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Hemi_Joel's avatar
Hemi_Joel
Explorer
Feb 10, 2023

Laser printer/scanner recommendation?

Hi, I would like to add a color laser printer/scanner/copier to my pickup camper. Looking for recommendations/experiences on what to get or what not to get. Sometimes I have to do work from the road that involves printing and scanning. Quality scans of documents are important for my business, I can't use my cell phone for that.

Since I am in a pickup camper, compactness is important. Up to a 16" x 18" footprint would be preferred, smaller being better.

Rugged enough to survive the rough roads.

Is there something that I can print wirelessly directly from my laptop PC, or do I need to buy and set up some type of network equipment?

I want laser because my ink jet kept drying up from lack of use. Separate color and b&w cartridges would be a plus.

A (reliable) document feeder would be a big plus.

I used to have an HP inkjet that was constantly doing popups and was trying to sell me stuff. The HP software was like a virus that I couldn't get rid of, and was consuming my computers resources in the background, slowing it down. I don't want anything annoying like that.

I want something that does not connect to the cloud or the web unless I tell it to, and will function completely off line.

When I have to interrupt my vacations for work, I like to jump in, do it, jump out. No time for fiddling for hours with unreliable software/connectivity snafu's.

I have a 2000 watt pure sine wave inverter for power.

I'm hoping to stay under $600ish.

What do you recommend?

Thanks, Joel
  • Well, I spent way too much time searching for something that met all of my criteria. I don't think it exists. So I pulled the trigger on a Cannon imageCLASS MF3010 VP. It doesn't have wireless, or a document feeder, and it prints in black only but scans in color. But it is very compact at 10.9 x 14.7 x 10 inches, and only weighs 14 pounds. And it was only $120. It will be easy to stow away, and dig it out and put it on the table only when needed.

    Thanks for all the suggestions, and the time you all took to answer! Joel
  • It scans in color but has no way to print in color, which I thought you wanted. You can't print a scanned page in color.
  • I've had very good luck with Brother laser printers and have experienced no failures. When the toner indicates out, I just reset the cartridge and keep printing. Have discovered that there must be a significant amount of toner still intact, as I can keep printing quite a number of pages before the quality degrades.

    I've only used aftermarket toner and have had no problems. In fact, our IT printer tech at my office only buys aftermarket HP compatible color toner cartridges. Have experienced no degradation in print quality. Saves a significant expense over HP toner. BTW, my office is no small operation, part of the largest organization of its kind in the world.