Do you LOVE or Hate your printer?

I can’t tell you how many people contact me about printers and what I have and what they should get and what I suggests.  I am here to tell you, I am NOT a printer expert.  I think most people either LOVE or hate their printers.  I LOVE mine.  But this wasn’t always the case. Last year I had my trusty ol’ ink jet printer which was fine and dandy for small jobs, but let’s face it, as my printer needs increased, I was starting to spend and arm and leg on printer cartridges.  I knew that I needed something a bit more ‘meaty’ for lack of a better word.  

I wanted something that would print true to color, that wouldn’t bend my papers so badly that I had to place them under a stack of books to flatten them, something that would print quickly, wireless, that would easily print card stock and LOTS of it and that wouldn’t completely break the bank.  

Just when I had one purchased and packed into the back of my vehicle, my husband called me and suggested I talk to his ‘guy’ about a refurbished office printer.  Now I don’t want to be a printer snob or anything but I wasn’t really interested in someone else’s hand me downs . . . until I I talked to him.  There are companies all over that are either outgrowing or needing different printers for one reason or another. My printer guy has an outstanding reputation and assured me that he doesn’t deal in garbage. 

I was able to get all the features I wanted for a fraction of what that printer would be brand new and for the same price that I was about to pay for the brand new printer I had picked out that didn’t quite have everything I wanted but that was ‘good enough.’ ( I call it HOSS.  It’s NOT dainty by any means.)

 Lots of people shy away from laser printers because of the  printer cartridge prices.  Yep.  Instead of one or two little ink jet cartridges I now needed to get all of the these, but let’s put it in perspective.  Here is my latest supply usage sheet from my printer. 

 You will see that my yellow cartridge is getting very low.  It’s only at 9% which means it only has about 1200 pages left!  Oh by the way, it has already printed 11000 pages.  That’s the part that sold me.  If I only have to purchase cartridges once a year or less, it was going to save me money in the long run.

So despite it being a big ol’ beast, I love my printer.  But for those of you that hate your color printers and the cost of cartridges, I’ve been hearing you. I DO understand the frustration of wanting to offer fun products for your class without spending your hard earned dollars on ink.  So in addition to suggesting you check out a refurbished printer,  I finally got it together to offer you an I-spy unit that won’t break the bank in printer cartridges.  Here it is, an I-Spy packet with everything available in either black and white or color (depending on how you feel about your printer).   It was alot of extra work, but I’m hoping it with give those of you without ‘printer love’ the option to use I-spys in your classroom.  This one has activities that address CVC, CVCC, CCVC, CVCe and real/nonsense words.  There are several recording sheets from which to choose in order to different your instruction, too.  I’d love to hear what you think about it.  I’m not sure if something I will keep doing or not, but I thought I would give it a try.

In the meantime, do you love or hate your printer?