Posted on 03/16/2019 10:58:47 PM PDT by fireman15
My wife remembers working as a department head at several places where she thought that the outside copy machine technician was part of the staff and he came to the Christmas parties etc... She said she was always surprised when someone would tell her, "No, he is not an employee, he is just here all the time keeping the copying machine working." Times have changed.
“almost none of these inexpensive printers will be serviced”
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Just as well - I’m picturing some 18 year old kid who’s main job is selling phone plans working on anything that requires any knowledge of how things work.
And I can’t imagine waiting weeks/months for someone to hopefully figure out what’s wrong and how to repair it. As I sez, for me it’s less hassle and headache to toss the old beast and get a new beast.
Good thing all this China-crap is cheap.
If some mfgr could produced something that just worked simply and dependably that would be my ideal.
I have thought the same thing on many occasions. When we design cards for Christmas, I usually just have them printed at Sam's Club or Costco. The price is cheap, they come on nice paper with nice envelopes that fit them, and they look spectacular. The only disadvantage is that it is a little unpredictable if you are using photos, how well the color will match your computer screen. There is usually some type of profile that you can use to try and calibrate, but there is nothing quite like seeing an actual example in your hand.
So being a bit of a photography enthusiast it is hard for me to not have a color printer.
When I sent the DSLR in to get it fixed, it came back in less than a week. But this was a primo plan sold to me by the Sony Store. But I go the camera originally as a refurb that looked like it had never been used, so I got the camera and drop and spill warranty for quite a bit less than the price of a new camera. If I had purchased a new camera without the protection plan, I would have been screwed when someone knocked over my tripod at an event and broke the internal autofocus device.
I consider the drop and spill plan more of an insurance plan. As far as the typical extended warranty plan sold at Walmart, etc. most items are just a waste. But if you buy it for a cheap printer and something goes wrong, you will just be getting your money back which you can use toward the purchase of another cheap printer. It actually kind of fits your profile on this. If you look around your home at all the items that you own, few are as complicated delicate moving parts inside as a printer and they are made for a highly competitive market. They are not designed to hold up very well for the most part.
Do you think people would notice a miscalibration in the color of these Christmas cards? My guess is they wouldn’t. Unless you’re doing photo prints professionally the color issue is probably not a big deal. BUT, if you enjoy doing these cards and other hobby type photo stuff and it would bug you to have a mismatch, then I can see why you’d want a color printer. It’s just a matter of priorities I guess.
Oh yeah, with cameras it’s different and it’s not in the same realm as most computer peripherals. I don’t have a good digital camera, just a few cheapos.
Got a nice 35mm camera, though, that I really should get some film for, haven’t used it in a long time.
I kind of go by replacement cost and if I consider something as being something I expect should be okay for a good while. If it costs over $100 & up, I’d think about an extended warranty.
Good digital cams cost money, and as you note, their insides are complicated.
First thing I was taught about video cameras - if you see it tipping over on the tripod, throw your body between it and the floor. Gotta go Secret Service and take the bullet. Especially studio/production quality cams, they’re expensive to buy and expensive to repair.
No, usually I have a photo on the front, but I don't care too much if the color calibration is completely accurate... that is one of the reasons why I use an online service to upload and print them... it is worth the 20 cents a piece to not deal with the hassles of trying to find special card stock, print out a hundred of them and then find envelopes that fit the finished product.
But some pictures that I take I do like to get the best possible results and then it is worth taking a little extra time. Its a hobby but I have to admit that most of the time I actually use a specialty photo printer for these which has additional color cartridges, but we print enough color on the daily use printer that I still appreciate having the feature.
That’s what gets me. I don’t use printers enough to keep the ink cartridges from drying out. What a huge waste of money.
What you’re saying makes sense. In my case I actually underestimated the degree to which I would *not* need color, so the monochrome laser has been a good fit.
Brother MFC seems to me to be cheaply made. I will not buy another Brother product.
AUTOMATIC DUPLEX PRINTING: With single-pass, 2-sided copy/scan, saves my time. The ability to print, copy, scan, fax up to 11"x17" photo-quality pages, is a must have for my needs.
Having had enough of HP problems, I made the switch to Brother printers a decade ago and haven't had a problem since. I've owned 2 Brother MFCs. I knocked the first one off its resting place and it hit the floor into a dozen pieces.
