AIBU to fucking hate my Epsom printer?

[Melassa]

Every time a print a couple of sheets of paper I get an alert that a colour has run out. It’s cost me 10x more in ink cartridges than the fucking printer cost in the first place. I just changed the magenta so I could actually print a document (entirely in black and white, selected bw printing but it still wants the magenta), I changed the cartridge now it’s asking me to change the fucking black which I only changed last fucking week . I must have printed 4 sheets of paper max since then . I’ve been trying to override it as I don’t have time to pop to the shops to pick up another cartridge, but I’ve had to give up.

How I long for the days of just being able to whip out the cartridge, give it a shake and put it back in and you could print to your heart’s content until the paper went blank.

Shitty fucking printer!

Mind you, the one in the office is not much better. Once the scanner lamp thingy went and it wouldn’t let you print even if you had no intention of scanning anything.

I nearly bought an Epson yesterday. The eco tank one. Had added to cart and then thought I'd better che ck if it scan multiple pages. Which of course it doesn't because that would be just too bloodly simple..

I think the best solution is not to print anything (not always easy), pre lock down I did all my printing at work!

Epson ecotank

I have this one and it's surprisingly even tempered and it doesn't use ridiculous amounts of ink either.

It's really expensive at Curry's right now though

I have an older model canon printer / scanner. It's a bit of a faff (as you have to over-ride the ink system), but you can refill the cartridges endlessly as long as you don't burn the print head out by running it dry.
The kit was around £18 and I've used it four times so far (thanks to having to print at home during lockdowns), so it's more than paid for itself.

@callmemaybee

It’s cost me 10x more in ink cartridges than the fucking printer cost in the first place.

This is public knowledge though. Everyone knows that Epson ink is expensive. It’s a massive “con/negative” point if you bothered to look at any review before purchasing. If you want cheap, go for HP. This is your fault for not doing your research.

I have a high end Epson printer bought in 2018 and it’s still as good now as it was then. I have changed the cartridges a few times and never had the same issues that you have.

The bizarre thing is that I did do a modicum of research and the printer claimed to print several hundred pages before requiring a cartridge change. I reckon there was a typo with too many zeros.

I went without a home printer for many years and just printed at the office, but lockdown and home schooling meant I had to dip my toe once again. I needed colour for my DD’s art research, and oddly enough the bastarding printer works for her from her Mac, but snubs my PC more often than not. I think I must have printed out a total of 10 pages all year. God knows how much each page cost me. At least DD got some use out of it.

And I had an Epson in the 90s/early noughties when I worked una design studio and it worked like a dream. But then those were the days when a quick shake or punch would suffice to keep the machine printing.

I had an Epsom printer years ago. The worst piece of shit I've ever owned.

I hate home printers. We've got a HP one with the ink subscription and it mostly works OK, until you desperately need something printed then the laptop denies all knowledge of the printer and I have to print from my phone instead.

I’ve got a Canon one that has ink tanks that you fill instead of cartridges. Much better.

Epson eco tank. Literally not changed the ink in 5 years.

Epson, Canon and HP. All shite.

The only time a printer’s going to give you the warm glow of a job well done is when you launch it through the air in a graceful arc to land in the electronic items skip at the dump ( which seems to be mostly full of other printers , and vacuum cleaners )

My HP is brilliant. A cheap one with the Ink deal.

@HmmmmmmInteresting you got there before me!!

Still makes me laugh every time 🤣

@tentosix

My HP is brilliant. A cheap one with the Ink deal.

How much are they paying you to say this😁

Catswithflamingos I have the same one and it's really good! Posted up thread all smug about it

[quote RandomMess]@HmmmmmmInteresting you got there before me!!

Still makes me laugh every time 🤣[/quote]
Me too

I understand the frustration, tis a pickle with the printers, however you can get cheaper compatible, ink from e.g. Asda, or eBay / amazon. If that helps.

[quote RandomMess]@HmmmmmmInteresting you got there before me!!

Still makes me laugh every time 🤣[/quote]
Was it you that linked to it on a previous printer fury thread?

My hp pay monthly printer doesn't recognise that I have run out of coloured ink. Even when I removed the cartridge all together they didn't send me a new one.

The machine tells me it's finished. But didn't bother informing hp. I therefore have a black and white printer when I am paying monthly for (and need) colour.

Can I find a number to speak to an actual human at hp? Can I heck. All AI online chat and utterly useless 🤬

@MissConductUS Thanks! Will give it a go, more than I wanted to spend but actually if it means I don't have to buy ink that's great!

so impossible to make a home printer that actually works properly.

They make their money from selling the ink. There is every incentive to make you buy new cartridges.

I've actually given up printing and see just how far I can manage with things on line A spare screen really helps day to day.

The only really reliable printers are the top end giants such as those at work connected to the 'mother ship '. If I really, really need a paper copy I resort to prontaprint

It's been eighteen months since I was in the office and the few times I've used Prontaprint easily works out cheaper than buying another stupid printer.

[quote TippledPink]@MissConductUS Thanks! Will give it a go, more than I wanted to spend but actually if it means I don't have to buy ink that's great![/quote]
@TippledPink - glad I could help! If it's like mine, it comes with a "starter" toner cartridge that you'll get 800-1000 pages out of. When you replace it, get the high-capacity toner cartridge. That one will last much longer, with a lower price per page.

I mostly bought it for printing out the kids' homework, then they started turning in most homework electronically. It's been amazingly handy for faxing and scanning, so it's really lovely to have even though I don't do a lot of actual printing anymore.

All home printers are absolute bastards and no less.

My first one nearly had me fail my degree repeatedly. Failing to print things out in time for me to hand it in. And I would leave plenty of bastard time. Extra for the dickhead printer narcissist issues.

I got another printer many years later for degree number two. And it decided to be a massive dickhead on the ONE TIME I really needed it.

Massive bastard.

Most of the printer problems I've run into printing at home have really been a Microsoft Windows or network problem. Windows has form for losing the IP address of the printer or the printer acquires a new address from the network that the copy of Windows on your computer doesn't know about.

The solution is to delete the printer and add it back. This forces Windows to update the printer's address with the new or correct one. There are videos on youtube that will walk you through the process.