My sister got this printer from one of her company’s incentive campaigns. It’s an HP Deskjet Ink Advantage All-in-One Printer, model K209a. It is currently attached to our desktop, which is primarily used by my parents. We’ve had this printer for the better part of a year, but it has only been recently when I realized what a great tool it was, and I wanted to share why I love it so much! I am not paid or otherwise compensated to talk about this printer. I just really like it, that’s all.
Normally, I only use this printer when I need to print things that require good quality printing. Otherwise, for things like e-tickets, ensogo vouchers, and recipes I wanted to try, I use my old HP 3940 whose ink I just refill (it’s quite a hassle, but the original ink seems more expensive than gold). But for the past few weeks, there have been many “demands” from various institutions for “a copy of your IDs, certificates, etc..” I used to think that to photocopy something on the printer, I had to turn on the computer, use the printer’s scanner to scan the item, and then print it out, but it turns out, I could just press a button and the printer would spit out a copy of my passport, just like that! No need to turn on the computer!
I wasn’t really paying attention at the time my sis got the printer (yes, it was free!), so for those who already know this, please excuse my ignorance. The past few weeks, I was really so happy to have this printer. You need a photocopy of my whatever document? No problem! Black or white? Colored? No more going out and looking for a neighborhood xerox place or any mall to photocopy ONE copy of a ONE page document. Don’t you just hate it when you just went out of your way to photocopy something, and then, a few days later, you have to go out and do this again because you just found out you need a photocopy of another document for another thing?
With this printer, all I had to do was plug the printer and turn it on, and then put the ID I need a copy of, say, a driver’s license, on the scanner as you would a photocopier, make sure there’s paper on the paper tray, and then press either the Black button (for B&W), or the Color button (for colored). Wait for around 5 seconds, and then the printer will start spitting out a copy of your driver’s license! It is really like having your own xerox machine..
And for further backup, you can scan your ID/document and have your own soft copy.
What’s also great is that we have been using this printer for almost a year now and the ink is still going strong and nowhere near empty. I must have made a hundred prints by now since we first got the printer, and some of those printouts were photos and heavy on ink. Replacement ink is also only P390 (official price), but I’m sure one could find someone who sells it for around P370 or so.. so, for now, I don’t think I will be using non-original inks for this printer. I think the K209a retails for around P6,000-7,000 pesos, but there are other HP All-in-Ones that start at P3,600 or so..
When it comes to printer brands, I am pro-HP. I just seem to have a better experience with them generally even though they sometimes still annoy me. One time, we bought an Epson (I was wowed by the photo printing capabilities) and it was just a bottomless pit of ink expenses, like, you can’t print anything if even ONE ink is empty. For example, Magenta is out? Too bad. Your printer won’t print anything even if you are just printing some text using only black ink.. But with HP, if black is out, I can just change all my text to Blue and it will still print. My text will be in Blue, but I can still read it and it is still usable. I remember that with Epson, I also had to buy new ink every 6 months (which I eventually got tired of and left the damn printer to rot, inkless). Apparently, the ink cartridge has a chip that can tell that is has been six months, and will refuse to print unless you replace it, EVEN IF there is still ink in the cartridge. So, generally, for me, HP is still the better choice when it comes to printers, mas tipid pa rin in the long run, and mas matibay. I have only had one HP printer that I needed to have repaired and this was a long time ago (late 1990s) and we have had that printer for a long time in a dusty environment. So if you are looking for a printer, I urge you to check out these new HP All-in-Ones.
