Printer

Never have taken a printer while camping, but there are times it would be nice. Like when purchasing a fishing license online and it has to be printed out to be valid. As stated before, you're better off with a laser printer. An inkjet will dry out if it's not used on a periodic basis.

Like I said in an earlier reply, we carry a B&W laser and use it almost daily, going through a ream of paper about every three months. I print out every reservation we make as proof we have made it and the deposit we made if any. I also read our hometown paper every morning and print out four of the puzzles for me to work later in the day. There are also numerous other occasions we use the printer. Since it's also a scanner and copier, it also gets occasionally used for those purposes. I wouldn't be without it.

I used to like to print out our campsite reservations because often, there's no phone service to pull up the email with the confirmation number etc. But our last trip it dawned on me that I could take a screen shot with my phone of the reservation confirmation email, so it would save it on my phone that way and wouldn't require any kind of internet or phone service to view it.

If I'm on a computer, I often use a Print to PDF program so it saves whatever I wanted to print as a PDF, which I can then email to myself, or save as a copy on my phone or laptop. If you email it to yourself or save on a thumb drive, then it makes it easier to print when you actually get to a printer.

We've printed out a few things over the years, but mostly the printer stays in its little case, unloved and unused.

RRTom wrote:
Ok, as the original poster, I am interested in the NECESSITY to have a printer along. And if so, what you use it for and any general tips on the subject. Sorry, maybe I should have been more clear in my post. Thanks for all the responses.

In our case, I will not be printing airline boarding passes while in the motor home. With the GPS apps on our personal electronic devices I don't necessarily see any need to print out directions. But is there a need for a printer that I am not thinking of?

RR, ONLY YOU can answer YOUR question, no one else can answer it.

Perhaps the better way is to reverse the question to you..

How much printing AT HOME do you do?

Very little, 1-2 pages a month? (most likely no need)

More 1-2 pages per WEEK? (most likely NICE TO HAVE)

Reams of pages PER DAY? (TOTALLY ESSENTIAL TO HAVE)

How important to you is having a hard copy printed document in your hands immediately while camping?

Can you DELAY printing a document until you get home?

What DO YOU PRINT AT HOME that you might want to be able to print while camping?

High resolution pictures?

Junk Farcebook pictures?

Hard copy operation manuals?

Hard copy of reservations? (yeah, having a hard copy did save our bacon once when the campground LOST our reservation we made a yr in advance, but we printed it at home BEFORE we left).

Type of printer also depends on your desired outcome, color high res photos, Inkjet will give better results than color or B&W laser, although for longer lasting photos in a snap, send them to Walmart or Sams and have them printed on a professional photo printer (prices are much cheaper when adding in ink cart cost).

Simple text with some photos you don't care about, B&W laser is the way to go.

Simple text in color and some color photos in the text would be nice to have then color laser might be the ticket.

Camping style, with shore power 100% or completely off the grid?

Shore power camping laser is a good choice.

Off the grid, inkjet would be the better choice since it will operate from an battery/inverter with no problem.

Laser off grid while might be do able, but would require a hefty inverter to be able to deal with the high startup surge that they draw so much less ideal for this stye of camping.

As far as small "compact" travel size printers goes, they are pretty much a novelty. Often have no paper tray and will just gravity feed just a couple of pages at a time making a large print job an long aggravating process of refilling the small feed hopper.

Only YOU can really answer your question..