I’m thinking about buying one for a vacation home which may be vacant for months and inkjet printers may gunk up after such a long period of nonuse.
Has anyone had any experience with them? What do you think?Do they print color? Well? What is a good brand?
I don’t have a brand for you (other than to say go to your local computer store & get test printouts & compare quality & noise & cost; read reviews in magazines; most name brands are reliable), but I can answer the colour question for you.
They do print in colour. Instead of having a black print ribbon, the colour ones have a ribbon with 4 colour bands on it(black, cyan, yellow, magenta). This is moved (or the print head moves) up & down to allow the correct colour of dot to be printed onto the paper.
The output of dot matrix printers (even 24 pin) is poor compared to even the most basic of today’s inkjets and colour on the very best dot matrix is still pretty awful.
If that’s not a problem (maybe you’re using it for printing draft only or something) then OK, otherwise, I’d go for a portable inkjet printer and don’t leave it at the holiday home, or buy one where the ink cartridge also includes the print head (the print head is the only bit likely to clog up through lack of use), and accept that you might need a new cartridge when you start to use it each year.
If you’re set on the idea of a dot matrix, the ribbons will also dry out after prolonged non-use, so take a fres one with you.
I have great affection for the dot matrix printers I have owned and used (Panasonic 1124, and 1624 units come to mind), however, your best solution in this context would be an inexpensive laser. Dot matrix output is so poor relative to current laser and inkjet output it presents an un-professional appearance is typically only used these days for printing pin fed labels, invoices etc. or situations that need multi-part carbon output or some high speed form printing applications.
As an alternative for about the same price as a nice inexpensive laser (approx $ 400 or so) you could get two very nice new inkjets. One for the vacation home and one for the non-vacation residence and simply takes the carts with you when you arrive and when you leave so they will not “gunk up” as you put it.
Although I am a dot-matrix partisan, they do color REALLY badly. However, I am also an official Old Fart, so I don’t understand the fascination with printing in color. And their text quality is comparable to a cheap inkjet.
I’d go with a cheap laser. You can beat that $400 by shopping around. Saw a refurbed one for $120 a few months back.
Sometimes you can’t beat a good dot matrix, particularly when you have to print in bulk on tractor fed forms (it happens). Okidata are okay. Epson are pretty good too. IBMs are freaking awesome if you can spare a few grand.
We wouldn’t be printing a lot of elaborate color or professional appearance stuff. Just for our own use. I’ve actually thought about this before because sometimes I would have liked to print a thirty or fourty page document off the web to read later, but ink jet makes it so expensive to do. Thanks to all for your input.
If you can get hold of a dot matrix for free, well and good. But remember, it’s highly unlikely you will be able to purchase replacement ribbons, which will be a real problem if the printer uses plastic once-only ribbons.
Fabric ribbons can be re-inked - you may have to work out how to do this yourself.
Just don’t spend any money to buy the printer.
Most dot matrix printers are Epsons. Therefore, most free printers are Epsons–hell, I have two of 'em. Most Epsons can use the same fabric ribbons. Thanks to the people who need to print bulk forms those ribbons should be available at least as long as the typical inkjet cartridge or, especially, non-HP laser cartridge.
For faster printing of stuff off the net, change the font to one of the printer fonts. All printers are faster printing their internal fonts than printing TrueType fonts.
I’ve had no problem finding replacements. But then again, this is Kalamazoo I’m at, land of factories and small commerce. Dot matrixes are extraordinarily popular here.
Dot matrix printers are popular everywhere in businesses. Inkjet and laser printers cannot print multi-part forms (like in cash register receipt printers). Only impact printers can. The other two impact technologies, band and daisy wheel, never really caught on because of inflexibility: you get one font in one size, period. You want another one? Buy a new band or wheel, dissasemble the printer and change it out. Not always a simple proposition.
Ribbons are still incredibly easy to get. Go to any Office Depot, Staples, Office Max or your local mom & pop office supply store. They all carry them (or can order them) for a multitude of applications. Typical ribbon prices are $4-$20 and you get at least a couple hundred pages per. Color ribbons are getting harder to find, though.
I stand corrected on ribbon availability. Just don’t try buying one round my neck of the woods…
Why buy a dot matrix printer at all? Buy a laser printer. They last forever. Where I work we have HP Printers that we have had for over ten years. (Laser Jet 4 / 4si) They never dry out, and with your probably low duty cycle you would never need to service it.