Unbiased Help On Most Economical Printer Please!

[MissLead]

I do some part-time work for which I need to print out about 600 A4 sheets of good quality greyscale documents a year in addition to the covering letters to my clients etc in black ink. If you include my private "business" type letters I suppose that may add up to about a maximum of 40 letters a year plus the documents. I also occasionally print out colour photographs. My current printer is an HP Photo smart 5510, which seems to gobble up the ink at an alarming rate and the touch pad on the printer stopped responding quite a while ago - I had bought it on the recommendation of a friend, who has always used HP printers. Now I am thinking it may be more economical to buy a monochrome laser printer for the necessary printing and use the existing printer as a standby. I would really appreciate some objective advice from someone who has working knowledge of more than one brand.

[Ann]

Before you buy a new printer MissLead, try these compatible ink cartridges from Ink-Power. I have an HP Photosmart c6180 and use their cartridges all the time - I print loads of photos and produce a monthly magazine - you can't tell any difference from the genuine HP ink cartridges and they are SO much cheaper!!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-Sets-4-364XL-Ink-Cartridges-HP-Photosmart-5510-5515-6510-7510-/150947762494?hash=item232530113e

[jno]

HP printers sometimes raise their noses at non-HP inks and say Are you sure you want to go ahead with this? But I've not had any trouble with mine, all the same.

[jno]

sorry, ignore that, I've just remembered I haven't got it any more and I'm now thinking of my Epson. But Ann's advice is good. I used to get cheap ink from Tesco.

[cupotee2]

I have an Epsom cheap printer from Amazon. It was on special offer when I bought it around £45.00
I buy my ink really cheap again from Amazon, under £12 for 4 sets of 4.

I print photos, letters and anything that crops up.

Well pleased with it. Its the second Epsom I had and recommended family to get one. They like me are pleased with it.

[Buenchico]

For such a small mono print run I wouldn't bother with a laser printer. A decent inkjet can produce just as good quality (possibly unless you examine it under a microscope!) as a laser printer can as long as you use good quality paper. All of my mono printing (including things like business invoices, where I want a really professional result) is done, using a decent inkjet, onto HP Bright White (90gsm) Inkjet Paper.

I spent many, many hours researching the best printer for my needs (which includes occasional top quality photo reproduction but is mainly mono output). Economy was always a key point. I quickly realised that inkjet printers using 5 ink cartridges work out far cheaper to run than those using just two cartridges and I now pay around £2.00 per cartridge for excellent quality inks from here:
http://www.inkredible.co.uk/

All of the computer magazines I read (and many websites) consistently recommended Canon Pixma printers as the best available. I rejected the cheaper models (because they only used two ink cartridges) and selected a model that used 5 cartridges. The current equivalent (which I wouldn't hesitate to buy if I needed a new printer right now) is the Pixma MG6650:
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing-accessories/printers-scanners-and-ink/printers/canon-pixma-mg6650-all-in-one-wireless-inkjet-printer-10029723-pdt.html

[TheChair]

Personally, I'd go for a laser, because if you don't do a lot of printing, whichever inkjet you choose, you are likely to get problems with the print heads drying out. Apart from the inconvenience, that means you are also going to be wasting a lot of ink in the cleaning process. With the amount of printing you do, you'll probably get a couple of years of printing with a laser before you even need to consider the cost of toner.

[ukbod2015]

I agree with Chico - the Canon printers are very modestly priced especially if you shop around a bit and the inks are some of the cheapest. I bought a printer / copier / scanner for £39 and the inks are good value thru Ebay - I do always use genuine ones though.

[Khandro]

Switching font can save ink on big runs as was discovered by a 14 year old boy in the US; "Suvir Mirchandani was a sixth-grader at a Pittsburgh-area middle school. After realizing his class was using a ton of printed material, he looked for ways to save on printer ink. After some experimentation, Suvir found that his school district could save as much as $21,000 a year–just by switching to Garamond."
After his data was published in the Journal of Emerging Investigators, Suvir took his research up a notch. According to CNN:
“Suvir concluded that if the federal government used Garamond exclusively it could save nearly 30% — or $136 million per year. An additional $234 million could be saved annually if state governments also jumped on board, he reported.”

[MissLead]

Many thanks to you all for your advice. I forgot to mention that I do a fair amount of scanning of documents too. Now I'm torn between the Canon Pixma and a laser printer that may fulfill all of the functions that I need - Ie. printing, scanning and copying. That would mean that I could ditch the HP, rather than keep two machines on my desk - I would rather get rid of the HP anyway - I don't like being harangued by machines!

I looked on line at a Samsung multi-function colour laser printer, a SL- C460W, which is £270 from Argos and which is way over my original budget but which includes black and colour cartridges that should last me at least 18 months. The same printer is on the site of a seller called Alza.co.UK at a much lower price but I don't know if that includes cartridges or not - also the customer reviews on that site all seem to be from non-UK buyers.
Sorry to be a nuisance but I do procrastinate (can't help it!) - does anyone have views on that Samsung printer or that online seller please?

[jomifl]

I bought a cheap mono laser printer many years ago and use it to print anything that isn't coloured. If you are really mean and only have to print a small amount of colour then you can print the colour bits on an inkjet and the print on the laser. Worth doing if you have a big print run.

[Buenchico]

I don't know enough about that Samsung laser printer to comment on it. (Online reviews seem generally good but there are a few dissenting voices and difficulties in configuring the wi-fi seem to be quite commonly reported).

However I can guarantee that I'd definitely not pay £270 for it from Argos (or anywhere else). It's £100 cheaper at Currys/PC World!

[MissLead]

Many thanks Buenchico.