Canon's Megatank: Yet Another Inkjet Scam, Doomed to Fail Thanks to Ink Absorber/Error Code 5b00!
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- čas přidán 19. 06. 2024
- FUN FACT: This is the most viewed video ever published on TBG!
I typically spend my time reviewing tech products, but this time, I'm going to take one down, the Canon G3200 Megatank printer. There's not enough coverage on the 'net about how Canon's Megatank printers released between 2017 and 2019 are all designed to fail, and since most are still being sold, I thought it was important for me to air Canon's dirty laundry for them!
The good news: Canon released several Megatank printers after 2020 that have a user-replaceable ink maintenance cartridge. Here are the ones I recommend:
(1) Canon G3270 Megatank AIO Wireless Printer: amzn.to/33HY3mJ #ad
This uses the MC G04 maintenance cartridge: amzn.to/46eOXIh
(2) Canon Pixma G620 AIO Wireless Photo Printer (6-color ink): amzn.to/33VcqnT #ad
This uses the MC G02 maintenance cartridge: amzn.to/3wFyajr #ad
IMPORTANT TIP: even with these newer models, print a page every week, even if it's a test page. This allows you to flush the tubes, which cause the real problem in these Megatank printers (jammed nozzles are just the beginning!). Overall it will use less ink than unclogging a serious jam, and won't fill the ink absorber at all!
Chapters
00:00 Intro
01:56 Trying the Ink Head Cleaning to Fix Missing Colors
02:22 Deep Cleaning Makes it Worse!
2:50 System Cleaning Bricks the Printer!
04:06 Error Code 5b00: Canon's Dirty Diaper
05:50 My Printer is Dead, and Yours Will Die Too!
06:00 Just Another in a Long History of Inkjet Scams... - Věda a technologie
FOR ALL THE QUESTIONS PLEASE READ THIS. I LOVE PRINTERS AS MUCH AS INFORMING PEOPLE.
1.) All other inkjet printers be it Epson, HP, have foam or sponges. Someway or the other all these inkjet printers will also show this absorber error issues. It is impossible for an inkjet to have no absorber foam/sponge.
2.) Mind you that ink tank printers are designed for use not just for seasonal use. Trust me, here people have been doing third party ink tanks since the 2008's and even factory OEM ink tanks like this Canon Pixma ink tank are prone to air presence (contamination) in the tube line because of ink backflow to the tank because of lack of usage. You should print FULL PAGE COLORED at least once a week to avoid this.
3.)Due to this absorber foam/sponge issue, CANON has released a new and improved ink tank printers lineup that overcomes this issues. These sponges/foam are now user replaceable in a form of a long cartridge, they call it now "Maintenance Cartridge." Users can just buy this in their local computer stores or online where it may be available and maybe buy bulk just to have some spare, who knows.
-With the improved canon ink tank printers, users can just screw to remove with a penny the old maintenance cartridge (foam/sponge) and replace it with the new one. Right after that you can continue printing right away, no codes, no reset, no other software needed, no hassle. This new maintenance cartridge have microchips that get detected by the printer once replaced/installed so again no codes, no reset needed.
-Printers that have this user replaceable cartridge are (variety of model codes depends on where you live)
Canon Pixma G1020 G2020 G2060 G2260(usa) G3020 G3060 G3060 G3260(usa)
G500 series, G520(usa) G540 G550 G570
G600 series, G620(usa) G640 G650 G670
and other models that has identical body style and design and other latter Canon ink tank models that are designed and released after 2020.
4.) On the other hand, I still do not recommend Epson because it has a BUILT-IN print heads as oppose to Canon that has REPLACEABLE print heads. When your prints have lines or missing colors even though you run a lot of head cleaning or deep clean then that is a sign that the print heads needs replacing. The only way to acquire a genuine brand new Epson print heads is only via service centers and it is very expensive, trust me I've been there. Unlike canon, just type the code of your print head or printer model online it is available everywhere and replace it yourself. PLUS canon has better photo print output!
Note:
1.)This Maintenance Cartridge and Replaceable Print heads are advertised by Canon themselves,
Here is the video of the advertisement (Asia model name is shown, it may just vary depends on where you live)
czcams.com/video/e5nmAJND6W4/video.html
2.)Replacement of Maintenance Cartridge and Print heads are other maintenance are well explained in this video
czcams.com/video/2Di-_NLMwvQ/video.html
I'm in no way affiliated to any printer brands whatsoever. I just like informing people.
Very helpful information. I am glad to hear that Canon printers released since 2020 have a user-replaceable sponge. Canon should advertise this feature and remove all prior models off the market.
"This new maintenance cartridge have microchips that get detected by the printer once replaced/installed so again no codes, no reset needed."
It's another scam. Damn Canon and their stupid chips. They should just switch to a waste ink tank than a sponge. A tank is easier to empty like those modded printers. How much do those maintenance cartridge cost again?
They’re switching their tricks from chipped ink cartridges to chipped maintenance cartridges?
You have to consult with Canon to get print heads for some of their printers. I'm not sure which ones but I know the g6020 is only available through customer service BY PHONE!
If the printers require weekly full page printing, the printers should be programmed to print weekly on their own if they haven't been used. I hate this printer so much
Sure wish I could print this out , but can't
Props to you for having enough integrity to walk back and criticise something that you previously endorsed. Not everyone can do that. Thank you for this informative PSA
You're welcome! This was easy because I bought the Canon at retail. Once you have a relationship with a company, well, you can guess how this type of video would go over. But I'm still considering doing one like that for another product I've reviewed previously that has been a total bomb from a long term perspective.
@@TheTechBuyersGuru If you know that a product is behaving differently over long term, whether good or bad, you should actually do an updated review, or at least a PSA, like this video.
absorber problem fixing by reflashing the rom... and taking out the drain into some bottle...
The bigger problem of this series is lifetime & cost of the printheads!!!
a much better lifetime have the HP tanks, but the absorber problem is a way more dissaster!!
Epson only one is good to go (end Brother maybe, didn`t try, but it must be similar to Epson
It's a truly rare thing.
@@robertbodnar8745 : How long will these Laser Printer cartridges last? i too have the Cannon 3200 Tanker I had it for a while and printed too many to count unlike the HP cartridge only printed 30-40 if lucky prints no Photo regular prints. But I don't like the idea that I have to use my printer to keep it in working condition.
I honestly believe that the only way these types of inkjet printers can be fixed is if a law gets made against them
😂🤣👌
We are definitely need laws knowing what Apple did
Yeah we need more laws, nobody follows the ones we have now!
