Canon Printer Ink Question

[kaneohe]

We have a Canon Pixma MX700 using CLI-8 ink
cartridges. Belatedly I have discovered it is an ink hog but will live w/ it for awhile. It refused to copy because the cyan was low (red X status). The magenta is on the low side (yellow ! status), and the yellow has no signals.

Is there a rule of thumb of the ratio of how fast these 3 ink colors are used up during "average" use.....printing internet screens and black&white copying? And how long can an unopened printer cartridge be stored w/o problems? Question is because I can buy one of these locally for $16.50 including tax. I can also buy a 3 pack of the 3 colors for $33 online (no tax,free shipping). I just replaced the cyan w/ a local source so it should be another 6 mos before I need the next one. If I buy the 3 pack now, the cyan will still be good in 6 mos.
(unopened)? When is it likely that magenta (in the warning stage now) and the yellow (no warning yet) will need to be replaced? (basically I buy 3 pack if storage ok and lifetime during average use is shorter;
if lifetime during average use for e.g. yellow is longer than storage period, then maybe buying the 3 pack is not so good an idea).

[LOL!]

I have a Canon printer that I use an awful lot for photos, so it really uses up the ink. I think our unopened cartridges have lasted for months, so I would not worry about that.

Have you thought about buying a new printer every time you need ink? If a printer comes with the initial cartridges and costs only $30, that may be cheaper than paying $33 for replacement cartridges.

Your color use will depend on what you print: Lots of photos of the blue sky will use up the blue ink pretty fast.

Be careful about running down to zero ink. We ruined the print head of an old Canon printer doing that. Our newer printer has replaceable print heads and 5 cartridges: black, black, cyan, yellow, and magenta.

[yakers]

Most new printers come with 'starter' cartridges which are not the capacity of full ones. If you can find cheap refilled cartridges that work for you then printing doesn't cost so much. Often photo cartridges dry out if not used for a long period of time. I am surprised how many pictures my Cannon Selphy does if I run in batches but seems to go dry if not used frequently.

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kaneohe We have a Canon Pixma MX700 using CLI-8 ink cartridges. Is there a rule of thumb of the ratio of how fast these 3 ink colors are used up during "average" use.....printing internet screens and black&white copying? And how long can an unopened printer cartridge be stored w/o problems? Question is because I can buy one of these locally for $16.50 including tax. I can also buy a 3 pack of the 3 colors for $33 online (no tax,free shipping). I just replaced the cyan w/ a local source so it should be another 6 mos before I need the next one. If I buy the 3 pack now, the cyan will still be good in 6 mos. (unopened)? When is it likely that magenta (in the warning stage now) and the yellow (no warning yet) will need to be replaced? (basically I buy 3 pack if storage ok and lifetime during average use is shorter; if lifetime during average use for e.g. yellow is longer than storage period, then maybe buying the 3 pack is not so good an idea).

Our black & cyan cartridges, both inkjet & laser, seem to get used twice as fast as yellow & magenta. But we have a high-school student using our printers and that might slow down drastically when she transfers her print load to college.

We've had no problems storing the cartridges in ziploc bags for up to a year. I guess a refrigerator would give even more storage options.

Brandon Hughes has a Cartridge World franchise in, uhm, Kaneohe. (Cartridge World Hawaii, Kaneohe HI 96744 -- MerchantCircle.com) Nice guy. He can give better advice over the phone and might even be able to match your prices. We've been using their Aiea store for a few years and they do a great job.

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

We have a couple of MX310's. LARGE cartridges (about 3x the shipped size) are available for them. The printer software sometimes gets confused and thinks that the smaller cartridges are still in the machine. We just ignore the warnings until the ink really does run out and the printing becomes crap.

We have been using Carrot Ink for years and are very happy with them: Coupon - Carrot Ink

They ship really fast!

Unfortunately, Canon has incorporated a chip into their cartridges that makes it impossible to reload them or make a cheap replacement, so even Carrot Ink can't give us good deals anymore on these inks. We like these multifunction printers, though, so we just pay.

Oh, well.

We always have a couple of sets of spare cartridges on hand.

