Printer That Doesn't Eat Ink for Lunch

[Jack in Wilmington]

This is my BIL's computer printer. Got it new last week and it went thru a black cartridge in 25 pages. It's an HP 6400 series. Now I'm not sure what kind of printing he's doing, but I know he was doing some double sided work. He packed it up and returned it, and now he's on the hunt for something better. Thanks, Jack

[prepress]

That sounds like an inkjet printer. Would he consider a laser printer?

[Jack in Wilmington]

Originally Posted by prepress

That sounds like an inkjet printer. Would he consider a laser printer?

He had a laser and the cartridges were around $125 and that's why he switched to an ink jet. He does a lot of printing.

[tima]

Epson 8500. Inkjet tank printer

[miner]

Any consumer printer is designed to use ink quickly and instigate supply purchase. Just the way it is. As Tima said a printer with a tank that can be refilled. Will still use a lot of ink.

[tima]

Originally Posted by miner

Any consumer printer is designed to use ink quickly and instigate supply purchase. Just the way it is. As Tima said a printer with a tank that can be refilled. Will still use a lot of ink.

Yep, the more you print the more ink you'll use. Epson claims the 8500 will go 2 years before tank refills based on average monthly document print volumes of about 200 pages. That might mean 400 pages per month for 1 year on a single set of refills.

It was time to replace our Canon inkjet after ~10 years of use and lots of (too many) dollars for inkjet cartridges. I did my homework and came up with the 8500. Haven't had it long enough to endorse it however my primary concern was cost of ink and quality of color prints and on that basis made this pick. Excellent 4x5 and 5x7 photos and text print quality is top notch ... so far.

For text without color (the majority of my printing) I use a Brother 8690DW laser printer. It has been an excellent low cost printer for scan, copy, print and fax. Toner cartridge up to 8000 pages at ~$115. If you don't need color, a workhorse laser printer is what I'd choose.

[prepress]

Originally Posted by Jack in Wilmington

He had a laser and the cartridges were around $125 and that's why he switched to an ink jet. He does a lot of printing.

That 25 page count is awfully low for a laser printer. Wow. I've had the same cartridge in my Xerox 3320 (laser, albeit black & white) for several years. He must be doing heavy-coverage graphics work; perhaps the cartridge is small, as well.

[Jack in Wilmington]

Originally Posted by prepress

That 25 page count is awfully low for a laser printer. Wow. I've had the same cartridge in my Xerox 3320 (laser, albeit black & white) for several years. He must be doing heavy-coverage graphics work; perhaps the cartridge is small, as well.

Let me clarify. He had a laser that we gave him. When the cartridge ran out he didn't want to spring for another cartridge for the laser, so he bought the 6400 series HP and all was fine until the cartridge ran out after 25 copies, we were away so he packed up the HP and returned it.

[robfine]

Lot of printing equals a lot of ink. No getting around it. The issue is the cost of ink. I got my wife for her home office an Epson tank printer. The refill set for all colors and b&w combined for a year or more printing is almost cheaper than one conventional inkjet cartridge.

[Yamaki]

I have an Epson EcoTank ET-4800 which is a printer, scanner & copier.

While I don't need a production printer and didn't buy it for that use, the spec'd yields are amazing and I have not had to fill any of the tanks up yet even though I've used it for almost a year.

I had a series of HP printers and always felt I was getting scammed by the low yields and the printer's inability to work well with aftermarket cartridges.

I'm very happy with the Epson.

https://epson.com/For-Work/Printers/...t/p/C11CJ65201