Snag a great deal on Black Friday with one of these cost efficient printers.
Thinking about buying a new printer on Black Friday? We’ve researched the top Black Friday printer deals and narrowed it down to a handful of high performance machines that offer the best value. There are a lot of printers on sale this time of year…before we jump into our favorites, we’ll teach you which Black Friday printers to avoid so you can buy a printer that you’ll be happy with year round.
Avoid the cheapest printers
It’s hard to resist an inexpensive printer. There are always a handful of printers on sale for less than one hundred dollars on Black Friday and in the moment, they seem like a steal. Don’t be fooled by that low price! Printer manufacturers have been selling printers at break even or at a loss for years because they know they can make up the cost by selling you expensive printer cartridges. Usually these are cheap inkjet printers that use just two cartridges (a black cartridge and tri-color cartridge) and replacement ink quickly ends up costing more than the price you paid for the printer.
For example, the Canon Pixma MG3620 is one of the cheapest printers available this season. It uses the Canon PG-240 black cartridge, which retails for $19.99* and the CL-241 tri-color cartridge, which goes for $30.99. Replacing both inks costs over $50! After replacing the cartridges just two times, you’d be spending about the same amount in ink as you did on the printer. On top of that, these cartridges have one of the least efficient page yields at around 180 pages, so you can be sure that cartridge replacement will be frequent.
One final warning about cheap printers – beware of those tri-color cartridges. Tri-color cartridges include three colors: cyan, magenta and yellow. Getting all three colors in one cartridge seems convenient on the surface. However, when one color starts to run low, you need to replace the entire cartridge. That can get expensive fast. It is a similar story with almost every inexpensive printer sold on Black Friday. The printers are cheap, the cartridges are pricey and they require regular replacement.
We recommend paying a bit more for an efficient printer that uses cost effective cartridges. Buying low cost compatible printer cartridges from LD Products is another great way to save. LD cartridges offer the same high print quality as an original cartridge and they are available for a fraction of the price.
Now, onto our favorite Black Friday printers. Here, we cover a range of printers for home and office use, all of which use cost efficient cartridges and of course, are available for a super low price!
Best Inkjet Printer
HP Officejet Pro 8025 – Buy on Amazon
Key Features
- Includes print / copy / scan / fax options and wireless printing
- Two-sided duplex printing saves time and paper by letting you print on both sides of the page
- High yield 910XL ink cartridges offer a generous page yield, with each cartridge printing up to 825 pages.
- Save money and print smarter with LD-brand compatible HP 910XL ink cartridges from LD Products!
Why We Like It
Designed for home and small business users, the Officejet Pro 8025 is a popular low cost inkjet printer that is perfect if you print text and color photos often. Another win – the printer uses four individual ink cartridges, so if you are running low on one color, you just need to replace that cartridge. Keep in mind, inkjet cartridges will dry out if they are not used regularly. If you don’t print consistently and are worried about your ink drying up, consider one of the ink tank printers or laser printers mentioned later in this article.
Runner Up
Canon PIXMA TR8620 – Buy on Amazon
If color photos are important to you, the PIXMA TR8620 is a great choice. 5 individual inkjet cartridges are used to create a print, including a photo black cartridge for producing more defined shades of black in your black and white photos. The printer is compact too and is able to print 4” x 6”, 5” X 7” and 5” x 5” square borderless photos – perfect sizes for your holiday card.
Best Ink Tank Printer
Ink tank printers are a new way to print at a super low operating cost and their popularity is catching on fast. Instead of printing with a traditional printer cartridge, a refillable ink tank is used to create a print. Epson, Canon, Brother and HP have all introduced ink tank style printers over the last few years, all of which let you print thousands of pages for pennies on the dollar. Ink tank printers don’t dry out like a typical printer cartridge, which means you can print text and photos whenever you want, without worrying about a bad cartridge.
Epson Ecotank ET-2800 – Buy on Amazon
Key Features
- Includes print / copy / scan options and wireless printing
- Borderless 4” x 6“ photo printing
- Cartridge level display on the front of the printer makes it easy to keep track of ink levels
Why We Like It
This is one of Epson’s newest and most affordable ink tank printers. Ecotanks use spill-proof ink bottles instead of ink cartridges so when a particular color is running low, you fill the corresponding ink tank with the appropriate color. Bottles last much longer than the average cartridge and the refill process is easy – just hold the bottle over the tank and the ink automatically stops when it reaches capacity. The Epson 522 ink bottle prints up to 4,500 pages and each color ink bottle prints 7,500 pages. That’s a lot of ink! Epson sells each ink bottle for $13.99 but you can save even more with the LD brand. Our ink bottles are just $7.99 apiece!
