Epson or Brother.

I will NEVER buy another HP product with their bullshit programs to lock you down as a customer. The last printer had a mail order option for cartridges that PHYSICALLY DISABLED any cartridge that wasn't directly from their mail order. In other words, once you signed up, you couldn't use any aftermarket cartridges.

I just replaced a HP Office Jet Pro 6978 recently with an Epson eco-tank ET-4810. Why? It's somewhat of a story.

When new, the HP 6978 worked great. Then HP came out with the ink cartridge subscription plan. They call it "Instant Ink" and it does not describe the subscription plan accurately.
The printer communicates with the HP mothership, and automatically orders ink so you never run out.
It's a great theory/idea, that works poorly in the real world.
HP uses an algorithm for calculating ink cartridge quantity you have used, and how much ink is remaining.

HP sent me some color ink cartridges years ago that were faulty when brand new. They actually recalled the faulty cartridges and replaced them with additional new cartridges.
But the damage had already been done to my HP printer before the recall was begun.

One of the colored ink jet nozzles became clogged, and being non removeable for cleaning, and thereafter, one of the three colors was permanently unusable.
I did try cleaning the colored ink nozzles while in place, with a syringe of warm water. But zero success unclogging the clogged nozzle.
No biggie, I rarely print with colored ink and the black ink still worked well.

At least three times I ran out of black ink and was without a usable printer while waiting four to ten days for the new black ink cartridge to arrive from HP after an online chat session with HP CS.
The remaining ink level algorithm is worthless on black ink usage. I had already run the installed black cartridge dry, and the printer said I still was half full.

After a year or so, I had two complete sets of color ink cartridges waiting to be installed (six in total) and zero black ink cartridges waiting in reserve.
Multiple times I ran out of black ink, had no subscription plan black ink cartridges waiting, and again needed to jack up HP customer service for another black ink cartridge via chat session.
The last time that happened, I did another chat session and politely asked them to send two black ink cartridges so I had one to install in my printer, and a backup black cartridge waiting.
They use the cheapest most inefficient form of shipping, with no regard for your printer being inoperative while you wait.

Unfortunately for HP, HP refused to send two, and only shipped me one. And once again, I was in the same predicament as many times before. No spare black ink cartridge.
After concluding the chat session, I did some online research, drove to Walmart and came home with the new Epson ET-4810 all-in-one printer.
So far, the Epson is a gem, no complaints.
I really like being able to see the real world ink levels remaining in the printer ink tanks. The front plastic printer housing has four ink tank viewing slots in the panel of the printer for ink levels.
And no useless "algorithm" for calculating ink levels, with the Epson you can easily see what you actually have remaining.

One small problem I happened to notice with the Epson. *** IMPORTANT information about Epson below! ***
When I registered the Epson on their website for the one year warranty, I noticed the official date for the warranty start and end dates DID NOT match my purchase date, and one year later for the warranty end date. I reached out to Epson CS and they confirmed they had a bug in the printer firmware that they HAVE NOT corrected at this time.
The warranty start date is the date when the printer is powered up for the first time at the build factory over in the Philippines.
The one year warranty then ends one year after the build date, NOT one year after the day you buy it, bring it home and set it up.
Correcting this warranty dates issue takes phone calls and time.
It also cuts down on warranty claims for Epson, so IF you buy Epson, closely examine those dates when you register the printer online after purchase.

I had to provide a photo of the sales receipt when in contact with Epson, and model number/serial number. Epson did correct the faulty warranty dates. But because I'm an asshole, I screenshot every step.

Back to HP now. I got a survey from HP about my customer service interaction experience after having the chat session for getting another black ink cartridge coming.
I cancelled my HP ink cartridge subscription plan.

And I happily did the online survey for them.

I told them in my opinion, that newer HP ink jet printers were junk.
I told them in my opinion, that they were coasting on their past reputation about HP printer build quality and HP service.
I told them in my opinion, that the algorithm used for calculating remaining ink levels was grossly inaccurate.
I told them in my opinion, that their ink cartridge subscription plan had been designed and implemented by fools and incompetents.
I told them my HP printer was going to the landfill, along with the six colored ink cartridges here at my location. The huge quantity of useless backup colored ink cartridges in reserve.
I also told them the ONE black ink cartridge they were shipping to me that was in transit while I waited with an inoperative printer, that brand new unused cartridge was going to the landfill also.
I told the survey firm to recommend Epson printers instead of HP printers, and to share my survey response with the CEO of HP.
I do hope I got my message across to them.

quote:

Originally posted by flesheatingvirus:
Epson or Brother.

I will NEVER buy another HP product with their bullshit programs to lock you down as a customer. The last printer had a mail order option for cartridges that PHYSICALLY DISABLED any cartridge that wasn't directly from their mail order. In other words, once you signed up, you couldn't use any aftermarket cartridges.

That crap is done now with the new tank printers. You're behind the times here.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:

quote:

Originally posted by flesheatingvirus:
Epson or Brother.

I will NEVER buy another HP product with their bullshit programs to lock you down as a customer. The last printer had a mail order option for cartridges that PHYSICALLY DISABLED any cartridge that wasn't directly from their mail order. In other words, once you signed up, you couldn't use any aftermarket cartridges.

That crap is done now with the new tank printers. You're behind the times here.

If you get one of those, then yes, which is exactly what I did. It still wasn't an HP. Getting around a shitty tool doesn't erase shitty corporate policy behind it.

I once had a "Kodak" (in name only, actually made by Funai) inkjet/cartridge printer that would shut down all functions if it "decided" a cartridge was out. This pissed me off big time when I needed to print an entirely black & white text page, but the color was "out", so I had to go to the store and buy a new one before I could print the job.

My brother laser printer has been great once I learned there was a secret way to prevent it going into Deep Sleep mode and not waking up.