Ink Tank Printer Recommendations?

[YD Forums]

My wife needs a new color printer. I'm tired of the outrageous prices for ink jet cartridges and the poor performance of knock-off cartridges, so I'm considering an ink tank printer. The models I'm looking at are:

* HP Smart Tank 516
* Canon Pixma G3411
* Epson EcoTank L3150

These are models that are available locally (Israel), and they might have different model numbers elsewhere.

I'm looking for long term reliability, and ink that doesn't dry up and clog the print heads when the printer isn't used for a while. Print quality should be decent but doesn't need to be outstanding for my purposes.

Duplex printing would be nice, but definitely isn't a must.

Does anyone have enough experience with these printers to make pro/con recommendations?

Any thoughts and recommendations will be most welcome. Feel free to recommend other models and I'll see if I can find them around here.

Thanks.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

The L3150 uses a printhead with much less nozzles than your current WF-2750, this should significantly lower the print speed, if that's a problem you would need to look for higher end ET models in the ET-4xxxx range.
You are most likely charging your smartphone pretty frequently - wouldn't it be possible to make some small print on a regular base like twice a week or similar ? What is your current experience with clogging at this time ?

 

[stratman]

Please be specific on what you want to do with the printer.

How much of different printing will you be doing and the relative importance of each.

• text
• images
• mixed, like web pages and articles
• need for archival quality (longevity of what you print)
• total amount printed per month

The Canon Pixma G3411 uses GI-490 inks - 3 Dye-based CYM inks and 1 Pigment Black. The Dye-based inks are not Chromalife inks and will fade faster than Canon's Chromalife inks. The Pigment Black is used for text and should be good quality.

A better choice for image printing would be the Canon G650. These inks are all GI-53 Dye-based Chromalife inks and have good archival quality with Canon papers. For the price here in the US and elsewhere, these bulk inks are a bargain compared to buying Canon's cartridges. Using aftermarket Dye-based inks will not have similar archival quality and may present with other issues.

Since these are all Dye-based inks, when it comes to text they perform poorly compared to Pigment Black ink. Pigment Black is usually deeper black, sharper fonts and is water resistant such as with Highlighters. If text printing is important then look for a printer that has at least a Pigment Black ink.

My experience with Canon printers using only OEM printers is they have fewer issues with ink flow problems and print head clogs. You may need significantly more on hands maintenance when refilling or using cartridges with aftermarket inks depending on your printing habits.

If your goal is to have a a printer for average image printer AND you do high volumes then this may be a good selection. Otherwise the Total Cost of Ownership may be greater than other printers.

If you can, go to a store and look at demo print outs from this and other printers. If allowed by the store, take in the paper you will be using and an image file to see the quality produced. Demo printers may be able to print out a demo page that will show mostly text which (their) Plain Paper is fine to use.