Absolutely!! This should be criminal. Look they are shutting down our energy because of Global Warming, but then it’s ok for all these corporations to flood the United States wait planned obsolescence junk.
apple and samsung has paid in dimes and nickles back and forth. nobody cares
I think the best way to handle this problem (and when you use the printer not so often) is buy a black laser printer for basic prints at home and print your photos at a printingstation (higher quality) in supermarket or so.
but you must have luck with printer, accepting third party toner cartridges without chips, which is scarce now, so dont throw your Canon LBP 2900 or HP 1018 for lack of wifi, duplex, or other modern features, maybe its USB only, but it works since 2012, and with every toner you change drum (part responsible to print quality) too. I have them both in my repair shop, lending them as spare printers free of charge, until repair/replace customers original one.
@@lukaswolf3012 just don't go with hp canon or epson. why would you got for brand that are known to eb scammer for inkect printer? why wouldn't they scam you on laser printer ?
I juts use brother and i am not disapointed for now . but i'm sure other brand works fine
Still using HP 1018 purchased refurbished for $100 in 2008 with NO Problems. Now on my 3rd all-in-one color inkjet printer. Really need scan function and the occasional color print for diagrams, greeting cards from original watercolor scans, photo not so much.
I just buy the cheapest printer and instead of buying new cartridges, I get a new printer. That way I know these companies are losing money.
I used HP printer for 30 years. Came along this one and thought this is it. Experiencing the same problems than you and I regret so much I bought this. Brings so often the weirdest error codes. Never another canon for me :) Thanks so much for your time to make this video.
After many years of many inkjets I came to the conclusion there is no such thing as a good inkjet. As someone who rarely needs colour anyway, I binned my last inkjet and bought a black laser. Sending something to print and just have it print without 5 minutes of whirring and without splodges or lines or a complete failure to print is a great feeling.
Same here, I bought a 39 dollar Pantum wireless black laser printer 8 years ago and it still works fine ... on the original toner cart too! Granted we don't use it daily, or sometimes weeks go by but when we turn it on to use it it works every time. Inkjets are dead to me. If I need a photo or color print I'll go to Walgreens.
@@Ass_Burgers_Syndrome same. I have had a cheap Brother A4 laser printer for 12 years. Put one new toner cartridge in it in that time. Colour prints I send out to a print shop. Cheaper in the end, better paper, and better results.
Added bonus: If you run some kind of home (automation) server using a non-windows OS, support for laser printers tends to be a lot better than for inkjet printers.
If you do your research and get a high end head and ink system in an affordable model, it is far better and more capable than any laser, and at much lower cost. I got 10 epson wf-5190 on an offer for 100 euro each. 3200 nozzles. 10 pages in normal quality duplex. Catridges stay fixed. Pigment inks. If you print a page every month it stays clean. I use them for different things, but the ones I have used all work fine. They are OK after many years in storage also. They are compatible with large refillable cartridges if you want to do that. The only way to get nozzle problems is to leave it off for many many months but that shouldn't be very hard to fix with the right liquid, and no, clean cycles do not reqlly clean nozzles .You can find tests for this class of injets that test paper feeding in heavy usage. Color lasers below 1000 euro are low quality high cost garbage and even business models are designed to scam businesses that cannot calculate total cost of ownership. Kyocera is a good brand if you want low cost mono and color, but only the expensive models.
@@aristotle_4532 no one was talking about colour laser printers and you are still saying I have to print once a month or risk having to clean heads.
I rarely print anything, but when I do I need it to work reliably. Which a laser will always do. As for "better" I'll always take a black laser print over a black ink jet print.
And cost? I think my printer cost me about AUD $60. And replacement toner cartridges are perhaps $40 (which I've used one of in 12 years).
Inkjets are great if you need colour and print regularly, otherwise they are a waste of time and money.
All the inkjet scam was the reason i gave up on them... Got me a good colour laser printer for efficient and economical normal printing. And when I need a good photo print, i simply go out and pay for it - pay per print... It's much easier and i don't have to hate myself for making a poor buying decisions over time 🙂
You could even get one of those dedicated photo printers, the paper isn't cheap but they make damn nice prints and it's still probably cheaper than a printing service (and photo printing services are disappearing)
Just posted something similar and then saw your comment, spot on, colour laser all the way. But even then, you have to get the right one, have been using Kyocera ecosys units for a couple of decades now, they really are great and cheap to run.
I too gave up the inkjet and went to laser, tired of the scam. My printer prints pretty good photos.
@@Jdbye well, with such printer you are stuck with the given paper dimensions. And i don’t print my photos so often that I’d have usage for such a dedicated device.
@@ledsalesoz i got my HP some years ago, one of the first with AirPrint support. And pretty happy with it since than… one just have to ignore the low toner message for a while and gets to print many pages with that :)
The only thing I miss from working at an office is that I could just use their printer that one time every year I need to print something. Luckily I've learned that I can print at my local library for just a few bucks so that's what I do now. It's gonna take me a decade at least to rack up the cost of a single set of toner cartridges.
I've been wary of these kinds of issues with ink printers - so I went with a Brother colour laser all-in-one *because* of how little printing I do. Sure, it's more expensive - but my reasons were two-fold: 1: Toner doesn't "dry out", and 2: It has good Linux support. 🙂
Laser printers emit harmful particles.
I've always liked Brother - I had a monochrome laser printer that worked faithfully for years. I'm in. I'll go to a print shop for my color!
well if you don't have budget issue than laser printer is the way to go but otherwise inktank is mostly affordable for everyone
Canon G3260 megatank has replacable maintenance cartridge now for $10, perhaps in part due to videos like this. Good job, I think you have made a difference!
@@edhgsilva you did well, either way its made in china
@@edhgsilva what and where is the chip? How about a photo?
@@edhgsilva 👍👍
Indeet that's a very good solution. Unfortunately this series of printers doesn't support recto-verso-printing. And those, who do, do not have the maintenance cartridge. It's a shame.
You still have to stop the continuous error message telling you the waste ink absorber is full. You can only do this by reprogramming the eeprom (firmware.) The web explains this is done by pressing the on/off button and the Ready button in a sequence that only works on your particular model, but this completely erases the eeprom and "bricks" the printer. Believe me I found this the hard way 😩
An inkjet printer has tiny inkjets, so tiny they are prone to clog if you don't use the printer regularly, so my advice is: if you don't print at least once a day you're better off with a laser printer, period.
Yup, I have a Samsung laser printer that I bought sometime around 2010 still on its original toner cartridge. I print on average 1-2x per year and whenever I turn it on it just works, every time.
It’s still a scam with the counter that stops it from printing.
the reason most invest in inkjet are to print photos at home, using high grade photo papers. Laser cant do that , still far behind for photo printing quality.
@@Netlogic. Samsung was superb, but bought out by HP and all production sent to garbage dump, production lines sent to garbage dump
This! Although photos won't be as good. I did this and my laser finally started leaking toner all over the page as it prints. But that was maybe after 15 years.
Canon and Epson went through the route of the refillable ink tanks that were popular from gray market ink vendors since the 90s. The technology is very old. I remembered getting a pre-configured epson R200 printer with the ink tank kit for about $200. Printed over 10,000 pages for the next 5 years so it is worth the investment.
