# Looking to buy a new printer. Which one offers the CHEAPEST ink cartridges?



## landlord

Most printer/scanner/photocopiers are ridiculous cheap these days to try to suck you in to buying their ridiculously expensive ink cartridges. I find buying compatible online cartridges, or going to the local cartridge refill shop both unreliable. 
What printer/scanner/ photocopier provides the cheapest cartridges??


----------



## demoivre

landlord said:


> Most printer/scanner/photocopiers are ridiculous cheap these days to try to suck you in to buying their ridiculously expensive ink cartridges. I find buying compatible online cartridges, or going to the local cartridge refill shop both unreliable.



Never had any issues buying ink cartridges from inkmaestro.


----------



## roker

I would prefer quality of prints to how much an ink catridge cost. Have you considered refilling your cartridges, I refill my black, I buy colour because I do not use a lot


----------



## Dermot

There are a couple of Epson printers in my house and I have purchased the replacement cartridges from www.inkjet.ie as I find that their prices for Epson are particularly good. They do special offers. If I was purchasing an Epson printer I would check the cartridge no first and then I would check cartridge prices online with www.inkjet.ie . You can also put in the model no of the proposed printer into a tool on their website and it will give you the no of the required cartridge. Their cartridges are the high capacity ones.
Just an occasional customer and absolutely no other connection


----------



## mathepac

I have a beautiful and expensive EPSON A3 size printer in my attic, the  ink-nozzzles victims of refilled 3rd-party cartridges. It took four  ink-tanks, CMYK, when it worked. I keep it to remind me never to buy  refills again.

I use two HP All-in-Ones, an old C4180 (can do  good photos / OH transparencies as well as run of the mill stuff) and  the workhorse 2050 for everything except photos. Original HP inks for  the Deskjet 2050 and the PhotoSmart C4180 are cheap online from [broken link removed]    (HP only AFAIK) Local stationers and office supply places tell me they can't buy in  certain inks at the prices they sell at. Just a customer no other  connection.

My little 2nd-hand Canon Selphy photo-printer can  only use Canon original supplies, but that's OK as 6x4 prints cost about  0.33 / print as against the local chemists where they cost 0.49 /  print.


----------



## dub_nerd

Doesn't apply to expensive printers, but if refills gummed up my nozzles after only two or three cartridge changes, it would _still_ be cheaper to replace the printer and stick with the refills than to pay the crazy prices for OEM cartridges. 

I try to keep most of my printing to my black and white laser anyway.


----------



## roker

I think the printhead can be removed in my HP Photosmart, and steeped in hot water


----------



## MrEarl

Hello Everyone, 

I have an old Lexmark (printer / scanner / photoprinter & fax machine) which is long past it's best .. when it works, it's great - but when it acts up, it drives me nuts (sadly, this happens more often these days).

Anyone got a recommendation for a printer & scanner at a reasonable price, with good quality and easily accessable ink also at reasonable prices please ?

- I want it for home use, probably only print about 30-40 pages per month, primarily black print but want colour option also.   Scan is a must (compatable with .pdf and other usual formats).

Obviously I will have a look at the link to the guardian that cashier provided previously, but time has moved on and also, I'd value individual recommendations based on personal use.

Many thanks.


----------



## aamusername

Hi MrEarl,
When I was in a similar situation, I came up with a solution which may seem a little convoluted, but which I find works well in practice.  It does require having space for two printers though.  My soution is:
1. I bought a laser printer for black and white printing.  I have a HP LaserJet P1005.  The model is out of date now, but HP have similar new ones.  I can get a compatible toner cartridge (not HP-branded) on amazon for about 15 euro which works with the printer.  If you were to go this route, you should check that such toner cartridges are available for the printer you choose before you purchase the printer.  One toner cartridge will print over 1,000 pages usually, and so if you only print 50 pages a month one cartridge should keep you going for over 18 months.
2. For scanning I still use my old inkjet printer, but I just use this to scan the document in so I can see it on my computer screen. I then print the scanned document out using my laser printer.  This suits me because I only scan maybe twice a month.  Because I never print with the inkjet anymore, I have no ink it in, and so have no costs for inkjet ink.

I hope this is some use to you, although I know it is not recommending one specific printer and scanner "all in one".   Note that this solution does not offer colour printing.

aamusername


----------



## Leo

MrEarl said:


> Anyone got a recommendation for a printer & scanner at a reasonable price, with good quality and easily accessable ink also at reasonable prices please ?



The Canon Pixma devices work well.


----------



## AlbacoreA

Get a laser not an inkjet if you want to save money on ink. They are also more reliable. I used to be plagued with fixing inkjet printers for people in the family. I got them to switch to all in one lasers (B&W) and haven't need to fix them since. 

Depends what you are printing though. If you need colour.


----------



## Kev

I have been using a HP Deskjet for years, I get my cartridges from Amazon but make sure you look at the amount of pages per cartridge, I normally get 600 page for black and 400 pages for colour, not sure if there is 600 pages for colour cartridge.


----------



## amtc

I feel the pain

Thinking I was going to do next to no printing purchased a cheapy Canon Pixmia. The amount of times I have (a) nearly fired it out the window (b) kicked it (c) brought it to PC World (d) refilled it - I would have bought a laser printer times over. Didn't factor in that I work best off hard copy (law stuff) and this thing is close to doing my head in.  I am now mailing my stuff to the local Centra who do a very nice job.


----------



## danial3262

Kodak is the best for the cheapest link.


----------



## Woodie

All this advice is on colour inkjets; anyone have experience with colour lasers?  They seem to be getting smaller and cheaper these days.


----------

