wrong forum, wanted to post in general discussion

[Lord Zombiac]

OK, I'm fed up with Printers.
My HPs always sucked and the cartridges got to be more expensive than the printers themselves.
I bought the kodak because it advertised cheap cartridges-- which in reality are only cheap in comparisson to newer cartridges, and are actually about the same cost as cartridges used to be.
I want an inexpensive printer that can be relied on.
Thus far, HPs and the Kodak give me error messages about papers jams when there are absolutely no paper jams. The Kodak is actually worse-- it will not feed a page strait whatsoever. It is garbage.
But here is the main problem I have with printers that drives me crazy!
In recent years if you run out of color cartridges, you can only print a limited quanitity of black only prints before it refuses to allow you to print!
That sucks!
I used to be able to print in black until that cartridge was gone too!
I do not like this!
So, the features I want are:
1. feed the paper reliably and do not report paper jams when there are no paper jams.
2. Allow me to print in black only until I can afford to replace your stupid color cartridges which I do not need to print text.
3. The cost of cartidges must not exsceed the cost of the printer itself!

[I'm Murrin]

You could have just deleted it, you know. You can't now, because I've replied to it. I can. But I won't. Mwahahaha.

[Vraith]

I've only had HP's except one Lexmark.
I never had a problem with paper feeding/jams except very rarely, and usually even then it was a problem with the paper stack/load itself.

On the can't print black when color is out: most printers nowadays are like that. There is an explanation for that, according to the makers: printer heads will clog and be destroyed without the ink moisture. whether this is true or not, or whether the could design differently so that problem doesn't happen, i can't say.

On cartridge costs: some Lexmark models have very reasonable ink prices, but it looks like they're phasing them out. OTOH, there are refill kits [haven't tried them and supposedly there are potential problems...but you strike me as a risky fellow]...and, even better, if there is a Walgreens in your area, they can refill many cartridges from many popular brands for a reasonble price [my last hp refill cost me 12 bucks instead of @30 for new cartridge]. There may be others that do this [I think my wife said "best buy" will do it?] so look around.

[wayfriend]

If we're talking cyborg printers, it will be in the right forum.

[aliantha]

Hi, LZ!

You could try an internet search for replacement cartridges for your printer model -- there may be a no-name company that sells refilled cartridges. Seems to me that I bought some at Office Depot not too long ago.

If you mostly print text, you might think about getting a second printer that's a laser printer. I've got a Dell (yeah, I know, but bear with me) that I picked up for a song, new in the box, at a yard sale years and years ago. Dell's proprietary toner cartridges for this printer go for $70 or so, but I bought a recycled/refilled one on Amazon at Christmastime for $17.

It really does suck that ink cartridges are as expensive as a new printer....

[I'm Murrin]

OK, now time to make this topic confusing.

[Orlion]

Printer won't work? Where is it from, Ohio? (yesssss... sppreadsss the hatesssss we willzzzzz)...

[Lord Zombiac]

Thanks, everyone. I don't know if it addresses my specific issues, but according to my research Brother is the most reliable make of printer on the market... does anyone own one?

[Lord Zombiac]

I found a dot matrix brother in a dumpster on UT campus in the early 90's and it worked great, btw, so I know brother is a good brand.

[aliantha]

I used to have a Brother printer. Seemed to work okay, as I recall. Good luck!

[deer of the dawn]

We do lots and lots of printing and it just seems like inkjets suck generally, while lasers are the way to go. They've come down in price so much, a color laser printer costs what an inkjet cost 10 years ago.

We tried refilling inkjet cartridges, but they just are never the same after the first use. It may be, however, that the extremes of African climate just take too much of a toll on the delicate structures of an ink cartridge, especially in dry season; but winters in north America can be just as dry inside some homes, depending on the heat you are using.

So my advice is to fork over some extra cash at the beginning and go with laser. We use HPs for the most part, Bob was having trouble with one and the diagnostic printout sheet showed that the printer had printed nearly half a million sheets of paper. He figured it doesn't owe anyone anything at that point!

[aliantha]

I agree, DotD -- personal laser printers are the best option these days. As I said above, I bought the one I'm using now at a yard sale. The guy who was selling them was some kind of broker who procured Dell computers for businesses; Dell was running a special at the time where if you bought a specific model of computer, you got the laser printer for free, and his customers didn't want the printers, so he was unloading them at the yard sale for $35 or $40 apiece. I've now had it for six or seven years and it's still working fine (I hope I didn't just jinx it!). I don't print a ton of stuff, but most of what I do print is b&w, so the laser printer works just fine for me. And yeah, I've had zero luck with refilling inkjet cartridges myself.

LZ, I meant to mention that I can think of two reasons why your paper is jamming. One is if you're putting too much blank paper in the hopper; try loading fewer sheets. The other is that if it's damp, the paper might be swelling up, which will cause a big-time jam. I had that problem last summer when I left the windows open during a particularly rainy stretch. Once I closed the windows, turned on the a/c, and dried out the paper, it worked fine. Can't imagine dampness is a problem for you, tho.

[Lord Zombiac]

I agree, DotD -- personal laser printers are the best option these days. As I said above, I bought the one I'm using now at a yard sale. The guy who was selling them was some kind of broker who procured Dell computers for businesses; Dell was running a special at the time where if you bought a specific model of computer, you got the laser printer for free, and his customers didn't want the printers, so he was unloading them at the yard sale for $35 or $40 apiece. I've now had it for six or seven years and it's still working fine (I hope I didn't just jinx it!). I don't print a ton of stuff, but most of what I do print is b&w, so the laser printer works just fine for me. And yeah, I've had zero luck with refilling inkjet cartridges myself.

LZ, I meant to mention that I can think of two reasons why your paper is jamming. One is if you're putting too much blank paper in the hopper; try loading fewer sheets. The other is that if it's damp, the paper might be swelling up, which will cause a big-time jam. I had that problem last summer when I left the windows open during a particularly rainy stretch. Once I closed the windows, turned on the a/c, and dried out the paper, it worked fine. Can't imagine dampness is a problem for you, tho.

would that it were so. my hp did that, but still jammed regularly. This horrible kodak printed lopsided out of the box and now just plain won't do anything.

[aliantha]

I read this week that Kodak is going to stop making a bunch of consumer products. Maybe this is an indication why....

[Avatar]

I would have thought the LoresRaat would be the place...

--A

[peter]

I know shit about printers so there's not much point in my posting a reply to this thread wrongly posted in the 'general discussion' when it was supossed to be posted in the 'general discussion'.

[aliantha]

There you go again, Av, trying to take posts away from my forum...

(I thought the Loresraat might be best, too, but LZ said he wanted it in here. GenDisc does get more traffic, I think.)

[peter]

Yeah - but more doesn't always equate to better Ali!

[aliantha]

Yeah - but more doesn't always equate to better Ali!

You've got a point there...

[danlo]

well, I've lost the train of this thread (so it MUST be Gen. Disc.! ) Anyway, my huge HP Photosmart does everything, but I swear it pisses out half of the black ink on a regular basis...