Best inkjet printer for the boat

[s/v Jedi]

I've spent 10 years researching this, buying many, many inkjet printers to try and now finally found the one best suited for boats. The most important thing: it just works. I left it in a tropical summer heat and damp boat for 8 months with ink cartridges installed and it just works.

It is the mobile little kid of the Canon professional line, the Canon iP100 printer!

I hope they soon add Airprint to it, so not having that is the only negative at the moment. Do not let it's small size fool you: this printer outperforms everything I've had before. It is also the most expensive one, currently at $177.- at Amazon.

Here you see it next to the small MacBook Air for size reference:

[robert sailor]

Good to know your experience as we are shopping for a boat printer...do you have a scanner?

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

Good to know your experience as we are shopping for a boat printer...do you have a scanner?

Yes, buy a Canon flatbed scanner. We had to replace ours because they stopped upgrading the drivers for it after 15 years or so. It still worked fine, so we bought almost the same thing : CanoScan Lide110 for a nice price.

[cszosler]

Hi,
Thanks, very helpful , master.

[robert sailor]

Thanks for that we just ordered the scanner, smokin deal

[SailFastTri]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

Thanks for that we just ordered the scanner, smokin deal

That scanner is really slow, and big. If you don't need a flatbed I'd get the Fujitsu Scansnap 300 series. Blazing fast and compact, good trouble free paper handling.

[Mike OReilly]

Thanks Jedi. It's a question I've just started to ponder. Much appreciate it .

[Aargau]

In a pinch, you can use a number of scanning apps for the iPhone camera (or Android). You take a picture of the document and most will correct for flatness and save it either as a jpg or a specific document type.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by SailFastTri

That scanner is really slow, and big. If you don't need a flatbed I'd get the Fujitsu Scansnap 300 series. Blazing fast and compact, good trouble free paper handling.

Originally Posted by Aargau

In a pinch, you can use a number of scanning apps for the iPhone camera (or Android). You take a picture of the document and most will correct for flatness and save it either as a jpg or a specific document type.

There are countless choices for a scanner or something else to create an electronic copy of a paper document. The Canon flatbed scanner is just one of those choices and is what works the best for us. We do need a flatbed scanner now and then but we only use it a couple times a year. Mostly to scan official papers and documents like passports etc. I often just take a picture with my iPhone without any special app...

[svBeBe]

Note that some our cruising friends have bought various Canon printers and then found that finding printer cartridges was impossible. One friend found that cartridges purchased outside the USA would not work in her Canon that was purchased in the USA. The cartridges are not only numbered differently, the cartridges are not interchangeable. IMHO, the best printer for a boat is a multi-function machine that scans, prints, copies. And for which ink cartridges are stocked worldwide. I don't remember the model number of the multi-function machine that we have on the boat (we are now in Houston for months for a health issue and the boat is in Turkey). It is a HP and takes HP cartridges #21 and #22. We have been able to purchase these cartridges in every country visited thus far and we are 3/4 way round now.

Judy

[ReMetau]

We use a small portable HP 460c and it has done quite well for us. We don't print much anymore though, but we did just recently know out 100 double sided boat cards on it, and of course tax forms. The down fall is that the ink cartridges cost about $50 to replace the color and black.

[jstevens]

Thanks, Jedi.
That looks like the successor to my Canon i80, which has been onboard for nearly 8 years. Glad to see there is a follow-on product when my i80 finally gives up the ghost. I have noticed the Cannon Ink cartridges are not as easily found as those for HP and Epson, but I was able to find them in Portugal and Spain as well as the US. When I find them I usually stock up. I've kept cartridges on board for over a year without problems.

I've never had the need for an on-board scanner in over 10 years of living on board and cruising. The only times I've needed to make copies of a document was when checking into a marina or a government office. Those offices generally will make the copies for you. The digital camera is my backup should that not be the case sometime in the future.

John

[s/v Jedi]

The trouble with inkjet printers is that most have become very cheap and very poor quality as the result. There are many printers that are cheaper than the first set of new ink cartridges. Not so with these professional line printers but most are very bulky (and very expensive). Canon just happens to make a mobile version.

Cartridges for Canon are easy to get if you go beyond walking to the nearest shop. I order them on Amazon. The iP100 is sold worldwide and so are it's cartridges. Check for local Canon dealers or just Google.

Cartridges: you just buy the correct ones, i.e. with the correct article number. When you try different numbers it won't work on any brand.

The iP100 uses two different cartridges simultaneously: the #35 which is black and the #36 which is color. You can also buy the 35XL and 36XL which hold much more ink which is useful if you print a lot. No other printer model uses these cartridges.

The iP100 also has a user replaceable printhead, which is the mark of a pro-line printer.

[sweetsailing]

I am interested in knowing what you use a printer or scanner for? Are there alternative ways of dealing with the issue that caused you to print something in the first place? Seems like an expense and space utilized that perhaps might be unnecessary if I only need it once in awhile, but what do I know, I don't live on a boat YET. So, please educate me. Do I really need a printer or scanner?

[David M]

If you decide to go cruising, buy two cheap inkjets for under $75 bucks each. Keep the second printer sealed in a plastic bag with dessicant. Printers are so inexpensive now they are essentially disposable items.

http://www.newegg.com/Inkjet-Printer...38?Order=PRICE