Multi-Function Printer Follow-up

A little over a week ago, I posted that I am looking for a "killer multi-function printer" and asked for advice. I received a fair bit of advice, 120 comments so far. This post is an attempt to sum up the advice and then I'll tell you what I decided to purchase.

The following multi-function printers were most frequently mentioned in the comments:

1 - Canon Pixma Family – there are so many Pixma printers to choose from it makes your head spin. Five of Amazon's 10 most popular multi-function printers are Pixma models.

2 – Brother MFC Family – very popular choice among the readers of this blog.

3 – HP OfficeJet Pro 8500 – the most controversial printer among the readers. Quite a few of you have had bad experiences with HP printers. But HP was the only manufacturer that bothered to leave a comment. Big props to HP for that.

4 – Lexmark – mentioned by several with strong references.

5- Epson Artisan and Epson Workforce – not mentioned by many, but the ones who did love their Epson printer.

It seems like Canon, Brother, and HP are the "big three" of multi-function printers. They have the most models and they were most frequently mentioned in the comments. But I got negative comments about each of them from multiple people. And to be honest, it was confusing deciding which of their products was right for us.

So I made up a list of the top products from the big three and added several from Lexmark and Epson to it and went looking at online reviews. This one from consumersearch was helpful and got me seriously thinking about the Epson Workforce.

I then went into the Amazon reviews for each product and looked at specific areas that matter a lot to me (like pull and push scanning over the network). The size of the printer is also a critical issue for me.

In the end after I did all of this work, we came out in favor of the Epson printers. We like both the Workforce and the Artisan. This review from About.com tilted the balance and we are going with the Epson Artisan.

One thing that came out loud and clear in the comments is that a dedicated scanner is also a good idea. And the one that pretty much everyone recommended is the Fujitsu Scansnap S1500. You can get it for Windows or Mac. We are getting the Mac version for our family.

So that's it. I hope you all found this follow-up post helpful. I sure found all your comments helpful in my search for the best printer for our family.