Recommendations for Printer: High Quality Prints with Cheap Ink Refills?

xNik on 30/06/2024 - 09:57
Last edited 30/06/2024 - 10:00

I'm looking for a printer which can do high quality colour prints.
My budget is around $200-$300. Can increase if the printer is good.

Purpose:
* To print out family photos (sometimes for art projects)
* Print out text for art projects
* Document printing too (quality doesn't matter for documents). I do have a cheap printer with cheap ink I can still use for this.
* Print 5-20 times per month but may increase as it will be used for art projects.

Features I am looking for:
* Cheap ink (a must) but still gives high quality prints
* Wireless printing (print things via phone or pc wirelessly)
* Ability to print on photo paper (6" x 4" size)
* A4 printing
* Scanner

Would be nice:
* Double sided printing

Electrical & Electronics Printer

Comments

  • SuperMick on 30/06/2024 - 11:04
    +1

    I have an HP Smart tank 7305, and it is the best printer that I have ever had. It cost me $499, on special at JBhifi. It does everything that you want. There is not a lot of ink supplied with the machine, so I bought a 5 pack compatible ink bottles from Ink Station for $50.85. I use it a lot.

    • xNik on 30/06/2024 - 11:07

      How long have you had it for? $500 for a printer seems fairly expensive considering they break down every 2-3 years. Also how is the print quality for pictures (ie. family pictures).

      • SuperMick on 01/07/2024 - 14:15

        I've had it for about 18 months, I had a top of the line HP printer before this one and it lasted about 10-12 years. That's why I bought this one, again a top of the line printer.

    • HeWhoKnows on 01/07/2024 - 20:27
      +2

      In fact any printer with separate ink cartridges for each colour
      Usually the Black cartidge is twice as large.
      It pays to check the cost of replacement cartidges before buying.

      But the big question for OP is do you really need a "colour" printer???

      B&W Laser printers are BY FAR the cheapest printers to run
      Like printing 1400 pages on a $14 toner cartidge
      And much cheaper to buy than these mega tank printers.
      Plus you dont have the all issues with inkjets
      And the print doesnt "run" if it gets wet

      So maybe a laser printer for document printing and take photos to a store for high quality printing.
      NB: Its better to get your photos printed at a store (eg Officeworks, Harvey Norman, Kmart) )- so incredibly cheap these days and You can never beat the quality nor the cost to print!
      Its also incredibly wasteful and costly printing photos on a colour inkjet -
      The amount of ink used is incredibly high, high cost of needing to print again due to some sort of error or poor quality print and you must use the correct (high cost) "photo print" paper

  • omguleh on 30/06/2024 - 11:06
    +1

    Epson XP960 printer. Use 3rd party inks but I use Epson Premium Photo paper, other papers just don't look as good.

    • jv on 30/06/2024 - 23:26

      The genuine inks for that printer are approx. $2200 per litre

      • SuperMick on 01/07/2024 - 14:22

        How do you know that?

        • jv on 01/07/2024 - 14:22
          +1

          The prices of the ink are listed on the stores that sell them…

  • AustriaBargain on 30/06/2024 - 11:45
    +3

    Cheap third party inks will fade faster than genuine inks btw. So you may want a mix of both, and use genuine for photos you want to last decades, and generic inks for photos you will be putting in the bin 12 months from now.

    • Murkymerv on 30/06/2024 - 12:23
      +1

      I never knew that , thank you for sharing

      • AustriaBargain on 30/06/2024 - 12:33
        +1

        Same with paper. Genuine paper will last longer before fading than the Aldi photo paper. If it's a precious photo then genuine photo paper isn't that expensive. And if it's just to stick on the fridge for a month before scrunching up and throwing away, the cheap paper and ink will be just fine.

    • rumblytangara on 01/07/2024 - 15:35

      Swapping inks for different prints implies that you're using ink cartridges, which is very expensive per page. Versus refillable tanks.

      • AustriaBargain on 01/07/2024 - 16:00

        I drill holes in the top of the cartridges and refill them with aftermarket ink, and flash the chips to set them as full again. It's a PITA, but you seen the prices of genuine photo quality ink?

        • rumblytangara on 01/07/2024 - 16:25

          It's a PITA, but you seen the prices of genuine photo quality ink?

          I've been using Epson inks for years. One for a normal colour printer, one for a photo printer. If it is for EcoTanks the the per page cost is trivial, in the same ballpark as laser toner.

          • AustriaBargain on 01/07/2024 - 17:23

            @rumblytangara: I'm using Canon Pro-100S. Up to A3+ size prints (16x19 inches). Eight tiny ink tanks that cost like $25 each.

