Posts: 22,785
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Quote:
Not sure about that as my local stores are selling the multi pack XL Epson Polar Bear ink from £70 to £90.
![]() I’ve not been to worried about the cost lately as I bought a cheap Samsung laser printer for general mono printing so now only have to buy a Epson pack once a year. ![]() A laser printer will always be cheaper to run than an inkjet and is fine for normal printing. |
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