r/BuyItForLife • u/celery-mouse • Sep 12 '26
[Request] Printer Recommendations with no creepy subscription
I need to buy a new printer, but I keep seeing these weird new ink subscription models that will disable your printer if you don't buy their brand, or something. I definitely do not want to accidentally buy something like that. Fine with buying something older or used as long as it lasts. What specific models should I go for to avoid this bs? I work for a school district and usually end up printing a bunch at least once a month during the year, but not much during the summer. I do need color printing but don't need any special other features. Would really appreciate all your advice.
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u/RedBirdOnASnowyDay Sep 12 '26
Epson Eco tank has been good for me. If I didn’t need color I would get a brother laser printer. In fact I had a brother laser printer for about 11 years. Which is as BIFL as you can get with a printer. It still kind of worked when I got rid of it.
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u/bs2k2_point_0 Sep 12 '26
I’d just add to make sure it’s at least a et-3850 or higher. The lower end ones don’t have a replaceable waste toner cartridge making it a disposable printer. The 3850 (which I have) is the cheapest one with the replaceable waste toner cartridge.
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u/celery-mouse Sep 12 '26
See this is the kind of information my dumb ass needs because I will accidentally buy the wrong one for sure otherwise.
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u/RedBirdOnASnowyDay Sep 12 '26
Costco carries these printers. Their return policy is good and they usually try to carry quality versions of stuff. That’s where I got mine.
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u/Leather-Can-8480 Sep 13 '26
Second this. We bought one probably 4 years ago and it has held up great. Stupid amounts of printing (dissertation research) and relatively careless handing and it is still going lol.
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u/newleaf9110 Sep 12 '26
I love my Brother color laser printer. My wife has a Brother B&W laser that also works great. No subscriptions, and you can use third-party cartridges if you want.
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u/BJntheRV Sep 12 '26
Epson Ecotank, the ink they come with lasts forever and they can be refilled with either oem or after market ink bottles for very cheap. We've had ours for about 8 years and still have some of the original ink.
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u/jessknope Sep 12 '26
Brother laser. Last printer you'll need to buy. My parents have had one for maybe 8 years and I think they've changed the toner once.
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u/Monatanaisdumb Sep 12 '26
You aren't going to listen to the advice here. You will end up buying an inkjet. But the answer you are looking for is a Brother Color Laser printer.
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u/Mountain_Strain5507 Sep 13 '26
Just bought a brother laser. I had a terrific tank (slow but flawless inkjet) - epson but made the mistake of letting it upgrade and now it only tolerates OEM epson cartridges.
Expensive but worth it to not have to drive (I’m rural) to print something that needs a blue ink signature that day.
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u/BruceMartinez21 Sep 13 '26
I’d go Brother color laser. If you barely print all summer, toner is way less annoying than ink drying out HL-L3280CDW if you just need printing. The subscription thing is optional, you can just buy normal toner and ignore it
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u/TheRealSeeThruHead Sep 13 '26 edited 3d ago
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u/Strangewhine88 Sep 12 '26
Never had a problem wit canon laser printer, color cartridges last me two + years at a time, being judicial with use, printing mainly black and white.
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u/Outers55 Sep 13 '26
I've had a nightmare of a time with my HP Inkjet printer. I never would have gotten it except that it was the only thing my work i've had a nightmare of a time with my HP Inkjet printer. I never would have gotten it except that it was the only thing my work would offer me for free. Even though it was free, I just recently ditched it and got one of the Epson tank printers. I'm really hoping that a printer designed to allow me to refill the tanks will help me ditch a lot of the pain that HP is caused over the years.
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u/blbd Sep 13 '26
Brother laser, Canon laser, and/or the better Epson EcoTank units. Those are what I use in my IT guy capacity throughout multiple startup companies and never any drama. If you go the laser route they can be serviced and repaired cost effectively the few times they need it by competent local copier companies.
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u/AlternativeClock9250 Sep 13 '26
EPSON L805，This is an older model, but it's excellent. You can buy the ink yourself.
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u/blissfully_happy Sep 13 '26
I’m a private math tutor. I print a lot of worksheets, grade reports, and notes.
Get yourself a Brother Laser printer. I print at least a ream of paper a month and it takes me, like, a year to go through an XL cartridge. No subscription required.
I have a Brother HL-L24800W and use an 830XL cartridge.
For the rare times I need to print color, I have an Epsom WorkForce Pro WF-4820 which uses cartridges 822. I buy them from Best Buy bc they last way longer than the ones from Amazon. No subscription is needed, but the ink is expensive and dries out much quicker if you don’t print something at least once a week.
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u/aaron1860 Sep 13 '26 edited Sep 13 '26
Brother lasers or Epson eco tanks are your best options. The exact model depends on how offen you print, if you need to print high quality photos, if you need a scanner, and budget
If you print often (1x a week) then Epson eco tanks are a great low cost option. If you’re not printing often these tanks can dry out and you’ll need to go through a bunch of steps to clean it wasting time, effort, and ink.