Runner Up
Brother MFC-J1205W – Buy on Amazon
The MFC-J1205W is one of Brother’s top selling ink tank printers. If you are uncomfortable with the idea of refilling your printer with ink, this printer is a nice middle of the road option. Rather than ink bottles, the Brother Inkvestment line uses an ink cartridge to transfer the ink into the tank system. Basically it is a hybrid of a traditional inkjet printer and an ink tank printer. The cartridges take care of the refilling and you get to print thousands of pages at an incredibly low cost per page. All of your basic printing features, like copying and scanning are included, and a handy page gauge function tracks real-time ink levels on the Brother Mobile Connect app. When you do finally run out, LD Products is a great low cost option for replacement cartridges. LD-Brand cartridges for this series will be available soon, keep an eye on this post…we will update it the moment they are in stock!
Best Monochrome Laser Printer
Brother MFC-L2710DW – Buy on Amazon
Key Features
- Includes print / copy / scan / fax options and wireless printing
- Prints with a single black toner cartridge. A drum unit also required but only needs to be replaced after the use of 3-4 toner cartridges
- Toner save mode and 2-sided printing saves money on replacement cartridges and paper
Why We Like It
If you mainly print text, laser printers are your most economical printing choice. Offices that need to print strictly in black and are looking for all-in-one features at a great value will have hard time finding a better printer than the MFC-L2710DW. This printer is priced affordably, the print images are sharp and the TN-760 high yield cartridge prints 3,000 pages, perfect for a shared workspace with daily printer use. A 50-sheet automatic document feeder can handle large stacks of paper with ease and it prints fast too – up to 32 ppm. LD Products sells a compatible TN-760 cartridge for $34.99 and the drum sells for $29.99.
Runner Up
HP LaserJet Pro M4001dn – Buy on Amazon
The Laserjet Pro M4001dn is a solid monochrome laser printer that’s built for business. With prints speeds of 42 ppm and a 9,500 page HP 148X high yield toner cartridge, you get enough toner to handle all of your office documents. Bonus, you don’t need to worry about replacing a separate drum unit since the drum is built in to the toner cartridge. Look out for LD Products to come out with a cost-effective compatible HP148X toner cartridge in the near future.
Best Color Laser Printer
Brother HL-L3290CDW – Buy on Amazon
Key Features
- Includes print / copy / scan / fax options and wireless printing
- Automatic document feeder scans, copies and faxes multiple pages
- 250 sheet paper tray
Why We Like It
Brother’s MFC-L3210CW color laser printer offers many of the multifunction features you’d expect from a more expensive color laser printer at a price point that is ideal for small-medium businesses. Print speeds clock in at 25 ppm and a monthly duty cycle of 30,000 pages offers enough printing power for busy offices. Brother’s high yield TN227 color cartridges provide vibrant, high quality prints at a low price. The black toner cartridge prints 3,000 pages and each color cartridge prints 2,300 pages. LD Products sells compatible cartridges for $35.99 each.
Runner Up
Canon imageCLASS LBP622cdw – Buy on Amazon
If you are looking for a color laser printer that just prints, the Canon imageCLASS LBP622cdw is a compact, affordable option that’s a perfect fit for a busy home office. Features print speeds of up 22 pages per minute and a first print time as fast as 10.3 seconds. A compact paper tray holds up to half a ream of paper and easy wireless connectivity seamlessly prints from any smartphone or tablet. The Canon 054H high yield black toner cartridge prints 3,100 pages and each color cartridge prints 2,300 pages. Original Canon cartridges are around $90 but you can get LD’s compatible version for just $38.99 each.
*Savings based on price comparison between remanufactured/compatible cartridge prices on www.LDProducts.com and OEM cartridge and printer prices from the listed retailers: Amazon and Staples. All products are reviewed independently. As an Amazon associate, LD Products earns from qualifying purchases through links on this page. All prices effective as of June 22, 2023. OEM names are registered trademarks of their respective owners and are not affiliated with, and do not endorse LD Products.
Do you have recommendations on monochrome laser all-in-one printers?
Hi Robert,
The Brother MFC-L2710DW we feature in the article is a solid all-in-one monochrome with print / copy /scan / fax functionality. If you don’t need to fax, the Brother HL-L2390DW is another good option that is slightly cheaper. Hope this helps!
If you do not print very much, consider a laser printer! Inkjet cartridges tend to dry out if not used much and you will have to replace the cartridges long before they actually run out of ink, because the ink cannot get out. This problem does not occur with laser toner.