What kind of printer do you use offshore?

[Va2shp]

Canon IP100, does not take much space and work very well.

[Mithril Bham]

Originally Posted by CarinaPDX

I avoid inkjet for the kinds of tasks the OP has stated - they have expensive cartridges, and the ink is water soluble (it literally floats off the page). A simple monochrome laser printer with an inverter works quite well, and the prints are not dissolved by water. And they are much cheaper to operate than inkjets.

I have used an Oki 410e PostScript printer aboard since 1996 (yes, it is still working - just not very fast by today's standards). I wouldn't buy that high a quality again as cheap printers abound. I recently bought a Pantum from Newegg for $30 (but needs a cartridge for $35-40). It works great, and can be connected to with WiFi. It is also lightweight and compact for a laser printer.

Electricity consumption should not be an issue as long as it is turned off when not needed. The main power consumption in a laser printer is a heating element, required for setting the toner. Modern laser printers go to standby (without heat) after a few minutes idle and thus require a short delay to restart. Still it should be shut down when not needed.

Greg

Good advice

[StuM]

Originally Posted by magellanyachts

I used different printers for years with either an inverter or battery backup. I gave it up. With the technology today why bother with paper. Use your phone as a scanner and read off the screen. Everybody has email. Can save in pdf. Invest in a bigger screen instead.

Do you sailing internationally? There are lots of situations where you need to provide real bits of paper. Scanner/copier capabilities are just as important as printing for many of us.

[AussieAmigos]

Hi, we are looking for a printer too and have decided to go with the Espon WF 100 portable printer with a built in battery that can be recharged via USB or AC power. Inverters are not kind to our boat batteries and we avoid using them if we can. We have USB hubs sockets throughout our boat which are directly connected to our 12V supply.

[CarinaPDX]

I should point out that some printers are modified for local markets such that non-local cartridges will not work. In other words, it may not be possible to buy cartridges as you travel. I met a guy in Turkey who had an HP printer bought in Israel that wouldn't use HP cartridges from elsewhere. Nice. Another HP trick: cartridges that store the manufacturing date and the first use date; once a cartridge is more than 3 1/2 years old, or was first used more than a year ago, it will simply not be allowed to work. This is old news so perhaps no longer the case. OTOH there are numerous tricks adopted by printer manufacturers to ensure customers spend their money in the "right" way so do check before stocking up.

Greg

[Kiwi.]

You're going offshore so a printer is vital. In some ports being able to print out copies of passports, registration documents, crew lists etc. can mean that you don't have to leave the originals with someone with no idea of when they are coming back. I like a battery because I can carry it up to the official that wants all my paper work and print out every thing and as many copies as they ask for.
I've stuck with HP because of the world wide availability to get ink cartridges. I'm waiting for the new HP that's coming out in September. Many of the cheaper printers don't feature the ability to print wirelessly from your phone, tablet and notebook. It's great to be able to snap a photo of a document you've just spent an hour filling out (the smaller the country the longer the paperwork) and deliver two or more copies immediately. I've also found taking a photo of the official and printing it out in full colour for them to take back to the village can smooth a lot of entries.

[jackdale]

Go wifi so that it does not have to take up space on the chart table, which is generally too small and too crowded.

I have an HP 470. I bought an HP Officejet 100 Mobile Inkjet Colour Printer for a client when we delivered his boat across the South Atlantic. I carried it to Cape Town in my checked baggage. I was practicing my celestial and it was great for printing forms and plotting sheets. We also used it to print crew lists when clearing customs, etc.. It worked well.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by jackdale

Go wifi so that it does not have to take up space on the chart table, which is generally too small and too crowded.

I have an HP 470.

My HP Envy is WiFi too. It sits on the small table/desk forward in the owners hull.

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by magellanyachts

I used different printers for years with either an inverter or battery backup. I gave it up. With the technology today why bother with paper. Use your phone as a scanner and read off the screen. Everybody has email. Can save in pdf. Invest in a bigger screen instead.

Only way to go.

I have probably had 10 different printers in the last 15 or so years and for one reason or other they all proved to be financial disasters. The problem became worse when they started putting chips in the ink jet cartridges and one could no longer refill them. About 2 years ago I promised myself never to buy another from the sneaky, thieving mongrels.

Since making the commitment to become printer free I either rely heavily on electronic comms, or if I need stuff printed out put it on a memory stick and drop by the local print shop for a hard copy. With memory sticks, USB hard drives and the Cloud you don't really need paper copies cluttering up the boat.

[Onemoreproject]

Originally Posted by AussieAmigos

Hi, we are looking for a printer too and have decided to go with the Espon WF 100 portable printer with a built in battery that can be recharged via USB or AC power. Inverters are not kind to our boat batteries and we avoid using them if we can. We have USB hubs sockets throughout our boat which are directly connected to our 12V supply.

