Colour Printer? If so, which? Canada. Crafts and Photos
December 5, 2019 6:02 AM Subscribe
I'm thinking of asking for a colour printer for my birthday. But I feel like colour printers have always been a PITA. Has that changed? Mainly I would want it for craft projects (e.g. printing templates to cover toy streetcars, printing test runs of picture books for my son, Santa's branding items). But if I had one, maybe I would also use for photos. There was an epson printer where you could get an ink subscription and any ink used towards photos was free. Now I can't find it. Should I get that one (if I can find it and the offer is available in Canada) Or which should I get? Or should I not get any?
I'm losing access to the awesome laser commercial colour printer/copier that I've been using for my craft projects until now. When I have paid for colour copying I've spent maybe $30+ per project for big things (e.g. current picture book is 50 pages and needs to be printed on 11x14) and $5-10 for smaller things (santa branding, a few photos etc.). I've probably done 5-8 print jobs of the larger kind in the past year and a handful of smaller stuff.
If I get one I need it to be wifi capable. Also, if I printed photos I would want them to be archival quality. I assume I want laser not inkjet but I also assume that's outrageously expensive, right? I don't want to ask for an outrageously expensive gift. Because I would use it to print test-runs of picture books, I would also need the colour to be "true."
So should I get my own colour printer or is it too much hassle and I should just print at staples? If I should get one, which one should I get? Does anyone remember the epson thing I mentioned? Can you point me to it? Is it worthwhile?
I'm losing access to the awesome laser commercial colour printer/copier that I've been using for my craft projects until now. When I have paid for colour copying I've spent maybe $30+ per project for big things (e.g. current picture book is 50 pages and needs to be printed on 11x14) and $5-10 for smaller things (santa branding, a few photos etc.). I've probably done 5-8 print jobs of the larger kind in the past year and a handful of smaller stuff.
If I get one I need it to be wifi capable. Also, if I printed photos I would want them to be archival quality. I assume I want laser not inkjet but I also assume that's outrageously expensive, right? I don't want to ask for an outrageously expensive gift. Because I would use it to print test-runs of picture books, I would also need the colour to be "true."
So should I get my own colour printer or is it too much hassle and I should just print at staples? If I should get one, which one should I get? Does anyone remember the epson thing I mentioned? Can you point me to it? Is it worthwhile?
For printed photos, although you can certain archive what a laser printer prints, I definitely wouldn't call it "archival quality". Laser prints don't look like printed photos. If you want that look, you need an inkjet.
The annoying thing about inkjet is that you need to use them regularly so that you don't have clogged nozzles/dried-up ink/etc. And lower end models don't necessarily have archival inks. So you may be better off sending your photos to be printed by a company that specializes in that (mpix, iprintfromhome, etc.).
It sounds like a bunch of things you use it for are potentially for your son (toy streetcars, and whatever "santa's branding items" are), and inked prints are ruined when they get damp. So if there's likelihood that he's going to get things wet, the laser prints for that stuff would be a better choice.
There are color laser printers in the $200-$400 range. They most likely come with "starter" toner cartridges, so you should assume that you'll need to get replacements soon, and tractor in that cost.
posted by jonathanhughes at 6:31 AM on December 5, 2019
The annoying thing about inkjet is that you need to use them regularly so that you don't have clogged nozzles/dried-up ink/etc. And lower end models don't necessarily have archival inks. So you may be better off sending your photos to be printed by a company that specializes in that (mpix, iprintfromhome, etc.).
It sounds like a bunch of things you use it for are potentially for your son (toy streetcars, and whatever "santa's branding items" are), and inked prints are ruined when they get damp. So if there's likelihood that he's going to get things wet, the laser prints for that stuff would be a better choice.
There are color laser printers in the $200-$400 range. They most likely come with "starter" toner cartridges, so you should assume that you'll need to get replacements soon, and tractor in that cost.
posted by jonathanhughes at 6:31 AM on December 5, 2019
Ho often do you print, and what sort of quality is required? I don't print often, so I use the printer at my library. Sometimes Staples or the UPS Store, though the Staples near me is unreliable. For the library, I just put it in my email drafts. I like going to the library, so it's usually not a big deal.
