Do You Take a Printer on the Road for Long Trips?

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Poppys 5th Wheel

Poppys 5th Wheel

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Jul 25, 2010
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Carlsbad, Ca
Deb and I are preparing for our (minimum) 3 month across country trip in Mid-August. We always carry our laptops but have never bothered with a printer although we've only been gone for 3 weeks at the most. I'm curious if others carry printers on long trips or doesn't anybody find it necessary?
 
No, but;

It depends on the computer you have now.  If you have a tablet, or a phone like the Samsung Galaxy note 3, you can sign things on the screen.  So with both a laptop that has a touch screen, as well as a tablet, and cell phone with a pen, I can fill out, sign, or carry any document without printing it out.  For instance, if I need a reservation form, I can carry either the tablet or the phone in with me, and it works.  If I need to fill out a form and sign it, then send it back; With Adobe I can do all that then save and send the filled out, and signed document. 

So I no longer carry a printer with me.
 
On our longer trips, longer than a week or so, we carry one of the smaller printers we have.  My wife is not computer savvy so I need to print out stuff from the grand kids or others.  Helps with name badges in impromptu rallies too.  I have done long trips without but found I needed to have stuff printed and used local print shops, $$$.    :)

Shortly we will be on a trip and may need stuff printed for legal purposes so will take the printer on the 4 weeker we are taking.
 
Yes, we carry a small Canon IP-90 printer (probably not made anymore).  It's about the size of a carton of cigarettes.  We also have a Canon Lide 210 scanner that fits nicely in a drawer.  We use them a surprising amount.  We use the printer more than the scanner, but even the scanner comes in handy if we want to send something digitally to someone.  Don't forget you also have to carry paper and ink cartridges if you carry a printer.  We had a computer desk built in place of a cocktail table and it has a nifty pullout drawer that holds the small printer and a ream of paper at the back.

ArdraF

 
My DW and I are heading out in August and not returning home until mid-November. I don't know if I'll actually use it or not but I will pack a printer/scanner under the bed so its available just in case.
 
We carried an Epson inkjet for years until they didn't make any more cartridges for it. Work fine, but went through ink like mad.  now we carry an HP Laserjet P1102w and love it. Works much better than the inkjet ever did. Main reason we got it we it is small and cartridge refills are not temperature sensitive and seem to last for ever.

 
Chet18013 said:
Now we carry an HP Laserjet P1102w and love it. Works much better than the inkjet ever did. Main reason we got it we it is small and cartridge refills are not temperature sensitive and seem to last for ever.
Click to expand...

Sounds like an optimal idea in terms of size and weight, longevity and economy.

The big problem I've heard about with inkjets, is that they leak ink in mountain country due changes in atmospheric pressure. Not sure how valid that consideration might be these days. I don't know about other mfgs, but Canon cartridges have vent holes which are supposed to be unsealed when the cartridge is installed; so atmospheric changes shouldn't be a problem.
 
We also picked up a wireless printer from Walmart a few years back for about $50, it lives under the bed. When we are gone for long periods it is handy to print out credit card or bank statements to make it easier to balance them. Don't need it much besides that but because of the low cost couldn't afford not to bring it along.
 
We take out HP 6510 wireless printer/flatbed scanner in both the MH and the boat. We use it often for recipes the wife finds online, baseball tickets for 16 games for 5 people, hockey tickets, reservation confirmations, trip logs, pictures and any number of other things. We've never had a problem with inkcartridges but then we've only been to 7,000 feet with it, so maybe going over tall mountains might be a problem.  ;D I used it today at 6 feet above sea level (in the boat) to print out the hockey schedule for next years games. We need the Feb and Mar dates when we're in Phoenix. I may have problems keeping track of that exact piece of e-mail, but have no problem with the printed page in the march file folder. Everyone organizes differently so I stay with a system I know works for me.

I have a similar printer at the S&B so this one only transfers between the two RV's with it's small bag of ink cartidges and a couple reams of paper.

Ken
 
When I first started traveling I needed a printer, and I wanted one that was
1: NOT made by EPSON and
2: Could print on Ink-jet printable CD blanks.

Cannon Pixima was the printer of choice, did all the above resonable price and lasted 8 hears

A Cannon MG-Class Wireless printer/scanner/copier replaced it, Also does CD's (Came with a tray so unlike the older Pixima I did not have to buy a tray and reprogram the printer) has even more features,  However does not printe direct from my camera (Which I never use any more cuse it's broke) WILL print direct from my phone (Pxima Print application) does Photos, Paper and CDs..  I like it.
 
