Printer for RV - RV-Dreams Community Forum

gypsy97 · RV-Dreams Family Member

Printer for RV

thebearII · RV-Dreams Family Member

Gypsy 97,

Any of the small all in one units by HP, Canon or Epson work well in RVs and are light.

They are very close in quality to a laser printer.

We have an HP that has the foot print of a little more than an 81/2 X 11 piece of paper. It is a scanner, copier and color printer all in one. Plus it acts as a fax machine through the software provided by HP with the printer. It is very light and the quality is great. It prints photos on photo paper that look like they were processed from film. This is our second HP in the RV, the first one died from lack of use but we liked it so well we went with HP again.

I have an Epson 220 (printer only) that would work well in an RV for just print needs. It's fast and very good quality print.

These are not as fast as a laser printer for big print jobs, but works fine for our needs when in the RV.

I'm pretty sure the HP was less than $150, the Epson was under $99, both were purchased from Costco or Sam's club.

gypsy97 · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks very much for the reply. For several years I used a Lexmark color inkjet printer which also functioned as a scanner. Loved it, but was beginning to use a lot of ink when I got into genealogy, so that is why I bought the Brother laser. I'm tossing the Lexmark because of problems I've experienced with the print.

I don't need to print big jobs anymore, so I don't think speed is as much of an issue, although once you get used to "fast" you begin to dislike "slow" smile

I definitely think I would like "small" & "light" now.

gypsy

netters · RV-Dreams Family Member

Gypsy, I have a HP 4380 Printer, scanner and copier. It cost me about 100.00 and is small enough to take in the RV. It works well considering the price. It copies well, scans good and prints pretty fast. Hope this helps.

Donna162 · RV-Dreams Family Member

I also have one of the "all in one" printers by HP that you can get a Wal Mart for around $100. Love it; but, what I wanted to say is maybe you should wait till you get the RV you want and then buy the printer. I had a Dell All in One printer that I liked and planned to keep. However, after moving into the 5th Wheel decided there was not a good place to put it because it was too big. I think you need to buy the printer to fit the place you will put it in your new RV.

gypsy97 · RV-Dreams Family Member

That is good advice, Donna. I hadn't thought of that. I sometimes wonder when looking at photos of RV interiors, where I can fit my desktop & monitor, and I should start including the printer. I hope I can find a suitable unit with a computer desk already installed.

gypsy

travelfables · RV-Dreams Community Member

Hi guys, as for printers, I just wanted to suggest that everyone stay away from Lexmark. where they use to be a fine printer; however, these days they install spyware on your system so they can rip you off on their ink, track your usage and who knows what else.

Ann and Steve · RV-Dreams Family Member

We're looking at the newer HP "all-in-one" units that is Wireless. It has its own internet address, can be secured, and so long as your computer has wireless capabilties, you can hide it anywhere in the rig where you have power. The cost, $109, plus title, tax, and tags.

gypsy97 · RV-Dreams Family Member

Ann and Steve wrote:

We're looking at the newer HP "all-in-one" units that is Wireless. It has its own internet address, can be secured, and so long as your computer has wireless capabilties, you can hide it anywhere in the rig where you have power. The cost, $109, plus title, tax, and tags.

The title, tax and tags can be expensive - but much cheaper in South Dakota I hope! wink

Kelly · RV-Dreams Family Member

TheBearII, what is the model # of your small HP?
We are also looking for small/lightweight.... Seems where we are here in Canada they do not stock them. Will have to purchase in the states or order it brought in. Really too much money here. Over $200 at the local Office supply store.

netters · RV-Dreams Family Member

Kelly, I have a small HP4380. It scans, copies and prints and I think I paid less than $100. for it at Best Buy. It is also wireless so that it can be stowed in the bedroom if you want.

-- Edited by netters at 17:55, 2008-10-27

Jim · RV-Dreams Family Member

I recently bought an HP Deskjet F4180. The printer I had prior was a Dell which I was quite happy with, but that's at home and I needed to buy another. The HP performs well enough but I have never seen a printer use so much ink. Every time I turn around I have to feed it another cartridge. I have it set on "fast draft" so it shouldn't use so much ink, but that's not the case.

The point to be made here is I bought the HP because it was cheap but the cost of operating it makes it's total cost much higher than a more expensive printer.

gypsy97 · RV-Dreams Family Member

Jim wrote:

I recently bought an HP Deskjet F4180. The printer I had prior was a Dell which I was quite happy with, but that's at home and I needed to buy another. The HP performs well enough but I have never seen a printer use so much ink. Every time I turn around I have to feed it another cartridge. I have it set on "fast draft" so it shouldn't use so much ink, but that's not the case.

The point to be made here is I bought the HP because it was cheap but the cost of operating it makes it's total cost much higher than a more expensive printer.

I found the same thing when I bought the Brother b&w laser printer for about $60. When I needed a new toner cartridge I found they cost about $69 at Office Depot! I ordered from an office supplier online and have gotten them for about $25. I do love the Brother printer as it is so fast, however all it does is print - no scan, copy etc.

Someone once told me that their research into laser printers showed the cheaper ones were expensive when it came to replacing toner cartridges more often. But I just don't have the time to research it, so I would like to keep the brother for at least a while until I can settle down and figure out what would work best for me. I don't print as much now that I'm not doing genealogy, but I may have time to get back to it in the future.

gypsy

netters · RV-Dreams Family Member

Jim, I have owned several HP printers and have not noticed that they use excessive amounts of ink. They do sell the cartridges in 2 different sizes though. I usually buy mine at Sam's club in the Large combo pack. Those cartridges hold more ink than the regular ones they sell at WalMart.

