OT printer recommendations

[parris]

Our combo printer decided to break last week which is a bummer due to us having a lot of ink for it. There are tons of choices which makes picking one just a little confusing.

I'm looking for opinions and experiences with some of the decent combo printers that are out there. Thanks.

[pdmtong]

Originally Posted by parris

Our combo printer decided to break last week which is a bummer due to us having a lot of ink for it. There are tons of choices which makes picking one just a little confusing.

I'm looking for opinions and experiences with some of the decent combo printers that are out there. Thanks.

Think hard about your use case.

We use our HP for small home print or copy jobs (typically less than 10 pages) and for scanning. There was a time when we might have used it for FAX but I it seems like the time for needing a home FAX has long passed. We NEVER use it for photo printing since much cheaper to have that done at costco.

Ours is a wireless HP OfficeJet pro 8600 Plus. It has a feeder which works but often the issue is the quality of the edge of the sheet we are feeding. It was around $150 since that's the most I was willing to pay.

Since most of our needs are black and white, I will look at a <$200 laser next time.

[schwa86]

If you just need black and white, I am pretty fond of my brother mfc— we have two 7065 model which I am sure has been upgraded. Reasonable form factor, good scanning and copying, sheet feeder works well for stacks of 20/25 pages. I don’t use the fax so can’t speak to that. It has wireless built in, newer models have native ability to print from iPads and iPhones. Ours looks similar to 2685. Also runs fine on with Linux which I use on home laptop.

[AngryScientist]

after years of futzing with inkjet printers, a few years ago i bought an inexpensive Samsung lazer printer. M2020 to be exact.

it's a breadth of fresh air. dead simple, dead reliable. knock-off toner carts from Amazon keep it running.

these days, it's mostly used for printing boarding passes (i always like to fly with a paper pass, hate using my phone for boarding), and kids ditto typed sheets. all B&W.

i'll never buy an inkjet again.

[kramnnim]

Laser printers are cheap now. Generic toner is also cheap.

[ultraman6970]

We have a HP LJ 3050, we are thinking in swapping it for something newer, but the problem is that nothing even get close to this TANK... I even connected straight to the router and now can work as a wireless device. The tank is discontinued, the toner still available but at some point will be a problem to find it.

Looked for the newer alternatives and nothing is even close in B/W, HP is not making anything even close. U look the new ones and they look crapppppy.

[zmudshark]

Dump inkjet and go laser. I have a three year old Brother that was about $100 (no scanning, just printing) and it sits unused in Phoenix for the hottest 7 mos of the year. No clogged nozzles, no problems at all. It is used mainly for printing mailing labels for my wife's side line hustle.

[parris]

Thanks so far for the recs. The old printer is a holdover from when my wife was a freelancer and we needed the fax. We don't print photos and fax a small amount anymore. We use primarily use printing and scanning. We also do a some color printing.

I hadn't considered a laser given what I remember what they cost several years ago. That an option that I'll look at also.

Any good or bad on brands? Our old printer is an HP but I'm not tied to the brand.

[jtakeda]

While not your exact use case I also highly recommend a Brother laser printer.

I know they have color printers and theyre a little more expensive.

But I often print between 3000-5000 pages a day and the brother does not let me down.

I have one at home as well and wirelessly print very easily.

[tuxbailey]

I have the older version of this:

https://www.amazon.com/Canon-imageCL...dp/B07H5WF9TY/

print, scan, copy for $100. And this one supports air print as well (print from your iPhone.)

For a home printer this works well.

Tip: Make sure you save the latest driver on a separate location. They might not be available online once manufacturer discontinue support. In case you need to reinstall OS, etc.

[HenryA]

Brother makes some good laser printers. I have several that I keep running. One of them sees use by a couple dozen people. We buy a new one every couple years. They are cheap and good.

[saab2000]

HP laser jet of some sort. Got tired of the unreliability of a garbage Epson. Spend the money for a good one and don’t look back.

Buy nice or buy twice. How often must we learn this lesson?

[Gsinill]

Laser!
I really like HPs.
Owned quite a few and never had an issue.

The prices for laser printers tumbled over the last few years like crazy.
I bought an HP Laserjet Pro M148dw All-in-One Wireless Monochrome Laser Printer back in September for $105(!) from Amazon Warehouse.
It was one of their “like new” deals, still had all the blue tape on it but came repackaged.
Print quality and speed are fantastic, double sided print feature.

[paredown]

We're bottom feeders. so we have an old (large) HP 4050 laser--it's the third one we have owned in the series (4000, 4050, 4100). They were among the last of the really overbuilt HPs--you can pick them up for ~$100 and they will print forever. BW only, not the highest res, but we probably print 500 pages/month and they have a duty cycle of 1600 pages/day so it is gonna last!

If I were looking at new, I like the Epson Ecotank series--we have been looking at a new gen printer with the capacity to print large format construction drawings.

[daker13]

We have a brother laser printer and it's been great. We had a color inkjet printer and switched to laser (black and white only of course). The big difference is 1) the ink cartridge's last much, much longer and 2) the ink is much, much cheaper.