Inkjet printers for occasional use

[Swamp Thing]

TL;DR Summary

I switched from inkjet to a laser printer several years ago because the ink used to dry up and the nozzles clog up long before I used up all the ink.

How does today's inkjet technology perform in terms of long cartridge life, when used fairly infrequently?

Please share your experience if you have used inkjet technology for very occasional printing.
E.g. could a modern cartridge / ink tank work well if it is consumed over one year, say?

 

[pbuk]

My experience about 20 years ago was the same but I switched to inkjet last year. The drying/clogging is much better than it used to be (I was away for a month recently and it didn't make any difference), but the print quality is a real disappointment, particularly block shading on documents, and I'll be switching back to a laser soon.

 

[Vanadium 50]

I had an inkjet in my office. It was pretty bad. My experience is the same as above - clogging was bad but not terrible, but the print quality was not very good. Its idea of colors, in particular, did not match my screen's idea of colors.

 

[FactChecker]

Its idea of colors, in particular, did not match my screen's idea of colors.

It is very hard to get a color agreement between the screen and a printer. Even with a tool to calibrate the monitor colors like Spyder X, it can be very hard. I was never very successful (long ago in the film days).

 

[Vanadium 50]

It is very hard to get a color agreement between the screen and a printer.

Yeah, but I am not talking about perfectly calibarted colors. I am talking about yellows that become oranges and/or vice versa, blues-greens that become purplish, and so on.

Honestly, I'd be as likely to buy an inkjet printer as I would a daisy wheel.

 

[FactChecker]

Yeah, but I am not talking about perfectly calibarted colors. I am talking about yellows that become oranges and/or vice versa, blues-greens that become purplish, and so on.

This is a good description of my results. ;-)

 

[Tom.G]

One recommendation I've run across (don't recall where) is print a color image once a week. It doesn't need to be a very big print, around the size of a color comic in the newspaper. You only need to get fresh ink into the print head nozzles.

Here is what works for color matching:
You will need a colorimeter, a Color Target Card, a scanner, a printer, and a CD reader.
IIRC, either the Color Target Card had software available, or the early Spyder colorimeters included, software to generate color correction tables for all three output devices.

1. Calibrate the display
2. Get a standard Color Target Card with calibration files (mine is from http://coloraid.de)
3. Scan the Color Target Card and generate/install the cal. file for the scanner
4. Scan the Color Target Card again and print it
5. Scan the print you just made and generate/install the cal. file for the printer

Be aware that different ink suppliers often have noticably different colors; although that seems to have improved over the years. Also, visible ink colors can differ under different lighting conditions.

Obviously, I've left out the details - it's been years since I've bothered. I did have to replace my scanner recently so I may be forced to re-learn those details!

Cheers,
Tom

p.s. I have sometimes gone 2+ weeks without color printing, the head is sometimes clogged at that interval. If a second head cleaning doesn't clear things up, wait a day and try again - that will often work.

At around 2 months, replace the print head. As a last-ditch effort, you can try removing the head and soaking it in Ammonia. However Ammonia is corrosive enough that if it is not well flushed out, the head will corrode internally and soon die anyhow. By the way, Ammonia is good at removing ink from your hands, it is rather drying though.

 

[f95toli]

Yeah, but I am not talking about perfectly calibarted colors. I am talking about yellows that become oranges and/or vice versa, blues-greens that become purplish, and so on.

Honestly, I'd be as likely to buy an inkjet printer as I would a daisy wheel.

It is entirely possible to get very good results even with fairly cheap (£150) ink jet printers, but you do need to use good paper. You also need to make sure you have the right profiles loaded for the various devices you are using (monitor, printer etc). it is also important to use the right type of paper that comes with a good colour profile. Using the wrong profile for the paper will usually result in weird colours. Also, inkjet does NOT work well well with regular office paper (it gets too wet).

Inkjet printers are an excellent choice if you want to print the occasional high-quality image (usually photos) where you can use good paper (in the case of photos photo-paper) and the cost of printing isn't too much of a factor. That said, if you a printing say articles or other longer document with mostly text, then a laser is indeed a better choice (but a cheap laser printer is unlikely to be a good choice for printing photos).

 

[Algr]

Yeah, but I am not talking about perfectly calibarted colors. I am talking about yellows that become oranges and/or vice versa, blues-greens that become purplish, and so on.

That could be one of the color inkjets being clogged. In high quality mode, an inkjet can hide the streaks, but the colors will still be off. Also check color profiles in the print-setup dialog box. There used to be settings to choose between the printer's color profile, and Apple color, but I did not use those often, and they seem to have disappeared. That might still exist in Windows though.

When printing on DVDs, I've found that the brand of disk can effect the color output. One brand came out grey, the other had a beige tint. So different brands of paper might also effect color. The only thing I could do was print test output and tweek the colors.

 

[Miranda]

The technology of inkjet printers has indeed improved a lot nowadays! The annoying problems like ink drying out and nozzles clogging up, which used to happen frequently, are much less common now. Especially for the newly released inkjet printers.

I've been using Bentsai handheld inkjet printer recently, and nozzle clogging rarely occurs. Also, I noticed that the ink doesn't dry out easily. As for whether a cartridge can still be used after a year, I think it really depends. If the cartridge is well-sealed, and without air getting in, there's a high chance that it can still work properly when taken out after a year. However, if the environment is either too dry or too humid, the ink is very likely to dry up or deteriorate, and then the cartridge is useless.

When storing, it's best to store the cartridge in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight. Also, keep the cartridge in the correct position and make sure to cover the protective cap of the print head properly. If you notice a decline in print quality, you can clean the print head with alcohol wipes.