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Printer etc. for only occasional use wanted. What are my options?

Like the OP I'm in the market for a replacement for an HP Envy 4500. A set of inks costs about the same as the printer did!

Still undecided here, Mike, because my local (4min's away) Argos has 2 inkjets (£40 & £45) and come with SOME ink. Don't know what your usage is (erratic and small like ours?) but the ink thing is silly; the cost of the Envy inks doubled in price last year, but it seems our problem is a malfunction, not blockage.
I'd be interested in your thoughts here, as most fishies here are recommending mono laser machines at 3 x the price and I wonder if that outlay is justified by the small usage a new one will get.
 
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Some of the more expensive inkjets will last without blockages but they manage this by running regular cleaning cycles wasting your precious ink.
 
Some of the more expensive inkjets will last without blockages but they manage this by running regular cleaning cycles wasting your precious ink.

Just the cleaning process on the Envy 4500 used huge blocks of ink; unnecessarily i.m.o. How on Earth can the constituents of printer ink or the cassettes cost so much and have such an enormous inflation element. Conspiracy theories abound, esp. the 'con' in conspiracy ! ;)
 
Just the cleaning process on the Envy 4500 used huge blocks of ink; unnecessarily i.m.o. How on Earth can the constituents of printer ink or the cassettes cost so much and have such an enormous inflation element. Conspiracy theories abound, esp. the 'con' in conspiracy ! ;)
It’s the Gillette business model. Charge very little for the hardware, and milk it on the consumables.
 
Just the cleaning process on the Envy 4500 used huge blocks of ink; unnecessarily i.m.o. How on Earth can the constituents of printer ink or the cassettes can cost so much and have such an enormous inflation element. Conspiracy theories abound, esp. the 'con' in conspiracy ! ;)
The printer is a loss leader, the ink is where all the profit lies.

Ink has chemicals in it to clean/lube the heads, that’s why it’s a good idea to print the odd page on a regular basis, the newer ones do a clean cycle because so many people don’t do regular prints and the heads got clogged, cut down on their help desk calls. Running the maintenance routines on older printers when the heads clogged can chew through loads of ink too. That's why when lasers became much more affordable a few years ago they got more popular with home users who were fed up with their inkjet printers clogging. You needing a scanner bumps up the price for a laser, the little Canon all in ones are OK and often on sale in the usual shops.
 
Sticking a piece of tape over the print head when not in use helps greatly against that.

Interesting; can you elaborate on that? To me, sticky (?) tape seems counter productive, but is this to safeguard against dust or does it simply prevent ink congealing at the jets?
 
Interesting; can you elaborate on that? To me, sticky (?) tape seems counter productive, but is this to safeguard against dust or does it simply prevent ink congealing at the jets?
Yes, sticky. I've used electrical tape. New ink cartridges come with a protective plastic film over the head, so I figured replacing this would keep it fresh, and it worked. I guess it prevents the ink drying and clogging the nozzles.
 
Used to use cling film to keep pulled carts/heads fresh on inkjets before lasers became the norm, but not used tape cos you’d expect the gluey stuff to knacker things - masking tape decorators use might do the job.
 
It’s the Gillette business model. Charge very little for the hardware, and milk it on the consumables.

Tassimo etc coffee pod machines the same. That’s why they stopped promoting the machine sales for Father’s Day etc cos they needed people that primarily really wanted the machine and would buy the pods for several months. The gift receivers using it half a dozen times drive no profit short or long term. Not sure that printer manufacturers can encourage us to print more…. so it’s an interesting equation.
 
Used to use cling film to keep pulled carts/heads fresh on inkjets before lasers became the norm, but not used tape cos you’d expect the gluey stuff to knacker things - masking tape decorators use might do the job.
Masking tape often leaves a nasty residue if left for a long time. I imagine clingfilm would work.
 
Get a Second hand mono laser with plenty of life left in the cartridge for £50.
What’s not to like!

Sounds good. Can you tell if the cartridge has life left and how much?

I think we lose track of what a miracle home printers are. I have the same as Mike and not being organised I run out of the very expensive ink at the most inconvenient times so a laser for £50 is tempting…
 
Sounds good. Can you tell if the cartridge has life left and how much?

I think we lose track of what a miracle home printers are. I have the same as Mike and not being organised I run out of the very expensive ink at the most inconvenient times so a laser for £50 is tempting…
Nearly all laser printers have a login like a Router, it shows the amount of Toner and Drum life left, number of pages printer etc. The no networked USB only ones you can print a report as @cctaylor says, others have some software monitoring you can install on your computer.
 
Sounds good. Can you tell if the cartridge has life left and how much?

I think we lose track of what a miracle home printers are. I have the same as Mike and not being organised I run out of the very expensive ink at the most inconvenient times so a laser for £50 is tempting…

If you have access before buying, but often an ad will say what the status is (just have to hope they are honest, which they were in my case).
 
I have a Canon MP470, which is little used since the kids left schooling, but even though it only gets used two or three times a year, it always prints clearly, straight away, no drying out at all.
Can't speak for later printers, though.
 
Another vote for a mono laser. They really are the best choice for occasional use and print better too.

That said, prices for entry level models do seem to have shot up since I last looked.
 
Another vote for a mono laser. They really are the best choice for occasional use and print better too.

That said, prices for entry level models do seem to have shot up since I last looked.
Blame Covid, a £40 mono laser in 2019 is now £100
 
My mono laser is an HP M15w by the way. Quite compact. It definitely works with AirPrint though I might have had a little trouble setting it up, if I recall correctly, as I rarely deal with that sort of stuff.
 


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