Best cheap paper for inkjets

There are 3 big grades of 8.5x11 paper: the document grade (20-24lb, 1-2 cents/page) that tend to sell in packs of 500, the presentation grade (28lb-??lb, 10-20 cents/page) that tend to sell in packs of 100, and then the photo grade, where the sky’s the limit for pricing. Laser printers seem to be just fine printing on the cheapest of paper, but you try an inkjet on that same paper, and you’ll get an ink-bleeding mess. I wanted to see if you could get a decent inkjet (in this case, an Epson Artisan 710) to print out documents approaching laser quality if you pay a little more for the paper. I took my generic “Eco” paper that costs less than 1 cent per page, and compared it against a number of papers costing twice as much. Let’s see who fared best (no, I did not do a test print on a napkin) …

Conclusion? Staples Inkjet (UPC 718103037518) was the best. It was consistently flaw-free, had a pleasantly cooler color temperature than the rest (it made it seem brighter, unsure if it actually is), and produced the sharpest text. The HP All-in-One (UPC 764025207003) paper deserves an honorable mention, as it was also flaw-free, had a good standard color temperature and brightness, and produced the second sharpest text. I expected similar results from the Hammermill, as it uses the same “ColorLok” technology as on the HP paper, indicating the same chemical treatment of the paper is used, and indeed, they look very similar. What drops the Hammermill down a notch is a higher incidence of flaws in the sheets. The flaws were small, and many sheets were pristine, but still, it’s a negative. As for the heavier stock advantage over the HP (24lb vs HP’s 22lb), both failed to really block details from the other side showing through, so it’s not much of an advantage.

The cheapest “Eco” paper, 30% of which is recycled content, did alright for its price. Sure, it’s peppered with flaws, but it’s cheap. The Office Depot paper, also being 30% recycled content, was a bit of a disappointment, as its only advantage over the cheap paper was it being slightly thicker and slightly brighter. It had just as high of incidence of flaws.

The biggest disappointment, though, was the most expensive. The Epson Bright White Paper, which went over my 2 cents/page limit for this roundup (it cost 10.99 for a 500 pack), presented itself initially as a worthwhile upgrade. It comes in a box with loose plastic covering inside, rather than a tight plastic wrapper, and the paper is stacked pristinely, and it glides out easily. That’s it for the positive. The incidence of flaws was merely average. And that unique color you see in amongst all the test clippings? The scanner actually captured it rather well. It’s the grayest, dullest paper of them all. It’s also the worst for bleeding… as in, you don’t even need to look too closely to see just how badly the paper soaks up the ink.

Unfortunately, the Staples paper has a bitter-sweet victory. As can be clearly seen, none of the papers here today came close to laser quality on even the cheapest paper. I was able to get laser-like quality on the next rung up (10 - 25 cents per page) of papers, but that’s starting to get a bit ridiculous. Do note I did try fine tuning the print settings to try and get better quality out of the same papers, but was unable to get noticeably sharper results – it seems all paper in this bottom rung is doomed to some bleeding.

So, there’s a secondary conclusion here: inkjets are a poor value for day to day work (not that this is a surprise). In the long run, you’ll be spending more, and getting amateurish results while you’re at it.