| To get a perspective of the best printers in | | | | 1. Canon: Canon tops the list in this |
| the market, recently PC Mag conducted the | | | | category. With more than average ratings, |
| Reader's Choice: Printer's Survey. After all, | | | | multifunction ink jets, as well as photo |
| who better than the consumer to review which | | | | printers, Canon has distinguished itself |
| printers are the best! In the Reader's Choice | | | | well. Another interesting aspect - less than |
| survey more than 6500 printers, including | | | | 3% of Canon printers needed repair on average |
| color ink jets to mono lasers were analyzed. | | | | and their technical support is much superior |
| | | | than others. Even Canon's ink is top quality |
| Service levels being the new driver | | | | with affordable rates. Canon ink cartridges |
| | | | cost has a score of 4.9 out of 10, with an |
| According to the Reader's Survey, the top two | | | | overall rating of 5.7. |
| in the list are Canon and HP respectively. | | | | |
| While HP has always remained the favorite, | | | | 2. HP: The overall score for HP is better |
| Canon has moved ahead of it this year. | | | | than average. However their technical support |
| Product features are no longer the sole | | | | still remains unpopular, in spite of their |
| yardstick of competitive edge. The new | | | | Instant support utility which maps |
| 'mantra' of success is the service levels and | | | | dysfunctional printers to the call centers |
| maintenance required. That's why overall, | | | | for instant action. The root of the problem |
| parts needing repair have declined from 11% | | | | lies in HP's support providers. HP ink is |
| to 8% over a one year span! Among printers | | | | costlier and also the 3rd party ink of HP |
| less than a year old, the ones which stood | | | | printers. Even their photopaper is costly! |
| their ground were Konica Minolta and Samsung. | | | | |
| These printers did not need much repair as | | | | 3. Brother's: The quality of ink is not as |
| far as their units were concerned. | | | | good although cost of ink does not pose a |
| | | | major problem with consumers. Their mono |
| Service levels have not been up to readers' | | | | lasers require minimal maintenance and have |
| expectations although the basic technical | | | | scored well. However Brother's ink and photos |
| support is fine by them. | | | | overall get a poor score. |
| | | | |
| Printer type scores | | | | 4. Epson: Their first-year printers have |
| | | | received very good scores- an 8.2 rating. |
| As far as home printers go, Samsung seems to | | | | However since 2005, there's been a sharp rise |
| be the top on the list. Another interesting | | | | in repairs needed - almost 6% of the new |
| observation is that HP, which used to be the | | | | printers needed repair - a disturbing trend |
| strong favorite, isn't anywhere among the top | | | | for Epson. |
| 2 in the photo printers category. In fact, | | | | |
| Epson and Canon take the top 2 slots. HP does | | | | 5. Dell: While Dell as a brand commands |
| seem to do well in the monochrome lasers | | | | respect and trust, when it comes to printers, |
| category, with a good margin. Brother and | | | | it doesn't seem to get the same level of |
| Samsung lag behind HP in this segment. Konica | | | | trust. Even their web based support is below |
| and Lexmark are next in line. | | | | satisfactory levels. |
| | | | |
| Ink jets: The most popular ones | | | | 6. Lexmark: The only saving grace for |
| | | | Lexmark would probably be its repair rating - |
| Ink jets, being the most widely-used printers | | | | a good score of 6%. Apart from this, all |
| that they are, deserve special mention. | | | | other aspects score poor - be it reliability, |
| That's why the Reader's Choice survey chose | | | | recommendation from consumers or even |
| to pick the top 6 favorites in this segment: | | | | technical support. |
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