Would anybody like this Epson printer crammed up their you know what?

[donkpow]

'Cause I've had enough of this ink thing. I have literally not printed a color image since I replaced the ink cartridges. The machine refuses to let me print because it has flushed all my color ink cartridges every time I used the machine. Now there is no color ink but lots of black ink but I can't use it.

Listen, I don't even need somebody to bend over for me or even slow down. I'll do all the work. Who's in?

[Razors Edge ★]

1 minute ago, donkpow said:

'Cause I've had enough of this ink thing. I have literally not printed a color image since I replaced the ink cartridges. The machine refuses to let me print because it has flushed all my color ink cartridges every time I used the machine. Now there is no color ink but lots of black ink but I can't use it.

Listen, I don't even need somebody to bend over for me or even slow down. I'll do all the work. Who's in?

@jsharr, for starters.  I'll toss in @Kzoo - for laughs - and @Randomguy because it might just distract him from his PRI.

[Wilbur ★]

3 minutes ago, donkpow said:

'Cause I've had enough of this ink thing. I have literally not printed a color image since I replaced the ink cartridges. The machine refuses to let me print because it has flushed all my color ink cartridges every time I used the machine. Now there is no color ink but lots of black ink but I can't use it.

Listen, I don't even need somebody to bend over for me or even slow down. I'll do all the work. Who's in?

No thanks.  I bought a Brother printer just for that reason. 

[Razors Edge ★]

2 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

No thanks.  I bought a Brother printer just for that reason. 

The edges are more rounded on a Brother? 

[jsharr ★]

[sheep_herder ★]

That is why I only have a Brother laser printer and do my color printing elsewhere.

[jsharr ★]

16 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

@jsharr, for starters.  I'll toss in @Kzoo - for laughs - and @Randomguy because it might just distract him from his PRI.

How many printers does he have?  If just the one, I get to go first.

[Tizeye]

That is why I buy cheap "generic" ink for both my inkjet and laser printers.

All 6 cartridges (includes 2 blacks plus photo) for the Canon inkjet only cost $28.39. A complete set of 4 toner cartridges for the HP laser only cost $49.99

[maddmaxx ★]

My new HP allows me to remove the color cartridge and have the printer default to black only.  This is how we use it unless someone needs to do something in color (rare)

[jdc2000]

I gave up on ink jet printers, and Epson especially, years ago.  I have a Brother color MFC-9340CDW.

 

[dinneR ★]

Why do you even need a printer? 

This is the only tool you should use to fix a printer.

[MickinMD ★]

11 hours ago, donkpow said:

'Cause I've had enough of this ink thing. I have literally not printed a color image since I replaced the ink cartridges. The machine refuses to let me print because it has flushed all my color ink cartridges every time I used the machine. Now there is no color ink but lots of black ink but I can't use it.

Listen, I don't even need somebody to bend over for me or even slow down. I'll do all the work. Who's in?

I've got a Brother printer that uses four cartridges: black, yellow, cyan, and magenta.

The similar Brother printer I had before the 2020 fire used 70 cent, 3rd-party cartridges just fine instead of the $12 to $15 official inks.  They printed virtually identically as the official inks - I printed out some same pictures with both sets of inks, didn't clog, etc.

I follow an Amazon commenter's advice where the guy said the people complaining about the ink not working is because the plastic cover over the delivery end of the cartridge doesn't break as easily as the official inks when it snaps into place, so use a safety pin to make a hole in the plastic cover before clicking-it into place in the printer.

So the printer manufacturers, who have been gouging their customers by severely overcharging for ink, got smart about losing some ink business to 3rd parties.  They put a computer chip/circuit in the ink cartridge and the printer won't print without one.  So the 3rd party inks are still cheap compared to the official inks, but now the larger-size cartridges are about $3 each (E-Z Ink at Amazon pic at bottom) because of the chip/circuit, vs $12 to $15 each for the official inks.

Some of the newer printers won't run at all unless it's official ink.  I had to do some research to find a replacement Brother printer similar to my old one that would run with chip/circuit 3rd party ink.  Then, you couldn't find one during the 2020 pandemic for less than $400.  Finally, in Dec. 2020, I found the Brother Wireless All-In-One Inkjet Printer, MFC-J895DW I wanted for $170.  Again, I printed the same page with official and with 3rd party ink and get the same quality and no problem.

Notice that my printer - currently telling me through my laptop app that I need to replace the black ink cartridge - has a question mark over each of the colors.  That's because the chip in the ink cartridge isn't the same as the chip in the the Brother official inks.  But it still keeps track of the ink levels and that's all I care about.  Some printers won't run period or keep track of ink if you don't have the official ink with the official chip.