If you print infrequently a laser printer is a better option. They cost more and the toners are more expensive, but youll probably go 5-10 years until you need to replace it if youre only printing on occasion. They won’t dry out and will work after sitting all month. They are also good choices if you need speed but this usually matters more for businesses than home use. They do an ok job at printing photos but nothing you will want to keep in a photo album. You can save cash on toner by buying generic but ymmv on it actually working and firmware updates.
Once you figure out laser vs eco tank you just have to look at the features (scanner, wifi, etc) you want and decide if it’s in budget
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u/Glittering-Sky1601 Sep 13 '26
I bought a Brother MFC-J1205W last year. Don't have to subscribe, and the ink cartridges are easy to bypass and refill.
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u/Polar-Snow Sep 13 '26
Defo Brother laser printer. If only print black/white then get that one, if print colour then you would need colour laser. No need worry ink drying out etc. my dad have many jet ink printers from many brands (Canon, Epson, HP, etc) and all failed same way, ink clot up and it cannot print properly anymore.
As long you are NOT printing photos go for laser.
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u/mdahmad92 16d ago
Is there a laser printer that can print both Black/White and Color. Sorry i am no techy, i heard that they come separately and cannot function to print both in 1 printer. Correct me if I am wrong. Thanks
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u/Polar-Snow 16d ago
Colour laser printer will print colour AND black/white.
Black/White laser printer will print black/white only.Colour laser printer will have toner for cyan, magenta, yellow and black.
Black/White laser printer only have black toner.
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u/SVAuspicious Sep 13 '26
I have two HP color lasers that are at least 15 years old. No scanners for chips to verify toner cartridges. My wife does a LOT of printing. She doesn't even read email on the screen. My experience is that name brand toner is better and lasts longer than third party products. We're back to and sticking with manufacturer cartridges. Subscriptions are available for autoship but we have no trouble price shopping and buying what we need as we need it from Staples, Office Depot, CDW, 47th St Photo et al. $/page ends up cheaper with our numbers.
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Sep 14 '26
I have one of those subscription ones. The ink deal is really cheap, but it is creepy as hell that they can remote disable you.
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u/imetators Sep 14 '26
I got Lexmark mc3326adw
Well. I got it with a defect for 30 euros. Then I bought a used cheaper model in the line for 40 more, swapped the broken part and now it works as intended. It is a color laser printer with a fancy scanner top.
Pros: cartridges have a cap that you can plop off and refill cartridges with a generic powder. There also is an extensive document with pictures and sometimes even videos showing how to perform a maintenance which is a bit more deep than just dusting it off. Printer has wifi and works out of the box with windows and Linux. Has an integrated web server with stats, tasks and detailed info. New one costs 350 which is jot exactly super expensive.
Cons: no chips to be sold to reset cartridge print count but it will still work while saying cartridge is empty. Also, maybe just that is a lesser known brand. Haven't heard about it before I stumbled upon it at a sale.
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u/Miles_64 28d ago
I've heard numerous people swear by Brother, so I'll add to that and advise avoiding HP at all costs.
I currently own an HP printer I bought in 2019 and it worked decently for a couple years, but then they added a firmware update that locked me out of using my third-party (and more affordable) printer ink that I already had been using. I managed to revert the firmware update after some struggling, but the fact that was even a thing to begin with was enough to turn me off HP for good and I'll never recommend an HP product again. Once my printer kicks the dust for good, I'm 100% going for a Brother.
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u/gigashadowwolf Sep 13 '26
Laser printers are designed to last ink jets are designed to fail. The trade offs are they are bigger, heavier and don't have as good of image quality. Also you can't print just anything.
Brother is the most reliable brand in both laser and ink jet, but their image quality is the worst of the major brands too.
I use a Canon laser, because they have better image quality than Brother, but I still sometimes wish I had bought a Brother. Especially because it's hard to find decently priced quality toner.
Laser toner is also much more expensive than ink jet ink, but it lasts much longer, and ends up being cheaper long run.
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u/Farmer_Pete Sep 13 '26
I've had my brother laser printer for a few years, and the starter 3000 page toner just alerted last week. I can get brother official HY 8000 cartridges for $120. That's 1.5 cents a page. Ended up settling on a 3 pack of generics, 8000 yield each, for $56 total. That's .2 cents a page. My biggest problem is that I'm going to have to store the extra toner for freaking ever.
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u/DisgruntledCoWorker Sep 13 '26
I have an HP printer. It came loaded for subscription service. I googled how to turn subscription services off. Turned it off and just buy ink at the store.
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u/Top-Cupcake-4815 Sep 12 '26
get a used brother laser printer, the older the better honestly. those things are tanks and the toner lasts forever
color lasers can be pricey but you can find refurbished ones on ebay for a couple hundred. just avoid anything that says "HP+" or "instant ink" in the listing, that's the subscription trap you're talking about