To just want a basic printer and not have to sign up for instant inks etc?

[Adollop]

Looking online for a very basic printer, mainly to be used for printing off eBay labels, return labels, similar. The cheapest around are HP it seems, but they all come with this Instant Ink subscription. I'd rather just buy my ink when I need it, not be tied into some subscription. I'm not planning on using much ink at all and I need to save money wherever possible.

Other printers seem to come with cartridges with all colours in one, so if you run out of one colour you have to replace all of them.

I'm not techy minded, so need a simple set up too. I've no CD drive, so it has to work without a CD.

Am I asking too much?!

One more question .. if you're not paying for the instant ink how often did they send it?

We haven't run out yet, but I understand that they send it just before you run out of ink. That's going to be different based on whether you usually print out a single line of black text vs a full colour illustration. They must monitor the ink levels in the printer each time you print.

If you have Windows 10 it will set itself up.

This has reminded me that I forgot to register for the free deal with the I've I just got. Oh well. I don't print much anyway.

The instant ink thing works very well for us. We pay 1.99 a month and print nearly up to the limit. It’s cheaper than when we used to buy ink.

I've got Windows 7, it's a very old computer

I have that printer. It is wireless so you don't need a USB cable. Plug it in, push the WiFi link button on your router, push the WiFi button on the printer and they will connect.
Download the hp app to your pc/phones/tablets and they will connect to the printer. Our printer is downstairs, we can print from any device, anywhere we can use our WiFi connection. Dd often prints her homework from her bedroom.
We have the £1.99 a month plan as dd is in gcse mode so uses plenty of printing. We haven't yet gone over the limit although we have been close and in the 7 months we have used the service haven't yet run out of ink. It means that I haven't had the hassle of cartridges being out of stock, having no ink for a couple of days until I remember or they are delivered and nobody gets upset because the last minute printing or copying that is really urgent can't be done. It works for us.

I signed up for the lowest usage of instant ink when I got my printer.

It does freak me out a little that my printer sends an email when it's running low on ink, and I only find out when the postie delivers it, but at least we don't run out of ink any more!

I have no idea who else my printer is emailing. It has a whole life that I know nothing about. I don't even know its email address.

I got mine at Currys earlier this year and it came with 12 months free ink on the otherwise £7.99/300 pages plan.
Might be worth checking out if they still do it.

Setting up the printer was ok.
I set it up to my phone first which works perfectly. The instructions were easy enough.
I needed a cable for the desktop computer (as it's not wireless).
It was a bit of a pain (I selected the wrong model then couldn't undo it) but worked it out in the end.

Signing up to the subscription was easy and I like the HP app on my phone.

Once set up, the printer will automatically connect to wireless whenever you print something (and you may not be able to print anything if your internet is down).
When your cartridges are about half empty they'll send out new ones. I always got them long before I needed them.

I think if you do cancel the subsription their ink cartridges won't work anymore though, so you might have to replace them with bought ones as soon as you've cancelled.

I spent more on a printer but got one with ink tanks. If you do a bit of printing I would look into that option. So much cheaper without cartridges!

I have this Brother laser printer
It is black ink only...so no buying a set of 4 cartridges and having to change them all when one runs out. It has drum of ink powder which means when I leave it unused for a few days, it doesn't clog up and need cleaning using ink
The printer and drums are relatively expensive but after 18 months DH tells me we are now saving apparently.
Am very happy with it.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00OKG4F2Y/ref=cmswwrcpptai_EiMSDb3G24A1Q

I have a cannon printer. No requirement for ink subscription and no Wires needed to install. It works off and app and we use it on multiple devices. You can buy black and coloured ink separately and Tesco do a dupe for the ink.

How do these printers set up if you have no laptop/pc? We use iPads only at home but DD occasionally needs to print things out for schoolwork. Currently connects her iPad to her dads work printer in his office but thought i might get one for home. I would happily pay £1.99 for 50 sheets of printing each month but my stumbling block is always how will we set up the printer without connecting it to a pc!

I think you can probably set them up using an app TwoleftUggs. Have a look on the HP website.

Yep, as above .
An app.
My dh has a laptop but we mostly print stuff from our phones or tablets .
Really easy set up