Why Cant you buy decent good qual printers anymore.......

Phil2008 · 17 Mar 2011 at 12:16

.......without spending a fortune?

For example the good old printers were rock solid and lasted yrs, but now they dont last at all.

I bought a £70 printer about 5-6 yrs ago?(epson DX4800) and that was amazing, didn't give me any bother for 4-5 yrs and I was using compatible inks.

Anyway got another epson after that, the SX515W about 18months ago, cos I thought I wouldn't have no probs cos the last epson was so good, but I was so wrong.

The first thing I noticed was the scanning and photo print outs wasnt as good as on my DX4800, then from about 6months onwards it would say that the "cyan cant be reconized" or the "yellow cant be reconized" ect, and the only way to fix that was to install a new cart :eek:

Anyway a few days ago my photo prints were comming out very poorly. So I thought sod this, cant be arsed figgering whats wrong again, and ordered myself a brother printer, I was going to go for the canon but the colour inks wernt seprate and I thought it would cost me more in the long run.

So I beg of you, brother printer please just work without any probs for a few yrs and be as good as my DX4800 was, pretty please. I will even use the genuine inks if that will stop me from pulling out my hair everytime I use you.

banja · 17 Mar 2011 at 13:40

I bought a Samsung printer a couple of years ago. It's been rarely used but now the paper won't grab.

I'm going for a Brother printer this time too, as they seem to get good reviews and I was told that some IT bods recommend them.

Phil2008 · 17 Mar 2011 at 14:03

banja said:
I bought a Samsung printer a couple of years ago. It's been rarely used but now the paper won't grab.

Its like printers nowadays can only cope with light work, as if you hammer them, they start going wrong. I made my epson DX4800 work hard, as it must have done well over 500 photos, 200+ knitting patterns for my mum and loads of scanning, and it never grumbled once. I was even thinking to buy a 2nd hand DX4800.

banja said:
I'm going for a Brother printer this time too, as they seem to get good reviews and I was told that some IT bods recommend them.

Fingers and toes crossed, but Im not counting any chickens. But this time, if Im not happy with the quality of the printouts from day 1, its going back :mad:

Cos at the end of the day why should we have to make do with poor quality, just because everyone is cutting corners, ect to make money.. Like I said my dx4800 was a awsome printer and only cost about £60-£65.

This is the printer Ive ordered........

http://www.brother.co.uk/g3.cfm/s_page/215760/s_level/36230/s_product/MFCJ410ZU1

Phil2008 · 17 Mar 2011 at 15:22

http://printersandinks.blogspot.com/2010/12/brother-printers-2010-pcworld-survey.html

Time will tell as they say, as I take all printer reviews with a pinch of salt, as most of them are all great for a few months. Like the epson sx515 reviews are mostly all good, but after 6months of light work its a heap of junk, or it was for me anyway

Thats when ppl should review printers, after they been thrashed for a few months, and it will be a whole diff story, I bet

olivier renault · 17 Mar 2011 at 15:37

Phil2008 said:
http://printersandinks.blogspot.com/2010/12/brother-printers-2010-pcworld-survey.html

Reading this is like reading an old 50's advert.

But yeah, in general the quality of hardware seems to degrade, at least a lot quicker than it used to. I'd rather spend more and get something that I can trust rather than save.

In some cases, that's hardly an option (consumer printers as you pointed out, hard drives seem to have high failure rates no matter which manufacturer), but in some others you have the choice. Ive had several recurring failures on very trivial items, such as Samsung optical drives (three of them, and a notebook drive), it is a bit puzzling how they can't even get the basic QC on items such as this.

I've got Dell IPS panels and Logitech peripherals, and these seem to keep their standard of quality and reliability better. It' still expensive (Dell's screens are about 2x the cheapest brand), but not a hugely massive gap, like for some heavy duty components.

Logitech is cheap and good quality, and their customer service has a good reputation although I never needed them.

.Ox. · 17 Mar 2011 at 15:41

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/printers

Phil2008 · 18 Mar 2011 at 21:16

I received the brother printer and my 1st thoughts are better then the sx515, as the scan and photo quality seems much better, but time will tell when I thoroughly test it out tonight or tomorrow

But the thing is, Im testing everything by memory from my epson dx4800, as the quality with other printers, or with the SX515W hasnt come close to. So I will print out 2 or 3 photos that I have already printed with both my dx4800 and sx515w.

So If the photos are as good as the sx515w, the printer is going back, or if the photos are as good as the dx4800 or somewhere inbetween, its staying

I'll give you the result in a few days time, for the ppl who are interested

Gammawolf · 18 Mar 2011 at 22:08

Pay the price hit for decent quality printers, recuperate the money back by refilling your own cartridges.

