I wish I had a dollar for every time I was asked that question. I know, I know, I'm the printer guru and I know all there is to know about printers. Truth is I keep my ear to the ground but I don't run out and test every new printer on the market. That's what CNET is for.
So don't ask me to recommend your next printer. I won't do it because if you get something you're not happy with, I become the bad guy. I'll be happy to steer you in the right direction but I will never recommend any specific printer.
Most of the time the question is, "Which printer is the easiest to refill?". I can answer that one really fast, Canon, hands down. Any Canon. See, I won't get specific. But the fact is, if you are refilling and want to eliminate 90% of your headaches, buy a Canon.
The order of complexity, from easiest to hardest, for refilling cartridges is as follows:
Canon
Epson
Lexmark (Dell, Compaq)
Hewlett Packard
I don't recommend buying any of the others like Xerox, Brother, Sharp or any off brand printer if you want to save money on supplies. The people that make the ink and the generic cartridges are ONLY going to concentrate on very popular printers. Same with remanufactured cartridges.
By the way, Dell printers are getting really popular but be warned, even though they are made by Lexmark, they will not accept a Lexmark cartridge. And I don't know of any company that is remanufacturing Dell cartridges. A Lexmark refill kit will work with Dell cartridges though.
All the newer Epson cartridges need a reset tool if you refill them. If you don't reset the chip on the cartridge they simply will not work.
HP cartridges can be reset by selectively taping over certain contacts on the cartridge foil strip. I tip my hat to whoever figured that out.
Lexmark does not need a reset procedure but they are a little fussy to refill sometimes.
Canon ink tanks contain NO technology. They are simply a plastic shell. The hardest thing about refilling Canon cartridges is getting a good seal over the refill hole. If you don't get a 100% airtight seal they will leak.
So what printer do I use? I use an Epson C60....It was on sale! ;-)
Having Fun With The Printer Support Techs
Many years ago when I was a copier technician my boss would always tell us to push our companies supplies, paper, toner etc.. Of course they wanted to sell more supplies and make more money but their techniques were very questionable. Just like printers you could go out and purchase generic supplies and some worked better than others naturally. Well the supplies that we sold were also mostly generic, however, they were branded with our companies name and logos. Here's where the sneakiness comes in. When a customer complained about a repair cost estimate we were told to blame it on their inferior generic supplies and to further that the repair would have been much cheaper if they were using our over-priced supplies.
My Printer Died - An Epitaph
My printer just died. My Epson C60 that I've had for almost 2 years was my buddy. I loved that printer. It was there for me through thick and thin. Sure it had it's quirks and idiosyncrasies like not printing when my office temperature dropped to 17 degrees because I forgot to turn the thermostat up one bitterly cold morning. I had to open the lid and point a ceramic space heater inside to thaw it out.
When Is Black Not Black?
Did you notice how many different black inks there are available? At last count we have forty different black inks listed on our web site. You may be wondering how many shades of black can there be? Well there are actually different shades of black which I will explain in a bit.