I don't lose the desk space, I don't have to deal with toner drying up, I don't do unnecessary printing, etc.
posted by theora55 at 7:01 AM on December 5, 2019
I don't lose the desk space, I don't have to deal with toner drying up, I don't do unnecessary printing, etc.
posted by theora55 at 7:01 AM on December 5, 2019
I don't see that Epson Readyink is available in Canada, but the HP Instant Ink program is - I bought a $30 printer, signed up for the free ink tier (<15 pages a month) and hopefully will never have to pay for ink again. If you're doing more active printing you may have to do the math about cost per page vs buying either official or unofficial ink cartridges.
posted by Gortuk at 7:21 AM on December 5, 2019
posted by Gortuk at 7:21 AM on December 5, 2019
Response by poster: Nothing getting wet. How regularly do you have to print to keep nozzles from clogging. I have a toddler, so I'm sure I can find at least one photo to print pretty regularly. Santa branding is like gift tags/cards/stationary. Santa has a logo and font that appears on things that come from the North Pole.
Also, what about print speed...is it going to take like 3 hours to print a 50 page document on a colour inkjet? And if I get an inkjet, will it print photos I can put in an album and keep forever looking nice (as forever as what I would get from an online photo printer place?)
Ok, now that i know the name of the ink programs, it's the HP Tango that offers free photos (with their 3.99 monthly ink service). Is this a worthwhile printer? It looks a little dinky and potentially finicky.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 8:00 AM on December 5, 2019
Also, what about print speed...is it going to take like 3 hours to print a 50 page document on a colour inkjet? And if I get an inkjet, will it print photos I can put in an album and keep forever looking nice (as forever as what I would get from an online photo printer place?)
Ok, now that i know the name of the ink programs, it's the HP Tango that offers free photos (with their 3.99 monthly ink service). Is this a worthwhile printer? It looks a little dinky and potentially finicky.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 8:00 AM on December 5, 2019
All printers will have a pages per minute specification based on printing a a typical page. Even if you were printing 50 fully-age photos at high quality, most printers wouldn't take three hours. But you'd probably run out of ink first.
I have framed inkjet prints around my house that I printed on a basic Epson printer that have not deteriorated in quality over many years. Online photo places are probably using archival inks, but I imagine that anything you print will be fine for quite some time, especially if it's in an album and away from UV rays.
posted by jonathanhughes at 8:46 AM on December 5, 2019
I have framed inkjet prints around my house that I printed on a basic Epson printer that have not deteriorated in quality over many years. Online photo places are probably using archival inks, but I imagine that anything you print will be fine for quite some time, especially if it's in an album and away from UV rays.
posted by jonathanhughes at 8:46 AM on December 5, 2019
The same printer you use for crafts will be an incredibly expensive printer to print 50 page documents on.
posted by scruss at 9:47 AM on December 5, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by scruss at 9:47 AM on December 5, 2019 [1 favorite]
How regularly do you have to print to keep nozzles from clogging.
About once a week should be enough. If you've got nothing useful to print, running the nozzle check routine that you'll find in the print driver's printing preferences section will use up about as little ink as is required to keep the jets in good nick while still exercising every jet.
posted by flabdablet at 10:17 AM on December 5, 2019
About once a week should be enough. If you've got nothing useful to print, running the nozzle check routine that you'll find in the print driver's printing preferences section will use up about as little ink as is required to keep the jets in good nick while still exercising every jet.
posted by flabdablet at 10:17 AM on December 5, 2019
Also agreeing with the consensus on printing costs. If you're regularly producing 50-page documents, it's not going to take many of those before the ink that an inkjet will use up for that has cost you more than you'd have spent on a low-end laser printer. Owning both - an inkjet for craft, and the cheapest monochrome Brother laser you can find for bulk documents - will cost you less.
posted by flabdablet at 10:19 AM on December 5, 2019
posted by flabdablet at 10:19 AM on December 5, 2019
Response by poster: ok, sorry to threadsit but this is unclear: I have a laser monochrome to print B&W and will continue to use that to print B&W.
Crafts include test runs of picture books. So just now (at the commercial-quality printer I still have access to), I just printed 2 copies of a 52 page colour picture book* (2 copies because I printed the wrong file the first time and images didn't fit on the page). Depending on the extent of changes I need to make after I review the test run, I might print a third copy tomorrow or Monday of the new version to check that. Hopefully I'll print that one correctly and it will only be one copy. There's a small (say 2-5% chance) that I'll need to make changes after that and print another copy to check those changes. So that's 2-4 copies of a 50 page colour document for this project.
* Probably ~35 pages of which are full-page colour images.
I expect I will do similar projects and run through the same routine again in April and then again next Christmas. Then assorted other crafts in between (resulting in maybe 2-10 colour pages per month). And photos when I have the time and get my act together.
Is that too much for an inkjet? Is that too much for the model I linked?
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 10:56 AM on December 5, 2019
Crafts include test runs of picture books. So just now (at the commercial-quality printer I still have access to), I just printed 2 copies of a 52 page colour picture book* (2 copies because I printed the wrong file the first time and images didn't fit on the page). Depending on the extent of changes I need to make after I review the test run, I might print a third copy tomorrow or Monday of the new version to check that. Hopefully I'll print that one correctly and it will only be one copy. There's a small (say 2-5% chance) that I'll need to make changes after that and print another copy to check those changes. So that's 2-4 copies of a 50 page colour document for this project.
