Cheapest Running Costs - Colout Inkjet (Epson, HP, Canon)

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Wayne Youngman

Hello,

I didn't post here for nearly 3 years, but I now need a new printer. I have
been using an EPSON Stylus Colour 980, but the Print-Head got knackered
after I used some cheap ink cartridges.

Anyway I have been without a printer for 3 months, pain so I got a bit of
spare cash, was looking in the £50.00-£100-00 price range. It's a little
bit confusing now since each manufacturer have so many different models
(why?).

I do allot of document printing, and occasionally knock out the odd Photo
print (just to show off :P) and print allot of CD-Labels. I have a
CD-Printing system in place so I'm not too fussed about being able to print
*direct* to CD but mainly I want to get a printer that uses *BIG* ink tanks
(like my 980) and is *economical* to run. I don't mind if it doesn't have
multi colour inks, just one black tank and one colour tank will do me
(unless u can explain otherwise?).

Thanks for reading, and I will now have a good *trawl* through the posts
here. . .
 
Wayne Youngman wrote: said:
I do allot of document printing, and occasionally knock out the odd Photo
print (just to show off :P) and print allot of CD-Labels. I have a
CD-Printing system in place so I'm not too fussed about being able to print
*direct* to CD but mainly I want to get a printer that uses *BIG* ink tanks
(like my 980) and is *economical* to run. I don't mind if it doesn't have
multi colour inks, just one black tank and one colour tank will do me
(unless u can explain otherwise?).

Thanks for reading, and I will now have a good *trawl* through the posts
here. . .
Click to expand...

Danish consumer organisation just did a test og 50+ inkjets. The
result for full page color was, that one Canon model won with a
cost < $1 for a Photo. Most other Canon models was around $ 1.00-$1.20
per page, where you would also find Epson. HP was around the higher
end of this range as well - but depends on your color usage, since
they do not use separate inks.

Most expensive was Lexmark. Their cheapest model was $1.50, with
one model reaching around $6/page.

Myself:
I have a HP Laserjet 1200 for most of my prints (75%)
I have a Canon S600 for the color prints (20%)
I have an epson RX500 for Photos (and for the scanner, and
occasionally uses the copy function directly, and sometimes
to the laser).
 
Is this info online anywhere?
Click to expand...

Only to subscribers of their magazine. Nobody else knows
that the username is tt46 and the password ludo

But if you happen to know the username/password, the review
is here:
http://www.taenk.dk/ttabn/2004/tt46/printer/ (in danish)

Some of the tables

http://www.taenk.dk/ttabn/2004/tt46/printer/skema/
this is initial cost, blækpris=ink price, hastighed=speed

One thing to notice is, that they actually did test the
printing costs. So they have different ink price per page
for i.e Epson R300 and R200 - even though that should be
the same as far as I know.

Here is another table:
http://www.taenk.dk/ttabn/2004/tt46/printer/total/

Ink price, paper price, total price.

The Lexmark P707 is most expensive with ink consumption
worth 36.40 DKK per page (1 USD = approx. 6.2 DKK).
 
Myself:
I have a HP Laserjet 1200 for most of my prints (75%)
I have a Canon S600 for the color prints (20%)
I have an epson RX500 for Photos (and for the scanner, and
occasionally uses the copy function directly, and sometimes
to the laser).
Click to expand...


Hi Povl ,

thanks for reply. Any idea *which* CANON printer came top?

I have been a ink-jet user for many years, but its just the last year or so
that I began to see that laser printers are quite neat too. I was looking
at the HP entry level model (1010) which I can pickup for about £95.00,
amazing really how cheap this stuff is. Can't decide if I want 600dpi for a
B&W LaserJet or 1200dpi ??

B&W LaserJet aside, I still want a nice little colour printer but maybe I
should wait as I will be buying some *serious* Pro digital cameras very soon
so maybe I should wait till then for a decent Photo printer. . .

Still there seem to be a few nice looking colour inkjet printers for under
£100-00!
 
Hi Povl ,

thanks for reply. Any idea *which* CANON printer came top?
Click to expand...

Looking at the overall test, Epson R800 wins on quality.
Rated Very Good/Good.
Canon i865 and i560 wins the "Best Buy" award. Both rated of equal
quality and low printing price.
Other printers in the "Good" category are:
Canon i990 + i905D + i475D.
HP Photosmart 7960
Epson Stylus Photo R200 + R300.
I have been a ink-jet user for many years, but its just the last year or so
that I began to see that laser printers are quite neat too. I was looking
at the HP entry level model (1010) which I can pickup for about £95.00,
amazing really how cheap this stuff is. Can't decide if I want 600dpi for a
B&W LaserJet or 1200dpi ??
Click to expand...

