Best printer for the money

[Patsplace]

Howdy Folks,
I work as a Marine Surveyor and am looking for a better printer than the one that I have. (HP Deskjet 882C)

My prints have to be clear and reasonably well defined but crystal clear printing is not that important as I print on letter paper. That having been said, I do print a lot of pictures and tend to go through the ink cartridges.

What's the word from the
"More Knowledgeable than I"?

Thanks for the help,
Pat

[PaulB]

Most cost effective upgrade you can do at the moment is to start using a better paper for your prints.
I'm not a fan of HP printers - except for text printing - but I'm sure that using your 882C with a coated matt heavier weight (120/140gram/metre) paper and the relevant printer settings will give you much better quality.
Now if you want photo quality.......that's another story.

A change to an Epson or Canon could save money too as the ink cartridges are cheaper than HP anyway and you have the ability to use compatible (third party) ink cartridges which can be as good as the manufacturers (great debate here, but for your use you probably couldn't tell) and a lot cheaper too.

Hope this helps.

[Conk]

I buy paper for similar intended purposes from the Office Depot. I get the same paper they use for making their calenders. At 5 cents a sheet it isn't too expensive and has a better quality than normal paper.

BTW
Mechanical commissioner for Canada's largest yacht manufacturer. :D

[Patsplace]

Thanks folks, Good info.

I thought that there was seaweed in the mix somewhere.

I guess I'm basically looking for a volume printer that does acceptable work on letter type paper. If I read it right, it sounds like I'd be best off to pick up a Middle of the road Canon unit and probably a Laser Jet for the text.

Thanks again for the help. Amazing little camera the A70, scratched view screen and all. Easy to use and does the job for my kind of work. Small enought that I can hang it around my neck with a well padded case, crawl through the nether regions of some strange vessels and not damage it or be inconvenienced by the bulk of the unit.

Regards,
Pat

[ssim]

I had a late model HP inkjet and it just wasn't cutting it on the quality of the photos no matter what kind of paper I used.

I got a Canon i950 and it is a great printer. Very good quality and fast.

Now I use the HP for printing text stuff and the Canon is reserved for printing my photos.

[jknox]

HP 7350 or HP 7550. The Hp 7350 best for sub $200. I think! You can print from your camera media if you wish, or print from photoshop. Great Text! Ink seems to last a good bit. But as with any printer paper makes a difference. The 7550 has color display to preview prints from camera media.

Good Luck!