Laser or Ink tank printer for home use?

[SHL]

Hi. Need recommendations on a 3-in-1 printer for home use - mainly photo copying text books, past exam papers etc. and occasional printing. I am considering the Epson Ink Tank L3050 after doing some research.

 

[Gaz{M}]

Anything ink based sucks, especially for infrequent home use. You will end up wasting most of the ink cleaning the print heads, and it ends up costing more.

Rather get a B&W laser printer, with cheapish refill toners available.

 

[OCP]

Anything ink based sucks, especially for infrequent home use. You will end up wasting most of the ink cleaning the print heads, and it ends up costing more.

Rather get a B&W laser printer, with cheapish refill toners available.

This x100

Get a mono laser for home and print color at shop when and if you need it.

 

[supersunbird]

Yeah, I have a 9 year old mono laser multifunction printer, only a second toner cartridge since 2017. Any ink printer would long ago have clogged up or dried out, in my opinion.

 

[bigboy529]

Epson ink tank L565 for the past 3 years or so and very very happy with it. Sometimes print a lot as in 50+ pages per day and at other times it stands for a month or 2 without any printing.
Since buying it I haven't had to replace ink, it still runs on the original bottles which I got with the printer. The ink is around R80 per bottle which isn't much considering how long it lasts. So far I spent more on paper than on ink, just bought the third box of paper the other day since owning this printer.
I'll never go for a traditional ink carterage printer again. Before I bought this I did a cost comparison and cost per print came in much cheaper than laser even though up front cost for the printer was very similar between this and laser.

 

[rodga]

Epson ink tank L565 for the past 3 years or so and very very happy with it. Sometimes print a lot as in 50+ pages per day and at other times it stands for a month or 2 without any printing.
Since buying it I haven't had to replace ink, it still runs on the original bottles which I got with the printer. The ink is around R80 per bottle which isn't much considering how long it lasts. So far I spent more on paper than on ink, just bought the third box of paper the other day since owning this printer.
I'll never go for a traditional ink carterage printer again. Before I bought this I did a cost comparison and cost per print came in much cheaper than laser even though up front cost for the printer was very similar between this and laser.

Same model and experience for me, think I'm also on 3 years as well, just filled the 2nd included black this week.

 

[Gaz{M}]

Same model and experience for me, think I'm also on 3 years as well, just filled the 2nd included black this week.

Ok I stand corrected.

I have an HP printer - which explains a lot.

Interesting that the ink tank system is better engineered then for infrequent use. Must have a different print head and delivery system design.

 

[Sinbad]

Ok I stand corrected.

I have an HP printer - which explains a lot.

Interesting that the ink tank system is better engineered then for infrequent use. Must have a different print head and delivery system design.

I bought a Canon inktank printer a few months ago. It definitely seems to do some kind of print head maintenance/dryoff/whatever after each print completes.
Previously I used a colour laser printer (samsung). It was insanely expensive. Over R4000 to replace the 4 toner cartridges, just under 4k if I used remanufactured/generics and the print quality was noticeably worse) and about 1000 pages per cartridge change.
The canon ink bottles are R160 each. Black is rated 7000 pages, and colours 6000. Even if it wastes some ink cleaning the head, it's still VASTLY cheaper than a laser. Like, a fraction of the cost.

 

[rodga]

Ok I stand corrected.

I have an HP printer - which explains a lot.

Interesting that the ink tank system is better engineered then for infrequent use. Must have a different print head and delivery system design.

Occasionally I have to run a printer head alignment and nozzle clean, but the ink is so cheap its a non issue for me

 

[bromster]

Thanks everyone. I'm going ink tank as well.

 

[ShloshMalosh]

Hi. Need recommendations on a 3-in-1 printer for home use - mainly photo copying text books, past exam papers etc. and occasional printing. I am considering the Epson Ink Tank L3050 after doing some research.

I have the L3060 inktank - Mainly used to print anything from 1 to 8 sewing patterns every other week, around 40 pages per pattern.

its been fine so far, no refil required yet. We've gone through a box of paper over about a year and no refil required as yet.

Cost was under 3k from Computermainia... googlethu for the best price, they are always on special. Epsom also runs a cash back now and then. Check their website (i missed the last one)

I cant complain, as it suits our needs

In my pre purchase research, i found that Ink tanks are recomended for "casual" printing. Lazer if you are gonna be printing all day everyday, and old inkjets... apparently they are cheap to buy and cost the same as a BMW out of warrantee to run... so they are a thing of the past

 

[bromster]

Ink tanks dry up the same way inkjets do. Laser is supposed to be better for infrequent printing from this perspective.

But the lower cost of ink tank overall still outweighs this imo.

 

[SHL]

I have the L3060 inktank - Mainly used to print anything from 1 to 8 sewing patterns every other week, around 40 pages per pattern.

its been fine so far, no refil required yet. We've gone through a box of paper over about a year and no refil required as yet.

Cost was under 3k from Computermainia... googlethu for the best price, they are always on special. Epsom also runs a cash back now and then. Check their website (i missed the last one)

I cant complain, as it suits our needs

In my pre purchase research, i found that Ink tanks are recomended for "casual" printing. Lazer if you are gonna be printing all day everyday, and old inkjets... apparently they are cheap to buy and cost the same as a BMW out of warrantee to run... so they are a thing of the past

I went with the Canon i-SENSYS MF237w 4-in-1 Mono Laser Printer.

I wasn't happy with the slow pace of the Epson ink tank and frequent ink flushing.

 

[MrJacques]

I tried refills for my inkjet and it didn't work. The quality was bad. I tried cleaning cycles, etc. I think it was cheap quality ink. The printer has a pretty decent scanner and scanning software, so I'm keeping it for that.

I've bough a monochrome laser printer now. Did some research on the cost of replacement toners before buying and if generic ones are available. Went with a more expensive one because the cheaper one's toners cost almost double what the printer costs.

The x amount of pages rating is usually at 5% coverage, which isn't a lot.