Ink Cartridges $$$

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  • kscrapperw
    Participant

    I think I’m safe in assuming, we are a group who consumes much INK, printing!

    I have an HP photosmart printer and buy XL cartridges…..but I’m feeling the $$$. WOndering if you guys have a recommended source for good prices?

    Suggestions anyone?

    Wings2fly
    Participant

    I have been happy with a Brother laser printer all in one with copier for school and home needs. It is not fancy since it is only B&W, but I buy one toner every 9-12 months,running it on toner save mode. Toner is about $40 on sale. Printer cost $130. I get photos printed at CVS or Shutterfly.

    MountainMamma
    Participant

    @Wings2Fly: Could you share the model number of your printer? Do you guys do a fair amount of printing? 9 months is a long time!

    Wings2fly
    Participant

    I knew I needed something different when I used up a whole $17 inkjet cartridge printing A – Z coloring pages way back for grade K letter of the week for 2 students!

    Brother DW 2280

    http://www.amazon.com/Brother-Printer-Wireless-Monochrome-HL2280DW/dp/B004QM8J8S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403444187&sr=8-1&keywords=brother+dw2280

    The starter toner it comes with did not last long.  I have been on the high yield toner TN 450 for 6 months now.  I do not print a lot of graphics though.  And I set it to toner save mode and print in gray scale.  It is still very readable and usable for school needs.  I print our copywork and some math pages, etc.  I tend to use the copier a lot too.  This one is wireless so all of our computers go to print to this.  But it does not have fax.  I had another model for about 4 years and then I needed to buy a new drum which is $85.  I chose to buy this new wireless printer instead.  I have had it a year.  I put the toner in my Amazon cart and when the price goes down to $35, I buy.

    On 12/2/13 it was $35.79 for the high yield TN 450 toner.  I paid $139 for my printer July 10, 2013.  So the price now of $123 is great.  It looks like I got 5 months out of the starter toner that comes with it.

    I do the most I can to get all the toner I can get out of it too.  When the machine tells me to replace it, you can go in the menu and set it okay to still run.  I take the toner out and rock it back and forth a few times and then I get another month out of it.  My goal is to get one year out of a toner.

    Wings2fly
    Participant

    My page count says 3000 pages printed and 600 copies.  I think that is since last July.  I buy a box of paper when on sale and have free shipping to the house.  I got it from Staples or Officemax last time.  I think I paid $20 or $25 for 10 reams of 500 sheets per ream.  It is about time to order some more.

    sarah2106
    Participant

    Thanks! I am following. That printer looks great! Do you use the scan feature? It would be nice to be able to scan things in color. I have not had a scanner in years, my DH has to take things to work which is not always convenient.

    We have a 8 year old deskjet printer that is on its last leg

    I do my pictures through SnapFish and can either have them mailed to me (if doing something special) or print to a store to pick up. I don’t print in color either.

    MountainMamma
    Participant

    Thank you for the reply and helpful info Wings2Fly! I always print in B & W, but I had never thought about just buying a B & W printer. What a great idea. Thanks again.

    Wings2fly
    Participant

    I am glad you found it helpful!

    Yes, it will scan in color, but not print in color.  It does nice scans.

    Also, this one is duplexing so it saves on paper!

    Karen
    Participant

    Is a printer that uses toner better than an inkjet?

    We have an HP Officejet 6700 Premium that I really, really like.  The ink prices are about average (I guess!) black extra large for $30;the three colors (extra large) run about $15 each.  In the past year and a half, I’ve ordered 2 blacks, 2 yellows, 2 magentas, and 1 cyan.  I print a lot of stuff – probably similar to you all.  plus, I am on our church’s VBS committee an I do a bunch of printing for that, too.

     

    Wings2fly
    Participant

    What do you mean by “better”? Color laser printers are MUCH more expensive than B&W. The print quality is fine for our school papers. It is much more economical than the deskjet I was using.

    Karen
    Participant

    Okay.  I’ve never looked into a laser printer, because they are so expensive.  However, my brother-in-law, who is a printer, has a laser printer at home (a black and white).  I would DIE if all I had was black and white! *L*

    kscrapperw
    Participant

    OK, so IF you have to buy regular cartridges, any suggestions?

    jeaninpa
    Participant

    I have the Brother 2280 also, which I purchased after hearing recommendations from several homeschool moms.  We’ve been very happy with it.  I purchase the no name printing cartridges from Amazon.  The last one I purchased was around $11.  They don’t seem to last as long as the name brand ones, but I think we got at least six months out of the last one.  Not sure how many pages that was, but we do a lot of printing.

    Sometimes I’m sorryr that I didn’t go ahead and purchase the Brother printer that also had color printing.  Mostly we print in blank and white, but color is ocassionally nice.

     I do have a Canon color printer and the thing thatI like about that one is that I can refill the ink cartridges.  You can purchase the ink refill kits and they work with some cartridges.  You need to drill a tiny hole in the cartridge and inject the ink.  It’s a bit messy, but it does work and makes color printing very cheap.  I refilled our cartridges 3 or four times but after that you need to purchase a new cartridge.

    Just check out ink refill kits at Amazon.  You can find out if your cartridges can be refilled.

    HSMAMA
    Participant

    We currently have a Brother printer. In the past we’ve had Canon and Lexmark and one HP. HP was my least favorite because of this driver it installed that kept malfunctioning, but that’s not an ink issue. 🙂

    I started ordering all my ink from here:

    http://www.123inkcartridges.ca/

    (or here if you’re in the US: http://www.123inkcartridges.com/) I order their compatible cartridges and they are way, way cheaper than the brand name cartridges and they last longer. I have never had a problem with their cartridges. The refills do void the warranty on your printer, but as my printer was under $50, I really wasn’t very worried about it.

    Monica
    Participant

    Just bumping this in case anyone was interested in getting the Brother 2280DW.  The refurbished model is on sale at Staples this week for $99.99.

    I am so tempted…

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 17 total)
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