HP Deskjet 2700

[Mart63]

HP have certainly gone backwards it appears. I bought a second hand HP printer for 3 quid at a boot sale and ran it for about 10 years on out of date cartridges also bought from boot sales. I doubt I could do that now.

 

[Guineafowl]

Sounds like Brother or a secondhand laser is the way to go, then. Ideally one that can print from the iPad, but that might be too much to ask. The 2700 would do that, but I’d have to set aside 45 minutes for the job* and go for a lie down afterwards.

In the 90s I remember wrestling with LPT1 errors and “printer not found” [IT’S THERE! YOU’RE PLUGGED IN TO IT!].

*
HP 2700 series Airprint instructions:

- Press soft ON button. Printer does nothing for ages so you press again.
- What you’ve done is turned it off again, but you’re back at the screen, telling it to look for the printer.
- Printer search times out, so go back and discover it’s off. Jab ON button with some spite, like you’re gouging someone’s eye out.

- Now stumble across the correct sequence of getting the printer to look for iPad, and vice versa, running back and forth between them, before one or both times out, goes to sleep or crashes.
- During this operation, print several test pages for no reason.

- Once connected, discover that one of the ink cartridges dislodged when you thumped the machine earlier on in the sequence.

- Print a dismally faded document.
- Unwisely select ‘clean print head’ which is unbelievably slow, with long periods of inactivity, like allowing your granny to put her own number into your phone.

- Now return to step 4 and repeat until you decide to put up with the faded text.
- Go and pick up all the screwed up balls of paper you threw near the bin.

 

[DAPPH]

For the last 25 years ever since we dropped all other brands & had HP machines we've only once had a problem and that was with off the shelf inks from PC world.

HP replaced them in a matter of days . As the machines have aged once the printer head start gumming up giving grainy prints we simply buy the latest HP and are more than happy to use their on demand ink resupply . Think five to six years is their usual life span for us .
I love the on demand ink resupply as soon as it starts to reach obly 100 pages or so left in any cartridge we get the ink pack by the next working days post . No more doing a 35 mile round trip only to find there are none in the shop

Current machine is an HP Office Jet Pro 90190 series seem to recall we are set up for 250 sheets a month at present , any not used are carried forward a month , which has been handy when communication with the Benefits Agency on behalf of my daugther and her legal side of being no fault evicted by a slum land lord or two, fighting their county court claims for fictitious costs & down right dishonesty wrt getting their deposits back .
As life has changed due to Alison's vicious attack of life changing MS we use less some months , it's easy to reduce the number of pages printable per month .

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

You and me too, in fact I could have written your email word for word... Indeed we have massively gone backwards, and everyone you ask says the same thing. I used to swear by HP printers, now I won't go near one.

I have an ancient mono HP Laser which has been nothing but great, I even splashed out and bought a second hand LAN print server card so I could plug it in and let everyone in the house print from the network.

Did the same with my Designjet T100, also excellent which is now on loan to a friend for their custom boardgame business... Alas when the print heads die in that (separate to the cartridges in plotters) it will be scrap, as I bought the last available set in the UK to get it going again.

If the laser dies, I will likely buy another older HP from their commercial line from an IT salvage company.

 

[Blobber]

Has anyone any experiences with Xerox laser printers?

 

[OJCar]

Has anyone any experiences with Xerox laser printers?

We've Xerox Multi Function Printers at work...

Simple version - DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!

 

[8ob]

I’ll spare you the rant about 1.5 hours trying to print one page. Still unsuccessful.

It appears that, as supplied, the printer refuses to print unless I enrol in something called Instant Ink subscription service. There are cartridges fitted. It just won’t use them.

We print just a few pages a year generally. Is there a way round this? I just need to print a few wiring diagrams.

If not, it’ll be lobbed out of the window. In which case, some recommendations for one that simply works would be appreciated.

If you are going to stick with it the instant ink isn't a bad deal, it's a huge pain trying to get the things to work with the cheap copies. There are get arounds on line but we couldn't get them to work.

Bob

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

We've Xerox Multi Function Printers at work...

Simple version - DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!

When they work, they're very nice printers, fastest per page of the brands my former employer used...

However, I only ever saw admin staff half disassembling a printer a few times a month at sites with Xeroxes in the office.

The HP and Brother equipped sites in my care just printed things and got on with their day.

 

[Guineafowl]

If you are going to stick with it […]

No - lobbed it at the wall in the barn (see above).

Probably under 50 pages a year, more like 20-30, so subscription ink (especially if compulsory) not for me.

Even when it was working, that 45 minutes for one page claim ^ is genuine. It really was the most cretinously designed piece of gash.

 

[Guineafowl]

Gone for a Brother DCP J1200WE.

 

[reb78]

I grabbed an old HP laserjet printer when work were throwing old gear out in the name of saving money by buying a brand new networked printer system to replace a load of perfectly useable printers. I use it a fair bit at home and have only ever bought it one toner cartridge. Only black and white but works perfectly for my needs.

 

[Guineafowl]

I grabbed an old HP laserjet printer when work were throwing old gear out in the name of saving money by buying a brand new networked printer system to replace a load of perfectly useable printers. I use it a fair bit at home and have only ever bought it one toner cartridge. Only black and white but works perfectly for my needs.

I nearly went for a simple monochrome laser one, but a colour print is sometimes useful, eg wiring diagrams.

 

[reb78]

I nearly went for a simple monochrome laser one, but a coolour print is sometimes useful, eg wiring diagrams.

I agree. If it wasnt a perfectly good skip freebie mine would be colour by choice!

 

[Guineafowl]

I agree. If it wasnt a perfectly good skip freebie mine would be colour by choice!

Well, I’ll report back when it arrives. If I can print via PC and iPad without turning into Victor Meldrew, it’s a winner.

 

[Ross365]

A few years ago, a friend gave me a HP LaserJet Pro 400MFP. He needed a printer which he could network, and despite the fact that he's generally very competent with all this kind of stuff, this one worked fine when fitted with a USB lead, but would not network.

The print quality is great, but overall, it's not user friendly, especially when it comes to scanning.

 

[Dilkris]

I’ll spare you the rant about 1.5 hours trying to print one page. Still unsuccessful.

It appears that, as supplied, the printer refuses to print unless I enrol in something called Instant Ink subscription service. There are cartridges fitted. It just won’t use them.

We print just a few pages a year generally. Is there a way round this? I just need to print a few wiring diagrams.

If not, it’ll be lobbed out of the window. In which case, some recommendations for one that simply works would be appreciated.

From personal experience with HP printers and replacement cartridges I can confirm that throwing them out of the window, (or in my case against a wall), is hugely satisfying.

 

[Guineafowl]

It works!

 

[500e]

What ? throwing it at wall

 

[Guineafowl]

What ? throwing it at wall

Yes - throw HP at wall, buy Brother, press 'PRINT', page comes out.

 

[Kayos]

I was going to suggest Brother, however my A3 officejet no longer recognises the copy ink I have been using. I used to alternate genuine/copy and it worked fine for years. Moved it into a different office, connected over WiFi so it updated the firmware without asking

Tbh ink is a business cost, I'm more annoyed about the box of cartridges I can't use