Since you got the printer since 2017, it gave about 5 years of use. Unfortunately you only use it for 50 photos. Give you props for the courage to go back on your previous review.
What all-in-one scanner/printer would you recommend for someone who doesn't need fax, but wants a paper tray so that they don't have to feed them from the back/top. But I also won't be using it much, since I only make copies/print pages once every 4-6 months? Note that I have to do at least 4-6 pages those times. I've been told to use laser printers, like the HP LaserJet MFP M140we. Wondering what you think.
I've been researching tank printers for a couple of months. This has to be the most informative video I've found yet. Thank you!
I've an "HP Smart Tank" for more than a year. So far so good. Just make sure to print something every couple of weeks so that it wount dry and jam.
Thank you for publishing this. All computer hardware related youtubers should publish videos like this. Maybe printer manufacturers will stop wasting our money (and environment with broken printers).
As someone who used to do large format printing professionally, the printers I used had a “waste tank” that basically looked like another ink cartridge. Those stupid things were expensive.
Are Canon Arizona 6160 xts and 6170 xts printers have a waste tank with a tap that we drain out when its full.
I've paid $179 for the G7020 from Canon and it is their flagship for the ecotank printers. All the needed features and technologies included and it works great so far (1 year old now).
I'm at two years and nothing but problems with the same printer and the new heads are back ordered and you can't get them and the Canadian price is almost $500.00 for this junk.
@@dashcam3098 Me too. Nothing but problems. Not to mention that when the waste ink pad is full, you can't replace it. You need to pay several hundred dollars for service!
Thank you so freaking much for this video. I have this issue right now and I'm absolutely screwed. Canon told me my prints started getting streaky because you need to use it everyday to prevent clogs. They don't tell you this of course. And they don't warn you that the deep clean will fill your ink absorber either. They are absolutely scamming.
Let me share my experience about this printer: I rarely print anything, so printheads are regularly clogged up once I get to print something. Last time it was so bad as I couldn't unclog it with any maintenance option available, not even deep clean. I took out the printheads, got a syringe with warm water, and pushed the water through the printheads until it was just pure water coming out. Sucked out/drained the remaining water, put back the printheads, initiated a deep clean (or some kind of clean) and all colors started to work flawlessly. I don't remember the exact steps as I did it like a year ago. Just as an FYI, that you can unclog your printer this way as well, but if you do it this way, you must accept that you are doing it on your own risk.
Mine auto cleans if I leave it plugged in. If you pack it in storage then you're SOL
Yes, but that wasn't the problem.
Clogged heads are not his issue though.
It's a full waste sponge.
@@dudmanjohn yeah, but this way you can reduce the ink amount getting in the sponge. With this you cannot solve the obvious problem of course...
@@user-rn1br5tq5j What do you have?
I almost pulled the trigger on buying this printer. Glad I found your video. In the past, I would only print one or two times per year. My ink cartridges were all dried up by then. So, I switch to a separate B&W printer that use toner and another portable printer that printed color photos using heat transfer film. I now have a couple kids in elementary and am printing more often, but still not often enough. I guess I will stay put with my current two printer solution.
Having a laser printer is actually one of the best possible choices as the ink doesn't dry up so it won't matter if you don't print often but also the cartriges are less of a scam than inkjet ones.
Plus it prints faster and to me the hot and dry sheets coming out of a laser printer feel nicer than the ones coming out of a inkjet printer, it's only personal preference though.
One of the few cons however is the fact it can't print good quality photos, unlike the dye sumbliation aka heat transfer film printers, again a good choice for you as it's literally the best way to print digital photos you can possibly get.
I literally just ditched my old Canon Pixma because it threw up the ink absorber error - I can’t believe I’d never heard of this before! And your description of it as a ‘diaper’ was exactly how I was describing it. I tried to full the printer apart to see if I could fix it, but the process was so convoluted and messy I gave up, dumped the whole thing at a recycling centre and came home with a cheap little laser. No mess, no fuss, and it prints like a dream
When my Pixma showed the absorber error code I just set the printer in a small boot tray and decided to let it leak if it should overflow. Then I reset the error code. Now after two years, it's still running fine and still no leakage. Talk about crying wolf!
And yes, replacing the absorber pads is ridiculously complicated.
What laser printer did you get?
@@SK-lt1so I need to check my messages more often. It’s a brother hl-l2350d which was the cheapest I could find ;-)
@@johncoenraads9681 I gave up - the Pixma was getting elderly and cantankerous, and tbh we print so rarely it was using more ink to prime the nozzles than was being used to actually print. It was very cathartic to pull apart, though
I think its a lot more economical to go to anywhere that allows you to pay money to print / photocopy. Even if copying with color costs more, its still a lot better than buying a new printer / copier that starts to play up and becomes unusable. Many thanks for the video, you have saved me a lot of money.
Thats true, you pay for electricity, printer, ink ans paper...
i was about to buy this efficient” printer but after this honest review, I just thank you so much for not letting me fall in such scam !!!!👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
I recommend the Ecotank series for my consumer customers. The ink maintenance boxes are cheap (10-25$) and they aren't hard to manually flush if you absolutely must. I just recommend that my clients print at least 1 page a week in full color to keep the ink flowing properly.
Ditto. I can fully recommend the Epson EcoTank series. I've had the ET-2500 for 7 years now and not had a problem. All the ink tanks have only been re-filled once in that time.
Absolutely. I say the same thing for my customers. The issue he was experiencing is just a head clog due to inactivity. Isopropyl alcohol usually fixes it. Of course if he runs cleaning after cleaning he’ll saturate the sponge. That’s what it’s designed for. Running a print once a week prevents all of this.
Epson also has these problems. Need a counter reset and sponge replacement. Just search it yourself, l5190 InkPad reset
I have an Epson 2400 less than a year old that printed regularly and still stopped all color printing except black. Called Epson and installed new drivers and did a power cleaning and it works well now and I print a color print every week til the sponges fill up and then probably dump the machine and go back to cartridges and it is a shame. More expensive Epsons have user replaceable sponges but I don't want to pay $500 for a printer I rarely use as I am retired 12 years and love every minute of it.@@ryan_9620
I have an Epson EcoTank L6170 all-in-one printer that has a removable maintenance box that an end user can do it without the hassle, and the maintenance box is fairly cheap. It may be a premium-priced printer, but it was worth the money for a hassle-free user experience.
As for the budget oriented EcoTank models (ex. L121) though, the waste tank isn't "user installable/replaceable" as Epson states and must be serviced by authorized Epson service centers. But it doesn't mean it can't be possible for a user to install/replace with a 3rd party ink pad (in fact, it's stupid easy and you can find video tutorials on how to do it on youtube). And there's a free 3rd party utility app to reset the waste ink counter.