* Probably ~35 pages of which are full-page colour images.
I expect I will do similar projects and run through the same routine again in April and then again next Christmas. Then assorted other crafts in between (resulting in maybe 2-10 colour pages per month). And photos when I have the time and get my act together.
Is that too much for an inkjet? Is that too much for the model I linked?
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 10:56 AM on December 5, 2019
FWIW I did a 5-year experiment with using the absolute cheapest everything to laser-print at home, ordering my own replacement parts and doing the regular maintenance and update myself, and when I got finished I totaled up all the costs--not even counting my time--and found out I was doing a little worse than just having everything printed at my local print shop.
I was printing maybe 5000-10000 sides per year, as well--quite a lot for most ordinary users and way more than you're printing. The print shop is printing probably well into the hundreds of thousands to millions of sides per year and the economy of scale really tells.
And if a person is only printing say 1000 sides per year (which is the ballpark you're in) the economy of scale works even more against you than it did in my case.
Additionally, the quality of the local print shop was noticeably better, and when the damn thing breaks down or runs out of toner THEY are responsible for fixing it.
That was a B&W printer, but the same lessons apply even more so to a color printer because it has more complexity, more supplies, more things to go wrong, and is generally used less.
So honestly for the 600 or so copies a year you're running, there is no way you are going to match or even come close to matching the cost-per-page you can get by printing at Staples or a similar place. 8.5x11 color copies are $0.14 US there. You might end up paying a couple more cents per page for acid-free paper etc. You are not going to beat that or even come close to that price with your own system. And your system will probably have lower print quality and/or not be archival quality.
Also, when you print a 50-page book from them, they're going to fuss with everything, put it all together, deal with any problems, and you'll just stop by and pick it up. Printing at home is going to take an hour or more likely two of babysitting, reprinting, folding, binding, fixing paper hams, ordering a new toner cartridge for the one color that ran out, picking up a new ream of your special paper, etc.
So, there are reasons to have your own color printer at home--most notably convenience, no closed hours, a far higher level of control over details if you want/need that, and quickness of being able to print a test page or two, or a small project--but you are never going to beat larger printers on price or overall quality.
FWIW I have an $80 Brother b&w laser that I use to print the occasional 2-5 page single document, but anything more complicated than that I just send to the nearby printer. And count the savings in $$$, hassle, and frustration.
posted by flug at 1:36 PM on December 5, 2019 [3 favorites]
I was printing maybe 5000-10000 sides per year, as well--quite a lot for most ordinary users and way more than you're printing. The print shop is printing probably well into the hundreds of thousands to millions of sides per year and the economy of scale really tells.
And if a person is only printing say 1000 sides per year (which is the ballpark you're in) the economy of scale works even more against you than it did in my case.
Additionally, the quality of the local print shop was noticeably better, and when the damn thing breaks down or runs out of toner THEY are responsible for fixing it.
That was a B&W printer, but the same lessons apply even more so to a color printer because it has more complexity, more supplies, more things to go wrong, and is generally used less.
So honestly for the 600 or so copies a year you're running, there is no way you are going to match or even come close to matching the cost-per-page you can get by printing at Staples or a similar place. 8.5x11 color copies are $0.14 US there. You might end up paying a couple more cents per page for acid-free paper etc. You are not going to beat that or even come close to that price with your own system. And your system will probably have lower print quality and/or not be archival quality.
Also, when you print a 50-page book from them, they're going to fuss with everything, put it all together, deal with any problems, and you'll just stop by and pick it up. Printing at home is going to take an hour or more likely two of babysitting, reprinting, folding, binding, fixing paper hams, ordering a new toner cartridge for the one color that ran out, picking up a new ream of your special paper, etc.
So, there are reasons to have your own color printer at home--most notably convenience, no closed hours, a far higher level of control over details if you want/need that, and quickness of being able to print a test page or two, or a small project--but you are never going to beat larger printers on price or overall quality.
FWIW I have an $80 Brother b&w laser that I use to print the occasional 2-5 page single document, but anything more complicated than that I just send to the nearby printer. And count the savings in $$$, hassle, and frustration.
posted by flug at 1:36 PM on December 5, 2019 [3 favorites]
There is a page with recommendations and discussion here.
posted by flug at 1:39 PM on December 5, 2019
posted by flug at 1:39 PM on December 5, 2019
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by rtgoodwin at 6:14 AM on December 5, 2019 [1 favorite]