I'm Putting My Printer on Probation

[Walt34]

I have a Canon inkjet photo printer that is about ten years old (Pixma Pro-100) and maybe I'm just very lucky, but I've never had to run a clean cycle or had a clog with it. It has sat for two or three months at a time and then started right up and printed a photo with no issues. The current model is the Pixma Pro-200 but it's essentially the same with incremental improvements. This is not a printer most people will want as it costs $400 and uses eight expensive inks. But the prints are gallery quality. Oh, and it's slow - quality has it's price in more ways than one.

Our everyday printer is a Brother MFC-L3780CDW all-in-one laser that while still new and on the original toner cartridges, so far has been flawless. Well, except for photos, they're pretty poor but I expected that, and that's why we have a specialized photo printer.

BTW, at least with photo printers, it matters a great deal if they use dye based inks or pigment based inks. The pigment inks have to be periodically "shaken" and the Canon printers that use them have a function that will automatically do that to the cartridges. But that also wastes a lot of ink if the printer is not used regularly, meaning at least every few days, which is why an amateur photo enthusiast like me is not a good candidate for owning a pigment based printer. One of the reasons for using pigment based inks is longevity - Canon says the dye based inks will last 100 years when stored under "ideal conditions"* and the pigment based inks will last 200 years under the same conditions.

Now, I don't know what kind of ink the Epson printers use but if they're pigment based that may be the reason for the clogging issues.

*"Ideal conditions" means you store the photos in a flat box underneath your bed, in climate controlled conditions (including humidity control) and take the photo out once per year to look at it for five minutes. Then put it back under the bed.

 

[Texas Proud]

Not even 24 hours and I see a little clogging already with the black ink. I watched a video on how to flush using a cleaning kit. A point made in the video, the guy said after the flushing, a power cleaning is still needed. I could probably just run a power cleaning I think without the cleaning kit to get things flowing again.

I'll see still what happens during the rest of the "probation" period. But in the meantime will evaluate my options.

Guess I can keep on running clean cycles when needed But that's a big ink waste and I don't like to waste stuff. I'd guess that I may have used as much ink just running clean cycles as actual printing. The ink wasting is like if you order a meal and when that arrives, take half of it and toss away. What a waste.

One thing that I would like to see as an option is we can choose which color to power clean...

When I had a clog it was just one color... but had to do a power clean on all colors... now that IS a waste of ink...

 

[Texas Proud]

I don't print very often, once a month or so.
A few years ago we bought an HP Tango, it has worked flawlessly for us.
I do not print photos.

It is not really photos we are talking about (at least not me) but say pictures that are included with something you are printing... like an article that has a picture attached... the picture on the laser is pretty low quality... the ink jet looks really good..

I do not think it prints photo quality even though it might say it does...

 

[easysurfer]

One thing that I would like to see as an option is we can choose which color to power clean...

When I had a clog it was just one color... but had to do a power clean on all colors... now that IS a waste of ink...

Yes. Would be nice if manufacturers designed a printer that has an easily removeable nozzle that can be be cleaned without having to use the precious printer's ink to do the flushing. Sure, the cleaning kits with the tubes is one option but that looks messy and tedious.

 

[Aerides]

It is not really photos we are talking about (at least not me) but say pictures that are included with something you are printing... like an article that has a picture attached... the picture on the laser is pretty low quality... the ink jet looks really good..

I do not think it prints photo quality even though it might say it does...

But why do you want to keep a print out of an online article? I mean sure, the occasional keepsake of the grandkids in the school paper, but still not seeing what all this need for printing is coming from?

 

[Texas Proud]

But why do you want to keep a print out of an online article? I mean sure, the occasional keepsake of the grandkids in the school paper, but still not seeing what all this need for printing is coming from?

Well, that was just an example.... so here is another....

Kid has a project for school and needs to attach pictures to the assignment... but wants pictures that can be seen...

This was the reason we went with the inkjet... the laser just did not cut it even for a school assignment...

OHH, and another... DW substitutes at times for art classes... she has an art degree... makes assignments that includes paintings...

I can see a lot of other reason that someone might want to have better printing... maybe you do not need it...