I have a pixma ix6820 that i use multiple times per week for my small business printing. I love canon because of the quality of print. However after 5yrs of printing mover hundreds of prints weekly, I have to constantly clean the head so the blk would print clear. Would this be a good replacement seeing i would be using it consistently weekly ?
The biggest problem with Ink Jet printers is that they are made to be used. If you are just printing a single picture out once a month, a Printer at home isn't really ideal unless you go laser.
I agree. But they are not marketed that way. Regular consumers have no idea that they’re intended for frequent use until they learn my painful and expensive experience.
@@Sashazur I have found even using it once a week, the black ink has a habit of clogging. Interestingly, the color ink has been working fine for me.
as others mentioned, if you own a color printer, you pretty much have to print a color page every week to keep the nozzle from drying up. The longer it sits, the more cleaning it will require. If it sits for a few months it may be too far dried and it won't come out the nozzle at all.
That's why we started to buy laser printer since they were more relayable or don't try out
My office inkjet printer, if no print in 1 week or more, sure will need initiate print head cleaning…
But my canon maxify, I left it with out ink in the box for 2 year I think, after few flushing, can use again, but the ink expensive..
@@Tom-ku8bu Yep, I have a small Xerox Phaser color printer that's well over 10 years old and only paid $199 for it. I've replaced the inks a few times with a 3rd party and it kept on printing without issues. Even I haven't used the printer for months it still works without going through the cleaning nonsense.
But the cleaning process should fix it mine never did but my brother version is perfect and will self clean
@@Tom-ku8bu plus a laser print is somewhat moist proof, one speck of water on an inkjet print and it's ruined as the ink starts dissolving again.
It's not design failure, it's blatantly designed to fail. What a horrible example of Corporate greed.
I got 99800+ total prints from this printer and still working. During this time I had to replace only once the print head for black colour. Regarding the ink not coming, you have to open the ink tank lid during ink flush to let out the air and pressure that is stuck in the ink pipe. For the waste ink you have to use an external tank to prevent the waste pad full.
You have to understand the basic functionality for each printer. Each printer is designed differently.
The new Canon PIXMA G620 Megatank printer has a user replaceable maintenance cartridge for $9.99 which solves this issue. As far as the clogging, inkjet printers will clog if not used, just print a color document once a week or so and you won't clog up. Luckily these Megatank printers use dye based inks, which are water based, which don't clog as easily as pigment ink printers. I own the new G620 and it is a fantastic 6 color photo printer for only $299 with a built in scanner too. So, far I have not had any problems with my unit, and it sips ink. Came with a full set of inks too, not a starter set. My ink tanks are still full after about 100 4x6 so far. Those sponges at the bottom were a hassle on all older inkjet printers, I had an Epson 2200 photo printer that filled up its non-replaceable sponge too, and that was an expensive printer. More of the modern ones have replaceable waste cartridges. So, when buying one, make sure the printer has a replaceable one, or the printer will be disposable...lol.
Awesome info. I will check out that model. I did look into whether canon had changed its ways since my 2017 model, and missed your model. It's brand new but sold out, so didn't come up in searches on Amazon. Here it is, can't be ordered: amzn.to/38GXlFn
@@TheTechBuyersGuru Yes, it is new and always sold out. Very popular. I got mine at Adorama. Had to wait a month on my order, but was able to get one. They don't charge until the unit is shipped. Like I said, I have been very pleased with it, photo output is very good with the 6 inks as opposed to the 4 in the old units.
Thanks for all this feedback. As much as I've been burned with photo printing so far, I am nearly convinced to buy the G620 anyway, thanks to you, LOL!
@@TheTechBuyersGuru Lol...so much pressure. Do I have to go into hiding if you have a problem?
@@TheTechBuyersGuru i got mine delivered from Canon yesterday. I am so excited to try it out.
I’ve basically given up with printers. I had an old Samsung laser printer I spent hours trying to get to print with no success. I Decided to buy the cheapest I can get especially since I print very little. I dislike that this will probably create more ewaste even though I will recycle at end of life. I wonder if the right to repair movement will have a positive effect on printers as well
Never buy HP or Canon for basic printing. If you really need a printer buy Epson or Brother inktank printer. If you don't use your printer regularly, never shut down your printer. It will allow the printer to clean it's head when required. You also need a resetting software, which you can get from online for free. If everything goes wrong you still can physically clean the head. Just unscrew the head and flash mild warm water inside the head and reattach it after drying. I got more than one lakh colour prints from my Epson with 3rd party ink.
My color laser printer came with cartridges and the first color said it was empty 150 pages ago, yet it prints fine. Right now 3 out of 4 cartriges say they are empty yet it prints fine.
Not sure if Canon is saying its empty when 25% is actually left or something... annoying to have to tell the printer to keep printing every reboot etc.
I have two of these canon printers and don't have much problem with them. We use them a lot and that may be the difference. I did have one problem with the issue you talked about, ran cleaning, then deep cleaning and finally fixed it with the Printer Flush. The biggest problem I have is the interface. Setting anything and running maintenance with completely unintuitive combinations of buttons is horrible. It ALWAYS forgets the settings and I have to click through a long list of printer settings almost everytime I use it. When it's working, however, it does a good job and hardly uses any ink at all.
I had the same feeling as yours but was gladly seeing a lot of CZcams videos teaching us how to fix the problems you mentioned in your video. But there is a lot of work that you couldn't do it without making your hands dirty. I fully agree that all the printer manufacturers have collectively decided to design some maintenance-heavy printers or ink cartridges so that you would regularly replace the cartridges or the printers itself.
I just have a black and white laser printer. It always fires right up and ive not even used all of the included toner. 10/10. For photos that actually matter, you can always go to a print shop.
i have one too, has lasted 5 Years so far and the Printer lately mentoined the Cartridge might be empty soon, so we have a replacement at hand when that happens :D but this might be another year or two away, no idea. Also doesnt matter since the Powder doesnt dry up.
I've had an Epson L110 some years ago, bought from new, printed everyday with it. It had required some 'upgrades' in 4 years and some software available on the internet. But I managed to print 700,000 a4 pages and when I quit my job the printer was still working. I paid for it only 100 euros at that time. Had the same problem with the sponges but they were available on Aliexpress. Good equipment.
For those who just do occasional printings at home, I would suggest the Brother MFCL3750CDW, coloured print, Auto 1-travel-2-side ADF, auto 2-side printing, laser printer.
The only downside is: genuine Brother toner cartridges and drumps are not cheap (but 3rd party cartridges are available and not rejected by the machine)
It's not a fail. It all works as intended.
You're supposed to hand the printer in for an expensive service or buy a new printer. (Most likely the latter)
It is by design. It is how the manufacturer makes money.
My tip:
Never *ever* buy any kind of liquid/ink based printers.
