4 ms·

Ok... so if I need a printer, that won't fuck me with stuff like this, what should I buy now? Except HP of course, and now Brother

pteraspidomorph 4y ago
Printers in general suck, but... Canon? Haven't had any headaches since I switched to them from HP. Then again, since it has been a few years, it's possible that they too went downhill since.
- reaperducer 4y ago
  Canon isn't as bad, but it's headed that way. Driver and firmware quality have declined in recent years. I'm a tech person, and it took about three hours to set up the wireless Canon I bought a couple of months ago. When the thing has an error, it displays a QR code that just links to a PDF of the printed installation manual that it came with. Not helpful. It also won't connect to eero routers because of a bug in the printer firmware, combined with eero removing the ability to have different SSIDs for 2 and 5Ghz networks.
CrazedGeek 4y ago
Not sure about the laser side, but for inkjets, the Epson EcoTank line is the best at not fucking you - it uses ink bottle refills, no cartridges in sight.
- charlieyu1 4y ago
  I had one, looks good at first, but a few months on, the inkjet is just stuck with ink
  - serf 4y ago
    I have an ecotank monochrome epson, it's been fine for a few years now. that said, they don't seem to like to sit. if I go for awhile without printing I need to do a cleaning more so than conventional inkjets, but i'm okay with that tradeoff, it's nice just refilling with ink. also the software/driver package on Windows sucks, but unless you're doing firmware upgrades then why bother installing it, anyway.
    - b112 4y ago
      A separate bottle with pure h20 would be perfect for a post print clean. Far cheaper, and better for the environment, than using ink for cleaning.
- alias_neo 4y ago
  I bought one a few months ago, about £200, because of exactly this sort of crap going on here. I didn't want to go the compatibles route, and the cartridges are so small in capacity anyway. It's been good so far, and I've been printing roughly once a week so it has been ok. I have kids so I've been photocopying pages from their colouring books etc for them to colour in and keep the books themselves clean, which means it gets fairly regular use. I'm tempted to set up something in my home automation to print a "test" page every week or two, just to make sure it doesn't get clogged. Given the couple of feet of tubing between the tanks and the head, I suspect once that gets dried/gunked/blocked, it's game over.
  - mrjin 4y ago
    Are you sure it's really "small in capacity"? I was curious so I opened one of the cartridges my printer reported as empty. There was still plenty of ink in it...
    - alias_neo 4y ago
      The cartridge Epson's I've had were listed as 5ml cartridges, compared to the 100ml tanks my EcoTank has, that's the comparison I'm making.
      - mrjin 4y ago
        I got it. I should put ONLY there. It doesn't matter how much the capacity was, the fact was when I opened it after the printer reported cartridge exhausted, the foams inside were still soaked with ink.
        alias_neo 4y ago
        Oh, yeah, I'm sure the manufacturer excuse is that they need a bit extra to ensure print quality; whether or not that's true, ink cartridges of this kind are just a racket. I'm soooo glad consumer 3d printing has avoided it this far and hopefully the momentum keeps up even as the technology advances.
  - 4y ago
Eddy_Viscosity2 4y ago
You'll have to buy a pen and use it to trace out the stuff on your screen by holding a piece of paper up to it. Until they see this hack and the system blurs the screen whenever it senses third party pens being used. If only there was some body that could pass laws that would prevent companies from doing such things. You know, like how phones have to use common charger cables.
- School-Cotton 4y ago
  This is not similar at all to phone charger cables. My iPhone cables, which are now being made illegal by the EU, work perfectly (including the third-party ones).
  - Eddy_Viscosity2 4y ago
    If Apple made third party cables not work or work poorly it would be the same. But now they can't do that even if they wanted to. I would be happy to have to throw out ink cartridges I currently use due to a law change if it meant that forever onwards I knew I could buy third party ink and use it without issues. This would also have the effect of lowering OEM ink prices because they would have to compete. Free markets only work when there is competition.
    - School-Cotton 4y ago
      > If Apple made third party cables not work or work poorly it would be the same. Indeed, if the situation were different, it would be the same as this one, but it’s not.
      - Eddy_Viscosity2 4y ago
        Are you in favor of printers with proprietary ink or phones with proprietary cables which can be sold at exorbitant margins or what about toasters with proprietary bread? I think this is bad myself, but you are free to differ.
- 4y ago
wccrawford 4y ago
I've also got an Eco-Tank, and so does my mother. Ink is so much cheaper that way that I'm not even tempted to buy generics, but there's nothing else stopping me from doing it.
timrichard 4y ago
> Except HP of course Well, just as another data point... I've been using a HP LaserJet Pro M402dne for the last two years, and it's solid. I should point out it's not colour, and Ethernet (not wifi). Also prints fine from Apple and Android devices in the family through the network. Before that, I struggled along with inkjets before finally giving up. I remember having an urgent document to print in mono, had a new black XL cartridge installed, and it refused to print until I went out and got some yellow too. So for a while, I've been telling anyone prepared to listen that inkjets are a scam. Anyhow, the LaserJet came with a starter toner cartridge. I also got a 9000 page XL toner cartridge around the same time. Two years later, I'm still on the starter toner cartridge. For an intermittent user, it's really great. Inkjets have often dried up on me if there's significant time between prints. Looking at sites such as this, the model that I use also works with compatible toner cartridges : https://www.tonergiant.co.uk/model/HP-LaserJet-Pro-M402dne-toner-cartridges https://www.tonergiant.co.uk/model/HP-LaserJet-Pro-M402dne-t...

pteraspidomorph 4y ago

Printers in general suck, but... Canon? Haven't had any headaches since I switched to them from HP. Then again, since it has been a few years, it's possible that they too went downhill since.

reaperducer 4y ago
Canon isn't as bad, but it's headed that way. Driver and firmware quality have declined in recent years. I'm a tech person, and it took about three hours to set up the wireless Canon I bought a couple of months ago. When the thing has an error, it displays a QR code that just links to a PDF of the printed installation manual that it came with. Not helpful. It also won't connect to eero routers because of a bug in the printer firmware, combined with eero removing the ability to have different SSIDs for 2 and 5Ghz networks.

