Are you thinking of buying a Printer?

20 Jun 2017 09:41:30

Rick Churchill

Just in case anyone is thinking of buying a printer (Roy?) I have done some research.

Having kept records on ink consumption of my late HP Photosmart printer it, over the last 6 and a half years, consumed:
180ml Black
42ml Yellow
66ml Cyan
42ml Magenta
42ml Photo Black.
Total Cost Of Ownership at todays ink prices £714.

Was considering the Cannon TS6050. TCOO £522 but decided on the Epson ET3600 TCOO at only £246.

The Epson Eco series is aimed at the small office and has the business model whereby you pay the market value of the printer £330 up front and they supply large volume ink tanks and two sets of ink bottles to fill them. There are no cartridges. I calculate that they have supplied me 12 years of ink however the printer will probably fail before then.

The TCOO is less than the list price of £330 because there is a £50 cash back and ink left over after 6 and a half years. If you ignore the excess ink the price of the printer plus ink at £280 is still good value and you don’t have the cartridge running out just when you want to print that important document.

If the printer fails in a couple of years then I will have lost £150 maximum.

I have a spreadsheet that details the calculations if anyone would like more information.

As for quality the 4 ink printer is not far off the 5 ink HP.

Re: Are you thinking of buying a Printer?

20 Jun 2017 14:42:35

Roy Rainford

Thanks for the info Rick. Yes, I am (still) thinking of buying a printer and you have put the Eco type on my list. I shudder to think what the running costs are on my Epson Photo printer, with six cartridges! However, these days I am not printing many photos, have low volume general printing and little scanning. Even in my most optimistic mood, I can't imagine me doing any printing in 12 years time! I need a smaller overall size, lower initial cost with low running costs. Perhaps someone will point me to another model for my list.
Btw - after my previous post here about printer problems, I got it running again by switching off the router for a few minutes. Hasn't let me down since! However, when I have used the remaining spare cartridges, I will be looking for a replacement.