Printers are a pain - especially if you don't use them frequently. We had the usual issues with inkjet heads clogging after a period of inactivity, so ended up going colour laser. That was fine'ish - but it was always cheaper to buy a new laser printer with n'000 page cartridges than it was to buy the replacement cartridges themselves. Luckily, the old printer 'shells' went on Freegle - so ended up being used still. But even with the laser, I get the odd issue with the printer firmware reporting missing cartridges etc if the printer isn't used for ages - so far they have been relatively easily resolved.
I do find it annoying though when manufactures do that - and offer a unit and accessories cheaper than the accessories themselves (they always used to do that with men's wet razors and blades as well - and if you ever built a car from spare parts, goodness knows how much it would cost).
I've never anyone do anything other than complain about printers. Everyone seems to have trouble with them. I've bought cheap ones and expensive ones and none are actually fit for purpose. Has any manufacturer justified the extortionate price of replacement ink? I'd love to hear it.
Here I use it for printing tutorials with full colour photos for the patchwork club and that's a bit expensive but all except 3 of our members have their own PCs and printers so I just send them by email and they choose.  I've found a printing service I can use when I need to do a full batch for the club and we'll try that site I found for when we next need new cartridges. Â
Back in the mid 90s the company I worked for wanted colour laser printers in their 3 main offices. They cost around £10k each then and only printed about 10 pages per minute.
Never ever buy a Hewlett Packard printer. Ever. Constant battles with the thing to accept that I'm not going to use their over-priced ink cartridges and now it's refusing to print a black and white document because it's out of yellow. Â
wild edges Yes buy a Hewlett Packard printer just buy the right type of printer . I have a Hewlett Packard printer (LaserJet P2035) its brilliant. One toner cartridge does 2000 pages.
The company ethics put me off more than the functionality, although I will admit that an inkjet was the wrong choice. We had an Oce wide format plotter at the office for a while and it was a brilliant printer. Sadly it had a problem with the yellow print head clogging which involved a £500 replacement part every time. We got through four replacement heads, all under warranty luckily, before they gave up and just gave us our money back. We then got an HP replacement and it was terrible. If they can't sell you a decent printer for £1500 then you can imagine how bad their sub-£100 stuff is. And the ink was way over £500/litre.
Sounds like you were unlucky. All the HP printers I managed just needed regular maintenance which included replacing parts such as pickup rollers and fuser units other than that one or two occasional glitches such as kids shoving their sandwiches in the toner compartment and they were very reliable.
'The power of accurate observation .... is commonly called cynicism by those that have not got it.
I'm keeping quiet on the printer front - as *whispers* my HP DeskJet Plus 4100 is working fine at the moment. Couldn't get it set up to print wirelessly though. I'm feeling quite cross because I have just learnt that the Town Council has voted for our local business association, of which I am Chair, to remove all of our equipment from its shed. This equipment comprises mainly the road closure signs we need for when we run street markets. There is one coming up in a few weeks and they are saying we can't return the signs to the shed after it. Grrr. These are big heavy signs with sandbags etc - you know the kind of thing. So, on top of all of the other things I have to organise I have to do battle with the town council to let me put the signs back there until I can find another location. Local bureaucracy - doncha just love it.Â
Perhaps leave your signs on the street after the street market ? Throw your hands up in horror when asked to remove them and say " Where do you suggest we put them ? ". Bit childish perhaps but may make your town council think ( or at least be somewhat more sympathetic to your dilemma ).
What would the town council do if the business association didn’t run the market … they’d have to do something themselves to bring trade to the town or all the businesses would pack up and  move to Beccles or Harleston and the town council wouldn’t get their business rates … point that out … that might focus their minds a bit.Â
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
On August 5, local time, the annual "Rubber Duck Competition" was held in Chicago, Illinois, USA. During the competition, the organizers placed 70,000 rubber ducks in the river, and the donor sponsored the ducks "participating in the competition" at a price of $5 each. The first duck donor to cross the finish line will win an SUV. Pollute for chariddy
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I've bought cheap ones and expensive ones and none are actually fit for purpose.Â
Has any manufacturer justified the extortionate price of replacement ink? I'd love to hear it.
Here I use it for printing tutorials with full colour photos for the patchwork club and that's a bit expensive but all except 3 of our members have their own PCs and printers so I just send them by email and they choose.  I've found a printing service I can use when I need to do a full batch for the club and we'll try that site I found for when we next need new cartridges. Â
Sounds like you were unlucky. All the HP printers I managed just needed regular maintenance which included replacing parts such as pickup rollers and fuser units other than that one or two occasional glitches such as kids shoving their sandwiches in the toner compartment and they were very reliable.
'The power of accurate observation .... is commonly called cynicism by those that have not got it.
George Bernard Shaw'
I'm feeling quite cross because I have just learnt that the Town Council has voted for our local business association, of which I am Chair, to remove all of our equipment from its shed. This equipment comprises mainly the road closure signs we need for when we run street markets. There is one coming up in a few weeks and they are saying we can't return the signs to the shed after it. Grrr. These are big heavy signs with sandbags etc - you know the kind of thing. So, on top of all of the other things I have to organise I have to do battle with the town council to let me put the signs back there until I can find another location. Local bureaucracy - doncha just love it.Â
Bit childish perhaps but may make your town council think ( or at least be somewhat more sympathetic to your dilemma ).
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Pollute for chariddy