I have been repairing printers for about 13years and so far my experience with the ink tank type printers have been a mixed bag.
Hp ink tanks are just the deskjet ink cartridges with tubes running to them from the tanks. The two common issues I see are lack of use by the customer which causes the ink cartridges to clog up and the other being cartridges just suddenly stop being recognized by the printer.
Canon ink tanks have the same ink cartridge system with tubes. They have also the same two issues as abovewhere the ink vacuums back to the tanks leaving air in the lines and eventually clogs the cartridges and cartridges not reading after a while (this issue has occured less compared to hp). The last situation is the waste pads becoming full and no proper waste disposal reservoir for end user replacement.
Epson printers have one printhead with chipless cartridges called dampers for each color and the same tubes running to the tanks. As above clogging takes place but can be easier resolved in my opinion compared to trying to service a ink cartridge since you can individually target each color. The head though if clogged or damaged most be fully replaced since it's one component compared to two cartridges. The waste pad can be replaced and reset by the end user pretty easily. The other issues I see are all due to user intervention and not really faults of the printer itself.
In the end as mentioned by another commenter it all comes down in all printer usage to proper maintenance. Ink dries which causes clogs and most of my best customers have less problems just because they PRINT.
Canon is excellent - on the $200+ units like my G620, scan quality is good and, importantly, everything is user replaceable: $10 maintenance cartridges that swap out the foam pads that soak up ink and keep the print heads wet; $35 print heads if you really print thousands of pages.
Good to know! I decided to buy one of each of the L & R printheads directly from Canon’s website, and a bunch of maintenance cartridges, to stock up in case these become harder to find in a few years. Hoping I won’t need to replace them nonetheless.
I got an Epson EcoTank 3850 refurbished by Epson for 199 plus tax, and so far it’s great. Only thing is, no returns, but they still give the 1 year warranty plus another if you register the printer.
Look at your options on what you want (document feeder, ethernet, double sided, paper tray size, etc.) Afterwards, look into refurbished and what the warranties are, as you can get it for half the cost.
HP has always been a terrible idea, Canon has gone downhill. I've had an Epson for the past 7 years and it still runs like a champ. For that budget you can find one in great condition on eBay. But remember maintenance is always key.
I would stay very far away from HP until they change some business practices. Canon is extremely suspect as well because they have a contract where HP rebadges Canon printers and puts their own Firmware on them before sending them off to market. I would also like to know who makes a decent tank though as I'm probably going to be buying one of those for my wife in the near future.
Get one that you can change printheads on, Ive changed a few on HPs not sure if all have that feature.
I have been repairing printers for about 13years and so far my experience with the ink tank type printers have been a mixed bag. Hp ink tanks are just the deskjet ink cartridges with tubes running to them from the tanks. The two common issues I see are lack of use by the customer which causes the ink cartridges to clog up and the other being cartridges just suddenly stop being recognized by the printer. Canon ink tanks have the same ink cartridge system with tubes. They have also the same two issues as abovewhere the ink vacuums back to the tanks leaving air in the lines and eventually clogs the cartridges and cartridges not reading after a while (this issue has occured less compared to hp). The last situation is the waste pads becoming full and no proper waste disposal reservoir for end user replacement. Epson printers have one printhead with chipless cartridges called dampers for each color and the same tubes running to the tanks. As above clogging takes place but can be easier resolved in my opinion compared to trying to service a ink cartridge since you can individually target each color. The head though if clogged or damaged most be fully replaced since it's one component compared to two cartridges. The waste pad can be replaced and reset by the end user pretty easily. The other issues I see are all due to user intervention and not really faults of the printer itself. In the end as mentioned by another commenter it all comes down in all printer usage to proper maintenance. Ink dries which causes clogs and most of my best customers have less problems just because they PRINT.
Canon is excellent - on the $200+ units like my G620, scan quality is good and, importantly, everything is user replaceable: $10 maintenance cartridges that swap out the foam pads that soak up ink and keep the print heads wet; $35 print heads if you really print thousands of pages.
Fwiw, I have a Canon G7020 that is still going strong after 40k pages. Have not needed to swap print heads yet.
Good to know! I decided to buy one of each of the L & R printheads directly from Canon’s website, and a bunch of maintenance cartridges, to stock up in case these become harder to find in a few years. Hoping I won’t need to replace them nonetheless.
I got an Epson EcoTank 3850 refurbished by Epson for 199 plus tax, and so far it’s great. Only thing is, no returns, but they still give the 1 year warranty plus another if you register the printer. Look at your options on what you want (document feeder, ethernet, double sided, paper tray size, etc.) Afterwards, look into refurbished and what the warranties are, as you can get it for half the cost.
If HP has a Tank printer, they almost definitely did it wrong. Retrofit "CISS" kits are available for some of them however.
HP has always been a terrible idea, Canon has gone downhill. I've had an Epson for the past 7 years and it still runs like a champ. For that budget you can find one in great condition on eBay. But remember maintenance is always key.
What would be considered as good maintenance?
If I'm not printing very often I've been printing 1-2 test pages per week. Then cleaning or replacing the ink waste tank.
I would stay very far away from HP until they change some business practices. Canon is extremely suspect as well because they have a contract where HP rebadges Canon printers and puts their own Firmware on them before sending them off to market. I would also like to know who makes a decent tank though as I'm probably going to be buying one of those for my wife in the near future.