Printers- lowest-cost (per page) inkjet?

Hi everyone;

I have become frustrated trying to find an all-around inkjet with the lowest cost per-page operation. My print tasks run about 400 pages a month (at 15% coverage, 60% b&w) and about 10 hi-res 8x10 color pictures per month. I had an ink-hungry Epson Stylus Photo 820, which today has quit, and have some important photo print jobs to do soon. Photo quality is important, but it needs to be efficient enough for everyday tasks as well. BTW, every site I have visited gives me entirely different answers to this question.

Regards,
Eaglewatch
[email protected]

You seem to have varied requirements. My best bet, get a mono-laser for all the b&w prints, and get a decent Canon/Epson/HP photo printer.

Alternatively you can check out some Color Laser Printers, but they would be expensive and not give you the photo quality prints you need.

Yea, a mono laser would be the way to go. You can get a Brother, or HP for less than $200. Then get a cheap photo printer. Long term you will save this way. Less headache too.

You can drop the price of inkjet ink by refilling the cartridges. I use Lexmark because they are easy to refill, and if the Print head goes bad you dump the cartridge and go on. I don't do all that much color, so I mainly refill the black one. It costs around $1.00 for black and around $3.00 to refill color. There are also inks to refill the photo cartridge at about the same cost and labor as the color. It isn't really dificult, though it can be somewhat messy. I've refilled the 70, 80, and 90 cartridges as well as the 20 and 50 cartridges. It's really a lot easier than some people imagine. I suggest that you don't refill cartridges for printers with fixed heads. In fact, I recommend that you don't use printers with fixed heads, (sorry Epson and Cannon)! I learned the hard way with an Epson. When the print head clogs, (and it will) the printer is junk! It costs more to replace the print head than a new printer does.
Jim Cook

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In fact, I recommend that you don't use printers with fixed heads, (sorry Epson and Cannon)! I learned the hard way with an Epson. When the print head clogs, (and it will) the printer is junk! It costs more to replace the print head than a new printer does.

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sadly thats why I changed to HP, though my Epson was sooo good.

You might want to check into the Canon ip4000 or the ip5000.
Both printers have two(2) black cartridges, one for color photos the other for text.
Both printers will will do excellent color photos.

Google for reviews/comparisons.

Hi guys,

Thanks for the info. I have to use a single printer for this location, due to space constrictions, otherwise I would consider the separate b&w laser for my text work.

Eaglewatch

It has been my experience that the Epson although ink hungry, has the lowest cost for ink cartridge replacement. As for the Clogged Print heads, They are usually easy to clean as long as they do not set up for an extremely long time.

Eagle, you got spare wall space not being used? I had a customer with a very tiny office that had roughly the same problem. I ended up getting something like this:

http://nexel.superiorshelving.com/ph...lfBrackets.gif

And I put the laser on it and it works great...

PS I wouldn't suggest putting hte inkjet up there :)