Color Laser Printers...anyone using one these days?

Last year I ran accross the Oki C3200N color laser printer for just $299 at Staples and decided it was time to replace the always a problem and SLOW injets we use around here.

I have been beyond happy with the printing and the costs are so much lower now. We do not have to deal with clogged ink carts, ink carts that simply stop working or feeding ink...we never have to deal with ink carts ever again...period!!

I added a full back up set of new color carts and a black one for under $150 via buying on eBay. But I have yet to replace a single cartridge and would have easily go through at least three maybe 4 ink carts in the same period.

I love the printer because it has a built-in printer server and ethernet port. That let me eliminate an always tempermental & problematic Dlink print server from my net here. The speed is great too...

A trade-off is photo printing quality is not up to the level of a real photo-printer. But at 600x1200 true output resolution, it's really is good enough for our needs. We print invoices and a small catalog for clients as well as reference. I also print the monthly newsletter for a local cat sanctuary/rescue for senior kitties. And oh, yeah, we also print shipping labels and sometimes postage for international shipments. It is great to know the indicia will not disappear if the label gets wet...finally!!

But I was just wondering how wide spread the use of color lasers has become. I suspect many are more influenced by the lower initial cost of an injet vs. the cheaper long term costs of operation for a laser printer. Not to mention the far more permenant image on the paper. Ink Jets all eventually fade, even the so called permenant inks. Has something to do with the oxidation of the ink on the paper. Maybe some paper is more acidic which would keep the ink from completely setting so over time it fades...

The other thing is the SPEED...I get around 20ppm overall from this thing...

The other trade off is size. Laser printers are simply big compared to the injets. But interestingly enough both take up about the same footprint on your desk...I discovered this when I setup mine. Sure injets look smaller but paper is the same size no matter what. Unless the inkjet tilts the paper upright for both the in tray and output tray the amount of desk space has to be the same as any other printer.

Of course the height is another matter...I can stack two inkjets in the volume that the laser takes up...but again if you have an all-in-one style injet then you will need the same room to open the lid...hence about the same space required for both printers...

Probably the biggest issue for me is not dealing with ink carts and then next is speed and high quality of the output...I am really happy to have made the switch last April I think it was...just curious if anyone else has had the same results or completely opposite experiences...

 

I have been using a black and white laser for a few years, as i was sick of going to print somthing and the print heads were blocked.

But i have avoided colour lasers as the price of the refills is expensive.

I am going to buy a toner refill kit, when my starter toner cartridge runs out and fill it myself.

I am not much into colour, back and white does me just fine.

regards.

John.

 

I keep hearing about the HP 1600 series, and how it's really affordable. It's a very ugly product in the store, though. Samsung is making one very small and affordable colour laser, but like Tinderbox says, the toner is expensive. Colour laser is still a year or so away from being truly mainstream.

 

I think we have all forgotten how cost effective and inexpensive even black & white laser have long been. The cost/page and reliability beat inkjets pretty much across the board. I think I print in just black about 70% of the time.

Not sure my numbers agree with yours about the current costs of color laser printers and supplies. They cost more up front but given that they last significantly longer and really never "go bad" as inkjet carts will it seems a more attractive deal long term. But that all really depends on how a person uses a printer.

I was looking the other day and saw one can get a nice fast monocolor laser printer for under $100 if you watch the sale prices..I bet one of those and maybe two replacement carts will last most folks the rest of their life. Well at least geezers like me...hehehehe...

 

I thought I would add that I never buy printing supplies retail. I always buy through discount or 3rd party channels. For ecample the new cartridges for the Oki C3200n are around $70ish/ea for the color and I have paid around $35/ea via eBay purchases. And that is for brand new Oki carts. So I spent $160 for each of two sets of all four cartridges. I am set for toner then for a looooong time. At least a year maybe two. Hard to say as I am still using all of the original cartridges.

There is one thing about the newer laser printers and that is the systems all seem to have hard coded pagecount limits on different parts like the furser roller and drums, etc...if you peek around the web you can find out how to force a reset of those values via the control panels.

You want to be sure the parts are still in good condition and do not really need replacing. I have worn out drums and furser's in the past with HP printers. But it was pretty easy to repair them myself for a fraction of replacing the printer or paying to have it done.

 

You hit the nail on the head when you mentioned that most people are looking at the initial purchase price first and foremost to make their decision (How many people got caught with the Lexmark Inkjet catridge costing more then the printer).

Oki are getting good reviews by end users, too bad magazines are not really expsosing them.

Gautam above makes mention of the HP1600 and how affordable it is (look at the replacement cost for the toner carts and google for reviews) You will soon find out that there is no free lunch, the HP1600 is probably HP's most costly color laser printer to use (Low yield cartridges which are very expensive)

If I would not be running out of home office space right now I would have probably purchased a color laser printer already but with 3 printers on active duty (A HP Laserjet 4, An HP Deskjet 2500/ 65 lbs inkjet monster and a Canon IP5200 for photos and CD/DVD printing)

There are good choice out there for Color Laser printer like the Oki's but peole have to consider the actual usage cost before they grab the least expensive printer or face the consequences of paying more in toner cartridge replacement cost then if they would have chosen another printer with an higher acquisition cost.