Go for laser/toner printers. They last a lot longer and don't clog up.
My prints looked exactly like yours. The green ones that is. This printer worked great for a couple of years but now I'm done with it. For people that only make 4x6 prints I recommend the Canon Selphy, It's a dye-sub printer. . . no ink. I used one for years in my photo studio for passport photos. It never failed. For large prints I switched from Epson to Canon because the heads were always needing cleaning. The cleaning worked good but the ink useage was excessive. It used 8 tanks at a cost of $100 each. The Canon printers needed cleaning as well but a lot less than the Epson. Love the concept of refillable ink tanks but there's always a hitch, isn't there! I hope you find a reliable home photo printer soon and pass it on.
Maybe I am just lucky: I purchased three Canon G7000 series megatank printers and have not have any issues with any of them. Two of them are used at least once a week and the third is used on a daily basis. Two of the printers were purchased back in 2020 and the third was purchased in 2021. Is it possible that the problem with the sponge has been fixed with the 7000 series?
Years ago, there was the Canon BJ-330 that used large ink cartridges BJI642 that included inside the cartridge itself an ink sponge alongside the ink payload in a bag. You always had a fresh kit when changing ink cartridge. This printer lasted years printing engineering plans almost every days.
I loved my old BJ-6000! Sounds like the 330 was even better!
I love the Ecotank series. I have two. One is a 6 color model dedicated for photography. Color output quality is unbeatable; print cost is lower than high volume monochrome laser.
1. Your printer must be an older model than mine. I have a ET-7550 that I've been using heavily for about 5 years now. On this printer, there's a removable exhaust ink box. It's good for maybe 20 thousand pages. I've replaced that maybe four or five times. It's ~$10 direct from Epson; Amazon prices are much higher.
2. The print head does plug - no matter how regularly you print. The key thing to recognize is that the built in cleaning procedure just doesn't work well. Effective cleaning means a more manual (and undocumented) process. For my usage pattern, this manual deep clean is necessary maybe once every 5 reams of paper. That's around 2500 sheets.
Okay, here's how to clean:
1. Start printing something; the nozzle check is fine. The point is to pull power when the print head is near middle of the print carriage.
2. Take a sheet of kitchen paper towel. Roll that into a strip of around 1.5in wide. Saturate it with Windex.
3. Slip the strip under the print head. Hold both ends of the strip. Lift until you feel tension against the print head. Pull the strip back and forth along its length. You'll see thick blotches of ink bleed onto the towel strip. You're literally wiping dried ink off the print head.
4. Repeat step 3 another once or twice more. Shove the print head back toward the right edge of the printer. Plug it back in.
5. That's it. The print head is now cleared for another 2500 sheets.
You must be heavily confused here. You're talking about an Epson printer, his video is about a Canon printer.
@@FrozenHaxor not sure its still the case, but Canon printers 20 years ago used Epson printheads, they were the first that I recall which didn't replace the head with the cartridge
@@FrozenHaxor Yeah, seems like it. Nevertheless I would recommend to take a look at Epson’s line up. They have replaceable ink dumps if I remember correctly
@@mchenri9683 I have their L310 printer, the diaper is largely non-replaceable but if you don't run cleaning and purging cycles all the time like a lunatic, they won't get soaked. Head clogged? Use proper chemical to clean it. Works for 5 years now.
@@mistermartin82 It's not. Epson uses piezo heads and canon uses thermal.
Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm always wary of new products nowadays. I admit that I still have the urge to buy impulsively because they sell it so good. However, lately I think twice before buying anything since we are still living in a throwaway culture and companies take advantage of that. Laser printers have stood the test of time, I guess I'll look into that.
Do Epson have the same issue with Ecotanks?maybe you do have to use them regularly or the ink dries/jams??
I've encountered many of those issues in approx. 15 years of inkjet printer use. When I finally was fed up and came up with the following solution: Buy a Color Laser Printer for 300 Euros and have my photos printed by a print service. OK, I want less than 50 photos to be printed out in 4 years, but this solution has perfectly worked out for me. No toner change in 5 years, no hassle, no scam.
This was exactly the reason that made me make a choice of never buying a home printer unless I absolutely am forced to. I was also excited about the refillable inkjets, but that feeling came crashing down when I learned about the software locked absorber counter. I was a day away from buying this exact printer. I will utilize the printers at work and if needed, printing services. Much better value.
If you do not print enough to *need* a printer at home, you are much better off with a laser. Stick it away in a closet for a year or two if you want to, and it still works when you need it.
I had a similar experience at one point. I had to run the deep clean through multiple cycles and it finally came clear. After that experience, I learned to use my printer often. I never use just black as I want to exercise all colors/lines. I have not experienced the same issue since and I have purchased this printer at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.
Even with that experience, I still suggest this printer to others.
I have the G7020.
I have a new g3200 printer that never has worked properly.
any good ideas for a replacement
As other people have said, if you don’t use a ink printer a lot the ink will start to dry up and cause quality issues. I print at least 1-2x per week and still have to do print head cleanings in my Epson Ecotank printers a few times a year. As to the sponge, Epson Ecotank printers have replaceable “maintenance boxes” that cost around $10 each and take 5 minutes to swap out. I think the newer Canon models do this now too, but always double check if the printer you’re getting lets you replace the sponge/maintenance box/whatever.
Most inkjets have always had a sponge for this, it’s just really hard to print enough to fill it up. Saying that, every time you switch it on there’s a cleaning cycle which wastes ink (and puts it in the sponge). Some printers (Epson PictureMate) have the sponge built into the cartridge. So you can expire a cartridge just by switching the printer on and off to print one photo at a time, long before the actual ink runs out!
It's literal sponge, how hard is to make a plastic glass door to it's container and let people just exchange it? I guess it wouldn't be a scam then.
@@Ussurin It isn't "literal sponge" it's more like dense cotton fibre that has some kind of gel in it to lock the ink in. I tried washing one out previously, what a mess!
@@ferrumignis But they could sell these, so that they could be replaced.
@@Nikki.Penguin i think epson sell replacements not sure tho
@@ferrumignis Ok, it is a diaper, should not be that hard to replace either :)
This is why i always recommend to get laserprinters, especially for people who rarely need to print. These issues what you describe were hidden away from the consumer for decades. But in Large Format Printing this is no new thing. The sponges are not always used in this way. Depending on print technology (latex, inkjet, solvent ect) mostly use a waste tank, that is basically a empty can that recieves all the ink, that gets flushed through the printheads to get all the nozzles open again. Problem is, inkheads are easy (in some printers) to replace. But these consumer things; they require to be taken apart entirely. And we all know, getting that junk together is not really realistic. I once owned a 'office' grade Lexmark, which occasionally did it's flushes... ran out of a full set of cardridges in a few months, without making a single print myself :)
Depends on the printer design and age. Epson's Ecotanks had the same problems in the early models. Now it is a user-servicable part that just needs a screw driver and a ten buck replacement part. Same for newer Canon's, I think.
