I agree 100%.
Canons are indeed a mixed bag, I've also seen one act as if it was bulletproof.
The Epson inkjets have given me driver problems in the past. It's really hard to mess up a printer driver... I'd like to assume that that's not a problem now.
My experience with HP is that if they fail, it usually becomes garbage, because repairing it is cost prohibitive (welcome to America, the home of disposables!)
As for Lexmark, they're the ones guilty of having an expensive ink solution.
The best bang for the buck IMO is an old HP laserjet: no colors but if you don't need it, you'll be eternally grateful for not having to buy a new cartridge because your kid "accidentally" printed the whole Barney website!