 

[hesperus]

But why do you want to keep a print out of an online article? I mean sure, the occasional keepsake of the grandkids in the school paper, but still not seeing what all this need for printing is coming from?

Physical copies are more realiable and easy to read than Digital. I use a printer often in my community for all kind of different meeting we have and having paper in front of us is so much easier than PDF or whatever

 

[Jerry1]

Well, that was just an example.... so here is another....

Kid has a project for school and needs to attach pictures to the assignment... but wants pictures that can be seen...

This was the reason we went with the inkjet... the laser just did not cut it even for a school assignment...

OHH, and another... DW substitutes at times for art classes... she has an art degree... makes assignments that includes paintings...

I can see a lot of other reason that someone might want to have better printing... maybe you do not need it...

I don’t understand what’s going on with a laser printer that can’t print an acceptable version of a photo. Sure, it’s not photo quality, but my printer prints a very good rendering of any picture. Certainly good enough for a school project. In fact, it’s a very good print out, just not quite photo quality.

 

[easysurfer]

I've been weighing my options and came to a conclusion for now.

What I have been doing is printing a purge document 2 times a day in hopes that would prevent the printer from clogging. But it still clogs.

My options included: 1) try cleaning with one of those inkjet cleaning kits, 2) getting a different printer - monochrome laser, color laser, different brand like Brother Inkvestment.

I've decided for now to stick to my Epson ecotank. But I'm making a changes.

My printing most of the time is for temporary documents. Like when I balance my checkbook, it is easier to print out a bank statement and use that to help balance instead of trying to do everything on the screen.

However, there are times I want to print out things that require more than a partially clogged output like a printed copy of my taxes and the occasional photos. In these times, I wouldn't be surprised if I have to run a clean cycle to unclog the print nozzle before printing.

As for the changes. I've decided to disable my daily prints of the purge sheets (as that is an ink and paper waste that only deferred but didn't solve the clog issue). Another change is I am open to use third party (cheaper) ink instead of Epson brand seeing that a lot of the ink gets wasted anyhow from running clean cycles. Also, I'm an Amazon Vine member and often see Epson ink replacements available to Vine members.

That's my strategy (until next time!)

 

[groesbeck]

my 8 year old Brother B&W laser printer/scanner was damaged in a power surge during hurricane Milton. I liked that printer a lot. I would refill the toner cartridge with toner - which I really only had to do once I think and it worked fine and the toner refill cost about $20 I think.

 

[easysurfer]

my 8 year old Brother B&W laser printer/scanner was damaged in a power surge during hurricane Milton. I liked that printer a lot. I would refill the toner cartridge with toner - which I really only had to do once I think and it worked fine and the toner refill cost about $20 I think.

One of my favorite printers (which I donated away as can't keep all the old hardware around and got "newer" printers) was an old Samsung laser B&W laser printer. It was old as the look was similar to the old Apple Stylewriters. But the printer was a workhorse and I don't recall ever having a paper jam. Replacement toner cartridge prices was very reasonable too.

 

[Texas Proud]

I don’t understand what’s going on with a laser printer that can’t print an acceptable version of a photo. Sure, it’s not photo quality, but my printer prints a very good rendering of any picture. Certainly good enough for a school project. In fact, it’s a very good print out, just not quite photo quality.

The laser that I have (and it is a good one, HP 2600) prints at 600x600... it is 'good' but you can easily see the difference when you print something out from this compared to the Epson...

The Epson is much higher... funny but I cannot find out what it is but probably in the 2400 range...

 

[easysurfer]

Does anyone have a Brother INKvestment (Ecotank) printer, I was thinking about getting one. I have owned Brother printers for over 25 years and never had one fail. I currently have a Brother Color Laser but wanted something that is better for photographs.

After doing some research, I'm very tempted to try out a Brother INKvestment printer. From what I've seen, supposedly the printers ward off clogs by the machine performing a regular cleaning cycles depending on the environment. (More details here: OSvC Header).

I say supposedly because in reading reviews, some people say they haven't had clogs because of the self cleaning. But some still say they get clogs. I wonder if the clogger folks turn off their machines thus not allowing the self clean.

