I have a chance to buy an hp 650 c really cheap . looking for advice . is this too old of a plotter that would cost too much in repairs , r parts easy to come by , and can you still buy the ink cartridges , or would I be better off just going ahead and purchasing a newer model ?
Working from memory here, but I believe that the 650 uses the same ink cartridges as the 750. I did extensive research on a 750 a few months back and found that HP no longer sells the color cartridges for these machines and spare parts are limited.
I have a 650C. It uses the HP40 black / HP50 color series cartridges.
Still find them for purchase.
Its been a solid plotter. One maintenance session in 12+ years.
Every once in a while, they do need a new belt and data ribbon cable to the head.
Mostly use for black/white plotting. The cartridges can get dry and need reviving if used sporadically. But this may be the case on most plotters.
Drivers for XP or Win7 may be an issue... Definitely check into that, depending on your operating system.
Damn... I literally just tossed out a bunch of cartridges for a 650 last week, would have gladly dropped them in the mail to you...
Check to see if the drivers you need are available.
Steve,
I bought one last year for a great price from a buddy of mine that took it in as a trade in,. He and his brother own a computer shop.
It is a solid plotter. The only problem I have with it is that the paper crawls to the left, and I have to reload the paper after about 6 or 7 plots, but that's not to big of a problem.
I have no trouble finding cartridges for it.
Jimmy
Ink should be available, but parts and finding a service tech will be the problem.
I have a zip file of 64 bit drivers for those older HP plotters. It should allow you to connect with your Win 7 or Vista system.
