Vex Star

Hey Guys,
I’ve been doing some research on some printers to purchase for a newly formed company.

What we are trying to do is print brochure inserts. We have ordered custom brochure folders already but now we plan to print the inserts ourselves.

What is a good printer for this? a printer that is under 500.00

Thanks in advance
good? under 500? something you’re going to give to customers?

no.
I’m assuming you’re going to want to print in color, so Ink Jet is your preferred option in that case. If you are printing a lot, look for a printer that has a low cost per page. Basically, the main difference that I’ve found is when you get a cheap printer it uses ink cartridges that are half filled while a more expensive printer gets a full cartridge. So, for the same $30 per cartridge you get more prints out of the full cartridge and thus lower cost per page.

there are plenty of ink jet printers under $500 that can print out very nice stuff. for over $500 you’re going to get something that prints faster, cheaper per page and lasts longer (higher number of pages it is expected to last). to say that you can’t get quality out of a sub-$500 printer is ignorant.

i’ve got an HP printer that i bought years ago for about $300 (printer/scanner/copier/fax). it prints very nice and my wife used it for quite a while to print shit for her students (she was a 3rd grade teacher in a shithole school that locked the photocopiers away from the teachers). she has printed tons of stuff over the years and the thing is still cranking without a problem. every so often i’ll print out flyers for my father’s business, though if he wants a lot he’ll go to a printing company just because in large quantities it makes sense.
speed and cost per page on inkjet printers is horrible at decent quality settings. It’s good for home and very low-volume usage where initial cost and size are prohibitive… However, if you’re printing out brochures "en mass" then it’s not the right technology.

I’d say double the budget and get a Xerox Phaser.

Only the best. Anything less is shit right?
Also, he said good, not great. Something for $500 may well do the job. And you don’t even know what volume he is printing in. So what if its a little more cost per page? Doesn’t matter if he isn’t printing thousands upon thousands.

You say he should spend $1000? Is his volume of printing on a lower cost per page printer gonna outweigh that extra $500?

TS needs to do some sums I think.
HP 2550L or HP 2550ps

that works good for me. they were like $299 a few years back. prints good and a pretty low cost per page.
we are looking to print out about 3000 brochure inserts about 5×8 inserts
and i have only heard good things about canon , epson and hp
So basically what is gonna go on these inserts will be our menus for catering. With some light graphics behind the writing.
So the first wave of prints will be 3000 prints on the inserts and once we use up those, we will print another 3000 or more.

So yea i need something that lasts.

i Appreciate all the suggestions
honestly, if you’re doing 3000 at a time, and you’ll do it more than once, you are much better off with something like a Phaser.
Why not get a Xerox Phaser 8560?

It’s a little more than your budget, but it IS worth it, and will end up paying for itself over time, with ink costs.

If you don’t need duplex support, then you can get one for $699.

is this also an inkjet and how much are the catridges? I havent used xerox before

it is NOT an inkjet.

you do NOT want an inkjet.

the 8560 is a solid-ink printer.

30ppm in both bw and color
5 seconds first-page-out.
2400ppi resolution
625 sheet capacity standard, optional 1675 extended capacity
network connectivity standard
85,000 ppm duty cycle
fastest color print speed in its class
fastest first-page-out in its class
cartridge-free ink design means you can add more ink without losing the ink already in the printer. and it’s solid so no messy liquids to mess with

here’s the pdf on cost-per-print:

great. this looks good! So whast the different between solid ink to inkjet? Thanks so much for the help
should answer all your questions about solid-ink

this looks like its definately what i need however i am not even sure if theres ink block catridges can even be purchased in retail stores since this technology is more of a exclusiveness to Xerox only.
you can buy these printers outright, or lease them. leases often include maintenance and ink contracts.

if you buy it outright, you can buy ink through local office supply houses such as IKON, or online.

office depot does sell them, but they’re over-priced.

Ordering online is the way to go, imo. you can get 16 packs for $169 or less (4 of each of the colors).
I used to work in a print shop, and we used a Phaser for a lot of different applications. They’re workhorses, and solid-ink printed docs have a really professional look to them, imo. I’d recommend the Phaser if you’re willing to spend the money.
Power consumption: The ink must be heated and a large portion of the printing mechanism must be kept at or near the ink’s melting point. Printers often keep a small pool of each color wax heated to temperature when the printer is not in one of its low-power modes. This is similar to laser printers which need to heat the fuser assembly. Inkjet printers do not require heated components (save high end, large format devices such as those used for sign making.) Xerox solid ink devices are typically incapable of meeting Energy Star requirements; they essentially become unusable if they do meet them. When Xerox sells an allegedly Energy Star compliant device, its "Intelligent Ready" algorithm immediately kicks in, and within 2 weeks the heaters are on all of the time.
Printer damage from moving: The printer contains melted wax when at operating temperature, and owners manuals warn it cannot be moved until it has completed a special cool-down cycle selected from the machine’s control panel. The manuals warn that substantial damage is possible, requiring servicing by a trained technician. The same problem occurs during a power outage. Given the printer’s high power use, it is not feasible to connect it to a UPS.

that scares me lol.

15minute warm up time!!!!! is that over exxagerating or is it right?

My work has a Xerox Phaser & it prints excellent color pages. I just saw the bill the other day for the solid-ink refills, was $93ish for 3 blocks of ink.

yea, but 3 blocks last an average of 3400 pages in color. That’s damn good! Plus you can get them a lot cheaper.

You can find 4 blocks of each of the 4 colors (CMYK) for under $170.

when you first plug it in, yes. But once it warms up, you don’t have to do anything… you could let it sit for days before printing and once you click "print" the first page comes out in under 5 secs.
Xerox Phasers are excellent for "small" bulk printing. I wouldn’t use an inkjet to make brochures, you’ll go broke buying ink cartridges.
oh ok. Seems good. But what i was ready is that i cant move the printer around much due to the melted ink blocks spilling all over the place. Do i really need to be worried about that? Once used, how long does it take before i can move the printer ? Thanks

Pick a good spot so you don’t have to move it.
You would be sickened if you plugged it into the nearest socket to get it heated up.

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