Laser printers have their own planned obsolescence thing. There's a powder salvage tank in every laser printer that is often impossible to remove and / or disassemble to empty it out because it's sealed. A IR laser beams to a sensor, when the powder blocks the light hitting the sensor, the printer stop working. It's possible to make it work again but ultimately the error will reappear and one day you will not be able to get rid of this without buying an off brand powder salvage tank if you can find it.
@Ryokath Irrelevant (but interesting nevertheless).
Today, few people print more than a few pages per week -- and many print a few pages *a decade*. For this audience, the only thing that matters is that the mere passage of time won't damage the printer, and that's what a laser printer gives you.
Buy the printer, buy a full set off toner cartridges, and the odds that the printer will work when you *need* to print a form a decade from now is good. With an ink jet printer, the odds of it working are close to zero -- even if you invested in a spare set of ink tanks.
@@RyokathI wonder how common this powder salvage thing is? I've not run into a problem with my 2012 Xerox yet. Still works fine for the occasional print job
@@CasualTS Because it's quite common for the "powder salvage" to be a part of the toner cartridge.
I'm looking to buy a cheap all in one tank style printer. I want one that has print heads that are serviceable. By that I removable, cleanable, replaceable and available for purchase. What printer checks these boxes?
I bought my Canon 3060 about 2 years ago. Was happy with it until the head clogged just like the issue you are describing. I told myself I'd not rate any printers because they will eventually let me down. 2 years old and it's now almost junk as I can't print color. Unbelievable. The irony is that if manufacturers made a reliable printer, they would go out of business.
The G3260 has a replaceable maintenance cartridge with a sensor that determines when the cartridge needs to be replaced. It costs about $20.00, and the replacement procedure is easy. Our G3260 is now on month ten and so far no message the maintenance cartridge needs replacing.
The actuall required components of that cartridge for proper functioning cost less than dollar if you go to hardware store, you know? Paying 20 dollars every time you change a sponge is pretty huge scam.
@@Ussurin everything about printing is a scam
So glad I found this video!! These tanks printers sound too good to be true. I own an HP Envy 4500 that I got for $45 in 2015 and it’s still working like a beast! I’ve printed almost 10500 pages so far. The only reason I’m looking into a better printer is because I started a small business that requires me to produce quality readable labels on just about every type of paper (textured, matte, glossy, clear). I tried Epson EcoTank but I was honestly not amazed with the print quality. The colors were dull and despite letting it dry for days, the black ink on a clear label kept smudging. Also the updates became toooo frequent and annoying my god! And it won’t even accept a card stock paper no matter the settings. So I’m still using that HP inkjet but I have to be prepared when it starts breaking down.
Trying to start my own sticker thing did you ever find a printer I’ve been researching for weeks and can’t figure out the best for glossy sticker
I am happy with My Epson L805 with ink tank. 65,000+ pages printed SO far. Thousands of letter size photos. Even more in 4x6.
If you don't print photos use pigment ink and printers that can use them, sharper and don't smudge and print on more medias
I have a G3060 - and after just over a year of minimal use - the cyan ran out. I added more ink but it was still not printing correctly. After two hours on hold with Canon, he suggested a print flush. It did the trick - the printing resumed. However, after your video on the saturated sponge, I ordered and replaced the cartridge - easy. Cost $9.99 on the Canon site. Back to loving this inkjet. Another thing I like is the low price per colour bottle compared to $$$ Epson.
This could have easily been solved by canon making the ink absorber a replaceable module with a self contained monitoring chip. I think that this particular printer was designed for high workflow environments where a lot of printing occurs. For most home environments I'm concerned about ink solidifying in the tanks and getting sucked in the lines. Most of your purges/cleanings are focused on making sure that the nozzle is clean enough that it sprays properly.
If it is a sponge, couldn't it be simply rinsed out and put back in? Or design it as a tank can be wiped clean with alcohol. If we need a replacement cartridge with a microchip, then we are back to the old situation with expensive consumable parts.
@@j7ndominica051 as far as rinsing it out, some inks become insoluble to water when dried. A tank seems like a good idea but so little ink is used each time that it would be dried out before you think to clean it. All I'm thinking for the monitoring chip is that it holds the counter not the equipment. I'm not talking about serious DRM on a replaceable component that could easily be manufactured by a third party.
That is nice to know. I checked and Canon states that the absorber is non-user replaceable. They state that the G3200 printer needs to go to a service center where they will charge to replace the absorber.
My Epson ET-3750 uses a user replaceable maintenance tank. I am going on four years of ownership with no problems and only two head cleanings. It came with two free sets of ink bottles, and I am halfway through the second set of ink.
Yeah, this is basically why I went with color laser a couple printers ago, they don’t have the same picture quality but make up for it in not having any issues with being used infrequently. I’m surprised there hasn’t been more development of home digital photographic paper prints, I’m sure anyone really dedicated to the true top quality wouldn’t mind loading some photo chemicals instead of ink... I was always impressed by the prints I obtained from my local electronics shop, that tech just needs to get desktop sized and mass produced, and black and white would be even simpler to implement.
If its any consolation, have one of these for home office use and in a year and a half or so i have put multiple thousands of papers through it with only minor issues here and there. Still works like a charm
i have an epson XP960 , and i have the almost opposite problem: i always have an empty ink cartridge. The ink seems to evaporate or dry out in the cartridges, so a cartridge gives more of a print time than a number. It's a nightmare, given the price of cartridges...
I was planning to buy a printer of this type but... it seems just as nightmarish!!!! And what does the quality look like in photo printing?
"Just when I thought I was out of the inkjet mafia, they just pull me back in".
😆
We need an open-source printer
Not necessarily, manufacturers just need to make their printers easy to maintain.
@@techwizpc4484 Yeah.. ok. Good luck with that proposal.
I have the same printer that I bought around the same time. I was just as thrilled as you were, and have been for 4+ years.
As a teacher, I HAVE printed THOUSANDS of coloured pages (photos, classroom décor, etc.) I've been SO disappointed about this stupid error, because up until I got the error, this thing printed like a dream, and I (like you) have recommended it to EVERYONE! I KNOW it was far less expensive than having to purchase cartridges. But I wish I could fix the problem. They DO sell brand new ink absorber pads on Amazon. 🤷♀Maybe I'll try those!
Thanks for the video! I appreciated your expertise and info!
Do try the new ink absorber pads, if the printer is still printing well, but bear in mind you will also need to reset the monitor for the ink saturation to get rid of the error. There is another video that shows you how to do that, but it only resets the absorption percentage to 30%. You would need the service tool to reset to zero, but the tool is hard to find.
czcams.com/video/2wo_suktXOE/video.html
This other video can help you with the replacement of the pads as well, and worthwhile going through the comments on that one, as I learned a lot as I was in a similar predicament, and managed to get this decent printer working great again.
czcams.com/video/2ghmJYNf3mI/video.html
I wish I came across this video sooner. 15 months later and my printer has the exact same issue. I will never buy one again. Thank you for making this video and not being afraid to go back and revise your review. I now want to know what I should buy.
