On Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:56:06 -0800, David Nebenzahl
wrote:
This inspired by the mini-thread in the thread up yonder about HP
DeskJet printers. Actually something of a reverse gloat, along the lines
of "my old printer still works; does yours?".
A better question would be "What's the useful lifetime of your
printer" or perhaps "How many pages did you print before it ended up
at the recyclers"?
Got my HP LaserJet 2100M (600 DPI w/PostScript capability) ca. 2000. Not
only is the printer still working perfectly, but I'm still using the
same cartridge I got with it!
I used to have one of those at home. The HP2100 series will do
1200dpi, which looks really nice for photos. However, the stupid
driver install defaults to 600dpi. Most people fail to notice until I
change the settings.
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=bpl06416&locale=en_US&prodSe riesId=25469&prodTypeId=18972#A3
My 2100n worked ok but had a few issues. The fuser and fan are
thermostatically controlled and would cycle all night, which tended to
keep me awake. I don't mind listening to noise when it's printing,
but don't need the noise when it's idle. The power saving standby
function apparently didn't include the fan. 10 pages per minute was a
bit slow for me.
My current 2200dtn solved these problems. It uses the same cartridge,
prints on both sides, does not make noise when in standby, has 2
trays, and never seems to jam if I use decent paper (except when
printing my tax returns).
Incidentally, on the paper issue, I've found that thin 16 lb paper
tends to jam far more often than the 22 and 24 lb stock I'm currently
using. I've fixed many a paper jam problem by simply switching paper.
My neighbor is into recycling everything which includes saving old
printed pages and printing on the back side. The result is toner all
over rubber parts of the fuser roller assembly, where the previously
printed toner transfers to the roller when heated.
Which is a little puzzling; while the printer hasn't exactly been used
in a production environment, I have put plenty of pages through it:
printed out many entire manuals, etc. I'm just waiting for the cartridge
to empty out, but it still hasn't come close. (I even have a 2nd
cartridge I got with the printer, still in its foil package.)
The 96A cartridge is rated for 5000 pages in econo mode (600dpi). My
guess s about 4000 at 1200dpi. That's about 2-3 times what you might
get from some of HP's low end printers, such as the HP1012 with a 12A
cartridge (rated at 2000 pages).
However, my favorite office production printer (of the week), the HP
LaserJet 4300, uses a 39A cartridge, which is rated for 16,000 pages.
Some vendors claim up to 30,000 pages, but I don't believe it. Last
year, my tax prep customers averaged about 18,000 pages per cartridge.
The problem is that the stock HP carts cost about $120. There are
refills available for as little at $30, but the chip on these carts do
not show toner status. They also require a minor button pushing
ordeal to get rid of the "non-HP cart inserted" message.
One thing I really don't like about this, and really most HP printers
that I've used, is that it hates to print on the back of printed sheets.
Usually it eats/shreds about half the sheets one tries to print this
way.
True. The printers expect the pages to be flat. Pages that have gone
through the printer tend to be slightly warped. That causes paper
jams. Remelting the toner on the back side of the page sometimes
causes the toner to stick to the rubber roller in the fuser, causing
exit jams. Paper doesn't like to slide smoothly off the stack in the
tray when there's printing on the back side. That's an especially bad
problem if you print a stack of paper, and then feed the stack back
through the printer again to print on the back side. The pages will
stick together. The rubber "feet" above the feed tray don't like to
push against printed paper, where the black areas are much slicker
than the unprinted white paper. It's usually not a problem with a
fairly new printer, but after the rubber feet get worn and slick,
things tend to slide.
Yeah, I know, you can get HPs with "duplex" options, but to me,
that's utter bull****.
Ummmm... well, ok. The duplexer will slow down the printer, even when
printing one page on one side. The duplexers I have on various 2100,
4200, 4300, and older HP printers work just fine. I can't say the
same for flipping over the stack and feeding the pages through again.
I remember the old Panasonic laser printer my old
office had. It was a huge beast, and certainly no better than the HP we
also had at the time (LJ 4???), but the Panasonic would feed *any* paper
you put into it, even if it had just been run through the printer on one
side. I'd always use it to print out my manuals on 2 sides for proofing.
I suppose that's an advantage if you run a mix of paper. The printers
I run into all run 20, 22, or 24 lb white paper in the main tray, and
some heavier stock (for cover sheets) in the 2nd tray. Sometimes,
some colored paper in the 3rd tray and possibly an envelope feeder or
pile of envelopes in the "multipurpose" tray.
Incidentally, many of my customers are buying office copiers that can
also act as a printer. This is becoming quite common. Printing speed
is greatly improved and it eliminates a redundant printer. However,
just try juggling paper around reprinting the back side in one of
these high end office copiers. They get some of their speed and
reliability by being optimized for a limited range of paper weights
and types, and will screw up badly if fed used, damaged, or wrong
paper.
Other than this, the LaserJet is a fine piece of equipment.
Yep. Plug:
http://www.fixyourownprinter.com
http://www.printerworks.com
http://partsurfer.hp.com
One reason I like HP is that I can get information, parts, refurbs,
software, hacks, 3rd party parts, etc.
--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060
http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558