[kaneohe]

Thanks all for all the good ideas.

Interesting thought about buying a new printer instead of new print cartridges.
We have a 4 in 1 and find printing & copying very useful (even scanned once) and was under the impression that the combo types would make that idea
not so feasible but will recheck prices.

I had not heard anything previously about "starter" cartridges.....like the starter SD chips in cameras, I guess. Maybe that will justify my not doing anything and hope the replacements last much longer.

Printer cartridges in Kaneohe? Maybe we'll check that out when we're back there next mo. for a wedding. Carrot Ink.....will have to check that out...
don't recall that name from the Google search but there were a bunch and am sure I didn't check them all.

I did run across one (real cheap) that had you remove the chip from the old one (easy, they said) and put it on the new one. Was too chicken to try that and when I took out the old one, I looked for a chip but didn't see it....only saw the contacts........anyone ever done that?

[growing_older]

Never tried moving a chip on the cartridge. That sounds quite difficult and I wouldn't want to try it. I have had no problem storing ink cartridges for a long time (over a year). Also, have learned that my Canon printer does warn about low ink way too early. You can overrride the warnings and print anyway until the ink finally does really run out. I easily get over a month of printing between the warning and the true "out of ink"

[kaneohe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by growing_older Never tried moving a chip on the cartridge. That sounds quite difficult and I wouldn't want to try it. I have had no problem storing ink cartridges for a long time (over a year). Also, have learned that my Canon printer does warn about low ink way too early. You can overrride the warnings and print anyway until the ink finally does really run out. I easily get over a month of printing between the warning and the true "out of ink"

How did you do the override on the warnings? The printer wouldn't print and I didn't see any obvious way around it? I think the manual also tried to instill some fear in you about damage if you went too far.......better for sales, I guess .

[Janet H]

A few years ago when my black and white laser printer died, I figured I would not replace it and just use my color printer. It only took a few days to realize that the bulk of my printing was black and white and that the ink prices for the color printer were high. So while I loath having two printers, it has ultimately been a much more economical choice. You may want to take a look at what it costs per page to print, especially if you do a lot of black.

[growing_older]

Quote:

How did you do the override on the warnings?

They do make it hard to find. I went through several cartridges when the printer displayed the warnings and wouldn't print before I noticed it. Nothing like printing out kids homework before trying to catch the bus, or late at night after stores are closed and suddenly the printer demands a new cartridge or it won't print. I got in the habit of keeping several on hand in case of emergency.

On my printer (Canon, but not the exact same model as yours) when the warning is issued there is a message also displayed on the front panel of the printer. From the computer side, the printing stops and tells you to replace the cartridge - I never saw a way to override. But on the printer front panel it says "Ok to continue" and if you press the "Ok" button it will override the warning and start printing again. Obscure. Probably obscure on purpose.

[ziggy29]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janet H A few years ago when my black and white laser printer died, I figured I would not replace it and just use my color printer. It only took a few days to realize that the bulk of my printing was black and white and that the ink prices for the color printer were high. So while I loath having two printers, it has ultimately been a much more economical choice. You may want to take a look at what it costs per page to print, especially if you do a lot of black.

Agreed completely. Color printers are SO much more expensive to operate, especially if you have a 4-in-1 cartridge where all colors have to be replaced at once.

We have a black and white laser for almost everything, and then we have a photo printer specifically for the color stuff. And the B&W printer gets more than 95% of the total usage. We could buy a new printer for the cost of something like 3-4 complete refills of the color ink.

[kaneohe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by growing_older They do make it hard to find. I went through several cartridges when the printer displayed the warnings and wouldn't print before I noticed it. On my printer (Canon, but not the exact same model as yours) when the warning is issued there is a message also displayed on the front panel of the printer. From the computer side, the printing stops and tells you to replace the cartridge - I never saw a way to override. But on the printer front panel it says "Ok to continue" and if you press the "Ok" button it will override the warning and start printing again. Obscure. Probably obscure on purpose.

I was using the copy function so not using the computer when it refused to print. I don't think I saw any "OK to continue " messages but I'll check closer next time it happens.