Looking for a Reliable AIO Printer for home use

[shaqblogs2011]

I'm looking for a All In One printer that is reliable and does not have crazy cartridge costs / issues.

Here is what I am looking for in terms of features.
1. Scan, copy, print.
2. Wireless, USB connectivity.
3. Touchscreen display.
4. Color.
5. Budget preferable no more than 150$.
6. Prefer HP or Canon.
7. I live in India - here are some choices
http://www.flipkart.com/computers/printers-inks/printers/pr?sid=6bo,ffn,t64

What are my choices?
Appreciate if suggestions are limited to tried and tested models.
Feel free to point out if there are any other features that would be useful that I might have missed.

 

[Paul NZ]

My canon (MX476) isnt too bad, only uses 2 cartridges (one reason I didnt buy Brother).

Most of those use 4 and theyre not cheap

It has most of what you wanted, does have a display but its not touch. And it also supports Airprint and it is also a fax.

And it is wireless

 

[shaqblogs2011]

Cartridge costs is my primary concern. I saw some printers with 4 cartridges which is nuts. One goes empty and it stops working.

I live in India. These are some of my choices.
http://www.flipkart.com/computers/printers-inks/printers/pr?sid=6bo,ffn,t64

 

[ssddx]

all inkjets generally have high cost of inks (this is where they make money). if you want cheaper prints (though with loss of clarity and higher printer purchase prices) i'd consider color laser. while the price of the printer and toner might be expensive up front, in the long run you will spend far less money if you print often then you would with an inkjet. inkjets however are best for printing out photography.

while 2 cartridge systems (black + tricolor) might sound good at first since it doesnt require you to buy many cartridges do consider that if it uses up only one color you will be buying a new cartridge and wasting ink. the seperate ink cartridges (at least for canon it seems) tend to be fairly reasonably priced and allow you to replace only the color which you are out of.

i would avoid hp personally. the drivers leave much to be desired and are full of bloatware. i've had good luck with canon drivers so far and at least for the model of printer we have it has less bloatware and bugs than hp.

cant really give a firsthand recommendation to a specific product as our current color printer is older and our new printer is a b&w laser (canon, which works great!).

 

[Paul NZ]

Some printer manufacturer's say that even if a cartridge runs out it'll keep printing, which is BS

It wont. I've tried it. Just pick one you like. Too many to choose from. Most of the brothers use 4 cartridges (well the ones I've seen do)

 

[ssddx]

well, in some cases you can continue to print even if one color is used up. however, it will look like crap.

 

[shaqblogs2011]

Cartridges really makes it a difficult choice. Looks like I need to read numerous reviews.

I am leaning towards InkJet and canon.

 

[shaqblogs2011]

I had a look at Canon. Some of the popular models I had a look at has higher Cartridge costs.

The few InkJet printers that I had a look at, this one from HP - 4515 seems to have decent reviews and cartridge prices aren't through the roof.
http://www.flipkart.com/hp-deskjet-ink-advantage-4515-all-in-one-wireless-printer/p/itmdzqg7czyhfdct?pid=PRNDZQCARXB4NPWQ

These 2 cartridges, cost less than 10$. Which is kinda reasonable.
Did I miss something here?
You had earlier mentioned of bloatware and driver issues with HP. Why does that matter for a wireless printer?

1. http://www.flipkart.com/hp-678-black-ink-cartridge/p/itmde2m84jcnznaz
2. http://www.flipkart.com/hp-678-tri-color-ink-cartridge/p/itmde2m84jcnznaz?pid=INKDE2HG8U45DMNE&cmpid=content_inktoner_8965229628_gmc_pla&tgi=sem%2C1%2CG%2C11214002%2Cg%2Csearch%2C%2C51331971740%2C1o3%2C%2C%2Cc%2C%2C%2C%2C%2C%2C%2C&gclid=CjwKEAjwtr6sBRDv7uzB492H9XISJADj6aqbVqJYY2Jzava0-dsr9WuBXHQ_-HYyEKQFxZHaPEPn5RoCtajw_wcB

 

[ssddx]

from what i can gather it looks to be part of hp's "value" series of inks instead of their normal line-up. i wouldnt be surprised if they arent quite as good as some other inks though if that doesnt matter to you then its not a big deal. also, cheaper cartridges generally have less actual ink inside them despite the same sized outer cartridge so may have less actual pages per cartridge and hence you might end up replacing cartridges more often. i cant say if this is true for hp's value inks though i have seen this practice with normal inks.

if you are not concerned about excellent print quality and are more concerned about economy then after checking pages per cartridge numbers for the ink above vs other cartridges for similar printers and if they seem in-line with other cartridges then perhaps that printer is worth going with.

what i meant about bloatware is that instead of just installing printer drivers you are forced to install the whole suite which includes things like purchase-ink-now reminders, auto-software updater and other things that are not required to actually use the printer. now you can go and uninstall most of these after the fact but it is just a bit irritating that you cannot choose a driver only install from the get go. also, the update reminders are annoying pop up style that despite turning off auto update still pop up (and even show up on top of full screen video). could have been just the drivers for this printer and perhaps they changed their setup but this was our experience.

as for driver issues, i'm not going to condemn hp in its entirety as it could be an isolated incident however the problems we experienced were loss of wifi printing capability, printer not printing off the printer spool (windows stack of documents to be printed) and printer refusing to print multiple pages at a time. it (generally) worked fine on the desktop hooked up via networked cable however wirelessly it was tempermental. again, could be isolated to the model we have however this was our experience.

take it with a grain of salt.

 

[shaqblogs2011]

Did some research and read quite a few reviews.
You were right. The HP models are ink guzzlers. That HP 4515 printer has got good specs with a moderately priced cartridge, but i would end up buying cartridges every month. Barely 4-8ml of ink. Absolutely ridiculous!! The page count is quite low with these. Barely 150-200 pages with black.
Some other HP models which arent ink guzzlers have much higher cartridge prices.

I found 2 Canon models made typically for Asia.
1. E460
http://www.amazon.in/Canon-PIXMA-E460-Wireless-Printer/dp/B00XYOSGPU/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1435759198&sr=1-2&keywords=canon+E460

2. E560.
http://www.amazon.in/Canon-E560-Multifunction-Inkjet-Printer/dp/B00JXJ4QRW/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1435759173&sr=1-1&keywords=canon+E560.

Both have good reviews and not lacking in functionality. I find Touch screen missing and a manual scan button on the printer. Can live without them.
Users have reported its ability to print being close to 800 sheets with Black and 300 with color. Cartridge is a tad on the expensive side. But should be fine as long as they don't hike up the prices.

Its features include,
1. Scan, copy, print.
2. Wireless, USB connectivity.
3. Color Printing.
4. Print through email, scan to email.
5. Borderless printing.
6. Auto Duplex printing.
7. Auto Power Off.
8. Google Cloud Print.
And most importantly, Good quality of print and scan. Decent quality for copy.

I ordered one of this from Amazon. Waiting for it to arrive.