All In One Printer Suggestions?

[stratman]

Friend is looking to purchase an All In One inkjet printer that does scanning, faxing, and auto duplexing.

He will be printing text much more than photos. He uses the printer most every week but there will be times it might be two weeks inbetween print jobs. His usage is low, about 3-4 cartridge changes per year. Not sure if he will refill but he is a do-it-yourself kind of person and enjoys saving a dollar where he can. He had an HP for the past 10 years and liked it. It had a tri-color cartridge plus a black cartridge. He is agreeable to stepping up to better quality output but it doesn't seem to be a priority for him.

I've already gone over the Canon AIO printers with him - the MX860 ($145 at Costco) and the MX330 ($80 at Best Buy) seem to be the choices unless an older model can be found for a price he's willing to pay.

I don't know much about other AIO printer brands. We will be going to Microcenter and maybe Best Buy to check out the printers to help him make a better decision. Still, I wanted to know if anyone has recommendations on different manufacturer AIO's so he can have choices and maybe avoid a steaming pile of poo.

Thanks.

 

[pharmacist]

I think Canon's are still the preferable ones, especially the MP780 and the much faster MP830 and the MX830. All these aforementioned models do scanning/faxing/auto-duplexing.

You might also look at the HP all-in-models using the separate HP 10 high capacity cartridges (CISS-systems), which offer the same features you are looking for.

 

[ghwellsjr]

If you want auto-duplexing, the MP780 can do that for the printed page but not for the auto-sheet feeder. With the later models, you can copy a two-sided document and produce a two-sided document.

 

[fish]

Stratman,

I have purchased three refurbished printers (4200 (2), and MX850) from the Canon site. Selection changes, probably due to inventory so need to check periodically. Shipping charges are reasonable, especially for Hawaii.

Good Luck

 

[stratman]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone!

I looked into HP AIO's and the 6500 and Premium (which also does CD/DVD printing) have been added to the list of possibilities.

Am keeping an eye out for older model Canons and the refurbed models as well. I have a refurb MP830 in storage waiting for the inevitable day the first one conks out.

 

[stratman]

Compared a copy and print from both the HP Photosmart Premium and the Canon MX860. Both are dye-based inks. Both scanners are CIS but the HP is a 4800x4800 while the Canon is a 2400x4800 dpi optical.

The HP took a long time to scan and, specifically, print, but the output was far superior with the HP. I was impressed and shocked at how poorly the Canon performed. Additionally, the Canon MX860 clipped the top and bottom of the copied brochure used in the test. I have noticed that my Canon MP830 annoyingly does not scan the entire platen surface, which the manual notes. Why have platen glass available which is dead space for copy/scanning? This unmarked outer area of the glass is an unnecessary increase in difficulty in using the scanner. Dumb! HP gets it right on this point.

Two types of paper were used with the Canon, one a seemingly cheap paper and the other an HP paper (not premium) per the salesman.

BTW, the HP prints on CD/DVD's natively out of the box. I have read that the Canon MX860 is not capable of disk printing.

Anyone know if the HP Photosmart Premium cartridges are refillable and if so how and with what bulk ink?