Rea Posted March 2, 2011 Posted March 2, 2011 Hi folks, I've been trawling the internet but have got bogged down with all the techno facts. I need help buying a printer for playgroup. It must be able to work without a PC. It must have memory card slot(s). It must be able to be connected to a camera through a USB lead. It must have easy and fairly cheap inks. Our current Epsom wont print anything if one of the four inks run out. It must be under a £100 (or thereabouts) Fairly small too because it will have to come out of the cupboard everyday. It doesnt have to be quiet or print particulary fast or of presentation quality. Any ideas?
Guest Posted March 2, 2011 Posted March 2, 2011 My only thought is perhaps go for a Kodak as the ink is a lot cheaper than say epson or HP as I have discovered when its too late !!!
Guest Posted March 2, 2011 Posted March 2, 2011 Hi Rea, we have a canon pixma mp 520. It cost about £100 and I get sets of 4 inks on ebay for about a tenner. The girls at preschool use it via the camera memory card, it also works as a photocopier. The quality is absolutely fine for printing out photos of children to go in profiles. I wouldn't use it for bulk printing of anything black and white, but for photos it is great.
Guest Posted March 2, 2011 Posted March 2, 2011 My only thought is perhaps go for a Kodak as the ink is a lot cheaper than say epson or HP as I have discovered when its too late !!! I bought one following the promotional claims. Managed about 10 copies then refused to do anything else. Took Kodak 6 weeks to respond to support help request.First response was a copy of the on-line help pages (which I'd not tried many times ) Second e-mail was return to shop. We'd already done that and asked the techic guy is it worth just doing a straight exchange 'possibly not' was his reply Got a new Epson as I had been very happy with the previous one but made sure it was seperate inks. Others may have a different view on Kodak.
Inge Posted March 2, 2011 Posted March 2, 2011 had a quick look on which site... no Kodak listed as a best buy... most are over £100 though this one has good reviews.. from Which? and customers on the site.. as does this one... this lexmark also has good reviews.. a bit better than the other two.. no epson in the price range at all. but like you I dont like them at all, had 4 in a row all broke within a few months and the ink was a real issue.. one comment that goes through all of the printers with SD / pictbridge slots is check your card is supported as apparently they may not support the one you have.
fimbo Posted March 2, 2011 Posted March 2, 2011 we have this one http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?c...ed=0CDMQ8wIwAg# and its pretty good -i know you said you didnt want an epson because of the cost of the inks -but i get compatible carts from Ebay for £9.99 for 14 carts (ink power is the seller) and ive only ever had 1 cart not recognised by the printer. we use this in our setting on a daily basis for photocopying (b+w and colour) and for printing photos for learning journeys. you can put the sd card in the front. our epson also wont print if any of the inks run out -but as soon as the empty one is replaced its fine. i also have the older version at home, and have used it for over 2 years with only 1 problem -then i was able to speak to an epson customer service person via 'live chat' and they walked me through fixing it -marvellous !
louby loo Posted March 2, 2011 Posted March 2, 2011 I have the HP version similar to Inges link (mines now about three years old) I don't want to jinks it - but it's been fantastic. I also like the fact I can do muliple photo-copies on a 'fast print'. Can also so this for photo's, which we always print on normal printer paper. To be honest I can't see a lot of difference between fast/photo quality printing on it anyway.
Guest Posted March 2, 2011 Posted March 2, 2011 I would stay clear of the Kodak ones although they may have improved in the last couple of years. After much frustration, lots of ink and numerous phone calls due to printer carriage I threw it out and brought a HP.
Guest Posted March 2, 2011 Posted March 2, 2011 we have just brought an HP photosmart B210 for about £65 and so far so good the photos are a very good print, it's not slow and has seperate inks, it also has copier and scan. we replaced it as our epson was awful and our canon won't work without ink in every holder! we did do lots of trawling and this seemed the best one for the budget!
Guest Posted March 2, 2011 Posted March 2, 2011 I am a fan of the HP Printers and use compatible inks that work fine and are cheaper. Tesco home shops often have them on special offer. A wireless printer is good and saves all those annoying cables.
Rea Posted March 2, 2011 Author Posted March 2, 2011 Thanks for that everyone. I'd been looking at the HP because thats what we have at home and I think its great. I'll let the rest of the committee know I've made yet another executive decision. Cheers
Guest Posted March 3, 2011 Posted March 3, 2011 I'm good at those too Rea, saves a lot of time in the long run ...
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