The HP 1200 dpi is Pseudo DPI, which is easy to see on photos, which are not
nearly as good as 1200 dpi can make it. My LJ 1200 is pseudo-1200 dpi, and
works pretty well except for photos.

They also tested 6 laser printers. Here 3 god "Good"
HP Laserjet 1010, Canon LBP-3200 and Kyocera FS-1010.

"Average"/"Good" was given to
Epson EPL-62000L
Konica Minolta PagePro 1300w
Brother HL-1430
B&W LaserJet aside, I still want a nice little colour printer but maybe I
should wait as I will be buying some *serious* Pro digital cameras very soon
so maybe I should wait till then for a decent Photo printer. . .
Click to expand...

I have the Canon 300D, which could be considered a serious Pro digicam,
but it depends on the glass in front of the sensor. Goood optics is
difficult to find much below $500-$700.
Still there seem to be a few nice looking colour inkjet printers for under
£100-00!
Click to expand...

The cheapest that scored "Good" here is the i560.

IMHO you should get at least 6 colors. There is a huge difference.
 
Wayne said:
Hello,

I didn't post here for nearly 3 years, but I now need a new printer. I have
been using an EPSON Stylus Colour 980, but the Print-Head got knackered
after I used some cheap ink cartridges.

Anyway I have been without a printer for 3 months, pain so I got a bit of
spare cash, was looking in the £50.00-£100-00 price range. It's a little
bit confusing now since each manufacturer have so many different models
(why?).

I do allot of document printing, and occasionally knock out the odd Photo
print (just to show off :P) and print allot of CD-Labels. I have a
CD-Printing system in place so I'm not too fussed about being able to print
*direct* to CD but mainly I want to get a printer that uses *BIG* ink tanks
(like my 980) and is *economical* to run. I don't mind if it doesn't have
multi colour inks, just one black tank and one colour tank will do me
(unless u can explain otherwise?).

Thanks for reading, and I will now have a good *trawl* through the posts
here. . .
Click to expand...

FWIW, The latest issue of Consumer Reports rated the Canon i860 as its
best buy, as well as its best performer.
Photo Quality was excellent, but they consider several other variables
in addition to Photo Quality, in making their judgment
You may want to check out the article at your Public Library.

BTW, don't toss your 980 just yet.
I have found a simple way to unclog Epson Jets.
If you have an old used cartridge, cut off the top of the cartridge and
wash out the sponge material. Rinse the cartridge and sponge in
distilled (or de-ionized) water and allow to dry. Replace the sponges,
fill the cartridge with WINDEX and re-install the old cartridge. Put the
printer through about 10 CONSECUTIVE cleaning cycles. (When done
consecutively, each cycle is more aggressive than the previous one).
Remove the cleaning cartridge and replace it with a new ink cartridge.
Run the ink cartridge thru 2-3 cleaning cycles to fill the feed line
with ink and Voila!. It should work like new.
Bob Williams
 
Povl said:
IMHO you should get at least 6 colors. There is a huge difference.
Click to expand...

Do you say that there is huge difference between i560 witch uses 4
color and R200 with 6 colors?
 
Do you say that there is huge difference between i560 witch uses 4
color and R200 with 6 colors?
Click to expand...


Hi,
well I bought the EPSON R200 which uses 6 colours and I have to say that the
results are *very* good!
 
Wayne said:
well I bought the EPSON R200 which uses 6 colours and I have to say
that the results are very good!
Click to expand...

I know the results are very good. I've worked with R300 but I want to
know the difference in quality to i560.
 
Do you say that there is huge difference between i560 witch uses 4
color and R200 with 6 colors?
Click to expand...

I have a 4 color Canon S600, and the difference to a 6 color printer
like the Canon R300 / RX500 (all-in-one which I have) is HUGE. There
is no comparison.

The Canon is not used for Photos any more.
 
Povl said:
I have a 4 color Canon S600, and the difference to a 6 color printer
like the Canon R300 / RX500 (all-in-one which I have) is HUGE. There
is no comparison.

The Canon is not used for Photos any more.
Click to expand...

I've seen pictures from some 4 color printers and results varied from
one to other. Some of them had pretty good quality even when we compare
to R200/300. I just want to know the quality of i560:)
 
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