Best inkjet on market for refilling?

[Tripnotemple]

Hey all, I'm new to these boards. So, hello!

I was hoping to get some help buying a printer. I currently own an Epson stylus cx6000, and it drives me crazy. The chips on the cartridges, and the way the printer burns through ink, have forced me to look for a new printer. Unfortunately, even after doing hours of research, I'm still having trouble.

I'm trying to find a printer in the 50 dollar range. Nothing fancy, I am only using it around the house to print text documents (majority of the time in B&W). I won't be printing photos, don't need a scanner or fax, I just a basic printer. I want to be able to refill the cartridges, or buy aftermarket as to keep my costs to a minimum. It seems the best manufacturer for printers, for what I need, would be a canon... but I'm not sure.

I also read articles on the pixma i2600 on cnet as being a good printer for the money, but I have no idea how difficult refilling cartridges with a syringe would be, if possible. I also read an article on the i860 as being refillable and athough they are going for 75$ on ebay and it's more than I want to spend, if I can easily refill the cartridges with ink (easier than any other models in the price range) than it's worth it.

Please, I welcome any and all suggestions, I really need your help! Thank you all for your time

 

[ghwellsjr]

The chipless Canon printers like the i560 or the iP3000 that use only four cartridges (one large pigment black and three dye colors) will be cheaper than their five-cartridge versions and they are perfect for what you want. The advantage of the iP3000 over the i560 is that it can automatically print on both sides of the paper. It can actually print booklets that take up 1/4 of the paper. You can buy cheap compatible cartridges or easily refill your own.

 

[LGM09]

tripnotemple ... any canon printer that uses pigment black will be prone to some type of clog in this area unless you use your printer at least once a week. The pigment black has just gone out on my Canon i860, albeit after 4-5 years of never having given me any problems. In fact, I was refilling OEM cartridges over this amount of time. The problem is that a month might go by without me using the printer sometimes and so I finally have a clog somewhere in the pigment black pipeline.

Out of frustration I went looking for a laser printer last week and come upon a real nice one on sale for $49.99 at Neweggs. It's the Brother HL-2140. Since then they've raised the price, but Amazon is selling it now for 59.99.

So if you don't need color, a laser is a good way to go. The added benefit is the laser pages are waterproof. No more smudges.

But if you have to have color, consider going for one of the Canons that use BCI-6 cartridges plus a BCI-3ebk pigment cartridge. They are so easy to refill, and as long as you print once a week, you should be fine.

 

[gmacdaddy]

Epson Stylus C120 with CIS ink system. Why mess with refilling individual carts? I am at over 1000 pages of full page text (not to mention the 200 or so web articles, pretty pictures, etc)...Works like a charm and the entire set-up can be had for $31.20 + $60.00 for CIS system. You can buy ink to refill the CIS system when you need it, but there is a ton of ink already in there.

Good luck.

gMac