Looking for inexpensive <$100 inkjet all in one printer. Usually buy Canon, but each one I purchase is progressively worse. Currently using Canon mg6620 and it’s the worst ever. Does anyone have a printer that they love?
I’m still using a Brother printer I bought in 2009! I’m sure they don’t make whatever model I have any more, but it still works and has had no issue meshing with various Windows software upgrades over the years. For me it’s only light use- it’s relatively rare that I need to print things out – but if you are looking for a cheap & reliable printer then I’ve had good experiences overall in the past with that company.
A cheap printer isn’t going to stand up to heavy use, like office printing, of course.
Be sure to check the prices of ink cartridges. The whole point of the cheap printers is that the companies make money on the ink they sell I have not had good experiences buying off-brand ink-- maybe it would be fine for black/gray only but the off brands never seem to get the colors right – so you definitely should weigh in the manufacturer’s retail price on the ink in making your choice.
I am likely in the hunt for a new printer, as my relatively newer HP is dying, so I’ve done some research and talked to several people. I’ve always had HP and they’ve certainly never lasted as long as that of @calmom . And it’s not like I use it that much anymore. They always seem to have the best prices, though, when I shop at Costco. When I went into Costco a few weeks ago, they only stocked HP printers in the store. What I’ve been reading and hearing is that Brother is the most reliable printer out there, generally speaking, depending on which features you want. So if I want to buy a Brother from Costco, I’ll have to do it online. I hate that I have several new HP ink cartridges I’ll have to donate or toss.
Will be following this thread to see if others are happy with their Brother printers.
I have an Epson Stylus NX330 I purchased for under $50 several years ago. It scans, copies, prints, etc. I can print from all the computers in our house using wifi and the ink cartridges seem to last for quite a while. It uses 4 ink cartridges - black, cyan, magenta, and yellow. It’s been great.
I sent this one to my D at the beginning of the school year. So far it’s held up to the demands of 6 roommates sharing. I expect they’re mostly doing black and white printing though. At home we’ve been using a Canon Pixma for about 4 years with no issues; it sees pretty light use though since I have a laser printer for the home office.
I have an HP that I got free when I bought a macbook many years ago. It still runs like a champ. Before that I had an Epson. The Epson used up the ink faster than the HP.
No suggestions for you but I couldn’t give away two nice all in one printers at our garage sale. My neighbor couldn’t get rid of hers and it was still in the box. You might want to ask around. You may have a friend with one sitting around.
I have returned unused cartridges I purchased from Costco when the printer from them died. They were fine with refunding.
We’ve been happy with our HPs from Costco. We get printers that are “air printers” compatible wirelessly with Apple devices.
I have a Canon Pixma also…and so does my son. No issues with it at all.
DD has an Epsom.
Usually have better luck with Canon, but this one is exceptionally horrible. Still under warranty, but I would have to send it back to Canon, and I would be without a printer/scanner for who knows how long. I don’t print a lot, maybe a few pages a day. I do use the scanner quite a bit. Also I buy the replacement ink inexpensively on ebay.
Love my Canon Pixma-MG5420, replaced older one a few ago by now. Be sure to get separate ink tanks. Watch for sales. Got mine for 1/2 retail price when there happened to be a sale at Target, fit your pricing. Do you buy Canon ink? That could make a difference.
I haven’t had a problem with the ink. I do like the separate ink cartridges. It takes almost a minute to print a page, plus a lot of other problems.
Unless one does photo prints, especially in color on a regular basis, a laser printer is often far more cost effective over the long haul in terms of cost/page* considering toner cartridges can last a few thousand pages and the print quality is better(Toner doesn’t rub off and leave streak marks unlike prints made with inkjets IME).
There’s also greater longevity IME. My HP laserjet printer is still going strong after 20+ years and is only on its third cartridge despite occasional heavy printing jobs…sometimes hundreds of pages in a month.
In contrast, I routinely see inkjets, especially all-in-ones models only released 6-12 months previously populating the recycling areas in my city. I myself only have an HP all-in-one inkjet printer because in the Apple summer student deal I took advantage of while in grad school, Apple actually paid me a nickel to take it after the bundling discounts & rebates (Macbook + ipod + HP all-in-one printer) were accounted for.
I now only use it occasionally to scan documents as the cost of ink and its ink usage rate was such it was much more expensive per page than my laser printer (~10-15 cents/page as opposed to 2-3 cents/page on the laser at the highest quality setting which I rarely use as the “draft mode” is good enough even for professional documents).
- Even so, the professional photographers would usually spring for a much higher end color inkjet than what one would usually find in a big box store like Best Buy or Costco.
** In a startup and with some friends, I found one can spend as much as $30 or more each month just printing a few hundred B&W pages. In contrast, while toner for several laser printers is double/triple that, they are often good for a few thousand pages or more.
I’ve gone through several Epson inkjet all-in-ones. The low price and ease of use sucked me in everytime, then, inexplicably, something goes awry, and have to pitch it. Then, I’d buy another one…
No more! I switched to a Brother laser monochrome printer for the home office. Very good for document printing, scanning, copying. Wireless. AirPrint.
I use the big boy HP laser color printer at the work office when I need to print in color (surprisingly, infrequently).
When you print…choose black and white for,things that don’t require color. Takes a fraction of the time to print on the Pixma if you do. Same with copies.
The real money in the printers is in the ink cartridges, and if you do a lot of printing it may be worthwhile to do some research on the cost/page. I don’t print all that often, and I have had an Epson all in one for several years now and it has worked fine, but again I am not a major user. The biggest factor for me was it works wirelessly, which means I can print from any of our computers. Epson has been touting this new machine that doesn’t use ink cartridges (sounds like you fill them with ink), but I am dubious it will save you money, printers are like razors that way. Laser printers are definitely better IMO, color lasers are still pretty expensive, but if you print mostly black and white they may be worth the cost.
Color printing, especially professional quality photographs is one area where color inkjets outshine color laser printers…including ones used in high-end corporate offices.
Granted, the ones used by professional photographers I know of aren’t ones aren’t ones which typically cost $150 or less…especially the sub-$100 models.