On Tue, 2 Jan 2018 07:09:30 -0500, John McGaw wrote:

On 1/2/2018 12:13 AM, ~misfit~ wrote:
I've just junked yet another inkjet printer for parts (PSU mainly) and, as
with the last one I see that there is more ink in the silicone tubes that go
to the waste sponge and dried into the sponge itself than ever went onto
paper during the ~2 years and ~3 sets of carts.
How do they get away with this? It was a Canon FWIW. I'm very not-rich and
only need to print maybe once a month or so, usually text-only (but
'documents' often have colour borders etc.).
Any suggestions for something affordable that will likely be good in the
medium / long term? (I strongly dislike built-in obsolescence.)
All the best for 2018 to the people reading this group. Sorry if this post
is OT for this group.



Spend a bit more and buy a color laser printer for everyday use.

I have a Brother HL-3170CDW which wasn't expensive. It even saves paper by
printing on both sides when I want it to. I'll admit that the color output
is not gallery-quality but it works for almost everything and I still have
an elderly Epson 5-color for when I just must have a glossy photo printout.


+ 1
I got the cheaper Brother 3140 colour laser, 2-3 years ago -
~ $ 300. Canadian. I'm quite happy with it.
I just replaced the starter black toner with aftermarket ~ $ 25.
I expect the 3 colour starter toners will last another couple years
: zero photo quality printing
: a few small document colour jobs per month - google map eg.
: a few small mono print jobs per week sudoku eg.
My previous inkjet printers suffered the common problems -
expensive new ink cart. ; poor refilled units ; low use issues ..
John T.