Inkjet printers

[Red Adder]

Our club is now using print shops for its Cat C/B events so buying a laserjet printer is probably not going to happen when the Epson inkjet gives up the ghost. Has anyone any experience with HP inkjets - they cost the same as an Epson but the ink seems a bit cheaper. Are they cheaper to run and is the quality of the print as good as Epson - I'd use it for very low key Cat D events and draft maps taken in to the forest when surveying.

[King Penguin]

Check the capacity claimed for the ink cartridges, not just the price. You may find the Epsoms claim they will print more pages. HP ink is usually not the cheapest per page, though depending on printer model you may be able to get compatibles somewhat cheaper.

[Red Adder]

I was aware of the differing ink capacities - there was a useful article in last weekend's Guardian Money section. It seems ink supplied has contracted at a quicker rate that chocky bar sizes. I believe Epson are still more expensive than HP. Kodak claims to be cheapest but its multi-colour cartridges don't help on O maps. Generally Epson gives very good colour reproduction and clarity for an inkjet so I'd be interested about the quality of the map an HP produces.

[Red Adder]

I'm currently looking at Epson XP 405 against HP 5520. Has anyone any good / bad experiences of either of these printers ?

[Wayward-O]

Whichever printer you eventually buy, consider using JetTec cartridges.

[Paul Frost]

I wouldn't even consider an inkjet for O maps, the ink will run when wet, whilst laser prints don't.

Colour laser printers are so cheap now, some less than £100. The toner refills are expensive but they last much longer than ink. In many cases it's cheaper to buy a new printer when the toner runs out. They are also much faster if you are printing a quantity.

The quality of even the cheap ones is good enough for local events, unless the map is super complicated.

[GregHawthorne]

One option to prevent ink running form inkjet prints is to use a paper such as Canon HR101N - adds to the expense, but quite effective.