Inkjet Printer Type and Reliability

Inkjet Printer Cartridge Type and Reliability
Here are a couple of opinions. (From: Al Savage (asavage@iname.com).)

Having worked at Epson, Canon, and HP warranty service centers, I tell anyone who asks me for advice about buying an ink jet printer to always choose one where getting more ink also gets you a fresh printhead. The number one service problem with all inkjets is printhead clogging failures. On the Stylus 800 series, for example, the printhead retail cost was $170, and the labor was about half an hour. On the Canon BJC-600, the P/H cost was $250, but the head could be changed by the owner. And with so many folks using third party ink that works like it was brewed up in someone's bathtub (NuKote, Piranha (sp?), etc.), printhead failures scrapped more inkjets than any other three causes combined.

Cheap, owner-replaceable printheads help keep cheap inkjet printers out of the landfill.

(From: Roger Hamlett (roger@ttelmah.demon.co.uk).)

I disagree with the comments about choosing one where getting ink gets you a printhead. I have a bin full of 'dead' HP cartridges, that have resisted various attempts to get them printing again, yet also have an Epson here, that is four years old, and has never given any problems. The bill for cartridges on the HP, (allowing for the part use), would have paid to replace the printer a couple of times over.

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