I've sacked my Bruvver

[fred the great]

Yes my all in one el cheapo thing. It still prints in black and one colour but the print head is clogged.

I checked with my repairing guy/adviser who said that a new printer had to purchased as the print head cannot be manually freed.

Amazing what one can learn too late . The cleaning programme uses ink which goes into a tank hidden somewhere inside. The cleaning Programme stops working after forty goes. A new Print head costs more than a new machine The machine will not print on paper heavier than 180 gsm. The manual says up to 220 gsm so heavy business card and photo paper is rejected by the take up feed.

Yesterday I bought a Canon Pixma which seems to have a good name around here. Ruddy hell the CD Rom was in Thai but because I read Thai a little I was able eventually to get the software installed. Then Microshaft popped up and cocked up the installation process. I then found a method to read the "on screen" Manual in English which told me to start again and avoid interference by Microshaft. So now I have a Printer that works except for the scanner which needs further attention.

Today, I made one trial photo print which is certainly as good as the Brother can/could produce .

[border-rider]

I've had a Canon Pixma a few years.  It's pretty good. It was cheap, but it's outlasted a couple of much dearer printers and the quality is good. 

[fred the great]

Good to hear. Mine is a rather noisy when the paper feed starts but local Expats like them and it was very cheap.

I  don't know how Brother has the cheek to market a Printer that stops the cleaning process by design after 40 uses.  To me that's not "fit for the purpose" unless they tell the Buyer at the point of sale.

[JohnP]

I totally that the planned life should be clearly stated at point of sale - number of pages per clean, number of cleans etc.

40 clean cycles doesn't sound too bad to me for a home printer - that's almost 50x the purchase price of the printer.  Newer printers generally offer higher resolutions with better inks with longer after life and all for around the cost of an ink set.   My Epson takes 6 cartridges at (Epson) prices of around £14 each and it's almost cheaper to have a new printer every time they run out.  I now buy compatibles at £3 - 4 pounds each.  Tried the £1.99 jobs - 1st set failed, 2nd set leaked and cost me a new printer.


YES I know many people are happy with 99p refills but I can be a bit demanding over photo print quality.

[pcolbeck]

Printers are a vehicle for selling ink. The business model is exactly the same as the razor / razor blade model or even the Xbox / Xbox game model.

[fred the great]

Of course the cost of genuine cartridges makes people buy cheaper ones or the ink to refill. Then the Guarantee is void.

A set of Makers cartridges bought locally cost 80% of a new machine. Hence I feel it is a reasonable gamble to use refill ink and expect to buy a new machine every two to three years with the money one has saved.

Currently I have a stock of two used Printers, in as new condition, that don't work properly