Printer for occasional use: I am in a printer vicious circle. I only use my printer occasionally and don't do any photo printing so I usually go for basic, cheap, home inkjet printers.

repleo Loc: Boston

I am in a printer vicious circle.

I only use my printer occasionally and don't do any photo printing so I usually go for basic, cheap, home inkjet printers. I could go weeks or months without printing anything. Of course when I try to print after a long period, the printer is dried out and then I use up most of the ink while cleaning the heads. That is followed by a trip to the store to get more ink, only to find I can buy a whole new printer for not much more than a set of replacement cartridges. I spend half a day setting up the new printer, print a few pages and then it sits for weeks and the cycle starts over again.

Any suggestions for breaking this cycle? I have a basement full of dried up printers. Would a laser printer be a better bet ? Black and White would do, but I want document feed, wifi and copy/scan capabilities.

Soul Dr. Loc: Beautiful Shenandoah Valley

You haven't said what brand of printers you are using?
I have used a lot of different brands of printers, and have had the best luck with Canon Printers.
They print well and do not have problems with not being used for periods of time.
I can let mine sit idle for a couple of weeks and when I do print something, it works fine.

will

Vietnam Vet

I have black and white laser printers that don't get used very often and always work just fine. Sometimes for a couple of months between use. About $100 as I recall

repleo Loc: Boston

Soul Dr. wrote:

You haven't said what brand of printers you are using?
I have used a lot of different brands of printers, and have had the best luck with Canon Printers.
They print well and do not have problems with not being used for periods of time.
I can let mine sit idle for a couple of weeks and when I do print something, it works fine.

will

Sorry about that. I have had a couple of different makes - HP and Epson but the last couple have been Brother. They are fine when they work, but I need to do a double or triple head cleaning after a letting it sit for a week or two.

Soul Dr. Loc: Beautiful Shenandoah Valley

repleo wrote:

Sorry about that. I have had a couple of different makes - HP and Epson but the last couple have been Brother. They are fine when they work, but I need to do a double or triple head cleaning after a letting it sit for a week or two.

Yeah, I've also had problems with Epson and HP printers. And HP printers like to suck up the ink.
I have found that Canon printers are more reliable and are stingier with the ink.
Like I said, my Canon can sit for a couple of weeks, and when I want to print something it works fine, with no head cleaning needed.

will

olddutch Loc: Beloit, Wisconsin

It also helps to buy OEM ink...

Soul Dr. Loc: Beautiful Shenandoah Valley

olddutch wrote:

It also helps to buy OEM ink...

I've used 3rd party ink in my Canon printers for years and never had a problem.

will

Bob Smith Loc: Banjarmasin

I only print occasionally and I found Samsung did a fairly cheap colour laser printer I got fed up with cartridges. Color laser jet pro M252 I've had this over 4 years and not had any problems. They probably do an upgrade now.

RGreenway Loc: Morristown, New Jersey

I have a nice Canon photo printer PIXMA Pro-100 (will do 13' x 18" prints that rarely gets used to print photos, so it used to get dried out if it sat for many months. Now I use it to print checks from Quicken and do this at least once a week. Its more work than hand writing checks, but it automatically adds the payment to the Quicken register and looks cool. Cant explain why I find this a good thing to do, but it DOES exercise the printer regularly without using much expensive ink! This printer btw can sometimes be found at very steep discounts, and it is an excellent color printer for photos or anything!

yssirk123 Loc: New Jersey

Canon Pro100 - never experienced the clogging problems that seem to occur with Epson.

malawibob Loc: South Carolina

Most printers tell you to print a test pattern or something every 48 hours to prevent drying out.

02Nomad Loc: Catonsville, MD

I have had nothing but great luck with my Epson printers, both Artisans, an 800 and a 1430. I use the 800 the most and the 1430 has gone for as much as 2 years without being used. Never had the ink clogged or dried out and the alignment checks are always spot-on.

AtomicZ Loc: Bucks County, Pa.

02Nomad wrote:

I have had nothing but great luck with my Epson printers, both Artisans, an 800 and a 1430. I use the 800 the most and the 1430 has gone for as much as 2 years without being used. Never had the ink clogged or dried out and the alignment checks are always spot-on.

I have a 6 year old HP, when I bought it I signed up for HP’s instant Ink because of the very problem you are having. They charge by the month, depending on how much you print, as low as $3:00 a month for 50 pages a month. Unused pages roll over. That’s only $36.00 a year, cheaper that most cartridges. Has to be WiFi, they keep track and send ink automatically when needed. Have never run out of ink. I think it is the best.

ottopj Loc: Annapolis, MD USA

Maybe just print off a sheet once or twice a week or every other week. Kind of like starting your car every once in a while rather than letting it sit for a year.

LenCreate

Another vote for the Canon Pro 100. There have been times when circumstances prevented me from using it for weeks and even months and I’ve never had a problem. I use only Canon ink, which I buy directly from Canon. I had problems when using non-Canon ink with a different Canon printer.