Re: advice wanted: wireless printer

**tuoply** · 01-02-2009, 03:55 PM

No idea how good this is (I recently wooted it, but haven't yet received it):

HP Officejet Pro L7680 C8189A

110 bucks recertified on newegg. It's an all in one printer, fax, copier, scanner that supposedly has bluetooth capabilities and an ethernet port.

**Acreo Aeneas** · 01-02-2009, 11:29 PM

Originally Posted by DrakenVaitor

*What do I mean by this? Well Epson printers like Brother as well are machines that like to get used. The print head in these machines are built into the machine, unlike most HP's were the print head is built into the cartridge. As you print it flushes ink through the print head keeping the print head clean and clear. If you don't print the print head will start to dry out and clog up. Epson machines run cleaning cycles to prevent the print head from clogging when not in use, however these cleaning cycles waste ink. If you print on a regular basis, once or twice a week, you should be fine. Less then that however and you run the risk of the print head drying out and turning your printer into a brick. Best example I can give: Teachers. They use their Epsons all year round no problem, but if they leave it in their class over the summer, when they come back in the fall the machine is a paper weight.

So would Brother printers when they go through their cleaning cycle (I presume this is when the machine makes it's whir/purr sound?) also "waste ink"? My other question: where does this wasted ink go?

**Skylark** · 01-03-2009, 12:12 PM

I'm assuming that they periodically print a test page that uses a little of the ink - also some of the printers have little cleaning areas (sponges, whatever) off to the side (where the heads stay when not printing) and it rubs the heads?

Actual answers: little gnomes come out and like the heads clean - if one has a bad enough habbit, it can drink the ink dry, then wander around your house on an ink high doing mischief. You know, hiding one sock of a pair, hiding your cell phone and wallet and replacing good batteries with old ones in your remotes.

**RedFalcoln** · 01-03-2009, 03:24 PM

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en...4-3575175.html
we have one of those for a imac...

**ScratchMonkey** · 01-04-2009, 08:22 AM

Originally Posted by Skylark

Actual answers: little gnomes come out and like the heads clean - if one has a bad enough habbit, it can drink the ink dry, then wander around your house on an ink high doing mischief. You know, hiding one sock of a pair, hiding your cell phone and wallet and replacing good batteries with old ones in your remotes.

Are these gnomes related to the blue men in the Twilight Zone episode "A Matter of Minutes"? Whenever something goes missing at my house, it's because the blue men have it.

http://www.tv.com/the-twilight-zone-...7/summary.html

**DrakenViator** · 01-04-2009, 03:13 PM

Originally Posted by Acreo Aeneas

So would Brother printers when they go through their cleaning cycle (I presume this is when the machine makes it's whir/purr sound?) also "waste ink"? My other question: where does this wasted ink go?

The small 'wake up' noises you hear are typically a mini clean not really a deep level clean that eats a lot of ink and can also be the paper rollers going through a test phase to make sure they are still spinning.

As to where the ink goes? Well as Skylark says it's true there is a sponge on the bottom of the machine that the ink is shot into and absorbed.

Now I pick on Brother and Epson, because for whatever reason they seem a little more prone to clogs versus HP, Canon, and Lexmark. In reality ANY printer can clog over time. For Epson and Brother they seem to do it sooner. Again if this is a machine that you use on a regular basis, two to three times a week or more, (black and color) then forget what I said, you really don't have anything to worry about. My warning is more geared towards the very low volume users who prints less then once a week.

Another thing you can to to prevent clogs STOP USING CHEAP PAPER! Typical Copy paper the 'cheap stuff' has a higher amount of paper dust left over from the milling process. Copy machines are not really effected by the dust so it really doesn't make a huge difference. Inkjets on the other hand tend to get plugged up by the dust over time. A good Multipurpose, or an Inkjet quality paper is a little more money, but goes through an extra refining process, to help cut down on dust and is typically a better brightness and sometimes a better weight as well.

~ Draken

**DrakenViator** · 01-04-2009, 03:44 PM

Originally Posted by tuoply

No idea how good this is (I recently wooted it, but haven't yet received it):

HP Officejet Pro L7680 C8189A

110 bucks recertified on newegg. It's an all in one printer, fax, copier, scanner that supposedly has bluetooth capabilities and an ethernet port.

The HP 7000 series (7500, 7600, and 7700) are all using the HP 88 series Ink. These printers similar to the Epson, and Brother do use independent ink tanks. Meaning that you only replace each color as needed, and that yes the pint-head is a separate part. However unlike most Epson and Brother machines the print heads are replaceable, just hard to find. Last I knew replacement print-heads can only be ordered from HP. Again if you are using it two or three times a week or more don't worry about the print head.

As a machine as a whole the 7000 series is a small to medium office series designed for high volume use. Using the 88XL ink cartridges the 7000 series cost per print is actually equal to or LESS then many laser printers, yet it can still retain a photo quality print.

The 7600 sub series does have Ethernet connections as well as USB, and has built in card readers as well as a color LCD screen to review the content of the cards, and the on screen menu. I know that with and adapter it can work with bluetooth, but I don't think it works out of the box. Though I could be confusing it with the 7500 series.

The 7600 series should also ship with the duplex module as well, for duplex copy/scan and print options.

All in all for your moderate to high volume user a rather solid machine.

~ Draken

**Acreo Aeneas** · 01-04-2009, 05:29 PM

Originally Posted by DrakenViator

Now I pick on Brother and Epson, because for whatever reason they seem a little more prone to clogs versus HP, Canon, and Lexmark. In reality ANY printer can clog over time. For Epson and Brother they seem to do it sooner. Again if this is a machine that you use on a regular basis, two to three times a week or more, (black and color) then forget what I said, you really don't have anything to worry about. My warning is more geared towards the very low volume users who prints less then once a week.

~ Draken

We still have a Canon Multipass F40 (think that's the right model). Besides it having a paper jam every 3-5 pages, it gets clogged every so often. I don't remember any of the HPs and Brothers we have clogging. As for Epson, we had one cheap low-end inkjet. It would always clog at the worst times.

We do use our printers regularly, but less than once a week when school isn't in session. Otherwise, each printer is spitting out like 20 pages a week and we have 6 printers in the house.

**DrakenViator** · 01-04-2009, 11:48 PM

Epson is by far the worst... I've killed a lot of them

. But I've also had one or two Brother floor models clog up on me (they see use about once a month at best so ultra low volume) I haven't had a Canon go bad yet, but the F-40 is an older model so I can't rule it out. Like I said every printer will clog either do to age, or lack of use.

With some Epson models I have had new out of the box printers die after only two months due to lack of use. So I just try to warn customers about their quirks. Epson's have brilliant photo quality, but they are a machine that likes to get used. Brothers as well, but not nearly as bad.

~ Draken

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