Did you check the printer accuracy?

It helps when a 6inch square tile really is square and not or by 1/16th of an inch, not to mention matching more complicated pieces. Most of the time that 1/16th is not a problem, but occasionally it is. Better to get it right in the first place.

I did get the HP 6000 (wifi) for $90. Worst software install EVAR; I'm no computer dunce and it seriously took me 3 hours to get this thing working. Once I finally got it working though it's been great so far. Print quality is outsanding (better than the Epson I was using and I was already happy with that one so this is stellar!) It's fast (once she's 'warmed up') and if you leave it on then just let it go to 'sleep' on its own... it wakes up and prints right away. Already used most of the Yellow ink and the others are half gone so doing print outs that are either full page or mostly full of high res graphics really does suck down the ink. I can load up about 35 sheets of cardstock and it just pulls them one after another printing away which is very nice.

Overall I'm happy with it but it's no home run. The real test is how it works 6 months to a year from now. Sure is nice having my own printer again; running around to other peoples houses and buying them ink was getting old.

To wrap this up.... yes you can get both for under $300. I paid $142.96 for the Silhouette SD and $90 for the HP 6000 (wifi). Both were bought at a discount but even if they weren't it would have still been under $300. What's going to push you over $300 and way beyond is buying consumables (ink, cardstock, robo cutter blades, etc) but that comes with the hobby =)

Follow up...

Love the robo cutter! There's already a lot of info on this site about that so I'll move on to the printer.

I still really like the HP 6000. Wireless is neat; I use wifi exclusively for the printer and my wife likes being able to print from anywhere. Print quality is great IMHO. Handles card stock like a champ. Does everything I wanted in a printer.

My only complaints are the software (OK to use but a serious PITA to install) and ink consumption is high. Gone through a few sets of OEM ink from HP and I'm done with that! I ordered some refillable ink carts kit from inksupply.com for the same price as a full set of the extra-large HP ink carts. The bottles of ink they came with are 4 oz (about 118ml) and the ink carts hold about 10 ml so that's about 11 refills for the price of one. I just got them all setup and working tonight in a matter of about an hour; so far I'm very happy with them =)


Actually fired up the printer and robo cutter tonight and cranked out a few new GSD files of Castles and Keeps props!

As a side note... some manufacturers do make CIS systems for the HP 6000. I couldn't find a reseller or manf. that anyone would comment on (good or bad) and after reading all that can go wrong with them I decided I wasn't up for the challenge. They seem to require more maintenance, and setup, than I was prepared to dedicate for the amount of printing I really do.

So it's been over a year now...

I still have the printer and still like it. Love the refillable ink carts and I have not even gone through my first bottles of ink! Wished I had just bought them right away.

We're in the middle of trying to sell our home so most everything is packed up. I had to setup my computer and printer at my in-laws house. Didn't print anything for a month and the print heads clogged up.

Thankfully the print head on this unit is REMOVABLE. Removed it, washed it out with warm water, popped it back in, fiddled around with some test prints, did the print head cleaning cycle through the software and it's just as good as it's ever been. I haven't used it much since I fixed it so I'll follow up if it gives me more trouble.

Gotta print something once a week or it will dry up on you. Not all printers have removable print heads! This was a major factor in purchasing this unit. Worst case I could just replace the print head separately. Sadly it's about the same cost as buying a whole new one =P That's ink jets for you though.

Robo cutter is still awesome and works fine after being ignored for months =P Used it around Halloween and it worked fine... love that thing!

Thanks for the update. This printer is on my "watch for major sales" list.

I got it originally for about $90. Saw it just today on Wal-Mart's website for $90. I think it's a pretty good deal for what it is. I'd recomend getting the refillable carts from inksupply.com right away. Soon as your first carts are empty just switch right over and enjoy driving that cost per print to the bottom!

Glad to see so much research done for me already

How is the accuracy? Any issues with prints coming out the wrong size?

Sorry; I haven't been here in a while and didn't check up on this thread....

No accuracy issues at all. I print it out, load it into Silhouette SD, and it cuts right on the line. I'm very surprised with how accurate both pieces of equipment are. I mean it splits the line in half; dead center.

I'd also like to follow up on cleaning the print head. I've had to do it twice now after letting it sit for a few weeks. It's worked out fine each time. Simply removed the print head, washed it out in warm (not too hot!) water, let it dry for a few hours, put it back in, run a few 'print head cleaning' cycles, and it's good to go.

Still really like this printer and the refillable carts from InkSupply.com!

Maybe I will pester the wife to get me one of these for Father's Day...

Be sure to budget in the refillable ink carts; they are a 'must have' for this printer. I don't even want to think about how much money I would have spent on OEM ink carts over 2 years. You can easily save hundreds of dollars with these. I'm still on my original bottles of ink, first set of microchips, and supplies (rubber gloves, syringes, etc).

Time for my annual check up =)

Few weeks ago it started striping and banding really bad. No amount of cleaning was fixing it. Then it stopped recognizing my ink carts! Just a bunch of flashing lights....

