Clogged HP ink cartridges

[wolf]

Never had this problem before, because with children in school, with were always using our HP inkjet printers. Recently, had clogged cartridges in two
HP printers. Purchased new cartridges (Black & Color). Less than 6 months later both printers would not print black or color.

Purchased cartridges for one HP printer, and worked fine. About 2 months later attempted to copy, again clogged cartridges.

Already, you tubed, all of the "fixes". Do not want to go that route.

My question: Has anyone purchased a color printer. Inkjet or Laser. That does not have the "clogged" cartridge problem? And how much did it cost?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Jerry1]

Laser printers do not have that problem. We got rid of our inkjet printers in stages. First we got a Brother black and white laser printer. Works great. Then the prices came down on the color lasers and we finally got that. Not quite as good as inkjet for photos, but still very good. We ended up with the HP MFP M277 dw. It scans, copies and prints. The cartridges are expensive, but we use it infrequently and therefore, we're not too worried about the ongoing cost. If I still had kids or was printing photo or just printing a lot in general, I might pause but if you print a lot, you wouldn't have the clogged inkjet problem.

 

[SecondCor521]

From what I understand it is a technology limitation. If not used regularly, the ink in the print heads dries out and the cartridge clogs.

Off the top of my head, I thought slightly wetting the print heads would fix it pretty easily.

It would probably depend on the ink formulation from manufacturer to manufacturer, but I think most manufacturers optimize for the "regular use" use case rather than the "occasional use" use case. The former spends more money on ink. ;-)

That all being said, I own and use a Canon Pixma MP250 and have never had clogged cartridges in several years of use. I probably print a page every week or three.

 

[Sunset]

We have been using laser printers for about 8 years now, never a clog in them as they can't clog.

Ours are B&W (Brother has some of the lowest per page price, which are very cheap).

Of course it also does copies, and fax.

I would only print color for photos, and for that I'm happy to sent the order to a photo store for 10 cents a photo.

 

[zinger1457]

I stopped using ink jet printers years ago, just not worth the hassle to me. A laser color printer use toner (not ink) cartridges so clogging won't be a problem but never owned one so not sure what other maintenance issues you might run into. Do you have a specific need for a color printer? I use a B/W laser all in one printer, been using the same toner cartridge (good for ~8000 pages) for ~7 years and still going strong.

 

[omni550]

Another fan of laser jet printers. Have these (Brother HL-2270DW, only prints in black) in each of my 2 homes where they can sit unused for 6 months with no issues, ever. And the cartridges last forever (especially if you spring for the bigger size). Have had one for about 10 years, the other for about 3 years. Would never consider going back to the hassle, poor quality, and cost per page of an ink jet.

omni

 

[REWahoo]

And the cartridges last forever (especially if you spring for the bigger size).

Yep. And when you do need a replacement cartridge they are a bargain. I just bought two of the larger size remanufactured Brother cartridges for less than $6 each, including shipping.

 

[W2R]

I bought a Brother color laser printer over ten years ago, and it still does not need any replacement cartridges. I don't do a whole lot of printing, but it prints what I need when I need it.

The only "down side" is that according to the manufacturer, it weighs around 75 pounds or so. Picking it up is like picking up a boulder. So, when I moved I put it in a place where I intend to leave it forever.

I don't know how much it cost, but a Brother color laser printer is probably cheaper (and lighter) now than it was back then.

 

[Hermit]

I think I might have messed up. I bought a spare Brother cartridge for my laser printer seven or eight years ago. I may never use it!

 

[Clone]

I bought a LaserJet Pro 400 color M451dn about 5 years ago. Works like a champ. Cartridges are expensive, but they last a long time. I don't think we have replaced the color yet, most of our printing is B&W. It looks like the current model (M452dn) is about $280. About 42 pounds. The 452nw (which includes wireless is listed on Amazon prime for $235, so need to understand the differences.

Looks like a set of 4 cartridges- Black, Cyan, Yellow, Magenta is around $374, and each cartridge is good for 2300 pages. The specs say that the 'introductory cartridges' that come with it are good for 1200 pages each.

 

[tfudtuckerpucker]

We have a Brother MFC-J470DW inkjet wireless printer/scanner. Generic cartridges cost about $1 each. We've never had a clog. Brother claims about 300 pages per cartridge, so that would be about 0.3 cents per page for ink.

 

[Sunset]

Our B&W Brother printer costs 2.4 cents per page for the brand name cartridges, and less than an penny for the refill type.

OP should consider a laser printer, as the savings in ink will pay for the purchase over a few years.

 

[wolf]

Thanks for all of the responses. Will clarify. Currently have 3 each, H/P laser, black only printers. Great. Print forever, never clog. Have 2 H/P ink jet cartridge printers. If you do not use them regularly, they clog. Brand new cartridges will clog, if printers are left idle for month or so. Would like to copy items in color, or when printing out "road maps", color is much
easier to read then black. Would rarely use color copying, but still nice to have the convenience.

Thanks Jerry 1. Will look into the H/P MFP M2777 dw. Seems, laser color printer is
the only solution.