Jim · RV-Dreams Family Member

Netters

I will check out the larger capacity cartridges. Thanks

pierreandcolleen · RV-Dreams Family Member

We have an HP Printer/Scanner/Copier (PSC 1200)....bought it about 5 years ago for less than $100. It has worked fine....except it has fallen out of the cupboard a couple times in transit. It still works fine despite the couple accidents (although a few non-essential parts are missing). It now travels in the recliner.

-Colleen

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

I just helped someone get their HP wireless all-in-one printer working again after they had to get a new wireless router. Those wireless printers sound like such a great solution but they are configured for your own wi-fi once and are hard to change. I know with HP you have to be careful to turn on the computers and printer in same order as when it was first configured if you have been away a few days so the printer gets the same address or it won't work. This is the problem I helped with, the address (TCP/IP address for the techies) was not right on the printer and the other computers could not see it to print.
Also, if you do set it for campground wi-fi would you want a perfect stranger printing on your printer just because they can see it on the wi-fi for whatever warped reason?

Tom Donaldson · RV-Dreams Community Member

Donna162 wrote:
I think you need to buy the printer to fit the place you will put it in your new RV.

We took an unusual route. We had a fifthwheel built to fit our printer and other equipment. Okay, that is not exactly true, but close.

If you look at the second picture on the page (or here is a larger photo), there is a cabinet under the desk between the two chairs. We had a HP LaserJet 3330 all-in-one on a roll-out tray.

pierreandcolleen · RV-Dreams Family Member

Tom,
I am so envious of your workstation!!! It looks better than my desk back when I had a 9-to-5 :)

Colleen

Hdrider · RV-Dreams Family Member

It's time for us to find a printer. I see this is a very old thread so is there any new info out there for a good printer?
We will mainly just use it for printing out travel directions or the rare time we want to print who knows what.
We could care less about color or photo printing.

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

We love our Canon MX922, but it might be a bit big for many. It is a wireless combo unit, that also works as a scanner and copier. It is easy to set up on a wifi network and doesn't come with USB at all. But it is a color printer, which we do use. My wife prints out her color quilt patterns all the time. These are her own quilt patterns, she uses a program called EQ7 to design them.

If you are just doing black and white, a laser printer would be a good choice. Especially since there is a war going on between the ink jet printer manufacturers and the ink sellers. The manufacturers keep trying to find ways to keep all ink sales their own, and the ink companies find workarounds. One of the newest is some manufacturers are aging out their ink cartridges, after 3 or 4 months use they want to be replaced, even with ink left.

-- Edited by bjoyce on Wednesday 19th of March 2014 02:22:49 PM

Lynn and Ed · RV-Dreams Family Member

We purchased the Brother Printer HL5470DW Wireless Monochrome Printer, since I have always been a fan of laser printers. But you have to be ok with just B&W printing (i.e., not color printing as well as the unit does not scan or copy). For us, it was the correct choice--it was the smallest laser printer that I located that would duplex print.

Alie and Jims Carrilite · RV-Dreams Family Member

We use a little HP 2512. Seems to work ok for scanning or regular document printing. For hard copies of pics we go to Walgreens or Wal Mart.

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Caution to all readers interested in a printer. This thread was started about 6 years ago, so many models listed in the early posts may not be available any longer. Pay close attention to the dates and times in the area of the username and avatar.

This is why it is always better to start a new thread rather than "revive" an old one.

Terry

Hdrider · RV-Dreams Family Member

Terry and Jo wrote:
Caution to all readers interested in a printer. This thread was started about 6 years ago, so many models listed in the early posts may not be available any longer. Pay close attention to the dates and times in the area of the username and avatar.
This is why it is always better to start a new thread rather than "revive" an old one.
Terry

I pondered starting a new thread instead of bringing this one back to life. I flipped a coin and just like always, when I have a 50/50 chance I normally pick the wrong door LOL!!

But thanks for the comments so far.

-- Edited by Hdrider on Wednesday 19th of March 2014 06:48:46 PM

NWescapee · RV-Dreams Family Member

Dave and Dianne - we ditched our old, heavy, wonderful printer after 2 months on the road, replaced with an HP Mobilejet 150, love it! Blue tooth compatible, battery lasts a long time, scans and copies, prints in color or B&W and really easy to store away when not using. Much more powerful than some of those mentioned in 2008-2009 portion of this thread.

Hdrider · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks for the comments. We ended up buying a HP1102. Main deciding factor's were size was right and it's a laser printer so hopefully no toner drying out issues due to our little usage. And the wireless feature.
It's a bare bones unit but should suit us fine.
IT was hard for me not to buy one with copy, scan, fax, color options because prices are so low on them but that has always been my problem,,, wanting more than I need LOL!!! This new life style is supposed to help break me of that.
Thanks again!!

suse1023 · RV-Dreams Family Member

I just picked up a little Epson for 99 bucks at Best Buy. The Geek Squad did the set up for me for free, as I have the 99 dollar a year service plan. LOVE THAT!
I brought my latop in for them and when I picked it up again it was ready to go. I's a nice little wireless copier, printer and scanner, and if we had a landline it would fax too.
we're happy with it.