Most of the manufactures make their money off of the ink cartridges, not the printer. That said, there are a number of very inexpensive printers out there; using different cartridges running the gamete in price.
Was checking out printers (for ARES use) a couple of weeks ago and the salesman and I were talking about the price of ink; he told me some people just buy a new printer, and it is only a couple of bucks more than replacing the ink in their old one! In fact, they had a older model HP marked down on the clearance rack to $45. I was going to buy it, but was smart enough to talk them into checking it out. Plugged it in and the first message was something to the effect of "replace the color cartridge". No problem, the store had them in stock; price was just under $39. Guess what, they would not give me one, would have to buy it. I was born at night, but not the night before; so I said no thanks. Before buying a printer, check out the price of the ink before buying the printer, and look at printers that use different cartridges for the colors. One of the worst "rib offs" is the tri color cartridge; you run out of one color and you have to replace the cartridge. I have two printers here (a wireless HP L7780 and a Canon IP6600). The HP has the two cartridge arrangement (black and a tri color); so that one is used pretty much only for black and white printing by my wife from her computer in the kitchen. In the shack I have the Canon, and I use it for both black and white, and color. It uses six different cartridges, and they are reasonable priced. One other nice option is two sided printing; both my HP and Canon do that (which probably makes Al Gore and all his "environmental wackos" happy). In my case, I find it saves a lot of money in paper costs. One final note; I think I have seen Wal Mart advertising a new Kodak printer that is not suppose to "break the bank" when buying ink. Might be worth checking out; especially as a second printer to use for the everyday black and white printing. Dick K8ZTT -----Original Message----- From: elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Bob Maser Sent: Monday, December 07, 2009 9:20 AM To: David Yarnes; elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] OT--A Suggestion About Printers When you print, when the print screen comes up and before you hit the OK to Print key, click preferences, set the quality level to "Fast Draft" and then go to the Color tab and click on grayscale. Your printer will print faster and use much less ink. Try it. Bob W6TR ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Yarnes" <w7...@cox.net> To: <elecraft@mailman.qth.net> Sent: Monday, December 07, 2009 8:34 AM Subject: [Elecraft] OT--A Suggestion About Printers > Hi All, > > I don't know how many of you share my frustration about > printing needs, but I find it to be a fairly expensive > process. I've been using an HP printer that is wireless for > about 3 years, and it does a very nice job. However, it is > a constant battle as those printer cartridges don't seem to > last all that long. I try to keep things like my K3 manual, > and accessories, updated in a notebook, along with all the > firmware updates, etc. Often something you print off has > some color in it, and the color cartridges seem to go really > fast! Replacements are very expensive for just about all > makes and models, even at my favorite supplier--Costco! I > think printers have become like safety razors--cheap to buy > on the front end, but very expensive to keep properly > supplied. > > As I indicated above, a lot of what comes off the internet > has color in it, but printing it in black and white would > not be a very significant loss in most cases. I know you > can set your printer to do just black and white--at least > most of them--but that does tend to be something of a pain > in the neck when you are just trying to quickly print off a > couple of pages, etc. You can also set the resolution > lower, to save ink, but how many of us take the time to do > it? Then there is the constant (or seemingly so) prompting > you get that one cartridge or another is running low. Some > printers has 4 or 5 different color cartridges, and they > never really seem to deplete at the same rate. > > A while back I started investigating laser printers, and > found that one model (wireless) by Brother was very highly > rated. This is the model HL-5370DW. Consumer Reports gave > it a very favorable review, as did a couple of computer > magazines. It's black and white only, but I don't think I > care about color, and I can always use my HP for that. Best > of all, the cost per copy was estimated at just over one > cent per copy, versus 5 or 6 cents per copy on most ink jet > models. On my HP, I pay about $90 for a combo cartridge > package that will maybe get me between 500 and 1000 > copies--if I'm lucky! That may seem like a lot of copies, > but if you have kids, it isn't!!!!! Besides, I think those > "estimates" are very optimistic. A high capacity cartridge > for the Brother laser model, costs about $80 (on Amazon), > and will supposedly deliver 8,000 copies! I take that > estimate with a grain of salt as well, but clearly that is > miles cheaper than for an inkjet printer. There are > "aftermarket" suppliers that are even a lot cheaper, but I > don't know whether those are of sufficient quality or not. > Eventually you have to replace the drum on a laser printer, > but those are supposedly good for at least 25,000 copies, so > I don't expect to have to worry about that for a long time. > > Anyway, I looked into prices for the HL-5370DW, and the best > price I could find for it was about $220 (it "lists" for > about $250). Not bad, but I deferred. This past weekend, > Office Depot advertised it for $180! I couldn't find an > internet price anywhere close to that. Since the printer is > wireless capable, I decided it would be a good bet at that > price, so I picked one up. I like it! The setup process to > get it "hooked" into my WiFi system was somewhat more > convaluted than with my HP, but it now works fine, and I > have everyone's computer directed to it. I may be kidding > myself, but I think I'm saving money already! > > Another big benefit was speed. My HP is supposedly pretty > high end, but still it seems to go at a snail's pace--even > on much of the straight black and white stuff. I just > printed out Jim Brown's (K9YC) treatise on RFI (61 pages) in > less than 2 minutes! If I had done that on my HP I would > still be waiting. Also, I did it "duplex", so only 31 > pieces of paper, and it will go nicely into a soft binder > for future reference. Unfortunately, this is a topic I need > to refer to frequently here because of an issue that has > arisen, and going back and forth to my computer was getting > to be a pain. I also like to print off pertinent topics in > the new ARRL Handbook instead of lugging that 5 pound > monster around all the time. Also, there is so much great > info on the internet, and sometimes you really need "hard > copy" to comfortably read it. > > Anyway, FWIW, I think this is a much better way to go if you > do much printing at all. You can always supplement with a > much cheaper inkjet printer for those times when you have to > have color, and even the cheaper inkjets these days are > pretty darn good on color. Many of the cheaper ones also > function as copiers, scanners, and fax machines too--they > are just SLOW! I just think that perhaps as much as 95% of > most printing needs don't really need color, and I firmly > believe HP and Canon and other manufacturers have been > milking us dry selling us color capable printers. It might > take me a year or two to recoup my investment, but in the > meantime I can at least enjoy the incredibly faster speed > from the laser printer. > > Hopefully, some of you will think this post has been > worthwhile. > > Dave W7AQK > > > > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 4667 (20091207) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 4667 (20091207) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