John From Detroit said:
When I first started traveling I needed a printer, and I wanted one that was
1: NOT made by EPSON and
2: Could print on Ink-jet printable CD blanks.

Cannon Pixima was the printer of choice, did all the above resonable price and lasted 8 hears

A Cannon MG-Class Wireless printer/scanner/copier replaced it, Also does CD's (Came with a tray so unlike the older Pixima I did not have to buy a tray and reprogram the printer) has even more features,  However does not printe direct from my camera (Which I never use any more cuse it's broke) WILL print direct from my phone (Pxima Print application) does Photos, Paper and CDs..  I like it.
Click to expand...

Prior to using the Canon, I had HP's. Now the HPs I had had features (Card readers) I miss, but.. They did not do print-on CD's. which is why I switched.. Today's HP's some of them do have that feature..

Basically I'd recommend either one.. or any other good home printer for that matter, other than Epson, I was very upset with the Epson Ink Jet that came with my daughter's Dell, that )@W#R@# never worked properly till I got a repair kit from HP.

(HP makes a repair kit for Epson printers.?    Yup, it's called a PHOTOSMART PRINTER).
Edit: Fixed quote.
 
We have an Epson all-in-one. Wouldn't leave home without it. Before Mike redesigned our dinette to put the printer on one seat, we used to stick it under the dinette. Wireless printing and we're fine. We carry it into the house when we get home then back into the MH when we're off on a trip.
 
We put the printer from the S&B in the trailer. I wanted to use it twice and both times the ink had dried due to lack of use. If we need something printed now, we save it on a USB stick and take it to a public library or a store that does printing. Much less frustrating to me.
 
Decide what, if anything, you really need a printer for.  Although we did carry a printer for the years we full timed, we rarely used it other than for printing the Christmas calendars, and those could have been done at an office supply store.  We print many things to PDF files and read them on the computer or a tablet.  Even forms that we receive via email or online that require signatures, we print to PDF and use a PDF viewer that has the capability to insert a signature graphic before email back to the sender.  About the only use for an onboard printer I can think of would be to print out photos to give to others, but even those can be done by putting them online and letting the recipients print them themselves.
 
Decide what, if anything, you really need a printer for.
Click to expand...

Yeah. I'm trying to figure out what people would actually need to print. If they have a ready answer, then they clearly need a printer, I'd guess.

Myself, I can copy and paste and save information to WordPad if I need it, without printing it. Photos, I'd print from media at any big box retailer. You can save any bookmark for easy reference, again without printing it. Or, just leave that tab open until you are done with it. If you need a once-in-a-while print of some document, save it to a flash drive and visit a public library.

It seems to me that the possibility of damaging dirt and dust getting to the printer, running out of ink just when you need it and having one more thing to fit inside the RV would be more hassle than worthwhile to anyone except a full-timer. If I was full-time, yes, I'd pack one. Maybe.
 
We've been using the same Canon wireless printer for five years. Used to be for my work but now mostly Tara's knitting instructions and a hard copy of directions sometimes.

We've never had a problem with ink drying or anything else!

Ernie
 
I found a coupon for a relatively small and lightweight Epson printer.  After the coupon and instant rebate the printer cost me $10.  I put it in the trailer and left it there.  It does a good job printing. doesn't eat up the ink cartridges and is fairly fast.

I print incoming emails for my wife to read off-screen.  While on our longer trips (one to four months) we print letters to mail to our older non computer family and friends.  We also do our Christmas Letter and print it for mailing while on the road.  I send a lot of trip photos (mostly wildlife) on emails while on the road.  The Epson also does a good job printing small snap shot photos to include in the snail mail letters.
 
I might add,  My printer is used for all the following:
Printing PAPER routing maps
Printing recipies so I do not have to lay the electroincs on the table (I store them in page protectors in a loose leaf binder)
Printing photos,, Assorted cards (Birthday, Annerversery, QSL (Confirmation of radio contact).
Addressing envelopes (TO: The bank FROM:The guy paying the RV loan)
and more

I also from time to time print out a comic strip, For example here at Cathead creek Ranch RV park there is a guy who runs around many days of the week on the riding lawn mower.
I forget which Comic it was but a couple weeks ago it was a single panel (Speed bump most likely)

Two horses in the paddock eating grass, one talking to the other  "I don't know what that thing he's riding today is but it sure is a messy eater"  (The gentelman was riding the lawn mower of course)..  Figgured the landlord would wish to give that to his grass cutter/man Friday.
 
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