Sir Here is ur solution for canon printer it just needs a conbination of keys on printer to clear code and change the ink pad which are availble for under 5$ czcams.com/video/jHprxt8ghYk/video.htmlsi=7kjMFo9n5KqNsApV
Great video. I’ve given up on printers. I mostly use it for scanning and printing a form once a month. For photos I go to a store and pay 10c per print.
This "feature" has been around for a long time. One of my clients had a little Canon bubblejet printer (probably close to 20 years ago now) and I remember her contacting me saying she couldn't print anything any more, even with new ink installed. When she contacted Canon here in Australia she was told the ink absorber was full and that was the end of its operational life. She had printed a lot with it, and was told to purchase a larger model with a higher rated print yield.
I guess some things never change!
Same here. 20 years ago, then Canon offered to send me a new inkjet printer at the cost of a new set of cartridges when the ink absorber filled up.
Exactly. Theres no reason these printers couldn't have had a waste ink tank built in, with an accurate full measurement sensor that means the printer never disables itself forever with nothing the users can do except hack the firmware.
@@ge2719 There is no reason Canon can't make the ink counter easily resettable. They won't even tell consumers how to do it, and none of the procedures recommended on line work on mine. I can get it into service mode easily enough (hold down Stop, turn on Power, then flash Stop 5 times with Power held on), but then what???
@@johne6081 i had to buy a seeingoy dodge poeceof software for resetting a specific printer i had.
Tested it in a locked off virtual machine and it didnt doathing malocious and the i ran it on a mini pc with a fresh windows with no network access, then reinstaled windows, just incase.
It reset it fine. I cant remember the name of it though. Let me see if i can find it again.
Can I ask you if do you recommend putting a diy external ink waste tank to a canon inkjet printer to prevent the malfunction in the future?
Just been through a similar scenario with the G650. Unlike the author, I have used this printer virtually every day for 2 years and four months (I bought one of the first) and have printed over 25,000 pages with it. The black print head began to clog (lines) and then black failed altogether. I did several cleans and a deep clean. It just got worse, then after about the fourth deep clean, the colour printhead started to fail as well.
I got a warning that the maintenance cartridge (sponge) was almost full. They are cheap enough, but then I started to think about the possible scenarios. I've replaced the maintenance cartridge twice already - the printer never cut off the ink supply, even when it was full. So, was I on the hook for a maintenance cartridge at about £10, or did I need to try new print heads at £55 each plus shipping? They were probably due to be replaced - but if that didn't work I would be £120+ down and unable to return anything. Then there was the ink - I had about 50% to go before buying a new set.
All things considered, I decided to write it off and get a new Epson printer/scanner with a new warranty, new heads, full ink and an actual print driver for my Mac (as opposed to Canon insisting I use Airprint) for £229.00. Four bottle system as opposed to six, but faster and smaller and less expensive to fill. This is one of those occasions where the first loss is the best loss, in my opinion.
Sir Here is ur solution for canon printer it just needs a conbination of keys on printer to clear code and change the ink pad which are availble for under 5$ czcams.com/video/jHprxt8ghYk/video.htmlsi=7kjMFo9n5KqNsApV
I've been using a Brother MFC-6490CDW for the past ~13 years and have been pretty happy with it, not just for its reliability and interoperability with modern devices, but also relatively low cost per page, if using the larger cartridges. Although a Minolta Magicolor 2350 DL I have works well for color photos.
The best investment I ever made was for a second hand colour laser printer. It always works and never needs cleaning. The toner cartridges are good for 1000's if not 10000's of prints. I've had it now for 6 years and I'm still on the original toner cartridges which are still at 50%. I only paid £200 for it.
I'm looking to switch over to laser because I'm just done with inkjet printers all together. I'm hoping that the laser printer will work well with making bookmarks on cardstock and can pick up texture and print as close to what's on the screen as possible
What model is that?
@@LunarNoire Did you buy yet? Be sure to research any printer you're considering, because laser printers don't generally do heavy cardstock well. It bonds toner to paper with heat, and if the cardstock is too thick for the printer it will flake off. That said, I LOVE my color laser printer, but def buy after-market toner or it's like paying for ink cartridges. Good luck!
@@imadish5356 I ended up getting a laser printer, but I want to get this one too to replace my ecotank since I'm using both for different purposes. So far the laser printer that I have has been pretty good with heavy cardstock. I'm going to try cover cardstock next to see if it will go through and pray I don't break the the printer lolz. The colors came out really nice and accurate so I am pleased with the laser printer thus far, but still want an inkjet as well.
I got the Canon ImageCLASS MF644Cdw
@@LunarNoire Congrats! That looks like a really nice printer. I'm jealous.😉I have (old!!) HP M251nw. Have done up to 271 gsm/100 lb. It made it through, but toner "just" sticks -can flake it off in places. Depending on project, I sticky laminate or spray w/Crystal Clear. Page curl is a major prob for me --my printer can't load from the back. PLEASE let me know how it goes with your new Canon! I'm shopping -this poor old thing is gonna quit soon. Good luck!
I think this problem has been resolved in the canon GX series. All of those printers have a maintenance tray for the spent ink. A display graph shows how full it is. You get a warning before it’s completely full. It is very accessible and replaceable. I’m about to get the GX5020. I’ll let you know.
I have a GX7021 and I love it! It is a great printer and feels solid and of good build quality. It came with a 3yr warranty out of the box.
Planned obsolescence
"We designed it poorly so you could buy a more expensive one"
@@macavalli2619 Did you reply to the wrong comment? It says Canon now allows users to replace the part that was mentioned in this video as making the printer useable.
@@bunnywarrenYet they released a printer in the past with a problem they were likely aware of in testing.
Why make a "replaceable" tray when you could make a reusable one? Seems like just another way to milk customers, so nothing new really.
If only someone designed a printer that wasn't a scam...it's like they could wreck the market.
I have a Brother AIO that cost me about $100 maybe 6 years ago. I buy generic ink cartridges online pretty cheaply. I have had to clean the heads once but otherwise it's been fine for me. I also appreciate that I can print from MacOS and Linux easily as well.
A Brother user over here as well.
I cant really understand why its the only brand that haven't been problematic so far. Or at least less problematic.