CrazedGeek 4y ago

Not sure about the laser side, but for inkjets, the Epson EcoTank line is the best at not fucking you - it uses ink bottle refills, no cartridges in sight.

charlieyu1 4y ago
I had one, looks good at first, but a few months on, the inkjet is just stuck with ink
- serf 4y ago
  I have an ecotank monochrome epson, it's been fine for a few years now. that said, they don't seem to like to sit. if I go for awhile without printing I need to do a cleaning more so than conventional inkjets, but i'm okay with that tradeoff, it's nice just refilling with ink. also the software/driver package on Windows sucks, but unless you're doing firmware upgrades then why bother installing it, anyway.
  - b112 4y ago
    A separate bottle with pure h20 would be perfect for a post print clean. Far cheaper, and better for the environment, than using ink for cleaning.
alias_neo 4y ago
I bought one a few months ago, about £200, because of exactly this sort of crap going on here. I didn't want to go the compatibles route, and the cartridges are so small in capacity anyway. It's been good so far, and I've been printing roughly once a week so it has been ok. I have kids so I've been photocopying pages from their colouring books etc for them to colour in and keep the books themselves clean, which means it gets fairly regular use. I'm tempted to set up something in my home automation to print a "test" page every week or two, just to make sure it doesn't get clogged. Given the couple of feet of tubing between the tanks and the head, I suspect once that gets dried/gunked/blocked, it's game over.
- mrjin 4y ago
  Are you sure it's really "small in capacity"? I was curious so I opened one of the cartridges my printer reported as empty. There was still plenty of ink in it...
  - alias_neo 4y ago
    The cartridge Epson's I've had were listed as 5ml cartridges, compared to the 100ml tanks my EcoTank has, that's the comparison I'm making.
    - mrjin 4y ago
      I got it. I should put ONLY there. It doesn't matter how much the capacity was, the fact was when I opened it after the printer reported cartridge exhausted, the foams inside were still soaked with ink.
      - alias_neo 4y ago
        Oh, yeah, I'm sure the manufacturer excuse is that they need a bit extra to ensure print quality; whether or not that's true, ink cartridges of this kind are just a racket. I'm soooo glad consumer 3d printing has avoided it this far and hopefully the momentum keeps up even as the technology advances.
- 4y ago

Eddy_Viscosity2 4y ago

You'll have to buy a pen and use it to trace out the stuff on your screen by holding a piece of paper up to it. Until they see this hack and the system blurs the screen whenever it senses third party pens being used. If only there was some body that could pass laws that would prevent companies from doing such things. You know, like how phones have to use common charger cables.

School-Cotton 4y ago
This is not similar at all to phone charger cables. My iPhone cables, which are now being made illegal by the EU, work perfectly (including the third-party ones).
- Eddy_Viscosity2 4y ago
  If Apple made third party cables not work or work poorly it would be the same. But now they can't do that even if they wanted to. I would be happy to have to throw out ink cartridges I currently use due to a law change if it meant that forever onwards I knew I could buy third party ink and use it without issues. This would also have the effect of lowering OEM ink prices because they would have to compete. Free markets only work when there is competition.
  - School-Cotton 4y ago
    > If Apple made third party cables not work or work poorly it would be the same. Indeed, if the situation were different, it would be the same as this one, but it’s not.
    - Eddy_Viscosity2 4y ago
      Are you in favor of printers with proprietary ink or phones with proprietary cables which can be sold at exorbitant margins or what about toasters with proprietary bread? I think this is bad myself, but you are free to differ.
4y ago

wccrawford 4y ago

I've also got an Eco-Tank, and so does my mother. Ink is so much cheaper that way that I'm not even tempted to buy generics, but there's nothing else stopping me from doing it.

timrichard 4y ago

> Except HP of course Well, just as another data point... I've been using a HP LaserJet Pro M402dne for the last two years, and it's solid. I should point out it's not colour, and Ethernet (not wifi). Also prints fine from Apple and Android devices in the family through the network. Before that, I struggled along with inkjets before finally giving up. I remember having an urgent document to print in mono, had a new black XL cartridge installed, and it refused to print until I went out and got some yellow too. So for a while, I've been telling anyone prepared to listen that inkjets are a scam. Anyhow, the LaserJet came with a starter toner cartridge. I also got a 9000 page XL toner cartridge around the same time. Two years later, I'm still on the starter toner cartridge. For an intermittent user, it's really great. Inkjets have often dried up on me if there's significant time between prints. Looking at sites such as this, the model that I use also works with compatible toner cartridges : https://www.tonergiant.co.uk/model/HP-LaserJet-Pro-M402dne-toner-cartridges https://www.tonergiant.co.uk/model/HP-LaserJet-Pro-M402dne-t...