Another HP printer and instant ink fan. I have had an HP 8610 for many years. Once in a while it stops communicating with my laptop or cell phone and I just reinstall it and it’s fine again. It survived graduate school and a move and still working perfectly (knock wood). The only thing that stopped working is transmitting scans back to the computer but it has a port for a flash drive and it’s simple to move it over manually.
We have an HP 6978. We’ve had it for probably about 3-4 years now without a single problem. It’s been a reliable workhorse. I’ve scanned all of our photos on it, printed photos for framing and printed tons of daily stuff. We are on the 9.99 Instant Ink program since my H is an artist and we print a lot of color. I have no doubt that we save money this way and it’s nice not ever having to worry about how much printing we’re doing or running out of ink. I always have a cartridge ready when it’s needed. Never one problem with the ink being here or being compatible. Definitely worth the $120/year.
Thanks so much for the feedback. The positive comments about InstantInk are especially helpful because I had been scared by some negative reviews onlink. Also we’ve had worries such as “what if it runs out during tax season?”
Another vote for Brother. We have the MFC-J6930DW. It’s the second similar one we’ve had. We use it in our engineering office - many, many copies, both 8 1/2x11 and 11x17. It also scans much faster than my husband’s printer.
We buy “knockoff” cartridges and they work fine.
@colorado_mom, we just received another set of ink and, as I was putting it away, I noticed we already had an unopened box from HP. And there’s no signal from our printer that we’re low. We’ve never had a problem with running out.
Timely posts. Our printer has been very unreliable lately, and I’m trying to choose the replacement. TOO MANY options! I’ve used Canon printers in the past, primarily because I thought they printed better photos.
Our home use is very basic, but I like to print occasional 4x6 photos to create home-made greeting cards. At this point, I also want a very good scanner to try to archive old photos. Any recommendations on the scanner function?
How is the Instant Ink Program cost determined? We do not print much, but still run through expensive cartridges. For the past 2 years, I’ve used the Costco refills, and never had a problem.
@kjofkw - this article has Instant Ink info
https://www.ldproducts.com/blog/the-fine-print-8-things-you-should-know-before-signing-up-for-hp-instant-ink/
including price points
[QUOTE=""]
The Occasional Plan is priced at $2.99 for 50 pages/month and includes up to 100 unused rollover pages.
The Moderate Plan is priced at $4.99 for 100 pages/month and includes up to 200 unused rollover pages.
The Frequent Plan is priced at $9.99 for 300 pages/month and includes up to 600 unused rollover pages.
The Business Plan is priced at $19.99 for 700 pages/month and includes up to 1400 unused rollover pages.
If you print 15 pages or less, you can enroll in their free plan but it doesn’t include any roll over pages. If you are already enrolled in a paid plan, you cannot downgrade back to the free plan.
[/QUOTE]
Thanks @colorado_mom ! That answered my question. Unfortunately we are away from home usually several months at a time due to work/family. Doesn’t sound like InstaInk would work in our situation. It would be too hard to monitor usage because some months , we may be printing a lot, and other months literally nothing.
We do have similar concerns as above, since we are retired … hope to (after Covid) be travelling often and maybe helping family back East.
We are similar to the posts above that, at least pre-covid, we traveled a lot. We just don’t print a lot. There’s the printing of our taxes and maybe some other big project once or twice a year but, otherwise, we don’t come anywhere close to 50 pages/month. Still to pay just $36/year (ok, maybe a few extra $ each April) to never have to think about ink is about the best deal/arrangement I can imagine.
We visited Staples (where I have some credit), and they as expected are low on printer stock. They do have some Epson models I will research. Also they have a $400 HP, free ink 2 years free (300 pages/mo, worth $9.99/mo… but obligates us I think for years 3 and 5). je 4 year extended warranty is $60. … normally we pass, but if HP puts me into a contract on ink after the first 2 years it may be worthwhile
Any experience with Staples Protection Plan? Normally we opt out of extended warranties, but in this case I’m tempted. Cost for 4 years is $50 (or $60 for printers over $300).
We bought a Canon for our daughter at college and the scan feature is not great. In her case she can only do a page at a time. She frequently needs to scan lab reports, exams, etc. She has instead starting using an app to scan and that has been working better. Just something to be on the lookout for if you scan a lot. Not something we thought to look out for as we assumed all scanners would allow you to scan multiple page documents.
At home we have an HP and like it. I buy a really inexpensive off brand ink from Amazon and we love it. It’s like $12-$13 for an entire set of xl ink cartridges with an extra black.
We bought the Epson ET-2760 last week at Staples. It was expensive but has the ink that you don’t need cartridges for. Ink is supposed to last about 2 years . Only problem is that is already not working. The ink leaked all over our desk and we cannot print anything as we keep getting a paper jam. Bringing it back to Staples today. We did get the warranty (thankfully) and it does seem worth the $60. We’ll probably try another one and see if maybe this one was just a lemon. The couple pages that did print cane out really nice.
@PrdMomto1 - That’s a good hint about scanning from app. In our case we do want scanning (and ideally also autofeed to scanner). But I did notice that some of the very low end printers don’t hace scanner hardware, just a cellphone app. Since our old printer is out in the car, we did try an iphone app today - it was surprisingly helpful.
@MAmom111 - Thanks for the comments. ET-2760 is on our radar … need to look again because some reviewers didn’t like the rear paper feed. Also lacks autofeed.
I posted a question on my FB took, and so far the Instant Ink gets “Love It” comments.
Currently this HP Pro 9025 is our top choice, if Staples still has availability when we visit again later today
https://www.staples.com/hp-officejet-pro-premier-wireless-all-in-one-color-inkjet-printer/product_24386706
More info about HP Instant Ink
https://instantink.hpconnected.com/us/en/l/puf
Well today was an exercise in frustration. I needed to order some yellow ink for my HP 6978 (several of us here seem to have this printer-- I have 2 of them) . And it was virtually impossible to find. Even HP’s website didnt have any in stock (unless I ordered the 3pack of the 3 colors, and in the smaller quantity, not the XL) .
A local store (its a franchise but not a big one) claimed to have realtime inventory and I tried to order it from both of their local stores, (one showed 1 in stock, one showed 2 - of the small , not the XL) . The first order cancelled , saying it wasn’t in stock as the inventory showed, so I tried the second store across town— same thing happened! Grrr. I finally found it on some obscure office supply site, and ordered. I hope its not a scam. IF feels like planned obsolescence!
@jym626 - Printers can sure be a pain!!
Shortly before our printer died, I visited Staples to buy cartridges (#932/933). There was none on the shelf, but I was delighted to learn that I could buy it at the register and have it shipped.
Later that day we had a printhead error on the old printer, no way to fix (we took tried). We shopped at Staples for the new printer to enable return/credit on the old printer cartridges and use of $30 coupons from ink returns. While there, the salesman did speculate that the HP customers using InstantInk had higher priority for ink when shortage. Not sure if that is true, especially since only newer models can do InstantInk.
My printers did qualify for the instant ink. Never considered it before b/c I’d buy the big packs at Costco. I hope I don’t live to regret it 
In the meantime, I have plenty of black ink and replacement cartridges so have switched to printing in B&W for the time being.
My printer (HP Officejet Pro 8610) was discontinued in 2015. It is eligible for instant ink.