Best Printer?

[akkiakwe]

I'm looking for recommendations for a good printer, please. Preferably one that only uses black ink.  I have a Canon that prints well (most of the time) but even though I print ONLY in black always, uses up the color ink at the same time. What? I've tried different settings but it doesn't change.  Canon ink is expensive and no matter what I try it will not print with the color cartridges not installed.  Any suggestions would be most welcome, please and thank you!

[krazzykats]

Laser or thermal printer.  Inkjets are ink intensive and expensive.

[chapeau-noir]

I use a Zebra thermal printer - small footprint and durable.  It only needs quick maintenance after every roll or two of labels, and you don't have to worry about taping anything or ink running.  There are other brands, too.

[rosszonebricks]

Definitely general-purpose laser printer or label-specific thermal printer.  I use a Brother laser printer with aftermarket toner drums, and print around 10,000 labels packing slips per $25 toner drum.

[stainlessenginecovers]

All 'color' printers do that because the 'black ink' isn't always 'pure black' and that cannot be changed. I bought a 'black only' 'ink jet' (instead of laser printer) and the ink 'roller' is like a copy machine- cost $80 but lasts almost a year printing out full page label with receipt for well over 2000 labels as well as various 'other' printings I need for the business (probably another 100 per year-full page black/white photos I use for instructions on certain things as well as 1x4 labels that go on every item).  It also prints out about 10x faster than any laser printer.  It is a Canon (also copy/scanner) and cost about $200 2 years ago (Walmart). 

[policequilts]

Laser printer if you are only doing black and white printing.

Laser toner cartridges are very reasonable and they print a lot.
Pending on the toner cartridge fill and how much black is being printed, you can easily get 3,000-10,000 copies.

I used to publish a mini newspaper and I had an old HP laser that easily got 10,000 copies.

[stainlessenginecovers]

Edit-I had it backwards- My printer is Laser, not Ink Jet. 

[rudy2828]

Look at Brother b&w printers. Excellent results here.

[joseh1445]

A friend got me a HP P4015x Printer from his work for free. Ink is about $50 - $70, with 1 new cartridge it will print about 20,000 pages. Yes, its an old printer and takes a lot of space and is heavy. But i will not have to buy another ink cartridge in about couple of years. 

I hope that you find the right printer for your needs.  

[a_c_green]

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@akkiakwe wrote:

I'm looking for recommendations for a good printer, please. Preferably one that only uses black ink.  I have a Canon that prints well (most of the time) but even though I print ONLY in black always, uses up the color ink at the same time. What?

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Some portions of eBay documents (packing slips, mailing labels, etc.) are generated in "rich black," which is a black printed using the Cyan, Magenta and Yellow inks in addition to (or in place of) black ink. If you've ever had a supposedly black-and-white printout emerge with some portions of the document printed and others missing, either your black cartridge or color cartridge is empty, and you're looking at portions printed with the other one. (Usually this is a symptom of an empty black cartridge, since the color cartridge isn't likely to have all three colors run out at the same time.)

I don't have a Canon printer, but several of my HP printers offer an option to not only print in grayscale instead of color, but also specifically not print anything with the color cartridge: 

Can you find something similar in the Printing Preferences for your Canon printer? (It may require you to have a color cartridge installed, even if you do not plan to use it.)

[richard1rst]

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@akkiakwe wrote:

I'm looking for recommendations for a good printer, please. Preferably one that only uses black ink.  I have a Canon that prints well (most of the time) but even though I print ONLY in black always, uses up the color ink at the same time. What? I've tried different settings but it doesn't change.  Canon ink is expensive and no matter what I try it will not print with the color cartridges not installed.  Any suggestions would be most welcome, please and thank you!

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I have an HP printer that, if I left it alone, would do the same thing.

When you go to print a dialog box pops up with settings. On my HP (the canon might be a bit different) I can click on "advanced" and get a page that dictates that the printer only print in black. Problem solved. In the alternative once the color cartridge runs out do not replace it. Printer doesn't know the difference as long as the cartridge is in place..

[buyselljack2016]

Got a Dell laser printer (not thermal) 5-6 years ago on sale dirt cheap from Staples. I refill the toner until the cartridge doesn't function well anymore, and then replace it starting the refill process again. Aftermarket cartridge about $10. Refill kit with chip also not much money.

I print on cheap plain paper, and tape the label to the package.

Getting away from an inkjet printer was one of the best moves made.

[prairieprimitives]

If you have the $$ and/or are shipping enough to justify it, get a thermal printer!

I've always had HP printers. I've had a printer connected to HP's "Instant Ink" program for the last 7 or 8 years. If you're not familiar with Instant Ink, you pay a flat monthly fee for a set number of pages and can print b&w or color. HP sends new ink cartridges LONGGGG before I need them. I have the 100 pages per month plan and I think it's about $6.50/month now. $6.50 * 12 = $78 ... that's less than 2 HP ink cartridges (or was, I haven't priced them in years!). Granted, I used to buy off-brand cartridges for less than $10 each, but I'm pretty sure I spent more than $70 or $80/year on those too. My printer was about $100 at BestBuy in ~2014. It's been replaced twice under warranty ... the 1st time, I got what I'm pretty sure was a brand new printer and the 2nd time, the printer was clearly marked as a refurb ... but it's been the BEST of all 3 printers! 

[prairieprimitives]

On the printer before my current one (which I've had since ~2014), I found a setting to change the default print color to black. This may not be an option on all printers, I don't know. My current printer uses HP's Instant Ink, so I pay the same for b&w or color printing! 

[powell-memorabilia]

Me, I have a thermal printer, which I love.  But, if I’m just looking to not use color ink, I’d take an old color cartridge and load it with cheap replacement black ink.  Replacement ink is what I use for my regular printer - saves a ton vs buying new cartridges.  You just need ink and a syringe.