The Skinny on Multifunction Scanners and Printers
Fri Apr 7, 2006 1:40PM EDT
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When I bought my last all-in-one printer, an Epson CX4600, I was in a hurry. Finding a spare hour, I dashed to Best Buy, scanned the display of multifunction printers for a middle-of-the-road model—not the highest priced, not the lowest priced, but somewhere above the average. And then I bought it. I think I chose an Epson because we had an Epson printer that lasted for years. That, I am sorry to say, was the extent of my research.
Now that I'm writing about tech, I'm doing more due diligence before plunking down hard-earned cash on tech components. If I were to buy an all-in-one printer today—printer, flatbed scanner, and copier—I'm not sure I would choose from the Epson line. The scanning quality has been good, and it scans quickly, but the CX4600 stopped printing after only a few months. Epson, however, was terrific about replacing it within a few days of my call with the newer model in the line, the CX4800 (cost: about $120).
"PC World" lists the Epson CX7800, priced between $173 and $198, as its #2 pick in its Top 5 list of multifunction printers. It gets high marks for good scanning quality and photo output, but loses points for slow printing. The magazine's Best Buy for performance, and print and scan quality, is the Canon Pixma MP500. Priced around $200, it also has two paper trays, which each hold 150 pages of plain paper and allow for economical double-sided printing.
Spending $500 will get you everything you need for home and small-office use in the HP Officejet 7410. It's Wi-Fi equipped and also has a stand-alone fax feature, a 2.5-inch color LCD, and an automatic document feeder (ADF). It gets great marks for terrific paper handling, and printing and scanning quality.
CNET gives the HP Officejet 7410 a good rating, too, but knocks its scanning ability, and notes that it does not come with individual color ink cartridges and that you need to swap inks when switching between photo and text printing.
Have you found a multifunction printer and scanner that meets all of your family's needs? Let me know.
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2 Posted by g_alan_e on Mon May 22, 2006 4:16AM EDT Report Abuse
HP is great, but they continue to use multicolor cartridges for most of their line, which costs more money. Their cartridges rarely clog, but are expensive. There's a very few high-end HP printers that use four ink tanks _without_ integrated heads. They plug in under a cover and use long hoses to the heads on the carriage. Canon is my #1 choice for printers. I have an old S450 that can sit for months and still will print the first time, every time. Canon's removable printheads are nearly indestructable. IF one ever clogs, just hose it out under warm tapwater then shake it to remove most of the water. Dry the contacts then reinstall and run cleaning cycles until it prints again. Canon was one of if not the first to have individual ink tanks. Some of their photo printers have 8 or 9! Brother's printers do print nicely, but their ink isn't the least bit water resistant and is horrible for transfers because it bleeds. Their multifunction units scan nice pictures but the scanning software's user interface is absolutely horrible. Finding and activating the hidden TWAIN driver will get you a few 'advanced' options but it's still extremely minimal compared to every other scanner's software there ever has been. (This is on the MFC 5440CN. The more expensive models may have less stupid software, but I wouldn't bet on it.) Just say NO to any printer from Lexmark or that's built with Lexmark parts! Every Lexmark I've had to deal with had to be used at least once or twice a week or the cartridges would suffer terminal ink clogs. The problem is most Lexmarks do not have suction priming pumps to pull a bit of fresh ink through the nozzles periodically during use, or to prime/clean them. A 'cleaning' cycle on a Lexmark just blasts higher than normal voltage to the printheads, which can destroy them as well as it cleans them. (Which isn't very well.) Lexmark also hasn't got the hint that multicolor cartridges are not what people want anymore. Epson printers either work for ages or they get their non-removable printheads clogged and become trashcan fodder. Epson also is holding onto the multicolor cartridge like a money leech on a fat wallet. They've even gone to such absurdities as photo printers with four or five colors in ONE hyper-expensive cartridge that requires an aftermarket hardware hack to reset the built in chip to refill after it runs out of just the yellow while the other colors still have plenty left.
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3 Posted by jallen064 on Mon May 22, 2006 1:47PM EDT Report Abuse
I have been and am currently in the market for an all-in-one printer that is reasonably priced. I had an Epson CX5400 and one day it just stopped printing. I am a pretty handy guy and figured somewhere on the net there would be a site explaining what was wrong and how to fix it. Sure enough I found a site and was I ever disappointed. I found out that what I was experiencing was similar to alot, and I mean alot, of other Epson owners. It was explained that there is a little rubber tube connected to the ink that had a tendency to pop off. Well, after a few hours of taking apart, fixing and putting back together I still had a printer that would not print. This really bothers me because I have only had this printer for about a year and a half. I paid a little over $200.00 when I bought it and I thought I was getting a quality product. After seeing all the other people who had similar problems and trying to find any help from Epson I have come to the conclusion that my next printer will not be an Epson nor will I ever have anything but bad things to say about a company that obviously can see a manufacturing problem with one of its products and is unwilling to compensate consumers who have put their hard earned money and trust into that company. I am not in a situation where I can go out and spend $200.00 at the drop of the hat. It may not seem like much to some people but I have to save and budget for every expense. I write this as a warning and a reiteration of the key point: Make sure you do your research and get the best quality product you can before purchasing. Oh yea, and stay away from Epson products. They just don't care about you once they have your money.
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4 Posted by gambler0616 on Mon May 29, 2006 10:15AM EDT Report Abuse
Hi I couldn't make up my mind on a printer all in one till I read your comments. I never had a computer or a printer. Just got a hp pavilion lap top and I love it and now i will go and get the canon MP500 Photo Printer/ scanner/Copier after reading what you had to say so thank you. dh
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5 Posted by er_perez on Mon Jun 12, 2006 5:22PM EDT Report Abuse
i researched quite a bit after my epson photo stylus 820 printer died last november. i purchased an hp 3210 photosmart AIO. prints b/w and color in draft mode very fast [~30 pgs/min] and prints 4x6 colors prints in less than a minute. i copied a test photo that has lots of color and a wide depth of field. excellent print compared to what CVS photo dept printed when i got the roll developed. the copying is also good, tho copies come out slightly bluish, no problem for what i'm copying. the scanning quality is also very good and easy. purchased from hpshopping, $300, no shipping, no state tax. applied for an hp credit card and got it for no interest for 90 days. arrived in 3 days after purchase. last time i looked, you could get it for about $240 [20% off]. they're pushing the 3410[?] which also has fax capability. normally, ink cartridges are about $10 color and $20 b/w. but you can get a full set and 150 4x6 sheets for around $35 at the hp shopping website. i now have an office jey 720 from 10/98 [slow but still working], an hp pavilion desktop from 1/03, an hp dvd writer from 6/04, and now, an hp AIO. satisfied w/ all of them, including the phone support i've received. their worth looking into.
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1 Posted by tafesplace on Tue May 16, 2006 8:44AM EDT Report Abuse
I did some checking on a multi function all-in-one. The best priced, the most features, and easy to use capabilities turned out to be the HP officejet v40. I've had it 4 yrs now and love it. When I do choose to get another it will definetly be HP Products again. I have a HP flatscreen computer and love the way it updates your products. Thats good satisfaction and good customer care. Thank You