Cheap home printer

[C240Sport97]

looking for a low cost high quality home printer for very occasional use.

Double sided printing and wireless printing required, but nothing fancy needed, not even colour.

suggestions and recommendations much appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[whitenemesis]

They are pretty damned good these days and really cheap, from £15-20 upwards .. I have a Canon, does everything including scanning IIRC about £80

It's the genuine ink that really stings, £80 to replace all the cartridges! You can buy 3rd party cartridges but they never perform as well as OE and in some instances the printer will reject them as faulty..

Bottom line initial purchase is cheap, ongoing costs high

 

[MercedesDriver]

I've learned over the years that cheap printers actually make the most expensive prints because of ludicrously expensive inks.
I have settled with Epson ET2500 for last couple of years, print (double side printing with manual page turning), copy, scan, wireless, colour and ink is topped up from bottles into a reservoir. Ink bottles 140ml are ~£10 and last ages and I print a lot of B/W on daily basis.

 

[whitenemesis]

Available from John Lewis from £162, nice!
Epson EcoTank ET-2600 Three-In-One Wi-Fi Printer with High Capacity Integrated Ink Tank System & 2 Years Ink Supply Included at John Lewis & Partners

 

[c63chris]

Available from John Lewis from £162, nice!
Epson EcoTank ET-2600 Three-In-One Wi-Fi Printer with High Capacity Integrated Ink Tank System & 2 Years Ink Supply Included at John Lewis & Partners

I’ve got one of those, the ET-3750 model, had it for ages and it works really well. Ink lasts forever. Came with a spare set and still on the original inks. It’s cost per page printed you should look at as a lot will sell you a really cheap printer whose replacement ink is much more than the cost of the printer. Very naughty!

 

[MercedesDriver]

And these are the best ink prices I've found for that printer Epson Expression ET-2500 EcoTank Ink Cartridges for Ink Jet Printer / Fax / Copier | Staples®

 

[E53AMG]

I use HP just bought a 3831 for my Mother. It comes with 5 months free ink and HP Instant ink costs £1.99 per month to run. The system posts replacement ink to you before the old runs out so a really lazy cost effective solution. If your ink dries out due to low usage HP sort it and when my old printer failed 2 years after purchase they replaced it FOC.

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

 

[GeeJayW]

The last time we had an Epson printer, it made great prints. However because we didn't use it often, the print head dried out and no amount of cleaning would sort it. So the inks are cheaper, but with HP ink, a new cartridge includes a new print head. The inks are where they make their money though.

 

[whitenemesis]

For a regular or daily use the Epson EcoTank would be the choice but for occasional or very occasional (as per the OP) a Canon or HP may be better?

 

[optimusprime]

C240 Its ok going cheap but its the ink you need to price up before you purchase a printer.
I must say the HP Envy 4520 is the best printer i have ever owned .In 3 years i have owned it its never jammed up once and it runs on 2 inks -tr colour and black ink cost from ebay for original inks are around the £20 mark . You wont regret having one of these ,,trust me

 

[Smart320]

Use our HP printer only very occasionally, it's an HP about 3 years old ,been very reliable, better than the Lexmark and Epson I had previously. The key thing is it always works, never had a problem with the ink jets, do not worry about a few pounds for cartridges. ASounds like their new models are also excellent, I would certainly replace it with another HP.

 

[AltonAnt]

If you do not need colour then get a laser. Brother are pretty good for £100 - I have this and can't fault it - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B077PY79TM/?tag=amazon0e9db-21

Unlike an inkjet this is likely to work if used occasionally and not get blocked up with ink.

 

[190]

looking for a low cost high quality home printer for very occasional use.

Maybe they have improved but my experience has also been that very occasional use with an inkjet printer doesn't work because the ink dries up and blocks the heads. I threw away my last inkjet and bought a small HP mono laser printer which will always work when needed even after 6 months lay up.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B079Z44VZ7/?tag=amazon0e9db-21

 

[c63chris]

Maybe they have improved but my experience has also been that very occasional use with an inkjet printer doesn't work because the ink dries up and blocks the heads. I threw away my last inkjet and bought a small HP mono laser printer which will always work when needed even after 6 months lay up.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/HP-LaserJet-M15w-Printer-White/dp/B079Z44VZ7/ref=sr_1_4?crid=2T2AMB9NU5002&keywords=hp+laser+printer&qid=1567427157&s=computers&sprefix=hp+laser,computers,142&sr=1-4

To be fair that used to be the case and I had a Lexmark that was terrible for that but replaced it with a HP and that was fine. The current Epson I have is quite happy not printing for ages as well

 

[Scoops1972]

Another recommendation for the HP Envy 4520 Series here. I was skeptical about the HP Instant Ink service, but as already said the ink usage is monitored, and new cartridges are posted through your letterbox when low levels are detected. I am a low user, and can print 15 pages/month for FREE, so I have never paid for ink in all the time I've had the printer. A page can be one word on a sheet, or a full A4 colour photo. The allowance does not roll over into following months, but you can pay for extra pages at a reasonable price, although you may benefit from upgrading to a paid plan if it were to happen on a regular basis. It's also a photocopier, a wireless scanner, and can print both sides of the paper without having to manually feed the paper back in. It has a concealed paper loading tray under the printer, so doesn't get full of dust. The only downside is that it's a little bulky compared to some printers, but not so much so when compared to other 3 in 1's.

 

[C240Sport97]

I found this, but doesn’t say whether ink cartridges are included.

https://store.hp.com/UKStore/Merch/Product.aspx?id=M2U85B&opt=BHC&sel=PRN

 

[C240Sport97]

I am a low user, and can print 15 pages/month for FREE, so I have never paid for ink in all the time I've had the printer.

I probably print 15 pages a year.

Have you had replacement cartridges?

 

[190]

Cartridges are always included with a new inkjet printer but they are often not the same as the ones you buy and have very little ink in them.

 

[LTD]

I use a Brother 2350 at home for exactly the same purpose you are looking for.

Sits on a deep sleep most of the time and performs well when required.

Initial toner is good for approx 700 pages so it’ll last you for ages and ages

 

[zipdip]

Well the Samsung M2026 at £70 on ebay will do all you want,little point in spending more for occasional use.