Hp 8600 / 8710

Got a replacement printer/scanner/copier last year after our HP 8600 Officejet Pro died, just out of 3 year warranty iirc. HP 8710. Loss of features versus the older model for the same price. Strike 1.

I suspected PSU failure; I replaced it with an allegedly genuine component sourced from China. But the part took a month to arrive and being unable to do without this home office staple for that time I had to get a replacement PSC anyway.

Replaced the PSU in the 8600 when that arrived, and the device sprang back into life and scans happily to my network drive, but refuses to print or use the ADF for scanning. The device was fiendish to get into and it could be its internal workings were damaged during the manhandling I had to do to get into the confounded thing.

I had previously ordered a surplus of ink for the printer, which I didn't get through before it died, so have ~£80 in unopened inks, plus the cartridges already in service. Of course, these aren't compatible with the new model that's a direct replacement for the series. Strike 2.

So this time I'm not ordering any more inks than strictly necessary. We're still on the setup cartridges. A few days ago, the device informed me the cyan cartridge was out, so no printing until a new one was installed. I installed an genuine HP Cyan 953XL. Ordered as a pack of 3 with the other 2 colours as genuine HP product.

As soon as it had finished its clunking and whirring with the new ink, the PSC realised that very moment that both Magenta and Yellow were out too. They weren't empty before, or the printer hadn't noticed if they were, but as soon as the printer got a genuine cartridge, with a chip containing information that I am starting to assume assume includes both "I am a genuine cartridge" and "I was bought as an official HP 3-pack of inks", both other colours were suddenly out without having printed a single page in between. Strike 3.

The technical term for this, I believe, is "racket" or "they done me up like a kipper".

This isn't a shocking revelation to anyone, and I accept that I walked right into it all - including buying another HP product knowing some of this was likely (in fairness, it was the cheapest offering for the unit, and inks per page).

I just wanted to share the story

Sad story. I've been an inject user for as long as I've had colour printers, but I think it's par for the course for these things to give up the ghost early. I also think the 'genuine' cartridge rubbish is little more than a con to get you to part with more money. I've already decided that when my current inkjet dies I'll replace it with a colour laser printer. I must by now have paid for a new laser in the cost of all the inkjet cartridges I've used....

Lasers aren't much better. I have had a few. Its significantly cheaper to replace the printer instead of the cartridges, even taking into account the lower yield.

It is a con and terrible for the environment.

I'd avoid the genuine cartridges too, except I've seen printers (laser and ink) exhibit all kinds of strange behaviour when using refills. Usually printing lines across the page, smudging toner all over the shop. Which I always suspected was a deliberate deterrence.

Oussebon said:

I'd avoid the genuine cartridges too, except I've seen printers (laser and ink) exhibit all kinds of strange behaviour when using refills. Usually printing lines across the page, smudging toner all over the shop. Which I always suspected was a deliberate deterrence.

Click to expand...

Yeah I tried a set of third party cartridges in my last HP laser printer.

For the first couple of hundred pages they were fine - couldn't tell any difference. Then they started to smudge and grind.

The problem was a full set of cartridges were coming in at something close to £300. A new printer before my ex-employee discount was £200 and with my discount about £165.

That said, in the end I opted for a Lexmark MFD (also a laser) on offer at £105. Again though, when I checked, the new cartridges are about £70 a pop and you need 4 of them.

It's criminal, really. Given the ones supplied last me around 3 years, why would I spend that kind of money rather than just replace the whole thing?

I seem to recall someone once worked out the price of HP ink at something crazy like $65,000 per gallon! But that was at their peak. These days I think it's closer to a more reasonable (lol) $3,000 per gallon.

I've had a few laser printers over the years. My current one is a Brother, got it for a song (90). Might not be the sort of level that might be required for some of you folks but it's never let me down once.

I had a Samsung that broke before the cartridges even ran out. I had an HP that cost a fortune and needed expensive cartridges that it seemed to dump down the waste bin at an extraordinary rate. Once the HP was done for the second time I binned it in favour of the Brother one that I saw at a discount (Less than the cartridges). This was over a year ago and I'm still on the originals. A full set of copy replacements is £24.

