Help! I Need advice on a good cheap Mobile Printer

I am going to install a MFC in my van. My issue is that Apple iOS is not pdf “friendly”, so I am probably going to have to buy a tablet to do mobile printing.

What has your experience and pitfalls been with your printer?

The biggest problem is printing the legal pages separate from the letter sized paper. I haven’t had a chance to see if I can reprogram the trays as yet. The work around is to use the phone as a hotspot (free with metro pcs), and then open the document on your phone or tablet and keep a watch on the pages as you print the package.

This printer will stop and tell you that “a different size paper was detected” when it is time to print a legal page within the pdf file. So, if you see there are two legal pages to be printed next, you simply add those two blank, legal pages to the manual feed and then it will just auto revert to printing the rest on the regular sized paper in the tray, until it runs into the next legal sized paper and it warns you again.

The downside is that you cannot just print on the go. However, it still saves you time and gas. I just pull into a parking lot to print so I can do everything I need to.

I am new and have not done any signings yet. Do you often find that a loan package has both legal and letter sized paper to print? Is that why everyone says it’s critical to have 2 trays? I thought it would be easy enough to just switch the paper in the one tray if necessary, but it sounds like legal size is mixed right in with letter size? I guess the dual trays just allow the printing to happen automatically on whatever paper size it detects?

Most of the time, they request you print both. And, yes, you can just switch out legal for the letter. But, documents must stay in the order they were sent to you. So it can be stressful, especially when you are just starting out, to have to worry about switching out pages.

Look, this is a business and a very cheap one to get started in. If you want to be professional, do the best job you can do, and in this way drum up enough business to live off of, then you need to put forth the money to purchase professional equipment. I just purchased a printer for $300 at Best Buy (online). It is the one I use in the car because it is fast, compact and has beautiful print. The one I use at home, which was the first one I bought (you don’t need to worry about being mobile as yet…start making money with your home equipment and then graduate to a mobile setup.

Now to make it a cheaper setup, I would get that same printer I mentioned previously and use it at home to start. It is the cheapest way to get started with two trays. And, by the way, I did reprogram the trays. Now it prints on both legal and letter automatically. Although HPs aren’t my favorite (they are cheaply made and break down within a year or two, I’ve found), but they resolve your start up business for sure!

Thank you so much. This is very helpful! I hear a lot of people talk about the brother printers being better than HP, but I’ll compare both and decide. I really appreciate your help! Thanks again.

If you need low-power, something like the HP Deskjet 250 is not a bad deal. In addition to decent print, it allows you to scan documents and comes in at $299.

If you’re running at AC power (or with a 1000w inverter), a $100-300 laser printer (or MFC with scanning/copying). I keep one in a plastic crate and set up near an outlet when I need to.

HWB.

Hello notaryme, I just looked it up and it looks like it is a single-tray printer. Did you order a second tray? Also, could you tell me about the inverter – what it is and how it works? I’m at the point in my business where I could really benefit from having a printer in my vehicle. I use a Brother at home and it is HUGE. So, I’d like something smaller for on the road. Thanks for any input you can provide.

You don’t need a second tray, which is its beauty! It holds 100 legal pages in it’s “manual” tray. I don’t put that much as I don’t ever need that many pages with my packages. So, I can close it and cover it with a throw when I am driving and not using it.

Brother doesn’t do well on inverters as they pull too much energy. So, what I have is a Sine Wave Inverter, which is a little more expensive. For my printer, which pulls 400 watts of energy, I have a 1000 watt inverter (these energy concious HP printers are energy effecient so you only need double the watts on your inverter. This is because even though the printer is a 400 watt printer, the wattage may jump up as much as three times the amount noted when printing. The typical Brother is 600 watts and up. However, they need a Sine Wave Inverter that is 3 times that amount or higher (or 1800). If you notice, when you run your big Brother printer at home, the lights actually blink!

Thank you notaryme! I’m seriously considering the HP you recommended. Could you also tell me which inverter you purchased and how you have it connected to your vehicle?

I found a location that installs car radios and things and they installed it for me. . It is installed directly to the battery. I have it sitting in the back of my small SUV, but I should have just put it under the passenger seat. My sister has it in the trunk but that is no good because then you would have to go out into the rain to turn it on, which is actually the same problem I have because I didn’t install the remote. This is the one I bought on Amazon:

BELTTT 1000W Pure Sine Wave Inverter 12V DC to 110V AC with 2 AC Outlets ,
1 USB Charging Port, and Remote Switch (2000W Peak)
Sold by: BELTTT
$169.99

Thank you so much for your advice and product recommendations. I’m sure you saved me a ton of time and stress by sharing your experience and expertise. May your kindness come back to you 100-fold!

Awww, my pleasure! Good luck to you!

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Which Hp Printer do you have in your car?

how do you know if your printer is high or low energy? Can you mess up your car battery? ( i don’t know much about cars)

I am also a real estate agent and have had several mobile printers over the years. None that fit in a rolling briefcase are really designed for that much volume. I have seen a number of printers recommended, but they are not really mobile - as in fit in your rolling briefcase. I have had the two most common - HP and Cannon. I had nothing but trouble with each of 3 HPs I had. Usually HPs are good, but not in mobile. I finally settled on a cannon. Good print, not too many double feeds or need to restart my computer. They do eat the ink though and lots of printing will need some tune up and fixing. I would not recommend it for a whole giant package. There are some smaller regular printers that you could keep in your car and drag into a Starbucks to print heavier loads. Most smaller ones are inkjet though.

Update. I started having problems with the 1000w. So, I purchased a 1500 watt and problems are gone.

It is not recommended to print packages with “ink cartridges”. You must always print your documents with toner printers.

The printer I use is HP Laser Jet Pro and I purchase the high yield toner cartridges.

It could mess up your battery if you are not careful. I never run the inverter/printer unless my car is running. So when I arrive at my closing, after printing the package, I make sure I turn off the inverter/printer before turning off my car. Just use common sense.

A laser/LED printer is always desirable, but power concerns limit options for truly mobile printers.

My firm has Brother PocketJet 6’s & 7’s, Canon & HP portable inkjets, and compact laser printer/copiers. We generally carry a Brother compact laser MFC in the vehicle trunk, which we’ll normally set up in a parking lot (using a client’s site, lamp-post outlet, Starbucks, McDonalds or other outlet for AC - we only have one vehicle with > 500w of inverter).

Again, the mobile printer is for EXCEPTIONS, not as primary production (at least in my case). If I have a signing that’s assigned while I’m far from office, I seek out somewhere I can plug in. Even a diner will let you plug in (with an adequate tip :slight_smile: ).

HWB.