 

[Meadbh]

I have never owned an inkjet printer. I bought my first laser printer in 1992 or so, an HP, Black and White. I think it cost about $3000. Bought my second one, a Brother MFC9320CW, in 2011. It scans, it faxes, it prints in many colours. Never had a problem with clogging. The cost of toner cartridges is annoying for a low volume user, but I have found a local outlet that sells reconditioned cartridges at a reasonable price. They work just fine.

 

[JTOrt]

We leave our HP printer in our winter home for up to 7 months at a time through the hot summer months. When we arrive in the fall and need the printer I wipe the cartridge jets with a wet paper towel. The first page smears a bit but it is good for the season if it prints every 2 - 3 weeks. The present cartridges are 2 years old.

 

[Alan]

We used that problem with our HP inkjet printer, particularly after we retired. After every long trip away we would come back and have to replace the cartridges. When it broke we bought a Brother inkjet on recommendation in 2012 of a friend and it cleans the heads itself periodically so on our long trips away we leave it powered on and have never had that problem since.

I do think that next time we buy a printer I may spring for laser jet.

 

[misanman]

We have not had a problem in recent years with ink jet clogging (have three ink jets, two HP and one Canon). The print head just failed on the 8 year old photo printer (HP) so I replaced it with the Envy 7640, which was highly rated by CR. I leave the HP's powered on 24x7. The large format Canon is used pretty infrequently so I power that one down between sessions.

 

[VanWinkle]

I bought my first laser printer, a brother, and it is great for my black and white printing. I don't print photos or color of any kind. I buy replacement toner from LD products at a discount to Brother cartridges. So far it is saving me money on print cartridges as they last forever it seems.

 

[wolf]

We leave our HP printer in our winter home for up to 7 months at a time through the hot summer months. When we arrive in the fall and need the printer I wipe the cartridge jets with a wet paper towel. The first page smears a bit but it is good for the season if it prints every 2 - 3 weeks. The present cartridges are 2 years old.

Thanks, it worked. Was able to copy health insurance cards in color. Not perfect. But good enough.

Think I will plan on buying a color laser in future. Noticed Costco, is selling an Hp color laser printer for $349.99

 

[Tom57]

Dumped HP printer

I got tired of my HP Office Jet all in one clogging up, cleaning the head every month and spending big bucks on ink cartridges.
Replaced with Epson ET-4550 all in one. NO INK CARTRIDGES. The printer has ink tanks and the printer comes with 2 sets of bottled ink enough for about 8,000 copies, which is a lifetime supply for me. About $325 and it works great.
I am happy to say goodbye to HP.

 

[Music Lover]

I bought a Samsung M2020 laser printer for $75 on a Boxing Day sale a couple years ago. I've printed a few hundred pages so far and still have 53% ink left. The cartridge is supposedly good for 1000 pages.

 

[Hermit]

I use an Office Jet printer. I don't have a problem with the ink, but the pick-up wheel is dried out and it struggles to pick up paper. When I move in to the house, I will resurrect the Brother Laser for black and white and I think I will get a color printer that prints up to 11 inches wide so I can do 11x17 if needed.

 

[wolf]

I got tired of my HP Office Jet all in one clogging up, cleaning the head every month and spending big bucks on ink cartridges.
Replaced with Epson ET-4550 all in one. NO INK CARTRIDGES. The printer has ink tanks and the printer comes with 2 sets of bottled ink enough for about 8,000 copies, which is a lifetime supply for me. About $325 and it works great.
I am happy to say goodbye to HP.

Interesting. That was my plan "B". So, any clogging with your Epson. Especially if left idle for months? Understand color laser, never have clogging issue. So will either go color laser, or maybe Epson?

Thanks.

 

[Walt34]

We replaced our inkjet printer with a laser that lasted about ten years (DW was in school at the time and printed a LOT of paper - I bought paper in 10-ream boxes). The replacement was a Dell E525w that has worked well. I just looked and Staples has it for $180 which is about $40 less than I paid at the time. We're very happy with the printer so far.

For photos I use a Canon Pro-100 which is designed for photos. We don't use it for anything else. For a casual user who only prints photos once in a while that printer is definite overkill and a much less expensive printer would fill that need better.

 

[Tom57]

No experience

Interesting. That was my plan "B". So, any clogging with your Epson. Especially if left idle for months? Understand color laser, never have clogging issue. So will either go color laser, or maybe Epson?

Thanks.

I can't answer what happens to Epson ET-4550 if left idle for months.
I use my Epson at least every 3 weeks.
The Epson user manual does say:
" If your printouts are faint or have gaps, run a nozzle check to see if any of the print head nozzles are clogged. Then clean the print head, if necessary."
Print head cleaning is a maintenance menu selection item and does not require cleaning by hand.
So it may take a few minutes of your life to clean the printhead every x months and use some of your ink and 3 sheets of paper. I believe the ink supply supplied with the printer is a lifetime supply for me but maybe you will have to buy more ink bottles in 10 or 20 years.