Do you just plug directlt from the printer into 12v USB, or is there some kind of device that insures your printer gets the correct voltage, like a cell phone charger that plugs into your car cigarette lighter?

[Onemoreproject]

Originally Posted by CarinaPDX

I avoid inkjet for the kinds of tasks the OP has stated - they have expensive cartridges, and the ink is water soluble (it literally floats off the page). A simple monochrome laser printer with an inverter works quite well, and the prints are not dissolved by water. And they are much cheaper to operate than inkjets.

I have used an Oki 410e PostScript printer aboard since 1996 (yes, it is still working - just not very fast by today's standards). I wouldn't buy that high a quality again as cheap printers abound. I recently bought a Pantum from Newegg for $30 (but needs a cartridge for $35-40). It works great, and can be connected to with WiFi. It is also lightweight and compact for a laser printer.

Electricity consumption should not be an issue as long as it is turned off when not needed. The main power consumption in a laser printer is a heating element, required for setting the toner. Modern laser printers go to standby (without heat) after a few minutes idle and thus require a short delay to restart. Still it should be shut down when not needed.

Greg

As mentioned earlier, I prefer laser printers because toner lasts a long tiime and is very cheap compared to inkjets. If you dont use them, eventually the ink just dries up. Plus you are forced to buy color even if all you want is black .
Is it true that inkjet printed documents don't hold up in a moist environment? How much energy does a little laser printer consume compared to an inkjet?

Someone advocated DC to DC charging of their printer. is that really more economical?

Others say that battery printers have advantages and are better for your batteries then charging with an inverter.

A lot to consider. Many good points raised and hard to tease out the right printer choice.

[Jdege]

Originally Posted by magellanyachts

I used different printers for years with either an inverter or battery backup. I gave it up. With the technology today why bother with paper. Use your phone as a scanner and read off the screen. Everybody has email. Can save in pdf. Invest in a bigger screen instead.

I've been watching the SV Delos vids on YouTube, and when the checked in at the Andaman Islands, India customs wanted ten copies of this, and fifteen copies of that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY-sK0XH3Hs

[Onemoreproject]

Originally Posted by Kiwi.

You're going offshore so a printer is vital. In some ports being able to print out copies of passports, registration documents, crew lists etc. can mean that you don't have to leave the originals with someone with no idea of when they are coming back. I like a battery because I can carry it up to the official that wants all my paper work and print out every thing and as many copies as they ask for.
I've stuck with HP because of the world wide availability to get ink cartridges. I'm waiting for the new HP that's coming out in September. Many of the cheaper printers don't feature the ability to print wirelessly from your phone, tablet and notebook. It's great to be able to snap a photo of a document you've just spent an hour filling out (the smaller the country the longer the paperwork) and deliver two or more copies immediately. I've also found taking a photo of the official and printing it out in full colour for them to take back to the village can smooth a lot of entries.

I am not that familiar with how this is all going to work. All In One printers like the Envy are big and take up more space then I want to tie up with a printer. The CAnon IP110 and Epson Workforce 100 print wirelessly. But you need a router to do that with. The HP 100 is Blue tooth, so don't need a router. I am thinking that in order to print multiple copies of documents I can take photos with my cell phone and print copies of documents like that.

Is that a good strategy?

[Kiwi.]

Originally Posted by Onemoreproject

I am not that familiar with how this is all going to work. All In One printers like the Envy are big and take up more space then I want to tie up with a printer. The CAnon IP110 and Epson Workforce 100 print wirelessly. But you need a router to do that with. The HP 100 is Blue tooth, so don't need a router. I am thinking that in order to print multiple copies of documents I can take photos with my cell phone and print copies of documents like that.

Is that a good strategy?

Yes, good strategy. The HP 100 is what I'm using right know. It can print from my wife's iPhone, my Android phone and our PCs and tablets. It's commonly available at less than US$200 and does a great job. I've done over 200 greyscale A4 pages on a single charge no trouble. Even if I had a huge space to put a printer I wouldn't buy anything other than a mobile printer for a yacht; we do always end up dropping a metre or two off a big wave on our ocean passages and domestic and commercial printers just aren't made for that.
Do buy a spare set of cartridges if you get an HP100, because, like all printer companies, HP puts quarter sized cartridges into it to start with.
HP has announced a new mobile printer coming out later this year with a scanner that (I think) may use the same paper path as the printer. So no bigger just more useful. Yes I'm a gadget guy, so whilst I have no need for it (my phone is a good scanner) I will buy it!

[AussieAmigos]

Onemoreproject,
Yes, you plug the printer directly into the USB. Nothing else required.