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I recently purchased a new all in one printer--an HP Officejet 6978. It lasted up till the warranty was due to expire in 10 days. Then it had a big malfunction. The HP rep on the phone told me they'd send me a new one. The "new" one was actually a refurbished one, which is the standard replacement on a warranty exchange. That one lasted exactly 10 days. It died while I was on the phone with an HP tech guy. Finally, they just sent me a brand new one which seems to be working.

One big selling point for me not buying my usual Epson but going with the HP was their Instant Ink plan. Since I retired, I don't print nearly as much as I used to. I was buying an Epson ink cartridge pack for about $65, only to have it cake in its plastic containers because I wasn't printing for long periods of time. So you'd use about half the Epson ink cartridges performing head cleaning to unclog the ink jets. A very expensive proposition.

The HP Instant Ink plan has me paying $2.99/month for printing up to 50 pages. This covers my needs as a retired teacher. I think the next level is $4.99 for printing 100 pages/month, which I don't need. And I think there's a third level for printing a lot of pages. The printer senses when the ink's almost empty and then I automatically get a new batch of ink shipped. It's a good plan.

I was buying an Epson ink cartridge pack for about $65, only to have it cake in its plastic containers because I wasn't printing for long periods of time. So you'd use about half the Epson ink cartridges performing head cleaning to unclog the ink jets. A very expensive proposition.

Epsons are definitely not for everyone precisely because of that reason. I purchased the very first Espson Stylus Printer available in 1994. It was an absolute miracle, and I purchased a scanner, digital camera and Photoshop to take full advantage of it. But I found out fairly quickly about this disadvantage of Micro Piezo inkjet technology, especially if you refilled your cartridges with unsuitable ink.

If you leave an Epson printer unplugged for a month or two you are going to waste some ink. It depends partially on the type of ink chosen, but you are using to waste some ink to get those heads clean again. If you leave most models plugged in and on they cycle a little ink through them just sitting to keep the heads from getting clogged.

But the printer that I wasted the most money on was an HP Photo printer that I spent hundreds of dollars on and used only OEM cartridges to try to get the best quality prints. That printer soured me on HP printers basically forever. Once I became proficient at picking out ink and refilling cartridges I haven't purchased an OEM Epson cartridge since that first Epson Stylus in 1994.

I prefer using cartridges that were designed specifically for refilling. They hold a lot more ink and are usually clear so you can see when it is about full, and they are not filled with sponges. When you are refilling a cartridge for a dollar instead of paying $15 to $20 for a new OEM the problem with excessive head cleaning doesn't seem quite as bad.

It is too bad that the reviews on printers generally do not contain much if any information on how various printer technologies favor certain usage patterns.