My guess is that my next printer will lock-me into official cartridges and 3rd parties will sell ink refill systems that refill them.

[Dottleshead ★]

Depends (get it??).  Does it print in brown and yellow?

[Mr. Beanz]

First thing I did when I bought my new computer was give the printer away to someone who wanted it. I don't have a use for a printer or the frustration of trying to deal with ink. 

If I ever need something as reference, I do the screenshot type thing straight to my cell. If I actually need something printed out, which is like once every three years, I take the file on my cell to Office Depot and print it out for a few cents. 

[donkpow]

6 hours ago, Mr Beanz said:

I take the file on my cell to Office Depot and print it out for a few cents. 

That's what I was going to do. The trouble is the store is kind of far away. I might be able to print B & W at the nearby library for like 25¢.

[Parsnip Totin Jack ★]

Thanks for asking, but my final answer is no.

[Zealot]

Uhm, nope. 

[Razors Edge ★]

9 hours ago, Mr Beanz said:

I don't have a use for a printer or the frustration of trying to deal with ink. 

We use the heck out of our b&w HP laser printer with cheap aftermarket toner cartridges.  The color HP scanner/copier/printer?  Almost never.  The ink is long dried up, and if I want something printed in color, the super nice work printer or Staples is way better. And for photos, I'd just get them done on-line.

[donkpow]

Alright, I'll fall for it. Which cheap monochrome printer should I buy?

[Mr. Beanz]

6 hours ago, donkpow said:

That's what I was going to do. The trouble is the store is kind of far away. I might be able to print B & W at the nearby library for like 25¢.

Luckily we have an Office Depot about 1/4 mile from the house. 

What really got me was going to a FEDEX shipping store with similar services. Had to first purchase a card with $10 of credit on it. They would refund any that I didn't use. So I bought the card then proceeded to the computer to retrieve the email I need to copy. 

It took me all $10 to print one page and I went beyond my limit having to get the cashier finish up for me. THEY SUCK!!!!! You spend time signing on to the computer. ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO SIGN ON? Yes. ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO SIGN ON TO YOUR EMAIL. Yes. THE PAGE YOU ARE TRYING TO ACCESS, YAHOO IS NOT AVAILABLE RIGHT NOW, WOULD YOU LIKE TO TRY AGAIN? WTF!!!! Every freaking page opened a new window asking stupid questions. Yes, I want to sign into my email, that's why I'm freaking here! 

I spent all $10 and with the repeat questions and stupid way they had them set up, I spent more time trying to access the computer looking for the path I needed. At home, I click on yahoo and I am there without all the stupid questions and repeat questions.

At Office Depot, I fwd an email once to the service counter, they did the work and charged me 69 cents.  Another time I took in  a little flash drive stick, they copied 7 pages for me, $2.  I even gave the guy an extra 2 bucks for a Snickers bar seeing he made it so easy on me.  

[ChrisL]

We chucked our printer several years ago and haven’t missed it. We did go to Walgreens the other day to print some photos but otherwise we rarely print for home use.  

I rarely print at work either.   I have one vendor who doesn’t have the option for e signature so I print, sign & scan back his service agreements.  

[MoseySusan]

4 hours ago, donkpow said:

Alright, I'll fall for it. Which cheap monochrome printer should I buy?

We have an HP printer. It was cheap. It prints in color and black and white, it scans to pdf, and it used to fax but that feature hasn't worked for a couple of years.

[donkpow]

1 minute ago, MoseySusan said:

We have an HP printer. It was cheap. It prints in color and black and white, it scans to pdf, and it used to fax but that feature hasn't worked for a couple of years.

I was thinking that if I can find a monochrome printer cheap, I could continue to use the scanner on the Epson.

[jsharr ★]

15 minutes ago, donkpow said:

I was thinking that if I can find a monochrome printer cheap, I could continue to use the scanner on the Epson.

Get an HP Neverstop

https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/hp-neverstop-laser-mfp-1202w

[donkpow]

11 minutes ago, jsharr said:

Get an HP Neverstop

https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/hp-neverstop-laser-mfp-1202w

$370 That's too expensive. I bet I don't print half a dozen times a year.

[Razors Edge ★]

24 minutes ago, donkpow said:

$370 That's too expensive. I bet I don't print half a dozen times a year.

Yeah, I would opt for a $100-ish HP b&w laser jet like a 1002 or whatever they sell now.

[donkpow]

18 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

Yeah, I would opt for a $100-ish HP b&w laser jet like a 1002 or whatever they sell now.

