Printer option advice

[kavesh]

Hi all

I am in need of replacing my HP Officejet pro 8600 printer.

I have decided that a black only printer will suffice. I have heard that the laser printers are more economical to run in terms of toner replacement.

I am a small home office and do not do large volumes of printing.

Please can the guys in the know suggest some models that I can look at. There are so many options out there not to mention brands. I would like to stick to an established brand like HP for its sheer reliability. My faithful old printer gave me more than 8 years of trouble free printing.

Thank you in advance
Kavesh

[adrianh]

We have a Brother DCP-T150W inkjet that works very well. The nice thing about the printer is that it has those big refill tanks so its very cheap and easy to run.

Laser carts are just too expensive for bulk printing.

I will never go back to standard refill printers. We used to refill the carts ourselves but the carts eventually wore out.

[kavesh]

We have a Brother DCP-T150W inkjet that works very well. The nice thing about the printer is that it has those big refill tanks so its very cheap and easy to run.

Laser carts are just too expensive for bulk printing.

I will never go back to standard refill printers. We used to refill the carts ourselves but the carts eventually wore out.

Thanks for the response, I will research it. What does it cost to refill the tanks?

[adrianh]

I don't see the specific printer online but you can check out this website to see what the current mainstream printers are.

https://www.computermania.co.za/home/printers.html

[Blurock]

Do not look at the cost of a printer. The big companies will give printers away for free, as long as they can tie you in to buy ink exclusively from them. I have had good service from HP products, but the HP ink cartriges are imported and have become totally unaffordable.

I currently use an HP Officejet 3830 for my home office. I buy refilled cartridges from the Inky Shop at a fraction of the HP price. They have a loyalty programme that gives you further discounts. My last purchase for 2 black and 2 colour cartriges came to R440. I do quite a lot of printing, including contracts, business plans etc. Although it has been relatively quiet during lockdown, it is still a considerable number of prints. It may now be time for a refill again...

[kavesh]

Thanks for all the feedback, I settled for a HP laser 137fnw. Bought from Makro which included a free additional toner.

[kavesh]

What has your experience been with regards to the toner / ink in the printer when bought new?
In the past I would get at least half the print capacity that a full toner/ink would give.

With my new HP 137fnw laser, i was able to only print less than 100 pages. My previous printer was a officejet and I know it gave me half the prints.

I complained to HP and got a call from someone in Romania, who proceeded to tell me that HP does not sell direct in South Africa, even the HP stores are not theirs, which is even more bizarre. Further i was advised that all HP printers when purchased new has a setup toner which would give you maybe 10 pages of print which is really only for setup and not for general printing.

I am very curious to know what everyone else's experience has been.

[adrianh]

Many printers are sold cheap cheap today because the cartridge that comes with the printer is only 10% full. Its a common modern scam. Of course the new cartridge is chipped and costs as much as the printer does. This is exactly why we purchased a Brother printer with those huge refill tanks - You can buy the ink for 1/10th of the price from refill companies (no carts - no chips)

[kavesh]

Many printers are sold cheap cheap today because the cartridge that comes with the printer is only 10% full. Its a common modern scam. Of course the new cartridge is chipped and costs as much as the printer does. This is exactly why we purchased a Brother printer with those huge refill tanks - You can buy the ink for 1/10th of the price from refill companies (no carts - no chips)

What erks me is that they should tell customers that there is no toner in the printer, then at least one knows what you in for.

I had a call from the support consultant from HP who is based in Romania, and she said HP never had half full ink in their printers which is a blatant lie and i told her as such. Big corporates get away with too much these days and its not cool man.

[Blurock]

What erks me is that they should tell customers that there is no toner in the printer, then at least one knows what you in for.

I had a call from the support consultant from HP who is based in Romania, and she said HP never had half full ink in their printers which is a blatant lie and i told her as such. Big corporates get away with too much these days and its not cool man.

The manufacturers do not sell printers or copiers, they sell INK at exorbitant prices. When looking for a printer, first find out what the cost of an in/toner refill is before looking at any technical data or price of the printer/copier.

[Mike C]

The manufacturers do not sell printers or copiers, they sell INK at exorbitant prices. When looking for a printer, first find out what the cost of an in/toner refill is before looking at any technical data or price of the printer/copier.

Couldn't agree more!

[adrianh]

What erks me is that they should tell customers that there is no toner in the printer, then at least one knows what you in for.

I had a call from the support consultant from HP who is based in Romania, and she said HP never had half full ink in their printers which is a blatant lie and i told her as such. Big corporates get away with too much these days and its not cool man.

I think they say it comes with a "starter" cartridge ... or something to that effect.

[adrianh]

Thank G.d they don't make cars - You will get a new car with 1mm of tire tread and you can only buy their special tires at the same price as the car.

[Biz_With_Bruce]

Best option is the Epson Inktank, very economical and the ones that have wifi are great