Phil2008 · 18 Mar 2011 at 22:30

Well I was looking at a £150 hp 8400 I think it was about £70 for a set of inks.. So what do you do, do you ether buy a cheapish printer that cost nothing to run or a well expensive printer that cost a fortune to run, and you dare not use the cheaper inks incase you bust it..

Im guessing a £80 printer a few yrs ago was quite decent but is it now, as Im guessing the brother printer is cheaply made that ive forked £80 out for? I guess its my fault, as if I bought a bog standard printer for £80, It would be higher quality.

Anyway like I said I havent really tested this brother printer out yet, and you never know I might be amazed.. Will keep you updated anyhow

Leeroy123 · 18 Mar 2011 at 22:35

i bought a cheap printer about 2 years ago, no problems with it as yet. Dont really do that much printing though to be honest. Its an Epson S20

Phil2008 · 19 Mar 2011 at 01:22

Well guys Im really pleased with the brother, a huge improvement on the sx515w and slighty better then the dx4800........ look

Photos look much better then this, as I guess the scanner has picked more detail then we can see or something, but it just shows you how much better my dx4800 was then the sx515w. but still the brother beats them both.

Top is the brother, bottom the sx515

Top brother, bottom dx4800

Top brother, bottom sx515w

cjgardens · 19 Mar 2011 at 06:41

Ive heard that some Epson printers stop working after so many prints. Is this true

Puppetmaster · 19 Mar 2011 at 07:03

cjgardens said:
Ive heard that some Epson printers stop working after so many prints. Is this true

They have a waste ink counter that theoretically tells you when the waste pads are fully saturated. The reality often is that the pads are fine and the counter can be reset, although it partly depends on what ink you have used (Compatables tend to be much more water based, so the pads will saturate much faster)

@ Phil, were the epson prints printed on Epson photo paper or another brand?

OLDPHART · 19 Mar 2011 at 09:55

Canon, my ip4300(£70) is over 2yrs old and it has been well used mainly colour, using compatibles after the Canon ink ran out, can't beat it still prints like new. I can't remember the last time l had to clean the heads, at about £5 a full set compared to about £45 Canon inks.

Phil2008 · 19 Mar 2011 at 10:31

Puppetmaster said:
@ Phil, were the epson prints printed on Epson photo paper or another brand?

I buy just generic glossy photo paper, mainly Kodak from the pound shop as it does a ok job

OLDPHART said:
Canon, my ip4300(£70) is over 2yrs old and it has been well used mainly colour, using compatibles after the Canon ink ran out, can't beat it still prints like new. I can't remember the last time l had to clean the heads, at about £5 a full set compared to about £45 Canon inks.

That sounds like my dx4800 printer, it never missed a beat for about 4-5yrs and the ink was dirt cheap to get, but I didnt know why I didnt use the proper inks for it, as they cost only about £2 more then the compat ones. But I think I will buy the original inks for the brother, and then hopefully it will keep it performing well.. A set of compat inks are about £15 (you can get them cheaper but Im always quite weary of dirt cheap inks as some are not well made) and originals are about £25 for the brother.

Energize · 19 Mar 2011 at 12:32

Buy a laser. Inkjets have always been unreliable pieces of crap. Lasers are much cheaper to run also.

james.miller · 19 Mar 2011 at 12:33

OLDPHART said:
Canon, my ip4300(£70) is over 2yrs old and it has been well used mainly colour, using compatibles after the Canon ink ran out, can't beat it still prints like new. I can't remember the last time l had to clean the heads, at about £5 a full set compared to about £45 Canon inks.

same. except mines an ip5300. had it for a few years and it has been first rate. not a single problem with it.

Phil2008 · 19 Mar 2011 at 12:52

Energize said:
Buy a laser. Inkjets have always been unreliable pieces of crap. Lasers are much cheaper to run also.

Not at £200 - £300 for a colour one, black and white lasers are quite cheap tho, but totally useless for photo printing. :eek:

Quicken · 19 Mar 2011 at 14:14

My old HP Laserjet 1200 is still going strong and top quality!, However still not colour tho. Just bought a Black extra large refill for £35.
Got an Epson R220 for Discs.

Energize · 19 Mar 2011 at 16:47

Phil2008 said:
Not at £200 - £300 for a colour one, black and white lasers are quite cheap tho, but totally useless for photo printing.

They are because the ink is so much cheaper. Besides decent inkjets cost the same amount.

Dell sell their 1250c colour laser for £161 including a complete set of toners.