What printer do you use?

[Larry]

I recently let my Laserjet go, and thought I would use this the HP Deskjet 3760 printer that I bought a few years ago, but never used. - to my mind i am disappointed. Had a neighbour who helped me out and had set it up to wifi. Had an important document went to print and now it won't recognise the black ink cartridge, which I have hardly used.

Already thinking what printer I should by next - as this one is a load of junk!

What do members here use - when it comes to printing?

[jchuzi]

Before you ditch the printer, consider buying another black ink cartridge. I had similar issues with my Epson SureColor P600 and it turned out that the OEM cartridge(s), bought directly from Epson, were defective. This happened a few times, unfortunately. At any rate, this might be worth a try since the cartridge is a lot cheaper than a new printer. It's also possible, since you have hardly used this printer, that the ink has coagulated and won't feed the print head.

To answer your original question, my printer is outstanding for photography, which is why I bought it. If your needs don't involve photography, something less expensive would probably be suitable. I have only used Epson printers so I can't recommend other brands or models.

[Xairbusdriver]

Good advice from Jon. Please note that ink jet printers need to actually print something about once a week, even if it's just a test pattern. The ink will dry up in the extremely small pathways in the head, even if there is still some liquid in the cartridges. At that point, you can try the cleaning functions of the printers software (if there is any!). At best, you can get the printer back to "normal" operation. At worst, you may have to replace the print head. Those are the heart of the printer and are not cheap, often nearly as much as the original machine.

<OPINION>
Printers are created to sell ink cartridges. Those contain ink that is often more costly than the same amount of Gold. That's why there are so many third-party ink cartridge company's! Many printer makers put chips in the carts that are difficult to create and they will force you to buy only OEM carts... which are nearly as expensive as the same amount of Gold. The actual amount of usable ink in standard carts is measured in milliliters!
</OPINION>

If you never used the printer for "several years", I'm not sure why you want another one. Assuming you are living in a fair-sized town, you should have a shop that will print most any kind of file for a very nominal fee.

If you mainly print non-graphic documents, you might consider a laser printer. They are more expensive than ink jets but the "ink" is already dry, so it won't go bad that way.

We have a Canon IP8700. I use third-party inks. I don't recommend that particular model as it is designed to print extra wide paper.

We also have had several Brother laser printers. I also use third-party carts for it. The current model is a MFC-L5900DW. We bought it because we needed the two-side printing capability.

[jwboyd]

My everyday printer is a 20-year-old HP LaserJet 1012 that has never had any problems and still does excellent work (though I admit is is slow). When I need color or two-sided printing or copying capability, my HP Envy 5540 serves quite well. I keep it cabled. When I set it for wireless, my neighbor's work sometimes comes out on my printer even when Printer Sharing is turned off.

I always buy OEM cartridges. My experience with third-party, refilled, and "remanufactured" cartridges has been dismal. Your mileage may vary.

[Larry]

Ok I put the one I took out back in and it registers as full of black ink/, before i put the one that doesn't recognise - black ink is shown - several sheets came out to demonstrate it has colour, but it will not print in black. The Colour prints, the black doesn't - so will follow your advice and get more black cartridges. Very frustrated.
I was using before a HP Laserjet 2600n for last 10 years, but was due to wear and tear experiencing problems with it - so gave it away.
I am retired and only print a letter once in a while.

[jchuzi]

As Jim suggested, does the printer software have a cleaning option? If so, you may have to run it several times if there is a serious clog.

[gunug]

I recently spent some ill-gotten gains on a Canon Color Laser printer that I really like but the model number I can't recall here at work!  It works wirelessly
just fine and it is an All-in-One so it does all of what I ask it to do.  The only issue I have is that it times out pretty quickly after I turn it on but I suppose there is a setting for this somewhere in the manuals!

It's a Canon Color imageCLASS MF641Cw!

https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/products/details/printers/color-laser/color-imageclass-mf641cw

[Larry]

I followed your advice and my HP Deskjet 3760 is now working - you were right it just needed a new black cartridge - thanks all !

[Paddy]

If anyone else is considering a new printer, have a look at Brother's offerings. I've had an inkjet that still works fine for about 7 or 8 years now, with dirt-cheap 3rd party ink from 123ink.ca and also have a monochrome Brother Laser (both are multi-function, btw) in the DCP series which has also performed flawlessly. Liked it so much that we got a newer version of it about 3 years ago for the historical society. I have a knowledgeable Staples employee to thank - he steered me towards the Brother inkjet (in fact told me NOT to buy the HP that was on sale that day and to wait for the next day when the Brother was to go on sale!) and said the ink was far more reasonable - and it is, especially from 123ink.ca or Amazon rather than the brand name.