Years ago I promised myself that I would never buy another HP printer. This is not because of any problem with printing. They print just fine. The problem is—
Well, for some reason I did buy another HP printer, so let me show you. A couple of days ago Marian asked me to take a look at the status screen:
Huh. I've never seen that before. So I hopped over to Control Panel:
That wasn't much help, so I launched the HP Smart app:
"Estimated supply needs"—i.e., ink cartridges—are grayed out. But we don't print much, so I didn't think that was a problem. After looking around a bit I found the account button and logged in:
I've been suspended! It turns out my credit card had been canceled and I forgot about it. But my HP printer refuses to print if it doesn't have my credit card on file. Why? Because I had signed up for HP's Instant Ink program.
That was annoying, so I clicked the button to cancel my subscription.
Shazam! My ink cartridges—which I've already paid for—will no longer work. I will have to go out and buy brand new cartridges.
I'm sure this was all in the fine print when I initially signed up for Instant Ink, but somehow I must have missed it. Someday I'll go back and check the thousand words of agate type to find out.
In any case, I chickened out and re-upped my subscription.
With credit card in hand, HP is now willing to inform me that my cartridges are nearly 100% full. If I cancel Instant Ink in the future I will lose this entire set of cartridges plus a second set of cartridges that I also have. It's probably not worth it. HP has me neatly tied up.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is the reason I promised never to buy an HP printer again. I don't remember why I broke that promise, but this time I'll say it for sure: I'll never buy an HP printer again.
Buy a Brother.
Like +5. We currently have a Brother Laserprinter, which is frequently boxed up and taken offsite, and it's been great. Plus, they provide boxes and postage to enable you to recycle their empty toner and drum units!
Re: HP Instant Ink. That really is insane, and awful. I had a similar problem with Microsoft Office. The traveling laptop (see Brother printer) needs to run a word processing program to produce some of the paperwork needed for those offsite jobs. It can't be done in advance. BUT!! The Word features I need only work when the laptop is connected to the Internet. So I'm supposed to demand to barge onto the Customer's private, secured network? No way, Jose. I installed Libre Office.
Riddle me this: What can Word do that Libre Office cannot, and which an ordinary user will need? The continued domination of Word in the face of free says something interesting about our society, but I'm not sure what.
Be accepted as official documentation. I can't tell you how many times I've submitted work over the years only to have it returned with the admonition that this was a Microsoft Office shop. I prefer LaTeX because a) the math just looks much prettier, and b) I have a lot more control over the environment and styles. But no, as clunky as Word's equation editor is and as fuggly as the equations look, that's what the suits want.
This does not apply for LibreOffice, which can output to .docx or .xlsx if you need to send MS formatted files.
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I have a Brother on my desk at work. It was VERY inexpensive when I bought it last year, and it works fine. I have a Canon on my desk at home. It was inexpensive, it's about seven years old, and it still works fine.
I have no idea about the business practices of either of those two companies, for one simple reason--every time they offer me something "to make my life easier," I say a silent "no thanx" and delete the email. I buy my ink at whatever store is convenient or cheap, and if I run out of ink it's my own damn fault.
Kevin, being far less sophisticated about corporate marketing practices, is an unlucky victim of modern technology.
I've been using the cheap Brother B+W Laser Printers for years and they work great. Cheap to buy and the toner is fairly reasonable. No good for photos, but for documents they're great.
yup
I've had a Brother MFCJ5720DW color printer since 2015. No problems. I'm pathetic at keeping it clean, clearing jams, etc, etc. Don't print much, but hey, it keeps on tickin' and printing. It supports printing over wireless and from my chromebook as well as from my Linux box. $173 in 2015. No lock-in on ink cartridges.
1) Laser
2) Brother (which installs easily; the U/I is much better than HP)
I have a nice brother wireless B/W printer scanner. MFC-L2710DW. $250 (but that was one year ago). I recommend a printer with that feature/price mix.
I've serviced Brother color printers, which are good, but weigh a lot, and each toner cartridge (CMYK) is about $90, but that's for heavy use.
I used to have a color ink jet printer but if you want something showy, go to a print shop and they'll put your image/presentation on quality paper stock. It's not that expensive.
