Im going to buy a used printer. What should I check?

[rukspuks]

Hey so I found a good offer nearby for an ink tank printer. Besides basic scanning, copying, what should I check?

[themctipers]

ink?

 

why not laser.. 

[Zagna]

The rubber parts on the mechanism that grabs and moves the paper can degrade and break. I remember seeing cracks in my moms old printer that meant that sometimes it wouldn't just pick a sheet.

[rukspuks]

3 minutes ago, themctipers said:

ink?

 

why not laser.. 

laser monochrome's purchase cost = ink tank printer's.

 

An ink tank printer is quite affordable per page.

[Slottr]

8 minutes ago, rukspuks said:

laser monochrome's purchase cost = ink tank printer's.

 

An ink tank printer is quite affordable per page.

Not in the long run

[rukspuks]

1 minute ago, Slottr said:

Not in the long run

I'm talking about the purchase cost. I don't have $300 for a laser multicolor printer RN.

[Jtalk4456]

35 minutes ago, Slottr said:

Not in the long run

I can attest to this. I used to sell printers, those tank printers were garbage and never lasted more than 6 months. the problem is all the cost is in the tank, the printer itself is usually some cheapo $50 model that they slapped some tanks to the side of. If you don't have enough for a laser color, I'd get a cheap inkjet that's not a tank.

https://www.staples.com/HP-OfficeJet-Pro-6968-All-in-One-Inkjet-Printer/product_2256781

This is the one i've had for a few years now and it does the trick and is cheap. Also check into getting hp instant ink. It saves you a bundle of money

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20 minutes ago, Jtalk4456 said:

I can attest to this. I used to sell printers, those tank printers were garbage and never lasted more than 6 months. the problem is all the cost is in the tank, the printer itself is usually some cheapo $50 model that they slapped some tanks to the side of. If you don't have enough for a laser color, I'd get a cheap inkjet that's not a tank.

https://www.staples.com/HP-OfficeJet-Pro-6968-All-in-One-Inkjet-Printer/product_2256781

This is the one i've had for a few years now and it does the trick and is cheap. Also check into getting hp instant ink. It saves you a bundle of money

We have an ink tank printer and I can say that compared to a normal ink jet that uses cartridges, there's no contest.  The difference is extreme enough I wonder why anyone would buy the normal ones any more.  We used to be replacing a ~$50 cartridge every month or so, and now we spend about $20 on a new bottle every year.

[Jtalk4456]

5 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

We have an ink tank printer and I can say that compared to a normal ink jet that uses cartridges, there's no contest.  The difference is extreme enough I wonder why anyone would buy the normal ones any more.  We used to be replacing a ~$50 cartridge every month or so, and now we spend about $20 on a new bottle every year.

really? I've heard horror stories from those things! And the quality is never as good which is how they make the ink cheaper. The biggest problem we dealt with is they always broke on people in the first couple of months. I'm very surprised to hear you've had a good experience with one. and what printer did you have that you were spending $50/month?? The printer I linked has $60 cartridges but they last ~1000 pgs black, 300 color. 

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1 minute ago, Jtalk4456 said:

really? I've heard horror stories from those things! And the quality is never as good which is how they make the ink cheaper. The biggest problem we dealt with is they always broke on people in the first couple of months. I'm very surprised to hear you've had a good experience with one. and what printer did you have that you were spending $50/month?? The printer I linked has $60 cartridges but they last ~1000 pgs black, 300 color. 

Well it might not have been quite "per month", but it was many times per year - many more than the ink tank, which is still on the original colour and has only needed one black refill so far - and it definitely cost more each time as well (~$50 like I said, vs $20 for the bottles).  It definitely isn't without issues - it will randomly need to be rebooted here or there (you know, typical printer stuff) - but it's actually the least problematic "all in one" ink printer we've ever had in that respect (the old laser only beating it just because it was a simple plug and play, no scanner or other fancy stuff).  We have noticed one issue where it will skip lines, causing horizontal blank spots in the page, but slowing it down avoids this, and photo quality has been excellent so it's really only an issue if you're impatient   Overall, we're quite liking it, but of course this is a sample size of one.  If it had broken early on in life, that would be a very different story, but so far there's no signs of it dying and the longer this lasts, the more we'll have saved vs any alternative.

