Inexpensive small printer

[Bill]

Today I was in WalMart having an oil change done. While I waited, I wandered into the electronics area and looked at some printers. I've always wanted a small printer in the TM. I've had good luck with Canon all-in-ones in my home and home offices, but they are much too big to take in the TM. So I was interested when I spotted a small Canon color printer/copier/scanner. It is model MG2522, and the price was - wait for it - $19. I couldn't get my wallet out fast enough.

The specs are good, though it is certainly not a $500 device. It handles plain paper up to legal size, photo paper, and envelopes. Printing speed is acceptable - 8 pages per minute (B&W) and 4 pages per minute (color) including photo printing. Very good resolution, both printing and scanning. Compatible with every Windows OS from Vista to Windows 10, and Mac OSX 10.7.5 and up.

The only downside is that the interface is USB cable only, no wireless Wi-Fi connection. But right beside it was a similar printer (Canon TS3122) with a wireless connection, for $34.

Quite often, printer ink cartridges seem to cost more than the printer. In this case, a black cartridge costs $18 (standard) or $26 (XL). Color is $23. At a cartridge refill store, the cost is less than half of that.

It will be nice in my TM. And good news - there was no indication in Walmart or the Canon website that this is a discontinued model.

Bill

[BrucePerens]

I have an HP Mobile printer that runs on batteries or AC, and a custom hard case for it. And it's wireless, and works with my phone. I keep it in the Jeep, in case someone wants me to sign and scan something, etc. I use a phone app that converts the built-in camera photographs to PDF, cropping the image appropriately. The printer has a 15 volt power supply, so I could make it run on car power or my solar panels if I needed to.

One thing you will probably find with low price printers is that they come with almost empty ink cartridges. And as we all know, printer ink in the manufacturer's cartridge costs more, by weight, than gold, and you need to balance that $18 or $26 against the page count, which can be distressingly small. That's how they get their money back. To escape the scam, just go on eBay right now and buy a refilled one.

Unfortunately, the printer can sometimes tell when it has a non-manufacturer cartridge, and there is a sort of arms-race between refillers and the manufacturer, with the manufacturer somewhat limited by the courts. Mine has sometimes disabled features like scan-to-email when it detects that, claiming that premium features are only available with the manufacturer's cartridge. They also make it impossible to remove a refilled cartridge using the regular procedure sometimes. You have to look up on the Internet how to do it and then reach inside and turn a gear to remove the cartridge. Whether any of this happens on your model can be determined by looking up the refilled cartridge replacement procedure on the internet.

Or you can just resign yourself to buying the manufacturer's cartridge.

[Bill]

Bruce -

This is turning into a much more lengthy discussion than I had intended, but ...

Originally Posted by BrucePerens

I have an HP Mobile printer that runs on batteries or AC, and a custom hard case for it. The printer has a 15 volt power supply, so I could make it run on car power or my solar panels if I needed to.

I've looked for a long time for a small printer that would run on 12VDC. I never found one at a price that was worth it to me. In recent years, printer prices have come down a lot, for sure. But I'm thinking that your unit is probably an HP200, which still retails for about $200. In your life as a mobile professional, you have reason to pay that much. In my life as a happily retired guy, it is not even close.

One thing you will probably find with low price printers is that they come with almost empty ink cartridges.

Of course. I've never found a printer that is different, including several expensive HP printers, HP 3-in-1 machines, and Canon 3-in-1 machines that I have owned over the last twenty years.

And as we all know, printer ink in the manufacturer's cartridge costs more, by weight, than gold, and you need to balance that $18 or $26 against the page count.

Yes, I addressed the ink cost in my post. Ink is always a costly item, and I have found HP to be worse than most. I've talked with a lot of retailers such as WalMart about why their genuine HP cartridges are so expensive, when most other "genuine" cartridges are heavily discounted. The universal answer is that HP sets the retail price, and won't supply to the seller unless the seller agrees to that (one of several reasons why I no longer have HP machines).

To escape the scam, just go on eBay right now and buy a refilled one. Unfortunately, the printer can sometimes tell when it has a non-manufacturer cartridge...

I've always heard this, and while I know it is true on some machines, I've never run into it, either on the big HP machines that I've owned, or the big Canon machines. I don't buy refills from eBay, but I have a really good refill shop not far from me. Interestingly enough, the owner says that his main business is bulk orders for refills from the businesses in the area. I can't imagine that he sells cartridges that require resets to businesses. Incidentally again, for years I have bought cartridges at his retail counter for both my HP and my Canon machines. Never a glitch.

Mine has sometimes disabled features like scan-to-email when it detects that, claiming that premium features are only available with the manufacturer's cartridge. They also make it impossible to remove a refilled cartridge using the regular procedure sometimes. You have to look up on the Internet how to do it and then reach inside and turn a gear to remove the cartridge. Whether any of this happens on your model can be determined by looking up the refilled cartridge replacement procedure on the internet.

I've gone online as you suggest, and seen that there are a number of ways for a printer to detect a refilled cartridge. One is as simple as an RFID chip hidden under the cartridge label. This chip can be removed from the genuine cartridge, and taped down on the refill - no big deal. Of course, to detect an RFID emans the printer must have an RFID reader. Likewise, having an electronic code generator in the cartridge and a code reader in the printer, or a gear in the printer that locks a cartridge in place - all of that sounds pretty elaborate for a $19 printer. While I admit I have not hooked mine up yet, I expect no problems. And if it does show up, it is easily over-ridden from the front panel of my Canon machines.

Or you can just resign yourself to buying the manufacturer's cartridge.

In an office setting, this would certainly be a consideration. But for the small amount of on-the-road printing I expect to do, it is a perfectly reasonable thing to do.

A small printer is just a thought.

Bill

[Bill]

Just reviewed my post, and it occurred to me that it sounds like a competition between HP and Canon. That was not my intention. I have owned printers from other manufacturers, too - mostly Epson - but I like the Canons best. Other opinions will differ. As the old English proverb says, "Ya pays yer money, an' ya takes yer choice."

Bill