I highly recommend third-party inks from Amazon. They're much cheaper, last way longer, and make good quality prints. Make sure the model printer you're looking at buying, has third-party ink available.
My main printer is a $5,000 Epson wide-body (40”) with 8 separate ink tanks. It’s at my nearest Sam’s Club. Previously, I had purchased an Epson 1270 for around $500 and frequently had the heads clog due to lack of regular use. After the last time I wasted half a tank of ink trying to get it working I researched new printers on the DP Review forum https://www.dpreview.com/forums/1003 where somebody brought up Sam’s. They use Fuji semi-matt pro paper and will re-do a print if some thing goes wrong, although that has only happened once in the last several years. The software wants images in .jpg format at 300 dpi in Adobe sRGB colorspace. I get most all my prints at 16 x 20 to take advantage of a 20 x 24 inch frame and they cost $6.00 and change. Not all Sam’s Clubs do the work in-store, anymore so you’ll have to check around but I highly recommend them.
My everyday printer is a Canon mp490 that I got from Microcenter several years ago for about $30 dollars. Print quality is excellent and it’s built like a tank. In fact, it survived a four foot fall onto concrete and, aside from loosing some plastic exterior body parts still works fine.
I too design and make my own Christmas cards and print on 100 lb. card stock. Last year I was just about out of color ink and had to do somewhat over 50 cards and a run of over 100 full page full color invitations to our group’s Christmas party so I bought a Samsung color laser printer from Microcenter. The output was gorgeous. Nice saturated colors, crisp detail, everything one could ask for, except...
Forget about printing on card stock, even 60 lb. weight. The heat of the unit that fused the toner to the paper desiccated the card stock, resulting in a card that was permanently curved from its trip around the rollers. I had to gently roll each sheet in the opposite direction and there was still some warpage when I stuffed them in the envelopes. I also had to load each paper one at a time or the unit jammed. After needing to buy a toner cartage for $60 and realizing that I would need to spend a total of $300 to replace all of them when the demo carts ran out. I took it back to Microcenter a few weeks after the one month return period ran out, explained my situation and they gave me a full refund for everything.
A few people on this thread have mentioned buying new printers when their ink ran out. Get something that has low ink costs from the start - mist printers ship with demo tanks that have limited capacity and require the user to replace them with new cartridges almost immediately.
One thing about virtually any extended warranty plan for your cameras or equipment - DON’T ! An extended warranty is a cash cow for the retailer and is loaded with clauses concerning all the various ways gear can be destroyed or damaged that are NOT covered.
I wound up talking to my insurance agent and getting a rider on my home insurance policy that covers almost everything that can go wrong, and the price is much less than an extended warranty.
I agree with everything you said, and Sam's Club is where we have had our cards printed for the past several years. I typically order a set of non-OEM cartridges at the same time that I buy a printer. I usually install these first so that I won't be mixing inks when the demo tanks run out. I always find out the cost of replacement cartridges before I purchase a printer. I prefer cartridges that are clear and made to be refilled, but lately the firmware in almost all new printers has been updated to not accept refillable and resettable cartridges so I also bow make sure that firmware that will work with these cartridges is available.
The printers with large refillable tanks are very tempting to me, but quite expensive... they get you one way or the other.
Good tip!
Thinking a little more about this... I am glad that you have a competent agent that is not a ripoff artist. Thinking about mine... I would point out that I would be hesitant to make a homeowners claim on a printer that I couldn't get to work right even if I did have a rider.
Insurance companies do not like customers who make repeated claims and they do keep track of such things. If my $60 printer has a 2 year $5 extended warranty however I would not hesitate to give them a call. My 4 year policy from the Sony store worked out very well and got the camera fixed in a week.
Franky, the insurance agent that I use for auto and home is a shyster on everything else. They have tried to rip me off on various other products from overpriced AAA type towing insurance, overpriced life insurance, overpriced credit protection insurance, and the list goes on and on. A lot of credit cards have insurance that covers your purchases for free better than what my insurance agent has tried to talk me into paying for. The only way that I am able to keep them in line is to comparison shop and report back to them to get a competitive offer.
Been using Brother for a long time - cheap and reliable at same time.
The HP 950xl holds 3oz, and you can get all 4 carts for under 11.00 right now. I am not the seller.
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