I hated inkjet copies but I couldn't part with the cash for originals. I'm less concerned with the laser toner as there is a bit less to go wrong when filling them and resetting the chips.

I'm looking for my first ever home printer - any recommendations (or dire warnings) welcome.

polycrac said:

I'm looking for my first ever home printer - any recommendations (or dire warnings) welcome.

Click to expand...

First off I'd say to decide what you want.

So for me, my list is as follows:

Scan to email and scan directly to a shared folder (not just scan to computer)
Duplex - you'd be surprised how much paper this saves over its life
Wireless Networking - where I have to put it isn't near any network ports
Not too large or expensive
Cost of consumables <--- This is really worth investigating as above
Some ability to print from phones

Tony1044 said:

First off I'd say to decide what you want.

So for me, my list is as follows:

Scan to email and scan directly to a shared folder (not just scan to computer)
Duplex - you'd be surprised how much paper this saves over its life
Wireless Networking - where I have to put it isn't near any network ports
Not too large or expensive
Cost of consumables <--- This is really worth investigating as above
Some ability to print from phones

Click to expand...

Thanks, that helps. Location-wise, it is fine sitting next to the PC. Capability-wise it needs to scan to PC, print in Black and White, print in Colour and that's about it. I'm not very comfortable with the idea of replacing it just because the printers are cheaper than the cartridges alone - what a horrible state of affairs! Even so, I expect it to be used so lightly that it will be years before any consumables wear out. For the last decade I've made do with using the printer at work and at the library, but with cutbacks the library hours are impossible for me and work isn't always appropriate (a bit hard for a Maths lecturer to explain why he's printing out D&D character sheets...).

polycrac said:

Thanks, that helps. Location-wise, it is fine sitting next to the PC. Capability-wise it needs to scan to PC, print in Black and White, print in Colour and that's about it. I'm not very comfortable with the idea of replacing it just because the printers are cheaper than the cartridges alone - what a horrible state of affairs! Even so, I expect it to be used so lightly that it will be years before any consumables wear out. For the last decade I've made do with using the printer at work and at the library, but with cutbacks the library hours are impossible for me and work isn't always appropriate (a bit hard for a Maths lecturer to explain why he's printing out D&D character sheets...).

Click to expand...

Just be careful with low use and inkjet printers - the cartridges and print heads can dry and block and you end up needing to replace them.

This might be a good read:

https://www.internet-ink.com/blog/Printers/2019/01/02-Printers-with-the-Cheapest-Ink-Cartridges

Tony1044 said:

Just be careful with low use and inkjet printers - the cartridges and print heads can dry and block and you end up needing to replace them.

Click to expand...

Yeah that's the problem I tend to have, I only print things out once in a blue moon, but when I need to I need to (and it's generally when I'm not at work so can't use the printer at work - that I always fight with anyways), but to honest even replacing the ink cartridges before they're finished has generally been cheaper for me than getting a laser printer (note: were talking 35 quid printers here - but that suits for how much I use it)

If getting a printer especially an all-on-one printer scanner copier with an ADF for the scanner, read the detailed spec sheet like a hawk.

Quite a lot of them only take documents single sided from the feeder to scan. Well, it seemed like a lot to me.

Something with the ability to (duplex) scan to network folders is good.

Scan To Computer features via the network can be twitchy as hell. Obviously if your router dishes out a device a new IP address you're toast, and even updating the IP address in the software may not fix that. And sometimes just when there's an R in the month or a D on the day. I've generally found that once the thing agrees to scan to a network location, it won't change it's mind about that.

And shop around, look for deals. Shortly after we got our HP 8710, there was some ridiculous £100 cashback offer where it was basically on sale for £20. HP do like their cashback offers, and have in fairness honoured those with no hassle when I've used them.

Now that I think about it I should have bought one for spare parts tbh at that price. Nowhere to put it, but I'm sure I could have found somewhere.