Best printer/scanner for live aboard

[Caliber40]

Hello all,
Looking for advice on acquiring a printer/scanner for an extended cruise. Mainly feel a need for a scanner .
1st question.....worth making room for a scanner? Will I need one....not running a business.....just out cruising

2nd question....what type of printer best for marine enviro.....have heard ink jets are bad news......humidity kills print quality!

Any well thought out answers appreciated

[J Clark H356]

I use HP Inkjet - currently have an HP 8600 Printer/scanner. Have had no problems with humidity, but I run HVAC all the time while away from the dock. I have had several ink jets over the past few years. They seem to have about the same life either at home or on the boat. I prefer to have the same one in both locations so operation is the same for both.


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[Lepke]

My current printer is an Epson WorkForce 1100 inkjet and has been aboard for 4 years. It sometimes was stored in an unheated compartment. I operate from the Columbia River to central Alaska. I don't have printing problems.Sometimes the cheap paper gets curly, but no printing problems. I think the ink is too expensive.

[Cap Erict3]

I have carried a cheap wireless HP for 5 years. I can deal with documents wherever I can get cellular.

I usually have to dig it out of a locker but it keeps on ticking. I am on my 3rd black cartridge since purchase.


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Looking for another pretty place to work on the boat.

[blackcatscooter]

I have a Brother 1120 laser printer and a Brother stick scanner. The printer can run out our wireless network and the scanner can be wireless, but usually use it with USB plugin. They work great and are not expensive.


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[Wanderlust]

First I think you need to decide on printer/scanner types before looking at brands, let alone models.

I would always choose a laser over inkjet due to the lower cost of toner compared to ink, and the fact that inkjets often clog if not used for some time. Laser print does no smudge when wet either. But if you want to print photos that look good, then you will need the inkjet.

Do you want colour? I chose B&W only but would probably go for colour next time.

I also like wireless so I can locate the printer anywhere, and not need to run a cable. Near mains power is helpful, and you need to check if your inverter has the capacity.

As space is a premium on board, I wanted a small printer, and primarily for this reason I chose one without integrated scanner. I can always use my camera, although not as good for documents.

With all these taken into account, I found a bargain price on a Fuji P255dw which does duplexing. Aftermarket toner is dirt cheap on eBay.

[Paul L]

We use a small single sheet feed scanner. Comes in handy when we need zarpe copies etc. Ours is a much older version of one these Visioneer RoadWarrior 3

[ericoh88]

I use a HP scanner laser printer MP1132 kept in the starboard locker above the long settee. Good for submitting form after filling them and signed. The toner does not dry out like the injet and prints fast.

[CaptainBW]

We use an IRIScan Mouse to scan. It has a special mouse that you pass over the document/photo and it builds the scanned image as you go. Works great if you only have a couple of pages to scan, but not good for long documents. We have not had the need to buy a printer, but if we did, we would probably buy the small printer/scanner from HP that can be battery powered. I can't remember the model number but you can Google it.

[haha49]

just buy a cheap laser printer they use powder and if the paper gets wet it doesn't run off the page. They use heat to bind it to the page. They're cheaper in the long run if you print allot. Now for scanning if that's all you need you can use a laptop scanner which can be very small and compact. I do most of my signing of paperwork on the computer it self I figure why bother using paper at all. If you need to print something local libarys or post offices charge per page so a usb stick might be a worth while investment it all depends on how often you really need it. I find I use mine 1-2 times a year.

At the end of the day who cares about the quality of the print unless your printing photos it doesn't mater if you go high end or cheap. They all do a good job for what it is. I like wireless printers since you just need power. Then most have a usb port on the front so you can plug a usb thumb drive in and print from that. It all depends on how often you really need it.

I have a HP offiejet pro 8500a. It cleans the print head when you turn it on when it's been off for a long time you can also change the print head if it clogs up. So at the end of the day it all depends on the space and what you really need. I find I use the scanner more then the printer it self and my phone has a program that can scan using the camera. It all depends on what you already got and if you really need it.

So say you run out of ink you can always ask the marina if you can print something. The post office and local libarys are another good place to use it for really cheap. It's just depends if you want to travel to use it. Most people don't use a printer very often. Even some companys are going paperless.

[Jon Hacking]

Originally Posted by Caliber40

Looking for advice on a printer/scanner for an extended cruise. Mainly feel a need for a scanner .
- Is it worth making room for a scanner?
- Will I need one....not running a business.....just out cruising
- What type of printer best for marine enviro.....have heard ink jets are bad news......humidity kills print quality!

Are you going international? Some countries want LOTS of copies of boat papers, crew lists, etc, so our scanner (copier) has seen lots of use. But lots of time can go by between uses, & we've found that the ink in our first 2 inkjets tended to dry & clog the print heads. So we've now gone to a laser based integrated printer/scanner ($160). Yes, it draws more power & it's only B/W, but it's worked well for many years.

[Emerald Sea]

Some lessons learned. If you go international, take with you plenty of extra ink cartridges for your brand of printer as these will be difficult, or impossible, to find in foreign countries. But its a bit of a catch 22 as ink cartridges have a shelf life.

Note this: We have a Brother and ran out of colour cartridges. We had plenty of bw available, but the machine must have a colour cartridge with ink in it to enable bw only printing. So we presently no printing facilities until we get to the next country and hopefully/maybe they have this model of cartridges. How do you spell 'scam'.




Steve
L450
SV Emerald Sea

[haha49]

Originally Posted by Emerald Sea

Some lessons learned. If you go international, take with you plenty of extra ink cartridges for your brand of printer as these will be difficult, or impossible, to find in foreign countries. But its a bit of a catch 22 as ink cartridges have a shelf life.

Note this: We have a Brother and ran out of colour cartridges. We had plenty of bw available, but the machine must have a colour cartridge with ink in it to enable bw only printing. So we presently no printing facilities until we get to the next country and hopefully/maybe they have this model of cartridges. How do you spell 'scam'.




Steve
L450
SV Emerald Sea

look up how to refill them you get a device to reprogram the chip drill a hole put a plug in it just add ink. As long as you buy the right ink it works fine.

[Sea Frog]

I gave up on inkjet years ago. Too unreliable if not used regularly - heads dry and nozzles can get clogged. Bought a relatively cheap Xerox laser printer\scanner and have been happy ever sinse. Ready almost immediately after you turn it on, no need to fiddle with cartridges or clean damn printing head just when you need it (and the damn machine doesn't work). Inkjet may be ok for an office and regular use, but in all other cases laser is way to go. Laser will be my only opton when I move to the boat, that's for sure. I paid too much to learn this lesson