[donkpow]

"This printer is intended to work only with cartridges that have a new or reused HP chip, and it uses dynamic security measures to block cartridges using a non-HP chip. Periodic firmware updates will maintain the effectiveness of these measures and block cartridges that previously worked." 

I wonder, is it too late to get a piece of the action on that? 

[jdc2000]

9 hours ago, donkpow said:

Alright, I'll fall for it. Which cheap monochrome printer should I buy?

I would recommend Brother laser printers over HP any day.  If you can get them in sale, you might be able to find one for $80-$100.

 

[Bikeguy]

8 hours ago, MoseySusan said:

We have an HP printer. It was cheap. It prints in color and black and white, it scans to pdf, and it used to fax but that feature hasn't worked for a couple of years.

That's what we have too.  An old HP ENVY 7640 printer / scanner / fax.   It cost $150 back in 2014.   We haven't used the fax for 3 years, not having a landline makes that difficult.  Apparently HP now has an app that can be used to fax from the machine to you phone, to the person who wants the fax at their machine.  Who does that???  I'd just email a PDF that was scanned.

Once a year (maybe twice) I get to buy their expensive ink.   Even this old printer 'knows' when a 'genuine' HP cartridge is installed.   When it dies... I'll worry about a new printer then.  I'm sure I've way paid more for ink than cost of the printer. 

I just ran a 'Printer Status Report'...   over 7 years I've printed 12,195 pages,  printed 47 pictures, scanned 522 pages, and of course 0 faxes sent/received. 

47 pictures got printed at home.  Many more pictures were sent to Walgreens online.

@donkpow Before this printer... I had an Epson.  That printer used a LOT if ink when it turned on.  And every now and then the printer would 'clean' the printheads, using more ink.   When that died, I got the HP printer. 

https://www.rtings.com/printer/reviews/best/by-type/black-white     Best Budget Black And White Printer: Brother MFC-J4335DW

[Prophet Zacharia]

On 12/6/2021 at 6:34 AM, jsharr said:

How many printers does he have?  If just the one, I get to go first.

I’m not sure how this volunteer wasn’t marked as the solution. 

[Razors Edge ★]

11 hours ago, jdc2000 said:

I would recommend Brother laser printers over HP any day.  If you can get them in sale, you might be able to find one for $80-$100.

 

Out in CA, we had the FiL's cheap Brother b&w laser printer we used, and it was pretty good too.  Pretty much identical in function to my old cheap HP.  If HP is playing games with ink and toner, then I would definitely consider a cheap Brother laser printer.

[donkpow]

3 hours ago, Razors Edge said:

If HP is playing games with ink and toner, then I would definitely consider a cheap Brother laser printer.

That's what somebody else said and I confirmed it. The bastards.

[Razors Edge ★]

2 minutes ago, donkpow said:

That's what somebody else said and I confirmed it. The bastards.

$110 new, $90 refurbed:

[donkpow]

Just now, Razors Edge said:

$110 new, $90 refurbed:

I saw some on sale and I'm thinking the printer with whatever toner they give me will last the rest of my life. I don't know if I will get one now or not. I need to ship something out with documentation. I'm thinking, if the UPS store has printing services, I'll do it all over there this time.

[Razors Edge ★]

5 minutes ago, donkpow said:

I saw some on sale and I'm thinking the printer with whatever toner they give me will last the rest of my life. I don't know if I will get one now or not. I need to ship something out with documentation. I'm thinking, if the UPS store has printing services, I'll do it all over there this time.

The other new BS tactic from printer companies is supplying "starter" ink/toner cartridges.  Good for a tiny fraction of "normal" ink/toner carts.

[donkpow]

Just now, Razors Edge said:

The other new BS tactic from printer companies is supplying "starter" ink/toner cartridges.  Good for a tiny fraction of "normal" ink/toner carts.

The cheap Brother printer I looked at provides enough toner for 7,000 pages. I think they got it going on for people like me.

[Razors Edge ★]

4 minutes ago, donkpow said:

The cheap Brother printer I looked at provides enough toner for 7,000 pages. I think they got it going on for people like me.

I see the one I mentioned has: "(1) Starter Toner Cartridge (yields approx. 700 pages‡"

It will still last your lifetime, eh???

[donkpow]

3 hours ago, Razors Edge said:

I see the one I mentioned has: "(1) Starter Toner Cartridge (yields approx. 700 pages‡"

It will still last your lifetime, eh???

 I knew it was something like that. 700, 7,000, same thing. 10 pages a year. That's like dinosaur years before I run out.