That's where things have stood for a decade: affordable B/W laser, expensive color laser. To change that, we'll have to wait until something new is invented, like one toner cartridge that somehow handles the CMY).
Bought one those Epsom ink tank things. Works great and rarely need ink. HP before and they always sucked. Had reasonable volume printing in those days. Do not do much anymore but the E has been fine.
I just recently bought the Epsom. So far, it is great!
Cartridge prices are absurd. The printer purchase prior to the Epsom was just because it was cheaper to buy a printer (that came with cartridges) than it was to buy cartridges!
I’ve owned an Epsom for almost three years now. Unlike with the HP printers that required new cartridges at least twice a year, I’ve only needed to add ink to the Epsom once. I far prefer the Epsom to any printer I owned before. Now, if I could just figure out how to get the scanner to work.
I see you missed the all-time best prediction of this sort of thing.
https://www.reddit.com/r/4chan/comments/1ggg4u/please_drink_a_verification_can/
In case WP blocks the link: if you search "please drink a verification can" you'll find at least a Reddit crosspost of something very old, apparently from 4chan (sorry). In it, the author parodies exactly this sort of thing, but in the context of video games. Instead of watching ads, the author is forced to drink copious Xbox-branded Mountain Dews by the system in order to unlock it and begin playing.
Almost 10 years ago, and oddly prescient, if also disgusting.
OMG that is hilarious
Just waiting for the marketing teams to find a way to brand perpetual licenses as #new and #trendy so we can get out of this subscription hell
Never met someone who preferred managing 20 subscriptions instead of paying a single fee for each thing
Not only that, but they eat ink while just sitting there, waiting for something to print. I used mine so seldom that most of the ink was used up “maintaining” the print mechanism.
I just ordered an Epson printer with Eco-Tank, into which one can pour bottles of ink. No more cartridges! And Consumer Reports promises that it doesn’t need to waste ink for maintenance. It’s supposedly not great for photos, but I don’t print photos.
The Epson EcoTank is wonderful!
Didn't know such a thing existed. You can totally hear that one person in the business meeting at HP saying "let's make it a subscription!" It's a kind of social mania that afflicts business. Gotta get on that trend and get people addicted to things...
Maybe things have changed, but I swore off Epson printers after I went through about one a year because the printer heads got clogged up. The way I use a printer is that it might sit for months with no use, then I have to print a whole bunch, then it sits again. HP printers seem to tolerate that abuse and keep working if you replace the cartridge instead of the whole printer. My default position with subscriptions to anything is they are evil and must only be tolerated if there is no other good option.
I’ve had no problems with my HP Envy 5660, but then I didn’t sign up for instant ink…
Now imagine if the CNC machines that the US and the Germans machine tool manufacturers sell to the Russian arms industry worked the same way.
Wait a minute. They do.
True story: years ago I interviewed at HP and I praised the quality of the Series II and Series III printers and they said that the quality of those products was a huge problem for HP as they lasted far too long and were too easily repaired. I did not get the job.
I have been an HP printer person for forever. Our 10 year old 8600 finally needed a new print head and is running great again. I also bought an 8030 before figuring out I could replace the print head. The new printer is much lighter (read made less sturdy).
I did sign up for the Instant Ink - 6 months free. I'll probably cancel when it's up. Good to know that HP has this much control of my printer. That's pretty bad.
My only success doing something like this is with the McRib. I always think I will love them. It took I think 2 rounds of "I'll never order this again" before it took. I haven't had a McRib in a decade.
I know I know, why I even liked the McRib in the first place is bizarre, I love BBQ, and it's not even remotely close.
BTW, McRib is back, time for a review of why it's still a cyclical thing?
It's a little better if you don't sign up for instant ink. But I still can't scan without having an active HP account (though with no associated credit card).
Yeah, HP was an early pioneer in making sure you have to buy their cartridges to keep using their printer. I believe their model has been to sell consumer level printers at a loss or minimal profit and make their money on cartridge sales, but being limited to a single ink supplier is annoying.
Since then, I think things like Instant Ink have been elaborate ways to make sure you keep paying them. If they want to offer a service to automatically re-order more ink cartridges when you need it, that's fine, but once you buy the ink, you should be able to use it. Ink as a service is just...stupid.
