Does a good, reliable multifunction exist?

[Mr. Wolf]

Earlier today, my latest Canon MP530 went to that special dungeon in the bowels of hell reserved for lousy hardware. This was my 4th MP530 within 15 months. Yes, you read that correctly. Four of these piles have died on me since November 2006. Canon replaced each one, next business day with no questions asked, during the one year warranty. Now that the warranty has expired, I need to buy a new unit.

Can anyone recommend something that's better than what I've lived with for the past 15 months? All the HPs I've seen look like junk. I've never tried Brother or Epson. If I find nothing better, I'll probably buy another Canon because of their warranty.

Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[wildfire99]

Well, I've come to think of multifunction anything as a rental instead of a buy. Brother is horrible, don't even go there. Expect whatever MFD you buy to last 6 months, and buy accordingly, I say.

HP doesn't seem to be all that awful, but you get hosed bad when it's time to fill it up with whatever precious martian fluid they pass off for ink (or toner or heads or imaging drums) as well as lousy driver support once your product is more than 5 minutes old (in HP-speak: obsolete).

Canon hasn't been that awful. Samsung has been very sketchy. Epsons I used to love but I haven't bought one in a long time, even back then they were also prone to breakage if over-used. Xerox isn't very brilliant either.

I think the only real solution is to buy something really expensive (e.g. > $1000) and get a support contract. Even the $10k ones break.

 

[tiraides]

wildfire99, I seem to find your comments funny... I've had one of the "very sketchy" Samsungs MFPs for nearly four years now.

But I do agree with you that you have to buy a more expensive MFP. I haven't checked recently, but all of the "good" MFPs seem to start around $500 now.

(OK, I agree with you that the market today looks pretty bad. I'm thankful that my printer has last so long... *knocks on wood*)

 

[Gott]

Well, I've come to think of multifunction anything as a rental instead of a buy. Brother is horrible, don't even go there. Expect whatever MFD you buy to last 6 months, and buy accordingly, I say.

HP doesn't seem to be all that awful, but you get hosed bad when it's time to fill it up with whatever precious martian fluid they pass off for ink (or toner or heads or imaging drums) as well as lousy driver support once your product is more than 5 minutes old (in HP-speak: obsolete).

Canon hasn't been that awful. Samsung has been very sketchy. Epsons I used to love but I haven't bought one in a long time, even back then they were also prone to breakage if over-used. Xerox isn't very brilliant either.

I think the only real solution is to buy something really expensive (e.g. > $1000) and get a support contract. Even the $10k ones break.

I've owned HP and have HP in the office and they're the best machines I've worked with.

We have an HP color laser printer which we bought in 2000 and it has worked flawlessly. These things are meant to last, not break in 6 months.

I'd say go with HP and you'll be happy that you've done so.

 

[Mr. Wolf]

I'm making a Staples run to look at a bunch of multifunctions. The Canon MX700 is getting a lot of praise and it's only $140 shipped from the almighty Egg. I'll check HP, too. Thanks for the input!