Recommend a multi-function inkjet printer for me!

[MillCreek]

So my HP Officejet KX80i, which is about four years old or so, has gone Tango Uniform.  It no longer recognizes when a new cartridge is inserted, which is apparently a known problem.  I have tried the fixes for this suggested on the net but to no avail.

I have a Brother laser for text, a Canon S900 for photos but would like another inkjet All In One for utility printing, copying, scanning and faxing.  I am not sure I want to try another Hewlett Packard.  Does anyone have recent experience with a multi-function inkjet and have any recommendations for brands and models?  I am happy to spend up to $ 300 or so, and I have no need for the built-in photo editing/LCD screens that a lot of models have these days.  I use Photoshop on the big computer for that.

Thanks for all suggestions.

[ilbob]

forget inkjets. go with a laserjet unless you want color. brother makes some nice low cost ones.

[Fly320s]

Canon MP780.  Copy, fax, scan, print.  Flatbed scanner and top feed for multiple sheets.  Will print photos directly from your camera, if you wish.

I've had mine for about two years; it works like a dream.

It's a little too big for a desk-top machine, but still smaller than a office copy machine.  I bought mine from an Staples office supply.

[Mannlicher]

I have been quite satisfied with the HP psc 2110 All in One.  It scans, copies, and prints.

[MillCreek]

forget inkjets. go with a laserjet unless you want color. brother makes some nice low cost ones.

I was at the Seattle-area Fry's last night.  The laser all-in-one machines are just enormous, and I already have a laser text printer.  I am looking for an inkjet for lower-cost color printing than my Canon S900.  I was looking at these Canon Pixma models: 530 and 830.  They look kind of interesting, and I have had very good luck with my Canon photo printer.  I was also looking at the HP, Brother and Epson models, and the Canons seemed better constructed.  

I will use the faxing and scanning functions more than anything else, so an automatic document feeder seems like a really good idea.  The flatbed scanner option also looks nice.  My old HP Officejet was sheet fed only, and I often wished for flatbed capability.  The HP models still have the one black cartridge and one tricolor cartridge whereas the Brothers and Canons have individual color ink tanks, so you replace one tank at a time, which is a lot cheaper than replacing a tricolor cartridge that has only had one color run out.

I am off to do some researching on the net here.  I see that some of the Brother models are considered somewhat slow and have lesser scan and print quality than the HP and Canon models.

[mike]

Look at the Epson RX700. Highly recommended by  John Dvorak at PC magazine.

[thebaldguy]

Go with the one that uses the cheapest cartridges.

This may sound funny, but it's true. I saw two all in one printers, both for $99. The HP printer cartridges cost $15-$20 each; the Cannon cartridges cost $7-$10 each, and I later found the Cannon cartridges online for less than $2 each! Also, you may want a printer where you can change the color cartridges individually; the red, yellow, and blue have their own separate ink cartridges. That may save you some money as well.

[Fly320s]

Here's the Canon MP780.  It is part of the Pixma family.

http://reviews.cnet.com/Canon_Pixma_MP780/4505-3181_7-31090955.html

It does have individual cartridges for each color: magenta, amber, cyan (red, yellow, blue for most people).

[MillCreek]

Hmm, unfortunately, some of the models recommended here are no longer manufactured.  After doing some research, I just clicked the button on a Canon MP530:

http://reviews.cnet.com/Canon_Pixma_MP530/4505-3181_7-31990796.html?tag=pop

Once I narrowed down my feature list to include faxing, an automatic document feeder, flatbed scanner and individual ink tanks, Epson, Canon, HP and Brother had only a few models combined left to choose from.  It came down to a couple of HP, Canon and Brother machines, and the Canon MP530 seems to have everything I want at a good price/performance point.  And with tax and free shipping, it was $ 186 from Amazon.  It has a five-tank ink system and the replacement tank costs are much more reasonable than HP.

[Waitone]

I second the advice to pay attention of cartridges.  The money is in ink, not printers.

[Brian Williams]

I never recommend an all in one product.   Also not only are the cartridges are costly, how long do they last or how many sheets will each cartridge produce?

[Gewehr98]

I divorced myself of inkjet printers about 4 years ago.  Too few pages per inkjet cartridge, IMHO, and that's not including cartridges wicking themselves into the innards or smearing of images.  For a while, I kept a color Canon or HP injet around just in case, but the output was less than optimal, and Lord forbid if the printed items got wet, humid, or exposed to sunlight.  So I found a nice ex-government HP LaserJet 4, loaded it up with memory and a JetDirect card, and if I needed copies I simply used my scanner and computer to do so.  Then I found surplus Tektronix Phaser 560, 740, and 780 color laser printers that Uncle Sam had sold off with low page counts on their print engines.  

The smaller 560 and 740 color lasers are very economical on their toner usage, about 5k pagers per toner, and I've been buying NOS toner cartridges for around $10.00 per color.  The fuser cartridges are long-lived, and the output is sharp, color-corrected, and permanent, even on plain paper.  The Phasers also have external SCSI ports, and enable SCSI scanners to be connected to make an instant copier.  I still use my Canon LED USB scanner through my computer to make copies.  I have an older fax modem in one of the computers to do faxes via scanner.

Since then, later generation color laser printers have hit the market and are showing up used, if price is an object.  Check into government surplus (DRMO) auctions, my Phaser 780 came straight from Kennedy Space Center - it had image streaking problems, and the rocket scientists there (!) couldn't figure out that it needed a new fuser cartridge, so I got the machine for a song plus $20.00 for a new fuser cartridge.  I also have a lead on a couple more Phaser 780 machines that are mine for the asking, but I'm out of office space for now.

Couple a good color laser with a scanner and faxmodem, and you're ahead of the inkjets and their problems.