Best all in one printer

[wilko]

Purely for convenience sake I'm looking to purchase a basic AIO. I have several Canon Pixma printers and having previously owned Epsons I find Canon to be superior to other printers in this price range ( I do recognise that higher end Epsons are excellent though). However, I also have an Epson Perfection scanner which is a marvelous machine and most reviewers give it very high marks.

What I'm looking for therefore is a printer that gives me the advantage of being able to refill cartridges easily, combined with good scanning results. Does such a machine exist?

The Canon MP610 seems to curry favour with reviewers but very little is mentioned about it's scanning quality. The latest Canons leave me cold and it's probably my last chance to purchase an old style Canon.

However, I must admit ignorance when it comes to other printers and i would welcome the opinions of others on this board as to their experiences with other marques.

The MP610 offers the same print quality as the IP4500 (same printhead I believe) but I am totally ignorant about it's scanning qualities and it is rather bulky for such a basic printer.

I will continue to use my Epson scanner for quality scans but I would be using my AIO for the majority of the time.

Opinions greatly welcomed

 

[brendo]

I have the MP600. Great printer. I can upload a high res scan using the scanner if you would like to see it.

While it is a fairly large printer its good because it has the 2.5 inch LCD, bluetooth, pictbride, memory card slots etc. Gives excellent quality prints (much better then my ip4200)

Id def recommend a MP610 ( or higher if you wanted fax)

 

[stratman]

Love my Canon MP830.

 

[pharmacist]

The best scanners are in the MP780, MP830 and the MP970. Why ? Because they have the superior CCD scanning technology. The CISS (not to be confused with an ink system) scanning technology in the lower end MP5xx and the MP6xx, the MP7xx is inferior to the CCD technology.

 

[websnail]

I've played with a few older Canons (MP500, MP830, MP750), the HP Officejet (L7680, L7780) and the Epson CX6600 (so really old) and found a few things.

1. The Epson printers drink ink and need a modification to redirect waste ink to an external tank.. No idea on scanning but I don't remember it blowing me away.

2. The HP printers are good for general photocopying and the speed is pretty good.. plus, if you know what you're about a CIS is a doddle to fit but there's problems with the black pigment ink in warm, dry environments so not perfect. The digital filing feature is nice enough but an extra.. Oh and it's network featured as standard.

3. The Canons are great but I've had no end of problems with the CIS's I tried to build myself... Not yet put the Rihac kit in my MP830 but the print quality was good and scanning wise I never really looked properly. I think really they polished the edges better than HP and there's less control clutter so they'd be my choice... The MX850 is the next generation and has networking as standard (which saves a packet if you need it, otherwise you have to go with Silex/Pricomm external printservers! which are expensive!!).


So, in summary I'd see if you can get a refurb'd MP830 off ebay here if you don't need the networking and look around for an MX850 if you do. Do not bother with the MX700 or lower, those versions are waste of space and time unless you just want budget.

 

[pebe]

I have an IP600 and I echo brendo's comments.
The maximum scanning resolution is 600dpi and it's the best printer I have owned.

 

[NEBO666]

Epson stylus dx4450 is the cheapest all in one printer in macedonia...

 

[IGExpandingPanda]

Purely for convenience sake I'm looking to purchase a basic AIO. I have several Canon Pixma printers and having previously owned Epsons I find Canon to be superior to other printers in this price range ( I do recognise that higher end Epsons are excellent though). However, I also have an Epson Perfection scanner which is a marvelous machine and most reviewers give it very high marks.

What I'm looking for therefore is a printer that gives me the advantage of being able to refill cartridges easily, combined with good scanning results. Does such a machine exist?

The Canon MP610 seems to curry favour with reviewers but very little is mentioned about it's scanning quality. The latest Canons leave me cold and it's probably my last chance to purchase an old style Canon.

Well, pickings are getting slim, and the really good deals such as the mp630 for $100 or so from buy.com has expired.

I find the canons are good printers, good general purpose printers. Ease of refilling is a bonus, CD printing is another bonus. While I own an mp830, in fact one spare, I find that Canon could use some work in the software integration department. Fax support on the mp830 is minimal, and to be honest I don't use it, I scan to PDF and fax the pdf. I find the doc feeder useful, I find the CD printer useful, I find the two trays useful.

I find the offerings from HP to be better in the integration department, even if they do offer bloatware.

http://www.druckerchannel.de/artikel.php?ID=2353&seite=6&t=test_hp_photosmart_d5460

There is no information on refilling this inkjet as of yet, but IMHO it's worth looking into.

 

[panos]

I would avoid HP at any rate. They make too much noise and their paper feeding is problematic. As a heavy duplex (2-sided printing) user, paper feeding is very important for me because a single page fed wrongly ruins an entire job.

I made the mistake of buying an HP officejet last summer, hoping that it would be easy to refill and that HP had fixed its paper feeding issues, but it was proven to be once again all that I hated in HP: noisy, bloated drivers, my self-resetting cartridges wouldn't work, and a regular page misfeeder. And it took ages to start printing the first page after powering up.

The following is not a joke: I was ready to throw it away (literally) but a co-worker asked me for it. I gave it to him for free, but I wonder if this is a gift or a curse. I have already watched him fuming over strange HP messages like "turn off and turn on again". And he has already covered HP's cost by buying a lot of their cartridges. Whatever. It's his responsibility now.

 

[wilko]

Well I finally went with the MP610. Was tempted with the MP830 but it's too bulky to fit in my small environment. Seems a great printer though. Must admit that I can't see beyond Canon printers for value at the moment. However, the latest Canon printers leave a lot to be desired. Looks to be to be a rush job to overcome the release of the Canon re-setter. Perhaps the next generation printers will be more desirable. Or maybe Epson or HP will take over the mantle from Canon for easy re-fillable cartridges

Thanks to all who contributed to the thread