Printer/Scanner - Which One?

[Emerald Sea]

We are in need of a new printer/scanner. Presently have a Brother MFC430 which has been marginally successful but now showing its boat age after 2 years. Also, difficult/impossible to find cartridges in foreign countries.

Any recommendations? One that has stood the test of a time in a humid environment? Wifi enabled. Easy to get cartridges.

[Salty Mike]

I got one that uses toner for the shop because the ink type kept drying up. But my shop is very land locked. And the toner is just for black/grayscale printing.

[CaptTom]

My interest was piqued by an ad for Epson Ink Tank printers. The ad says they come with like a year's worth of ink in them, and they can be refilled. No cartridges.

That's all I know so far. I'd love to hear more, just haven't gotten around to doing any research yet.

[1000 islands]

I have had great results from Canon's Fine Print series.

As for working in a marine environment, I don't know.

The plus would be ink cartridges, are fairly easy to source.

[travellerw]

My plan is to buy a Brother:
https://www.brother.ca/en-CA/MFC/5/P...ail/DCPL2540DW

Then go to Ebay and buy a 3 pack of toner:
3pk Toner FOR Brother TN660 DCP L2520DW DCP L2540DW HL L2300D HL L2305W HLL2320D | eBay

So for under $200USD you get a printer and 10,000 pages worth of toner. I'm doubting I will ever run out and won't have to worry about getting cartridges in other countries.

[tmoandj]

Interesting thread because I was thinking about a new printer for the boat too! My main concerns are size and cost though. With our last printer we discovered that we can buy enough ink for the next ten years for about $40 on eBay and its great ink that works really well. My problem is that the printer will be one of the biggest things on the boat!! I keep looking at the flyers and seeing printers on sale for $30 or $40 dollars but haven't really had time to research them. Has anyone seen as good, small printer/scanned for not too much money? Are there other things to think about with a printer on the boat?

[Dave22q]

Bought a cheap Cannon printer/scanner almost 10 yrs ago mounted in a truck used at construction sites with a laptop. On liveaboard boat last 4 yrs with no problems. Model was PXMA 250. My advice is buy cheap and treat as disposable. The cheap units today cost less than a set of replacement ink cartridges.

[Sandero]

printers are very cheap.... buy a couple seal up the spares.

[kelbylinn]

We bought a small HP all-in-one that has worked pretty well. Print cartridges are readily available as well. Only problem is you can't let it sit too long or ink will harden up.

[redhead]

We have an HP cheapie. I've found that if I keep the ink cartridges out of the printer and stored in a ziplock baggie that they last longer. PITA but it works.

[tmoandj]

What about the power supply? Are you running these off of inverters or do most of them actually run on a more suitable voltage like the computers themselves?

[Cheechako]

I used to buy expensive Canon mini printers for the boat. Too expensive and very unreliable. Now (for home) I buy based on the price of cartridges. My cartridges are about $1.50-2 each. Currently loving a Brother $59 printer that does everything including copying etc. 3 years and running. If I have a problem, I'll just buy another. This printer about 15" x 15"

[autumnbreeze27]

I like laser printers, the toner lasts forever. They take a lot of power to start up though. We have to run ours off the generator, our crappy Xantrex Prosign 2000 chokes on the startup voltage, which should be within it's limits, so we run it off the Honda 2000 when we need to print away from the marina.

For a scanner we use our iphones to photo the docs and then use an app to make pdfs or if necessary do it on the notebook, which means the printer can be small and cheap. It would be a PITA to scan a 80 page doc but we haven't had that problem yet.

[Cheechako]

I looked at HP, the cartridges were about half the price of printer I bought!
Laser would be good, ink printing smears when wet and fades rapidly in sunlight.

[robgrant1]

We have an Epson XP-400 that's been great; wireless made easy with apple or pc. It's probably been replaced by new models, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. Ours is in our home; so power consumption isn't an issue.