Printers; Cannon vs HP vs Brother

[clonomaniac]

What would you recommend for an All in One printer for home office use?

I am considering between Cannon Pixma MX870 or similar and HP Officejet Pro 8600.

Any suggestions in terms of cheaper cartiridges, print quality, wi-fi connectivity, customer service etc?

I will probably be printing 10 pages per day, no more than 100 pages per week, on an average. Probably wont be doing much photo printing.

 

[dmclone]

I made the switch a couple of years ago from colored ink to b/w laser and couldn't be happier. I got a cheap brother.

 

[clonomaniac]

I made the switch a couple of years ago from colored ink to b/w laser and couldn't be happier. I got a cheap brother.

I know you will laugh at me on this but how often do you change the toner on a laser brother printer? I am extremely new at laser printers. What are all the benefits of bw laser as opposed to color inkjet as opposed to just the obvious?

 

[ISUAgronomist]

Laser toner for my Brother printer is rated to last ~8,000 pages. It seems to last somewhere around that long. ($75 for Brother brand / ~$45 for the off brand I like). I'll never go back to a inkjet printer. I have an older all-in-one for scanning.

 

[Agkistrodon]

I've had good luck with Brother printers. One annoying thing they do, however, is put a sensor on the toner cartridges that tells you when your cartridge is empty and prevents you from printing more, even though you will often still have enough toner to print many more pages. For most models I believe there is a work-around where you can cover the sensor with a piece of tape.

 

[clonomaniac]

Thank you so much.

I cannot thank Chris William enough for keeping this site available to Cyclone fans for free, so we can talk about anything and everything.

Chris William and Co. thanks again!!!

 

[DJSteve]

While I think inkjets have improved and consumable cost has decreased somewhat over the past few years, I still don't think I'd ever go back after having a laser.

Compact color lasers are still pretty uncommon, however Samsung has some interesting stuff. My parents got one about a year ago on my recommendation and it's performed well. Samsung now has one that is a compact color laser + scanner--I just ordered one for my gf on Friday. Newegg has them for $89.99 shipped through today: Newegg.com - SAMSUNG CLX-3185 MFC / All-In-One Up to 16 ppm in A4 (17 ppm in Letter) Speed 2400 x 600 dpi Color Print Quality Color Laser Printer

Rated toner life on a laser varies by manufacturer, and how many prints you actually get depends on page coverage. Normally text output from a laser will be sharper, but inkjet will outperform on photos.

Lasers also don't have nozzles to get clogged, so the printer will work fine after sitting for days/weeks/etc. Seemed like when I had an inkjet I always wasted a TON of ink running cleaning cycles.

 

[intrepid27]

I'm on my 2nd HP all-in-one in the past 4 years and it will be my last. Noisey, shakes the table to pieces and takes forever to warm up. Customer service is excellent if you are plan that pays for it.

I don't use the fax feature but the scan feature is easy to use. Most research I've done leans me towards Brother for my next one.

 

[Wesley]

Brother, buy an HP Cannon.

 

[cychhosis]

I made the switch a couple of years ago from colored ink to b/w laser and couldn't be happier. I got a cheap brother.

I have one too, but what does this have to do with printers?

 

[cytech]

I just ordered a new all in one for my office from Newegg today. I ordered the Xerox 3300 Phaser. I was looking at the brother 8480dn too but ended up with the Xerox mainly because of the slow start time on the brother. Toner was cheaper with the brother but went this route anyway. I also say alot of reviews that said don't use third party toners with brothers because of issues with the gears breaking. So I didn't factor that in.

 

[jbhtexas]

Just another suggestion...

I bought a Xerox Phaser 6180DN (built-in duplexer and networked) color laser printer four years ago. Newegg had them on sale for a crazy price. I was going to get a b/w only, but for the price, I couldn't resist color. I do a good deal of two-sided printing, so I wanted a duplexer.

(In fact, Newegg has the 6280DN on sale right now for a great price).
Newegg.com - XEROX Phaser 6280DN Workgroup Up to 31 ppm 600 x 600 dpi Color Print Quality Color Laser Printer

This printer has worked great for me, does awesome color photographs (with the PCL driver - for whatever reason, the Postscript driver has some issues with color photos). I do alot more photographs and color than I thought I would.

I get several thousand pages out of the cartridges, but I print quite a bit of stuff that has much more than the 5% coverage that the toner life specs usually use. You can get toner refills for the 6180 on ebay for about $40, and the cartridges can be refilled at least a couple of times before they wear out.

Whatever model you choose, get laser if you can afford the up front cost. You'll easily get your money back in ink savings, and no clogged jet/smearing headaches. I will never own another inkjet printer. I bought a cheap Scanjet on ebay for scanning.

 

[Mr Janny]

Thank you so much.

I cannot thank Chris William enough for keeping this site available to Cyclone fans for free, so we can talk about anything and everything.

Chris William and Co. thanks again!!!

His name is actually William S. Chris. "Billy" to his friends.

The "S" is for Syclones.

 

[livinthedream]

I have the HP 8500 pro wireless series.....It prints fast, Like 5 seconds per page. I had the non wireless, and gave that one away and got the wireless. Its nice to not to have to tether to the printer, I can print from anywhere in the house. I give the hp printers a thumbs up, but my point is get the wireless....

 

[CYdTracked]

I bought a used Lexmark B/W printer back in 2002 and still have not changed the toner in it. I don't do a lot of printing but the good thing about about a laser printer is that toner will not dry up on you like ink cartridges do.

 

[ruxCYtable]

I've always been a fan of Canon products and thought they gave you a lot for your money. I will say that my last Canon printer didn't last as long as I'd hoped.

After that we had an HP and it was just ... OK.

We currently have a Brother wireless printer and it is decent albeit a little flaky. Seems to lose network connectivity and we have to reboot it every few days but I guess you could say it is OK as well.

Wow, I am really not helping here at all.

 

[mfelske]

I love my Canon. All previous printer's I've had have been disappointing, but the Canon I picked up recently is very nice.

 

[fccy]

I'm a HP guy for printers