C&J
New England
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We're looking at buying a printer to keep in our RV and are trying to decide between laser and inkjet. We are concerned about temperature fluctuations (say we're traveling in a hot climate and we go away for a day and the RV gets very hot inside) as well as intermittent usage (we anticipate periods of moderate usage lasting a couple of months followed by periods of non-use lasting weeks to months). Also is one kind or the other any more or less affected by the vibration of travel.
We're not looking for just general opinions on inkjet vs. laser, but specifically how well each of those categories of printers works in an RV setting.
Thanks,
C&J
2011 Itasca Sunova 33C
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2oldman
Winchester WA
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Will you ever be using it on an inverter?
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siresfam
St Louis
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Don't know about ink jet but I've had a brother mfc 7340 laser in my RV for several years. Outdoor storage so it gets very hot in the summer and very cold in the winter. I've never removed it from my coach and it has never given me a problem. FYI, it uses a lot of power. My inverter won't power it.
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C&J
New England
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Oooh, good point about the inverter! We have a 1000 W inverter, and yes, we might want to run the printer off that. Would that be enough power?
EDIT added by C&J: the Samsung printer that we are currently looking at says it draws 310 W at peak, so I'm assuming it would power it.
* This post was
edited 08/04/12 02:45pm by C&J *
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2oldman
Winchester WA
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C&J wrote:We have a 1000 W inverter, and yes, we might want to run the printer off that. Would that be enough power?. It's probably enough, but the problem is it has to be clean power. PSW (not MSW, or cheap) inverters are a must for laser printers.
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elkhornsun
Monterey
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Any laserjet you get will be trouble free for years. With inkjet printers the overall cost with the ink will be the same or more than the cost of a laserjet and replacement cartridges. Inkjets need to be used on a daily basis to avoid clogged heads.
Laserjets require a lot more power than an inkjet to operate but with shore power that will not be a problem. You only get black and white but for things that use color like pictures I will use a store (Costco for prints and an online printer for other material).
Costco is a lot less expensive than using your own printer and you can upload pictures and specify which Costco you want to print them. Easy to specify the store at the next city on your travels and have them ready and waiting for you to pick up.
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Dutch_12078
Great Sacandaga Lake, NY
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I've had an HP color laser printer in my coach for the past 5 years with no problems. Sometimes it sits idle for a month or more, but it always lights right up and works fine when I need it. I also have a Kodak dye sublimation photo printer on board, and that can also go months without use and fire right up when needed.
Dutch
1995 Coachmen Catalina 322QBXL
F53 chassis, 460 V8, TST TPMS
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2011 Toyota RAV4 4WD/Remco pump
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docj
Fulltime--Home is where we park it
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We have an "all-in-one" printer/copier/scanner because we find having the additional capabilities useful from time to time. We decided on an inkjet because of the size and weight advantages compared to a laser even though we would have preferred the laser's reliability.
We started with a Brother because we got it on sale--bad mistake. It had very small ink cartridges and print heads that were forever getting clogged. We replaced it by a fairly inexpensive HP which is awesome by comparison. Sure, we'll spend a lot for ink over the years, but we could never fit a laser into the space where this one is.
Sandie & Joel
2000 40' Beaver Patriot Thunder Princeton--425 HP/1550 ft-lbs CAT C-12
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garlic
Marlborough
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Went with an ink jet (HP) printer/flat bed scanner/copier. No problem with drying ink. Copier/scanner property is handy for bills & records. We keep it in its original shipping box (with Styrofoam packing) in the 5th wheel's basement 99% of the time and have had no problems. ALL ink will eventually dry. With Ink jet, a wet tissue over the jets is messy but works wonders.
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phays
Ohio
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I've used both HP and Epson inkjets in my motor home for 5 years. No problems with either one from the standpoint of do they work in a motor home.
I just switched to the HP 100 mobile inkjet printer because of its size and it is battery operated so if I only have to print a few documents I don't even plug it in. In addition it is blue tooth capable so I don't need a cable attached to the computer. Previously I used an hp 3-in-1 so I could scan in documents and get rid of paper. Now I use CamScanner on my smartphone to copy documents to pdf files and upload those to the computer. The scans aren't quite as good as the scanner in the printer but acceptable to me.
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