[rukspuks]

2 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

Well it might not have been quite "per month", but it was many times per year - many more than the ink tank, which is still on the original colour and has only needed one black refill so far - and it definitely cost more each time as well (~$50 like I said, vs $20 for the bottles).  It definitely isn't without issues - it will randomly need to be rebooted here or there (you know, typical printer stuff) - but it's actually the least problematic "all in one" ink printer we've ever had in that respect (the old laser only beating it just because it was a simple plug and play, no scanner or other fancy stuff).  We have noticed one issue where it will skip lines, causing horizontal blank spots in the page, but slowing it down avoids this, and photo quality has been excellent so it's really only an issue if you're impatient   Overall, we're quite liking it, but of course this is a sample size of one.  If it had broken early on in life, that would be a very different story, but so far there's no signs of it dying and the longer this lasts, the more we'll have saved vs any alternative.

Could you name the model please

[Jtalk4456]

3 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

Well it might not have been quite "per month", but it was many times per year - many more than the ink tank, which is still on the original colour and has only needed one black refill so far - and it definitely cost more each time as well (~$50 like I said, vs $20 for the bottles).  It definitely isn't without issues - it will randomly need to be rebooted here or there (you know, typical printer stuff) - but it's actually the least problematic "all in one" ink printer we've ever had in that respect (the old laser only beating it just because it was a simple plug and play, no scanner or other fancy stuff).  We have noticed one issue where it will skip lines, causing horizontal blank spots in the page, but slowing it down avoids this, and photo quality has been excellent so it's really only an issue if you're impatient   Overall, we're quite liking it, but of course this is a sample size of one.  If it had broken early on in life, that would be a very different story, but so far there's no signs of it dying and the longer this lasts, the more we'll have saved vs any alternative.

What printer exactly did you get? Most of the issues ours had were physical problems, parts just going bad and stopping working within a few months. As far as quality, i'm not sure how you would get excellent pics from it. Decent sure, but there are different types of ink, pigment and dye. Dye has better colors but is more expensive. Pigment is cheaper and is used in ecotanks to make them cheaper

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1 hour ago, rukspuks said:

Could you name the model please

 

59 minutes ago, Jtalk4456 said:

What printer exactly did you get? Most of the issues ours had were physical problems, parts just going bad and stopping working within a few months. As far as quality, i'm not sure how you would get excellent pics from it. Decent sure, but there are different types of ink, pigment and dye. Dye has better colors but is more expensive. Pigment is cheaper and is used in ecotanks to make them cheaper

It's an Epson ET-2550.  As for the photos, well, I mean it is all relative.  If you went to a professional printing place, I'm sure it'd be nicer, but they are every bit as sharp as I could want so really no complaints there.

[Jtalk4456]

24 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

It's an Epson ET-2550.  As for the photos, well, I mean it is all relative.  If you went to a professional printing place, I'm sure it'd be nicer, but they are every bit as sharp as I could want so really no complaints there.

well i'm glad you got that thing to work, but that's one we sold, or rather tried not to sell. It was the worst offender for us. Also it has an identical printer without the tanks for $49, or at least it did when i worked there, pricing might have changed. It was slow and had horrible print quality compared to even cheap non professional printers. I'm glad you like it fine, but from perspective of a salesman who was surrounded by printers daily, I wouldn't take that printer for free

• ISO Print Speed: Black: 9 ISO ppm^†; Color: 4.5 ISO ppm^†

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1 minute ago, Jtalk4456 said:

well i'm glad you got that thing to work, but that's one we sold, or rather tried not to sell. It was the worst offender for us. Also it has an identical printer without the tanks for $49, or at least it did when i worked there, pricing might have changed. It was slow and had horrible print quality compared to even cheap non professional printers. I'm glad you like it fine, but from perspective of a salesman who was surrounded by printers daily, I wouldn't take that printer for free

Yeah I know there was a non tank one for much cheaper, but I'm glad we didn't go for that because it's the recurring ink cost that makes the difference in the long run, and so far this has been everything it was hyped as

[Jtalk4456]

1 minute ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

Yeah I know there was a non tank one for much cheaper, but I'm glad we didn't go for that because it's the recurring ink cost that makes the difference in the long run, and so far this has been everything it was hyped as

https://epson.com/For-Home/Printers/Inkjet/Epson-Expression-Home-XP-434-Small-in-One-All-in-One-Printer/p/C11CE59202

Yeah we literally had people come in wanting ecotanks, then when we showed them it was a $50 printer with tanks on the side for an extra $220, most people stayed away. The one who didn't came back within 2 months every time. I'm glad you like it but if he's gonna spend $300 on that ecotank he might as well buy a color laser, even without considering my experiences with the ecotanks