What Printer?

[sutoka]

Looking some recommendations for a new printer. Bit of a backstory is that I was doing lot of design work and plans up until 2018 but outsource that now or send it through Email or Dropbox so mostly photos and documents for admin.

Currently have five printers in my home office (yes five) two A3 Canon Pixma IX6850 AND iP8750 both temperamental I like the individual cartridges and you can buy five sets for £15 which last a few weeks. Then I have a Canon PRO photo printer which I don't use much anymore. Also have a cheap £60 Canon all in one for documents and another older MG4250 I bought about a decade ago at a car boot for a tenner which has been worked to death. Again I used it for documents but it uses the FINE cartridges. which are £50 a set . Also have a Canon 400 scanner. Over a decade ago I had a few HP Officejets which weren't the greatest but maybe they've improved.

Basically looking to get rid of my printer collection and have one very good A4 wifi printer possibly an all in one. Looking at the Canon Megatank printers around the £200 mark but went to Currys and they only have the cheap non-wifi one on display. One thing I've found is that build quality of the Canons has nosedived over the last few years, cheap flimsy plastic, even the £200+ models compared to the Epson models they had on display looked very flimsy.

Basically has anyone got a Canon Megatank or any other suggestions, looked online and there are a few models and very few differences between them. The two below seem to have a 1-2 page per minute difference

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/canon-pixma-g352...

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/canon-pixma-g650...

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/7489631?clickSR=sl...

Any suggestions very much welcome

Edited by sutoka on Sunday 19th June 06:15

[Griffith4ever]

What about a colour laser? I print docs with colour photos (installation guides) for my business in high quantities (a ream of A4 can last as little as a few weeks), label sheets, and a lot of double sides printing. And it is amazingly fast.

Going laser brings you into the world of office printers, full duplex, multiple paper trays, and then you can buy aftermarket toner.

I have an OKI laser . It cost me £70 from an office clearance company. Toner for all four carts costs £110 and I get through two lots in a year (I say ish as I change colours as they run out so it's hard to keep track). I've also spent a couple of hundred on a developer drum in the space of 5 years.

I had enough of blocked printer nozzles and cartidges, ink spillages , etc. Lasers can be messy if you are not careful with the toner, but overall I've found it to be a much less hands-on experience and it simply churns out the work.

Edited by Griffith4ever on Sunday 19th June 09:57

[8bit]

Colour lasers won't print on photo paper will they?

I bought an Epson XP-970 last year, replaced an ancient Canon Pixma ip4200 which still produced great photo prints but we needed a networked printer. A network to USB print server was going to cost more than half of the cost of the Epson. It prints up to A3, scans up to A4, has wired and wireless connectivity, prints on printable CDs/DVDs and has separate ink tanks.

[Griffith4ever]

8bit said:

Colour lasers won't print on photo paper will they?

I bought an Epson XP-970 last year, replaced an ancient Canon Pixma ip4200 which still produced great photo prints but we needed a networked printer. A network to USB print server was going to cost more than half of the cost of the Epson. It prints up to A3, scans up to A4, has wired and wireless connectivity, prints on printable CDs/DVDs and has separate ink tanks.

Yes they will.

Of course it depends on the quality you want. I print photos on bog standard paper. Not going to win an award, but they are very very good and plenty good enough for manuals. Mine has a high Res mode which I've never used as standard is so good.

Just Google laser photo paper. First result on Amazon....

KOALA Double Sided Glossy Laser Photo Paper A4, 200gsm, 100 Sheets. Suitable for Laser Printers, for Printing Photos, Brochures, Covers, Certificates, Booklets, Flyers, Leaflets, Cards, Calendars

[8bit]

Thanks - been years since I looked at laser printers, I'll bear that in mind for next time.

[Griffith4ever]

8bit said:

Thanks - been years since I looked at laser printers, I'll bear that in mind for next time.

Indeed - I got thoroughly fed up with ink and all the hassle that comes with it. Lasers are great. Mine can even print flourescents with the right cartridges!

£60 off ebay with refreshed toner, developer drums etc. They had loads for sale at the time. That's with three trays (bottom two take a whole 500 sheet ream), full duplex.

The trick is to keep an eye out for the expensive bits (drums) on ebay etc - people seem to steal them from their office and sell them :-)

[8bit]

Can't say I've ever had any hassle with inkjets, maybe just got lucky though. Only downside is they don't last as long as you'd think.

[sutoka]

Thanks for the recommendations so far. I've had a lot of experience with OKI and Brother Laser printers in my previous job, can't say I was too impressed, but then resources had you shaking the toner for a week instead of ordering new ones.

