I bought a Brother inkjet printer in 2008, and it was great. Reliable, good quality, scanned at 11x17, and had two paper trays so I could have both letter size and 11x17 paper. It broke last year when I got a too aggressive undoing a paper jam. (Not really the printer's fault, it really didn't jam often, and eight years is a great lifespan for this kind of thing.)
I replaced it with an Epson WF-7620, which was also a good printer. Very high quality prints, fast, and it could handle 12x18 paper. The downside was its VERY EXPENSIVE ink. A set of cartridges seemed to last only a couple of weeks, and a refill set cost well over $100. So I used third-party refillable cartridges instead, which was a lot cheaper. But the ink gummed up the printer and it stopped working properly after about 9 months.
So now I'm back to a Brother MFC-J6935DW. Dual paper trays, max print/scan size is 11x17, it's quick, has automatic duplex printing and scanning, and inexpensive ink. I bought it four months ago and if my memory is goid, I just put in my second set of cartridges last week.
I looked into 11x17 laser printers, but it seemed that going that route meant leasing a freestanding office copier/printer (Xerox or Canon brand), which was more expensive unless I had a much higher printing volume than I have.
Inkjets are cheap to buy. Mine only cost about $360. It's the ink that's the main cost, at about $90 a set for the Brother inks. I think of that as kind of a lease payment.
My feeling is that build quality is pretty good for major printer brands, so the main differentiators are features and ink cost. It's kind of frustrating making a purchasing decision because it's hard to compare ink yield and cost between brands.
FYI, this is honest feedback - I have no financial relationship with Brother other than sending them money from time to time for more ink.
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Jody Keppers AIA
President
Keppers Design
Duluth MN
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Original Message:
Sent: 10-09-2017 17:28
From: Joel Niemi
Subject: 11x17 printer?
My HP 7500A Wide Format printer-scanner-faxer-copier does 11" wide (and, maybe even 12" wide, haven't tried that) prints.
Ink-jet; I've spent more on ink than on the printer, over the 5 or so years I've been using it.
There is probably a newer version. There was also, back then, a Brother printer or two that took 11" paper (either by 8.5 or 17) sideways, and had less footprint ... don't recall why I didn't get it.
BUT, just because it prints 11x17, doesn't mean it can scan / copy that size - that has to happen in halves, which seems awkward and I've never tried it.
11x17, as 1/-2 size of 22x34, is a good idea. However, it takes playing around with the defined page size to not have issues with margin allowances reducing the scale by just enough to aggravate. For instance, instead of 50%, you may get 45% ...
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Joel Niemi AIA
Joel Niemi Architect
Snohomish, WA
Original Message:
Sent: 10-06-2017 17:41
From: Michael Mitchell
Subject: 11x17 printer?
Does anyone have a recommendation for a desktop 11x17 printer that will be used mainly for CAD drawings? I would want to be able to print in color, but don't need a full-on photo printer. I think I'd prefer laser, given the cost and hassle of ink cartridges, but I know 11x17 laser printers are pricey and I'm hoping to come in at $1,000.
If you think I'm on the wrong track with laser, and can recommend your ink option, I'd love to hear about it.
If you have a entry-level 24x36 plotter that can also handle 11x17 nicely, I'd love to hear about it.
The one no-no is we can't be feeding one sheet at a time.
For some context, I had my eye on a Canon iPF670, until I realized you need to feed sheets one at a time. The thing is also enormous.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.