Help Center - Which Multifunction Inkjet Printer is the Most Durable?

Which Multifunction Inkjet Printer is the Most Durable?

Inkjet printers have an average lifespan of four years. 

However, people have different volume printing needs that would suit different printers.

For example, light volume printer would be worn down earlier than the average lifespan if a user has heavy volume printing needs. 

To ensure that your printing needs are within the multifunction inkjet printer's durability, here are two things to be mindful for:

Recommended Monthly Print Volume

To ensure that your inkjet printer will last to that number of years or more, its important that your monthly print volume is within your printer's Recommended Monthly Print Volume (Brother, Epson) or Monthly Duty Cycle (HP).

If your print volume is more than the recommended monthly print volume, you risk wearing down your printer earlier than expected.

Canon doesn't have a Recommended Monthly Print Volume as they specialize in photo printing in majority where ink usage can vary by color. 

But for other printer manufacturers, the Recommended Monthly Print Volume or Monthly Duty Cycle can be found in the printer model's specifications or specs. 

For example, Brother INKvestment MFC-J985DW has a Recommended Monthly Print Volume of 50-1,000 pages. In total, its cartridges would cost $0.02 cent per page. But with compatible cartridges, it would be $0.004 per page. 

Epson WorkForce Pro WF-4730 has a Recommended Monthly Print Volume of up to 1,500 pages. The total of its XL cartridges cost $0.025. While its compatible cartridges cost $0.018. 

HP DeskJet 3755 All-in-One Printer has a Monthly Duty Cycle of up to 1,000 pages. Its total cartridges' cost per page is $0.19. Its compatible total cartridges' cost per page is $0.11.

To learn how to compute a printer's total cost in its lifetime, click here. 

Inkjet Printer Maintenance

Of course, aside from looking at a multifunction inkjet printer's Recommended Monthly Print Volume, one must also know how to maintain an inkjet printer. 

The part of the printer that is most susceptible to damage is the printer head. The printer head is made of microscopic nozzles where the ink is sprayed on paper. If ink dries into clogs, it would be difficult to unclog. Buying a new printer is cheaper than replacing a printer head.

An inkjet printer must always be plugged to keep its semi conductive printer head warm. This keeps the ink melted a little longer instead of drying out into clogs.

Part of the printer maintenance is printing 1-2 times a week to prevent ink in its printer head from drying. Printing a test page would suffice if one doesn't have any files that need to be printed.

Lastly, to initiate a cleaning cycle every now or so. Especially when there are white lines or streaking in printing, which can be caused by ink clogs.

Looking for cheap ink cartridges? Feel free to check our brand printer pages for remanufactured HP toner and ink, Epson ink and toner, Brother ink and toner, Canon ink and toner, Lexmark ink and toner or other cheap printer ink cartridges and search for your printer model through the list provided.