Best regards

frenchnew

 

frenchnew:

OMG an old beast of an HP, an HP 4...and an Injet 2500!!! now that injet is a BEAST...as for color lasers, HP is just toooooo costly for my needs. Great output but the carts are really pricey. That was what really suprised me with the Oki...it is really an overall decent value. I almost did not believe it at first because it's not often we find those anymore.

I have worked this one pretty good too...including longer print runs of 300-pages and manully duplexed too...whole thing took under 30-minutes for both sides.

Exactly the way I see it too...it seems many will agonize over which RAM is the fastest (as if it matters to run Word and IE) then grab the cheapest looking printer on the shelf. Over time that "cheap" printer will cost them more then buying a more expensive printer up front with lower costs over time. Never step over dollars to pick-up pennies.

I also feel that even if I pay a few cents more per page to print with the laser the improved durability of the output really makes it an easy decision. I really never need worry about going to a file only to find the page I need is almost completely faded out. Sure some injets are better with this the others (it's dye vs. pigment inks and I forget which lasts longer.) but this also is a function of the paper you print on...cheaper paper can also decrease output longevity.

My next project is going to be buying some of the really cool vinyl stock (think laptop stickers/clings) for printing from a color laser. It might be fun to see how it might look to add my company logo to a slick looking laptop-lid skin. If I was to use their inkjet stock it might need a special spray-on top coat to last. But I also think there is a chance those printed on a color laser might flake or wear off over time too...but it's gonna be a fun project.

 

Hey grumpy3b,

the deskjet 2500 is my portable printer when want to have a workout!

Yes the Laserjet4 is getting old but that thing is built like a tank and beside feeding it new toner carts, it still runs perfectly.

The only time I had problems with the HP4 is when I used 1 Staple brand toner cartridge, it kept having toner smears on specific area of the page, every pages. Replaced with an HP High Capacity for the same price from Costco and things were back to normal.

Good luck with your vinyl experiment, I should have done this instead of buying a Voodoo Envy 855 over 3 years ago (talk about an expensive paint job!) and they are not any better then other run of the mill notebooks. Mine is currently still working, only on AC as something's wrong with the mainboard and Voodoo want's $600 for a replacement board.

Got a brand new LG S1 2 weeks ago (less then 50% of the price of the Voodoo for a more powerfull machine with all the bells ans whistle.

Best regards

frenchnew

 

To nitpick, isn't the Oki a color LED printer?

Just saw a demo of the 6100 series.... while it may be too big and pricey for home use, it was pretty darned impressive! We might end up picking one up for the office....

 

Why color laser technology hasn't advanced astronomically in the past few years, I don't understand. It's not complicated like making integrated circuits or nanobots.

 

oh, yeah....those are supposed to be AWESOME...real pro printing stuff!

 

I used to use brand-x carts in our HP III's and evey now and then we would get a flaky cartridge. The last one made such a mess I just tossed the printer...hehehehehe...kinda like they did in Office Space...

Thanks!! And I feel ya about the cost of a system a few years back. I bought out of immediate need an Insprion 8500 about 4 years ago which just died but it was EXPENSIVE and just a problem system from day one. But I was heading out on a long business trip and had to have something fast that I thought would last...arrrggghhhh...now I have a wonderful HP system that feels as if it's a whole new ballgame.

You know I really like the stuff from LG. Everything from their laptops to the refridgerators they make. We actually have a really nice and efficent 'fridge with the freezer on the bottom. LOVE it...did get a laugh out of their 'fridge with the TV in the door...darned thing was almost as much as a Sub-Zero (my dream kitchen will have TWO of these!!)

 

oh...well...well...just FINE then!! See if I care!! HAHA!!

They really are...and even if the are NOT a true laser, ahem...cough...cough..., the output is impressive. And even more so when you being to compare prices with the other options.

What I really wanna get is something to handle 11x17 paper...of course that would me a couple grand for a lousy printer...hey, better that then givin' it to the gubbermint...

 

It sort of amazed me just how long it too for consumer/small office color lasers to reach the mainstream. I am guessing the profit built into inkjets was simply too lucrative to bypass with a technology better suited to business needs. It had to be easier to market desktop inkjets companies looking to buy 1000 printers at a whack by simply giving them free printers in exchange for agreeing to an exclusive injet cart contract. We all know all the $$$ are in those replacement cartridges.

I was just remembering what printer mfg was it that was running around offering a free printer for a 2-yr supply contract. It was either a dye sublimation or the wax/crayon style printer. I almost bit on that, until I researched the consumables...WOW, I could buy new printers every time the cartridges ran out and still not spend what the true cost of that "free" printer.