As the title really, it appears to be a minefield of conflicting reviews and dubious compatibility. Obviously I would like the moon on a stick- all the features at minimal cost. Any recommendations please?

I’ve always found Canon printers good – and have something like this:

Canon MG6250

Be careful that a cheap printer doesn’t mean more expensive than normal catridges – check out the cost of printing per page.

EDIT – that might not have Airprint for those locked into the Apple way of doing things. info from Canon

Bought the Canon MG5350 with a £10 set of cartridges from eBay last month – so far, so good. AirPrint is stupidly easy.

Thanks, I’m not entirely locked into the Apple world, but it would be very handy to print straight from the phone. That canon looks good, but a bit more than I wanted to spend really.

I was looking at HP, they do one for £60.
http://h20386.www2.hp.com/UKStore/Merch/Product.aspx?id=B0N11B&opt=BEV&sel=PRN&lay=uk

I’ve always rated Epson printers, but Canon get good reviews too.

HP 6510 working well for me so far on airprint

If you run OSX, just download Fingerprint and use your existing printer. Runs brilliantly and I can print from any iOS device as long as the “hub” PC is turned on.