[mauramac]

Hi
I'm looking for a new printer - preferably one which will scan/copy/print but I'm not bothered about printing photos as I have a dedicated printer for that purpose.

Seen the adverts on TV recently for Kodak printers which states they use very cheap ink cartridge replacements.....very appealing :lol:

I am getting fed up paying out for cartridges that actually cost more than a new printer so my question for all ye clever bods out there is this....

Anyone used a Kodak printer.....is it any good.....are the cartridges cheap.....and any recommendations?


Well OK I know that's 4 questions.....but you know me by now, I need a lot of help :?

Thanks for any help.

Maura 8)

 

[Patrick_Phillips]

We bought a Kodak ESP3 All-in-one for the van.
We don´t print much with it but the trouble it has had is unbelievable... :evil:
But to answer the question about cheaper ink, I just pulled the stats from its memory and, since new, it has used 3 colour and 4 black cartridges - and the total pages printed = 411
A large proportion of those pages were Soduku puzzles so not exactly dense.
Another point I wish we had taken into account is that a lot of European supermarkets stock cartridges for the most common printers - and the Kodak is never one of them. :x
Hope that helps.
Patrick

 

[mauramac]

Oh dear
That doesn't sound too good. Funny enough I just looked at Argos and they have it for sale at £68.59 which is quite cheap compared to other shops. They have loads of buyers reviews on there and all but one loved it.

http://tiny.cc/9ZWto

The one person who wasn't raving about it seemed to have had as many problems as yourself. Makes it quite difficult to know if it's just bad luck when a dodgy one turns up doesn't it?

Thanks for your feedback.

M.

 

[bigbazza]

That calculates to 14pence per page.
I dont think that's cheap.
(especially if they were not densely populated)

 

[mauramac]

Just found this review which was very comprehensive.

http://tiny.cc/kSKeB

It does mention on first page that the initial charging up of the print head uses up a lot of ink but is OK after that....so I wonder if that was why you thought you had used a lot of ink?

Anyway...lots of info out there and I'm ploughing my way through it.

If anyone knows of a printer that uses cheap (or cheaper) ink cartridges please let me know.

Cheers.

 

[Patrick_Phillips]

We returned the first machine and it was exchanged for the current one (no fuss from PC World :lol: )
When it works, it works very well and will keep on working... The problems nearly always come when it hasn´t been in use for a week or two.

The issue is, as always, the cost per page.
If you use very little then the cost of the printer is a major factor and high ink costs don´t matter as much. This makes the Kodak attractive to us because we can carry three spare sets of ink cartridge.
Previously, we had an Epson and used a great deal of ink. The printer cost 3 times as much and a set of ink cartridges (6) cost 70+ GBPs. Even at these prices, the cost per page was about half the Kodak 8O
In reality, we mostly bought unbranded off eBay at about 10 GBPs. The trick is to recognise that they all use water-based inks so if a cartridge fails prematurely, take it out and dab its nose with a damp cloth and most recover useability.

If you really want to get into this, try Googling "Printer Cost Page" and the whole world of printer economics is there to drive you scatty :lol:

Patrick

 

[mauramac]

If you really want to get into this, try Googling "Printer Cost Page" and the whole world of printer economics is there to drive you scatty



Err, right....well I did ask didn't I?

Methinks the evening might be better spent doing something a bit more productive....I get bogged down very easy without any encouragement.

Thanks Patrick, I appreciate your help.

M.

 

[rickndog]

I've been running a Kodak 5500 AIO (printer,scanner, copier, fax) hooked up to an Apple iMac, for 18 months now without any problems. Print quality is good and I've no complaints about cost. A black and a colour cartridge together cost about £16. For that, you're getting consistency of print as opposed to varying print quality from unbranded cartridges for other printer manufacturers.

I also find that Kodak are quick to issue new printer drivers for Mac O.S. updates whereas with my previous H.P. Officejet G85 AIO I could wait several months before they were available. Certainly in my opinion, the Kodak has so far proved to be the most economical of the two both in terms of initial and ongoing costs.

 

[GerryD]

Not impressed with cartridge life or economy. As soon as the printer decides that either of the cartridges are empty the printer will not print another word.
Most frustrating, at least most printers will allow you to continue printing albeit very faint.
Gerry

 

[AberdeenAngus]

The Kodak ads claim huge savings but based on thousand of pages of print !
I, for one, don't produce that kind of volume. If I was, i'd get a lazer.

I like my HP. I buy genuine cartridges but keep an eye open for offers.
Got 2 for the price of 1 recently from a supermarket and got another cartridge V. cheap from E-bay (guy had bought the wrong one).

If you keep your eyes open you don't need to buy fake cartridges.

The advantage of genuine HP cartridges is that I can leave my printer for months, then hit the print button and a perfect print comes out first time.
Never managed that kind of reliability with fakes.

 

[karlb]

for quality and cheap per page go for laser

cheap laser

 

[mauramac]

I suppose to put things into perspective I should say I am a home user only and rarely need to use my printer for work use.

From memory I probably buy cartridge's about twice a year (black and colour). However, they do seem to be quite expensive.

I use a Lexmark Z1420 printer and the replacement cartridges for it are usually £16.77 for Black and £20.13 for colour...This was what I paid in 2008. So to date I have paid out around £72 for ink jet cartridges.

It is just a simple little printer - nothing fancy and to pick up a similar one would cost less than buying replacement cartridges twice a year.

That's my complaint really- I don't like or use fake or cheap make cartridges (tried it once a long time ago and it totally messed up the printer).

I suppose it is a bit of a catch 22 situation - the printer itself is quite cheap compared to how much they used to be but the cartridges just haven't come down in price by comparison - but you can't do without them.

Laser looks good Karl - but it only prints and I would like to have a copier as well. Is the toner for a laser printer a reasonable price?

The Kodak I was looking at was the low end price range one ESP3 model at £68.59 from Argos. I'm guessing the 5500 AIO would be a better quality model but bit too much for my home use or budget?

Buying on internet can produce some bargains but then you do have to add Postage. One seller on Ebay had the same item advertised many times - all at different prices. The cheapest price had the most expensive postage despite being identical to all his other ads....really pees me off.