For years we have been using the Epson U220B (bond paper) printer in the kitchen.
I dont know if its pandemic pricing or what, but they are very high in cost these days.
Are there any alternatives that work well with Samba that I may can use?
You can have a look at the TM T70II model, these are quite quality printers, there is also Epson U220B model which is kind of cheaper one.
Have a nice day.
Already using the U220B and want a cheaper more available alternative.
So you want a cheaper one for a new printer? Sorry I am a bit confused as you said you are already using the U220B.
But as for printers that work well with SambaPOS, if thermal is ok for you, even cheap generic brand thermal printers work fine. If it’s an impact (dot matrix) printer you want, it can be a bit more problematic as they don’t all tend to work the same - from my own experience, Bixolon SRP-275III and
SNBC BTP-M300 work fine.
I will look at those.
To be as clear as possible…
The U220B from Epson is getting harder to locate and purchase and have increased in price from around $200 to $500 due to all this pandemic BS.
THERMAL is NOT ok in a hot kitchen.
The U220b is dot matrix against bond paper. That is what works.
Thermal will turn solid black in a hot kitchen and the cooks will be like WTF is this?
Thermal will only turn black if put directly to a heat source, a “hot kitchen” in itself will not affect thermal paper. We have many clients using thermal these days, very few want impact printers due to the price and slower print speed TBH
Increase in pricing across the board is due to shipping mostly, however the U220B at $200 seems unrealistic even in the past (unless it was a Serial or USB version), I don’t know where you sourced from at that price as it is an expensive printer anyway. In the UK where I am based, I can see the U220B going for retail at around £285 inc VAT for the ethernet version (USB version is cheaper), which is around ~$375 USD, so I would expect similar pricing in the US.
From a quick google search, it is as I expected:
$322.04
https://www.barcodediscount.com/catalog/epson/part-c31c514767.htm
$395.95
https://www.barcodesinc.com/epson/part-c31c514767.htm
Just because the MSRP is $550 doesn’t mean that’s how much it’s sold for…
Heatlamps are too close by. Thermal was tested and will not work in this kitchen.