Kodak Printers and Printhead Problems

When Kodak came out with their printers 2-3 years ago, the major talk was about the cost of ink.  Granted, Kodak does have some low priced ink at around $27 for both a black and color.  So the question becomes, where did they scrimp on the cost to make money.  In talking to our customers, we think we have found it.

In reference to the blog post about kodak printers that  I made, most review placed don’t think the highest of them.  However, this is becoming more evident in talking to our customers who have them or have had them.  I would say about 40% of our customers experience a problem in the first 6 months of owning it.  Granted Kodak, usually makes it right, but still.  And the problem always seems to revolve around the printheads.  I have even had one customer who had his printer replaced 3 times, and the 4th time, they refused saying he broke it and that voided the warranty.  Of course this is a non-replaceable part, so if it breaks, you need Kodak to fix it.

I would think this has more to do with the ink that they use instead of the actual head.  If I remember right, they use pigment colors and black, which while good for colors and life, the ink can thicken and plug up easily (look up Epson R800 and R1800 printers on cnet.com, they talk about them their.)

Need to get a printer, look at a Brother model or a Canon model, those would be a safe bet.

Looking for a new printer?

If you are looking to buy a new printer or replace on you have, here is one to look at.

Canon Pixma MX860

I have found it for around 130 to 150 dollars.  It does everything you want, wifi, duplexing, wired, duplex scanning, photos, individual cartridges, fax, copy, and all the bells and whistles.

We also have the replacement cartridges available now.

Kodak ads run wild, but what about the products?

Kodak has started to run a lot of ads promoting their printers.  I saw 5 of them in a two hour time limit on March 29th.  They are promoting low cost print options.  Which is good, people need to save.  but is the quality and cost really there to get them to switch?

I looked at three websites, pcmag.com, pcworld.com, and reviews.cnet.com to see what their reviews on the printers were.  Most of the reviews were okay, but the common theme was, you can better spend your money elsewhere.  Quality of the printer and print-outs were not great was in almost every review.

One of the big things Kodak was mentioning in their ads was the low cost of their printer ink.  It does have a low cost, I will give them that, but does that low cost turn out to be a low cost of ownership.  NO.  According to PCMag.com, printing on a light duty (you can see how they determined that on the website), over a three year period, Kodak was the most expensive.  Most of my customers I would consider them light duty printing, with the exception of the businesses.

I have yet to recommend any Kodak printer to any of our customers, and I plan on keeping it that way.  Low cost cartridges is one thing, but you must have the quality behind it.

Snake in a P . . Printer!

Okay, we have all had this situation.  We are using a printer and it doesn’t work for whatever reason, so what do we do first, well if you are already having a bad day, you hit it.  Well thankfully, this guy in Austrialia did not do that.  Apparently, he had a brown snake that decided to take up residence in his printer.  I wonder if this covered by warranty?

Here is the link to the full article.

O-ink is giving away $100 of gas!

How would you like $100 in gas?

For the week of October 27th through October 31st, anytime you make a purchase from O-ink at either our Mt. Pleasant Store (600 S. Mission St.  989-779-7227) or our St. Johns Store (1073 S. US-27 Next to T-bones,  989-227-8066) you will get one entry to win a $100 gas card.

Drawing is held on November 3rd, and winner will be notified by phone.  You must make a purchase to enter, phone orders do qualify.  Must be able to pick up gas card if winner and provide photo id to verify name.  Not valid with orders on our website.  One winner per location (two winners total).  Must be 18 or older.  Not valid to O-ink staff, family, or vendors.

College Life and printers

In about one month from this post, the colleges across the United States will be filling up with students looking to expand their knowledge while hoping to do it without a lot of debt ( I am still paying mine off). New students are spending money right now to have all of their supplies and needs met.

1. New sheets
2. New cloths
3. pens, paper, etc
4. shoes
5. technology (tv, computer, etc)
6. and more

While some things are needed, not all of them are. Take printers for example. Most college students do not need them. Most of the ones that they do get come with the new computer they just purchased (Thanks Dell and HP). But the question remains, what is the best printer for college students? I am going to narrow the list down a little bit.

First thing first, what not to buy.

Stay away from Lexmark and Dell printers. While they may seem cheap to buy or in Dell’s case you get them for free with a computer purchase, the cost of the printer cartridges is extremely high. Plus, it can be hard to find the printer cartridges for certain Lexmark printers (see our post about Circuit City), and Dell cartridges are limited to Dell and Staples (although Staples only sells the low yield cartridges). Their quality is subpar as well.

Epson isn’t bad, but I still recommend staying away from them. They make great photo printers, like the R800, R1800, R1900, R2400, however, their lower end printers (under $200) have a high cost of ownership, meaning low ink volumes for high dollars.

All of the printers we recommend are based off from economic value of the printer cartridges and overall quality.

All-In-One’s

Price Ranges $100-$300

Offering’s from Canon – College students do not need a fax, so I am staying away from those. The Canon Pixma MP520, MP610, MP600 or for those wanting great photo quality MP970. You can find them from about $150 to $300 depending on the model you want. They all have individual cartridges (ranging from 4 to 7) along with duplex printing. Cartridges can be found on our site for $10 for the black and $9.25 for the colors.

Offerings from HP – Photosmart C4385, C5280, C6280. All of them offer good quality print outs and low cost of ownership as long as you stick with the XL cartridges.

Printers

Canon – Canon Pixma iP3500 or iP4500 $80 and $130 for each. The iP4500 gives you duplex printing and a dye based black for photo printing.

HP – This one is wide open so instead of printers, I will just list some rules of thumb.

1. Keep the printer more than $80
2. Stay away from printers that use the 21 or 92 black and the 22 and 93 color cartridges. They are the most costly cartridges that HP makes.
3. Check to see if your printer will take an XL cartridge, if they do, buy the XL instead of the standard as it is more economical.
4. If you get a printer that uses the HP 02 cartridges, do not buy the photo pack of cartridges. They are only half full versions of those cartridges so they cost more to run than the standard cartridges. Side note – The HP 02 cartridges that O-ink has are filled to double the capacity of the standard HP 02’s.

Well if you are off to college, good luck, study hard. I hope this helps you in finding a printer that will work for you.

While I did not cover laser printers, if you are looking for a low end laser printer, look at Brother’s HL-2140. It is more economical to keep than any of HP’s low end printers.

Once you get your printer, make sure to keep it loaded with cartridges.  Check out our site to get the lowest prices as well as great quality