            • rumblytangara on 01/07/2024 - 17:29

              @AustriaBargain: So that's a cartridge printer, right?

              • AustriaBargain on 01/07/2024 - 22:07
                +1

                @rumblytangara: Yeah they are ink cartridges. Little tanks of ink you slot in above the print head. A CIS would be nice but couldn't find an affordable printer that would print at A3+ with quality you can sell people.

  • outlander on 30/06/2024 - 12:15

    Look out for a second hand printer. I picked up an older Canon mx926 that uses cli-650 ink tanks for $50.

    Replacement ink for a full set is $10 and it does everything on your list (incl double sided scanning).

    For family photos I'd just use officeworks/kmart

  • foxmulder on 30/06/2024 - 12:30
    +1

    I did a colour print recently in Oficeworks with their cloud print, it was very easy and finish print was really good at 50c per print - might me an option for you to do one there.

  • rumblytangara on 30/06/2024 - 12:39

    $200-$300.

    This is not going to get you anything that can do this well:

    To print out family photos (sometimes for art projects)

    That budget will get you a 3 colour + black printer, which will look 'okay' when using photo paper, but it won't have anything resembling the accuracy or range of a proper photo printer.

    Cheap ink (a must) but still gives high quality prints

    Get an Epson EcoTank for cheap ink. Any cartridge option will be expensive.

  • Chris Topher on 30/06/2024 - 14:23
    +1

    I've been using Rihac CISS for years. https://www.rihac.com.au/

  • GordonD on 30/06/2024 - 14:24
    +2

    There's an old joke. Everyone wants a car that's cheap, good, and fast. But all they can have is two out of three. They have to choose which two. You can choose cheap and good, but it won't be fast. You can choose cheap and fast, but it'll have to be a second hand car that's probably been thrashed. Or you can buy good and fast, but it won't be cheap.

    What the OP wants is the three out of three everyone wants for printers. Cheap, high quality printing, and low ink costs. Sorry, OP, you can have two out of three. Which two do you want?

    If anyone could sell a product that offered all three, no-one would buy anyone else's products.

    You want cheap ink? There's products now like Epson Ecotanks and their equivalent from other manufacturers.

    You want quality photo prints? Go to Officeworks when you need one of those, and they'll do it on an expensive printer.

    You want cheap? Look for a second hand printer.

    • rumblytangara on 30/06/2024 - 16:14

      What the OP wants is the three out of three everyone wants for printers. Cheap, high quality printing, and low ink costs. Sorry, OP, you can have two out of three. Which two do you want?

      It's a fairly specific problem to here… when I was overseas the photo versions of the tank filled inkjets were far more affordable. My previous 6 colour photo EcoTank was $500 retail.

      Australia sometimes really sucks for product availability, and this niche of high quality, cheap to run inkjet printers is one of them.

    • jv on 30/06/2024 - 23:27
      +2

      There's an old joke.

      How is that a joke.

      What is the punchline?

  • solidussnake on 30/06/2024 - 16:28

    You want a budget cheap printer, with cheap ink that does quality prints…..

    Tell us what you find.

  • sacah on 30/06/2024 - 20:30
    +1

    I've had a EPSON Ecotank ET-2810 for 2yrs, it was bought for $300 and the ink refills are super cheap. It does an alright job printing photos, but for photos we want to keep in an album or something, we still go to Officeworks or Kmart to print.

  • dimitryp on 01/07/2024 - 14:50

    i've had a great time with the Canon ix6800 for the last couple of years.
    Its only ~$250, generic ink packs (all needed colours in one pack) are only $16 on amazon.

    Pros:
    The photo quality is really excellent - 9600 (horizontal) x 2400 (vertical) dpi which is quite high
    has Wifi
    Can print A3
    Has duplex printing (manual flip)
    Havent had any technical issues

    Cons:
    High quality photo printing is pretty slow, maybe 1min per page? Regular text prints fast though
    Doesnt have a paper tray, so you need to put paper "standing" at the top, and thus duplex printing requires a manual flip of the page

    One other thing i'll mention is that the photos i print seriously fade within ~3 months. My understanding is this is more to do with the paper you use and how you store it, not necessarily the printer. Or it might be the generic inks im using? Not a big prob for me as the stuff i print is temporary, but something to consider if you want to print long-lasting photos.

    Personally, highly recommend.

    • dimitryp on 01/07/2024 - 14:52

      looks like someone above commented that the fading has to do with generic inks. So maybe get canon inks and prevent fading.

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