Printer suggestion

[rocketscollectibles]

I print a label only once in a while but i'm tired to have to go to nearby stores for it. I'd like a black ink only one to avoid having to pay for ink colors, i'm not even sure if it exist. All the printers i see online are $75 and over. It's just not worth for my uses. I'll keep researching, but is it possible to find a cheap printer somewhere? Anyone has suggestions?

[ricarmic]

Not sure where you're printing from (ie computer or phone) but if it is on a computer you can change the actual default printer settings to print only in black and white. (If you don't know how to do this let me know and I can walk you through the windows 10 steps)

Note that when you do this you have to over-ride it to print in colour for a specific print.

Being frugal my default printer settings have always been print only black and white since I've had colour printers....

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@rocketscollectibles wrote:

I print a label only once in a while but i'm tired to have to go to nearby stores for it. I'd like a black ink only one to avoid having to pay for ink colors, i'm not even sure if it exist. All the printers i see online are $75 and over. It's just not worth for my uses. I'll keep researching, but is it possible to find a cheap printer somewhere? Anyone has suggestions?

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@rocketscollectibles 

If you shop around you may be able to find either a Canon/HP LaserJet on sale. Branded cartridges are very pricy but you can find generic that work no issues for quite a bit cheaper. They last much longer than inkjet(More pages). My HP is 10 years old and works like a charm. It does have wifi. (Staples/LD/Bestbuy/Walmart)

-Lotz

[ericsells75]

If you print sporadically consider looking into a laser printer. It’s a little more upfront but it will last a long time. With ink printers if you don’t use them somewhat regularly they will dry up. My laser printer was about 200 at staples and I used the supplied ‘cartridge’ for about a year before it ran out but it was ‘starter’ size. The full toner replacement was about 75 and is still going strong two years later

ans I should add I print a lot.

[ricarmic]

Because I feel it is important for business continuity, I keep 2 printers attached to my network.

One is inkjet and one is laser.

I have the secondary as laser for the same reasons @ericsells75 mentions, they can go a long time between prints with no drying out problems.

The only reason I keep one as an inkjet is because if one ever prints pictures a colour laser printer with as high resolution as the normal inkjet is very much more expensive than the normal colour laser printers, or at least that was the case when I last had to get a new printer. I'll review that again when the inkjet dies.

All mine are HP (I'm still running HP LJ IVs which are museum quality 20 year old printers for the "non-online" business, so I've retained the HP loyalty for the modern printers so far). 

[flipistics]

I've had really good luck with buying laser printers from local estate auctions. There's always a risk you get a dud, but they usually seem to be in good condition with a decent amount of toner and wear left. Sometimes you can find new toner in places like value village or other thrift stores at a reasonable cost.

PS: Laser printers seem to HATE printing out only a few lines at a time with sporadic use. I have constant problems with that across multiple printers. It's driving me nuts. I will admit though that you aren't supposed to reuse the same sheet of labels a bunch of times until it's finished, so that may be part of my problem.

Best advice I have for printers:

1) Epson Ecotank for anything everyday that isn't a label. You pay up front, but the ink lasts a ridiculously LONG time and is pretty cheap. Print in black or colour, it doesn't matter. It isn't ideal to use inkjets for labels as the ink can run if it gets wet.

2) Label printer for most labels (or more than one if you regularly use different sizes).

3) Laser printer for some other misc stuff (return address labels and postal indicia labels would probably be good uses as you print a sheet full at a time)

Just my (probably wrong) thoughts.

[femmefan1946]

The cost of the printer is negligible.

Look at the cost of the ink refills, even black ink is expensive.

A $75 printer with $45 refills?

Or a $200 printer with $10 refills?

Right now with three semi-working printers, I'm considering investing in a laser printer which I am told does not use ink at all.

Copying and faxing are common in multi-use printers. What you really want is scanning, but inexpensive reliable scanners are still occasionally available. Mine outlasted four printers.

@lotz--  I want to be able to wire my machines together. I am a technodolt and mistrust all this wifi/5G/ Bluenose stuff. Pretty sure that's what sterilized the cat.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@femmefan1946 wrote:

The cost of the printer is negligible.

Look at the cost of the ink refills, even black ink is expensive.

A $75 printer with $45 refills

Or a $200 printer with $10 refills?

Right now with three semi-working printers, I'm considering investing in a laser printer which I am told does not use ink at all.

Copying and faxing are common in multi-use printers. What you really want is scanning, but inexpensive reliable scanners are still occasionally available. Mine outlasted four printers.

@lotz--  I want to be able to wire my machines together. I am a technodolt and mistrust all this wifi/5G/ Bluenose stuff. Pretty sure that's what sterilized the cat.

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@femmefan1946 

Very sorry to hear about the cat situation. Can't help you there. In my situation I just was going through way too much ink with an HP inkjet and picked up HP Lazer maybe 8 or 9 years ago when it went on sale. It does have wireless capabilities but because it is close enough it's plugged in with a USB cable. Computer recognizes so I don't argue. And why I check for updates from HP from time to time to keep things working copa-stetic. So far, so good. As for the cartridges I get from Mtl for 15 to 20 bucks vs 70 to 80 for namebrand. Never had a problem. I think they also carry tinfoil in bulk if you are concerned.

-Lotz

[38e_avenue]

Check the cartridge price first. I run 2 printers: Brother HL 2040 and HP CP 1215. The original cartridges cost $100 / $550. I pay $20 / $80 at 123cartridges or River. The cartridge's price should be absolutely decisive in choosing the printer, so shop for the cartridge, and THEN shop for the printer 😎   

[ilikehockeyjerseys]

If you use Snap Ship, you can receive a barcode via e-mail. The post office can print you a label if they scan that barcode.

If you don't want to buy a printer, it might be worth using SnapShip strictly to avoid the time and cost of running to a print shop or library to print a label. 

Some printers now run on subscription services. So you pay for x amount of pages per month, and they otherwise mail you ink for "free". Some of these services have free tiers for a very small number of pages. You still have to buy a printer, which might be 30-80 dollars.