You aren't complaining about HP printers. You are complaining about the Instant Ink Program, which is completely optional.
I happen to like Instant Ink myself and think I am spending less on printer supplies than I used to, even though I now print everything in color and at full resolution. I have had no trouble with it, but then I do keep my credit cards up to date.
Bought a Brother laser printer a few years ago and omg why did I waste so many years monkeying with the stupid inkjets? Every single time I went to print something it would say one or another color was empty and I'd have to monkey around trying to drop water into it to wake it up or buy a whole new set only to have a different color mess up the next time.
With the laser printer I have yet to replace the toner.
This is an Instant Ink problem. I block my HP InkJet from even talking to our wifi router, because I don't want HP with its nose in my printing business. Instant Ink is compelling because of the cost savings, but its a privacy nightmare, and as this post demonstrates, an operational one too.
I remember printers. I think I have one in the garage somewhere, buried under a few years of late junk.
I haven't bought a printer in over a decade. Last time it was an HP LaserJet 5MP from Ebay, the price wasn't much more than it took to ship it. I replaced the toner maybe 5 years ago, that cost more than the printer.
I fully expect to do the same thing again with whatever the workhorse office printer of the day is once this finally dies.
Printers are a solved problem - buy office scrap.
Kevin, I feel your pain. I have the same HP printer. We are held hostage by their computer vs ours. If I could get out of this easily I would. What a fiasco.
Our being held hostage by computers? Yup
The joke on mankind is that now computers are demanding humans
to prove they are not a robot!
Brother ink jet with year's worth of ink. Excellent choice.
Wow. A real "Open the pod bay doors, Hal" moment.
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Quite a few years ago the HP printer I bought refused to work with refilled cartridges - OK, I went to Staples and bought new HP cartridges. The printer still insisted they weren’t genuine. Power-cycled. Nope. Unplugged, waited, plugged it back in. Still nope. As well as the first, that was the last HP printer I bought. Just say Nope.
Canon MX922 has been printing, copying, scanning, faxing for many years, through many cartridge changes. I only use Canon cartridges, because third-party refills were never available. Very reliable and very good print quality.
My biggest complaint about HP is the HP Smart app. I didn't signup for the Instant Ink because I just don't print enough to make it worth the hassle but I still have to use the app to scan and it always annoys me. First of all it forces me to sign in every timew even though I click the remember me box and then I have to physically wake up the printer before the app will work and then half the time I have restart the app to get it to work. I think it doesn't work well to punish me for not signing up to instant ink.
My cousin could truly receive money in their spare time on their laptop. their best friend had been doing this 4 only about 12 months and by now cleared the debt. in their mini mansion and bought a great Car.
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LOL
I don't print much so I have an ancient HP 1220C which I got used for $25 about 15 years ago which still works fine, at least for black and white. Color doesn't work at all.The ink is too expensive but if you don['t print much, you don't use much. Epson ecotank is definitely the way to go for ink jets.
Remember when TicketMaster forced your inkjet printer to spray huge blocks of $$$$$$ ink onto an 8.5” x 11” piece of paper when home printing a concert ticket? Who got the money for all that wasted ink?
Also, it wasn’t just “HP” who trapped you with this crud; it was some actual people who put these tricks and traps into our lives. Maybe we should find a way to name and shame these jerks?
Or just don’t get HP Instant Ink.
I’ve got an HP OfficeJet 9010 (ironically the same machine now appearing in every ad unit in this page for me). And literally every review of it said “great printer, but Instant Ink is a scam” for all but the heaviest users and strongly rec’d it be avoided.
Another vote for the Epson Ecotank line. I have been using one for three years and am only into my second set of ink bottles. It prints excellent photo prints on quallity paper. Lately I've been printing 11x14 and 11x17 from a series of photos of Thames bridges. Over 40 big rich prints done and the ink tanks are still over 80% full.
The printer does tend to accumulate ink in the dump area where it cleans the heads. You have to go in every 6 months or so with alcohol-soaked paper towels and clean it, to avoid getting random black smears. The waste box, which on some models can only be replaced by an authorized service, is on these models user replaceable and not expensive.
Random photo-related tip: Topaz Photo AI is nothing short of miraculous.