Thought maybe the contacts were getting dirty. I saw a few of them on the back of the print head were crusty. Used a new, clean, pink eraser to clean them. Done this many times on various computer components. Well at least then it recognized the print head and carts again... but printing was still horrible. It wasn't like in the past where you could tell the banding was caused by one color being clogged up. This time it was printing really bold bands of weird colors.

It was either time to buy a new printer or replace the print head. One of the big reasons I bought this was because the print head was removable, clean able, and replaceable. So I thought I would give that a try at least and if that didn't fix it then buy a new one.

$40 for a new one from Amazon. Popped it in and works like new!

I'd still highly recommend this printer. The price of them has not dropped which tells me it's actually retained its value because it's not like so many other disposable junk printers. I'm on my second set of cheap ink bottles. Original refillable carts are still working fine.

Love this printer!

Would also recommend the Officejet 6500. Same printer, uses the same print head, same HP 920 ink carts, but has more bells and whistles people tend to look for. Things like scan & fax & HUDs.

After owning both Ink Jets and Laser printers I am not really sure why people in this hobby still buy the Ink Jets. Yeah, I know you can get them for a hundred bucks, but they need to be filled all the time and the ink is not cheap, unless you refill them yourself. The refills don't last as long as the OEM. Buying the continuous ink supply thingies adds more money and they are not fool proof, and they tend to be a bit messy.

The laser printer does cost a bit more up front, but it has a built in continuous ink supply thingie sort of. I mean, my Samsung goes 5000 pages between refilling, while my HP lasts 2500 pages. Yeah, if you buy the OEM replacement cartridges they do cost about the same as the printer does new. But, when I buy the replacement toner, it is cheap, maybe about twenty bucks or so, with replacement chips. Buying replacement cartridges are about twelve bucks. So, while the upfront cost tends to be a bit more, it does not take long and you are saving money. Except my HP cost me $125 with free shipping. It was a discontinued model, but it is still printing out really good color sheets three years later.

A little more up front? Try hundreds more up front. It's a big cost difference. Inkjets are still very cheap for initial cost and when you buy refillable carts your operating cost is very low too. To me it's a mater of volume; how much I'm printing. As a pretty casual printer (few hundred pages a week) I just can't justify spending so much on a laser.

Refillable Carts: $5.50 ea ($22 total)
Ink: $6 ea ($24) That's enough ink to last me a year.
Printer: $90

So for $136 I have a printer and enough ink for a year. It was three years before I needed any maintenance.

HP laserjet CP1215: About $400 ? It's discontinued so hard finding prices but I saw several listing it over $400. You can get a refurb for about $200 but we aren't talking about refurbs.
Toner: About $60 ? Quick Google search shows a range from $60 to $130 ea.

Laser printers do have maintenance. I used to manage all the IT equipment for an engineering division. We had 2 large scale ink jet printers (they took 48" rolls), Two large Xerox laser copy centers (laser printer, copy machine, scanner, etc all in one unit), 4 smaller color lasers, and a digital sender. You do have to actually maintain those laser color printers. They imaging drums/ units replaced, rollers replaced, and other things do eventually wear out like sensors and switches.

I would have to be printing double the amount I do right now to justify the cost of a laser. They are great for high volume; totally agree with that. For casual builders I just can't see it being worth the cost. I currently refill my inkjet about once every two weeks. If I was doing it every week or twice a week I could see the need for a laser.

My Hp CP 1215 was $125 on close out. It had free shipping. The toner was refilled on two of the cartridges and a third is needing to be refilled soon. It is now two years old. My Samsung is about five years old and I did pay almost $500 for it. Time to replace a couple of cartridges on it too. It has had I think three sets of new cartridges replaced, one original, two after markets. All of them have been refilled once.

There is no need to pay $400 for a laser printer anymore. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Category/guidedSearch.asp?CatId=21&sel=Detail%3B358_1565_8718_8718

As for toner. http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=color+laser+toner+refills&_sop=15&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313&_nkw=color+laser+toner+refills&_sacat=0

Really, the issue of maintenance is a mute point these days when you can get a machine for a hundred bucks or so. The machine is designed to last for a long time. 2500 to 5000 pages for the toner cartridge and about a hundred thousand pages for the drum. If either of my machines needed maintenance I would just junk it as the price of maintenance is more than the cost of a new one. Maybe you are talking about the office machine. That was my job once, to look after the office machines. I took care of the daily maintenance, but the disassemble and replace parts on a $50,000 machine that would go through 2000 pages a day is a different animal than what is on my table.

There are good points to a ink jet machine, but in my opinion a laser printer is much more affordable. But, to each their own, that is why we discuss them so much.

Depends on one's situation, I'd say. If you can afford a $100-$400 hit every time you need to replace the toner, sure, you get to enjoy Costco levels of per-page savings, but it's only a bargain if you actually print in the kind of volume that justifies it. I'm talking "making ink runs to Office Depot 2 times a week" volume here.

In my case, the cost of just one color of laser toner pays for a full six-color set of inks for my Canon photo printer, and I have an easier time finding and justifying $16 for an individual ink tank out of my personal/hobby funds when a single color runs out. I also rarely print more than 40-50 pages per month, so I wouldn't really be saving any money over the long term with a laser printer.