As for printer performance, the one I'm considering, photos may not be a sharp as the Epson Ecotank. Plus, I think the bottle refill is cooler than the large cartridge. But if the Brother doesn't clog often like what happens with my Epson, that may be a worthy trade off.

 

[easysurfer]

I ordered a Brother INKvestment printer from Costco. Don't know if it will be the answer to my future printing needs but the only way to find out is test and judge with my own eyes.

With Costco and their generous return policy, I have 90 days (maybe even more) to return if not happy.

The QB competition has started as to which printer I'll end up favoring.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

I ordered a Brother INKvestment printer from Costco. Don't know if it will be the answer to my future printing needs but the only way to find out is test and judge with my own eyes.

With Costco and their generous return policy, I have 90 days (maybe even more) to return if not happy.

The QB competition has started as to which printer I'll end up favoring.

I look forward to your review, especially with photo quality.

 

[easysurfer]

My current printer, and Epson ET-4760 prints photos pretty well. It isn't an inkjet that specialized in photos, but it's good enough for me (pictures on regular copy paper). I intend to print a picture comparing the INKvestment vs the ecotank.

In the meantime, here is a review of the printer model I ordered (Costco version includes extra ink):

Oddly, the rating gave this printer a higher score in photos than an Ecotank.

 

[easysurfer]

Got my Brother INKvestment printer yesterday and I set up and kicked the tires a bit. Comparing the printer to my Ecotank printer, the Brother prints faster.

As for ease of use, I like the Epson more as it has a touch screen where to Brother model that I got does not and uses a keypad instead. The printer and scanner software for the Brother is clunky but I really don't need that as I'll different software. Also, on the nozzle check page, I can hardly see the yellow color as it looks quite faint.

I only used connected locally to a usb cable and didn't connect wifi.

As for the print quality, the color accuracy is off for some colors. I copied an ad that contained burgundy color and that seemed off. But for others, it seems fine.

I went ahead and downloaded a picture (Superman!) from internet. Printed on my Epson (on left) and Brother (on right) to compare. I printed at the highest settings. Really didn't see much difference between the two.

Think what I will do is use the Brother machine for about a month (or two). Mainly to see if it clogs and if I don't mind too much the less intuitive non touch screen.

 

[target2019]

The two printers are using different color models/algorithms, that's my first guess. That applies to the printing driver as well. It gets deep, and I forgot more than I ever knew.

Look into the OS, app, and driver settings. You need to know what color system and settings are being used for A and B print. And at the nozzle these two printers are using different inks.

 

[easysurfer]

The two printers are using different color models/algorithms, that's my first guess. That applies to the printing driver as well. It gets deep, and I forgot more than I ever knew.

Look into the OS, app, and driver settings. You need to know what color system and settings are being used for A and B print. And at the nozzle these two printers are using different inks.

Interesting. But a bit too tech for me. For me, good to know the end result on paper isn't that different between the two printers.

 

[Qs Laptop]

The photo on the right clearly has more dynamic range and greater color saturation. Look at the highlight's in Superman's hair. The photo on the right is brighter. The photo on the left has cool color warmth (has a blue tint to it.) If I were printing photos it would be the printer that produced the image on the right.

How were the test photos obtained? The same photo printed off the internet onto each printer and then scanned into a .jpg file? If so, that's going to introduce effects from the scanner itself. You might want to print out an actual photos you have taken with both printers and then compare.

 

[easysurfer]

Jpg photo downloaded from internet. Then photo printed by each printer. Prints scanned using same scanner. Here is the jpg.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Was that printed on Photo Paper or regular paper?

 

[easysurfer]

Was that printed on Photo Paper or regular paper?

Regular paper.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Regular paper.

Then I am sure it would look great on proper photo quality paper.

 

[easysurfer]

After getting familiar with the printer for a day, I'm leaning towards keeping it on the condition that it doesn't show signs of clogging soon. Think I'm going to leave it powered on (sleep mode) unused for a few weeks and then see if any clogs form.

In the meantime, I still have plenty of ink left in my Ecotank printer. With the two printers, I have enough ink to last me about 3 years .