Anyone any idea what the difference between these two Megatank models is.

[mmm-five]

sutoka said:

Thanks for the recommendations so far. I've had a lot of experience with OKI and Brother Laser printers in my previous job, can't say I was too impressed, but then resources had you shaking the toner for a week instead of ordering new ones.

Anyone any idea what the difference between these two Megatank models is.

The only difference is the print speed.

• 9ppm for the 'low-speed' G3520
• 11ppm for the 'high-speed' G3560

From experience of our (non-megatank) Pixma printers, I'd consider an Epson Ecotank instead (we have the white version of the below...simply because it was £30 cheaper at the time, although it now seems to be at a higher price)
e.g. https://www.currys.co.uk/products/epson-ecotank-et...

Edited by mmm-five on Wednesday 22 June 09:35

[sutoka]

Bought the G3520 and it's going back, an A4 colour print takes 5 minutes and the print quality for a £200 printer is absolutely shocking, blacks are faded and the colours are very muddy.

[sutoka]

8bit said:

Colour lasers won't print on photo paper will they?

I bought an Epson XP-970 last year, replaced an ancient Canon Pixma ip4200 which still produced great photo prints but we needed a networked printer. A network to USB print server was going to cost more than half of the cost of the Epson. It prints up to A3, scans up to A4, has wired and wireless connectivity, prints on printable CDs/DVDs and has separate ink tanks.

Think I'm going to jump from Canon and get this

https://www.johnlewis.com/epson-expression-photo-x...

[8bit]

sutoka said:

Bought the G3520 and it's going back, an A4 colour print takes 5 minutes and the print quality for a £200 printer is absolutely shocking, blacks are faded and the colours are very muddy.

That's a shame Are you sure you had the proper colour profiles installed?

sutoka said:

8bit said:

Colour lasers won't print on photo paper will they?

I bought an Epson XP-970 last year, replaced an ancient Canon Pixma ip4200 which still produced great photo prints but we needed a networked printer. A network to USB print server was going to cost more than half of the cost of the Epson. It prints up to A3, scans up to A4, has wired and wireless connectivity, prints on printable CDs/DVDs and has separate ink tanks.

Think I'm going to jump from Canon and get this

https://www.johnlewis.com/epson-expression-photo-x...

Good shout. I printed a bunch of A3 photos (takes about 3 mins each I think) for my portfolio book for a trade stand I did at a car show last weekend, very happy with them. You do need to get the official Epson drivers from their website though - if you let Windows install drivers automatically it won't get the colour profiles and all the colours will be off.

There's no A3 paper tray so you have to feed them in from the rear and that has to be done one at a time (for any paper size) and the standard (not XL) ink tanks don't last very long printing in full colour/quality on A3 photo/luster paper but beyond that it's a great printer/scanner/copier.

[liner33]

The Canon megatanks are a waste of money imo , I've had no end of issues with mine and youtube is full of disgruntled owners , if you get 100 colour prints out of one you are doing well

[mmm-five]

sutoka said:

Think I'm going to jump from Canon and get this

https://www.johnlewis.com/epson-expression-photo-x...

It's a decent printer, but not one of the continuous ink system printers, so you'll be buying a lot more (and expensive) ink.

If that's not a problem, then go for it.

If you are going to do anything 'photo' on it, then I'd recommend getting some heavier glossy/silk/satin photo paper - and you may find the professional stuff is cheaper than Epson's own. I use Marrutt paper myself.

[CourtAgain]

Depending on the weight / thickness of the paper, it can play havoc with the paper path.

HP PageWide printers are worth a look-in. 477DW's start at £100,
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284834038822?hash=item4...

inks last a while, and even the refills are fairly cheap

[sgrimshaw]

mmm-five said:

It's a decent printer, but not one of the continuous ink system printers, so you'll be buying a lot more (and expensive) ink.

Possible to buy a CISS for it though:

https://www.cityinkexpress.co.uk/ciss/epson/xp-970...

that one uses Epson Ink, cheaper one's using non OEM ink are available on eBay

[mmm-five]

sgrimshaw said:

Possible to buy a CISS for it though:

https://www.cityinkexpress.co.uk/ciss/epson/xp-970...

that one uses Epson Ink, cheaper one's using non OEM ink are available on eBay

I have had one (TruColour CISS pigment ink version for my Epson Photo R1800), along with the Printer Potty for soaking up the waste ink...and I'd still recommend one that already has it built in as it was a right PITA.

In the end I went for a Marrutt refillable cartridge system instead...which was much more reliable.