Earlier on I had two HP printers, one had this rather cool ability to print on printable discs, which has been a huge help with my first business, but sadly the ink was deadly expensive. I tried to refill the cartridges, and while black worked out well, the color one did not, and it printed weird colors. And not to mention it broke after some time, it was probably around 2010 or so. The second one I got for free from my mobile operator after signing a new deal, and it worked a small bit longer. It was a combo, had the scanner on top (tbh all of the later printers I got had those built in scanners). But again had that annoyance in form of expensive inks. Not to mention it used a very weird kind of PSU, and after moving out I lost one, so now its basically a piece of junk.
In the meantime my grandfather bought himself a Brother printer. It was in around 2007 I believe so. He still uses it like... once over 3 months? And it works like a charm.
And so I went for buying Epson printer. It had those cool features like Wi-Fi printing, fax, and so on. Had a normal 8-style power cord, and it wasnt HP. Ink wasnt cheapest, but still better than HP. It worked for like 2 years. Still got it, but I dont really know why I keep this. Probably just to give away to someone who'd want a free scanner.
Sadly this carried on. Around 2019 my father wanted to buy a printer for himself, and chose HP, after all I went through. I told him "dont buy this junk, you'd only lose money", but he insisted that he has to own a printer, because he has to have ability to print something when he needs to. Yep. He maybe used it like once or twice, and it stopped working. He is not used to print anything if he doesnt need to.
It was a real annoyance that I couldn't print anything at home, and had to go visit my buddy who worked at the office. Until one day he asked me "hey, wouldnt you want a printer?". After I saw that its a Brother, I happily agreeded. The only reason he gave it away for me was the fact that it's "too slow", and his customers had to wait like 30 seconds for their documents, and he has to give it to them in lesser time. It was already used heavily, because he printed documents every day, and not to mention its already probably 10 years old. But it prints! And since I got it in 2020 I'm printing as much as I want. In colour and b&w. The only problem I have got now is where to get a cheap paper.
This leaves a question. Why should I bother printing a page weekly if I dont need to, when my current printer works even if I leave it for a month or two?
Even the OG inks for the Brother printer are cheap, and the third party ones now costs less than a pack of 500 sheet copy paper.
The only problem I had with the printer recently was the fact, that the transparent ribbon inside got splashed with ink. After I cleaned it, it works again. Couldnt repair a similiar issue in my first HP.
Sure - the print quality isnt the best one I had ever seen. But I can turn a blind eye on it, because it pays off with the reliability. It has almost zero impact when printing documents anyway. And what's best - printing has become affordable again.
I'm not the kind of person who likes to praise big companies, but when it comes to printers I just can't stay silent, because this is a real difference. HP printers had this magnet for clients of being cheap, but then you had to spend more on inks, and the company earned their money anyway. Its probably a similiar story with Canon and Epson. I'm not sure how does Brother products hold up now, but Im sure that Im not going to change my printer anytime soon.
May I ask what the model number is? PRETTY PLEASE
We used a G3100 in my last work and lasted 30000 pages, (at 15k the absorber went full and the warranty was used to replace it and have other 15k pages).
Apart of that, what replaced, but in their life was very practical and dozens of pages was printed and copied every day.
The color print quality was good, even with alternative ink.
Same thing happened to me a couple years back with this same machine when I used it. I cracked and ended up paying for the $10 key that reset the sponge, and I was actually surprised that it worked. I decided I wasn't going to keep it enough for real problems to start so I just left the sponges dirty. It's just super annoying that the sponges aren't at the very least, a consumable product. Lost opportunity and respect for Cannon with that one. Still, I love their printers when they are at their peek.
Great video, thank you for posting!
Having ran into this issue with the previous Canon Pixma printer we had, which has only saw 3 original cartridge sets in it's 4 year life has made me avoid the Canon Megatank, evidently correctly suspecting this would be an issue.
We now have a cheap HP SmartTank, will see how long this lasts, despite having cleaning routines it needs manual cleaning of the heads if left alone for a while, which is easy to do thanks to the modified standard cartridges it uses.
If this machine fails I will try an Epson EcoTank, to see whether the answer is to move to laser and maybe dot matrix printers or whether inkjets can be useable.
Thanks a lot! This is clearly planned obsolescence! Now I understand what the "Maintenance Cartridge" is on Newer models (Pixma G15/25/35xx and Maxify GX5050, 6050...) : it's a sponge in a plastic tray, with a chip so you can only use the original one! In France we have a law against planned obsolescence, it's typically a case where it could apply.
Those chips are relatively easy to reset, apparently, by copying one that has a low use count, then writing it every time it gets full. Of course you need to manually clean the sponge so it doesn't overflow.
I have a 10-year old (or so) Epson printer, and while the ink clogs up a lot, and I have to do cleaning cycles all the time, it's still cheap and worth the hassle because I buy 3rd party cartridges from eBay for like 1 euro... The sponge has probably "expired" physically a long time ago, but it doesn't seem there's any "digital expiration" on it.
I'm still using a Xerox color laser I bought in 2012. I print something on it like 4 times a year, but toner powder doesn't clog so i just turn it on and it always works. No maintenance.
You are so right. I have the same model about a year old and it refuses to print black. I used it often and refilled the ink but will not work now.
This is an excellent printer IF you use it (almost) daily.
If you don't, some of the ink will fall back because of gravity. This problem already existed 20 years ago with those large format inkjet printer.
On the lastest Canon printer driver, already have "ink flush" feature in Printer Maintenance to address empty tube problem. They'll just need to add "reset absorber".
But on the otherhand if user start to abuse "reset absorber" without changing the absorber, one day ink will leaks out.
Thank you, you came up with this! Can absolutely feel your disappointment. I bought the same printer. In my case he likes to chew the sheets… error 1300
So that’s the way we go nowadays 😊
Try a top quality Xerographic paper - don't store your paper in a humid basement.
I just picked it up on clearance for 55$ the other day.
@@nrich5127 hey thank you! That’s a good tip, to pay attention to a humidity 👍. Would never think about, that printer over 300€ would strike because of slight humidity changes. (No offence on you! 🍀)
Storing my paper in my table. The humidity is the same as in the whole appartement.
The Epson WF (Work Force) printers had a removable/replaceable tank that collected all of the waste ink. I don't know if the later Epsons still do this, but it was a great idea in the WF models.
All large office printers like WF or OJP (HP Officejet Pro) all did similar thing - large tank (CISS or just large cartridge) and removable tank. Was WF also electronically coded with sponge counter and needed to be reset? Btw OJP had no waste tank, it just blew ink out with compressor through the printhead down into the dedicated area with high borders where it theoretically never runs out and dries up. Theoretically haha. IMHO all consumer printers are trash from factory (I had my hand on SX, BX, PX, Photosmart etc) with many pre-programmed issues, only basic office printers are more-less solid machines (also for home use).
Just purchased the G6020 for $130 on a black Friday sale since I was looking for a tank printer. Glad to see more competition as the prices have plummeted. Hopefully I won't have any issues with this model.
Epson Ecotank absorber sponges are easily replaceable. They are the only high capacity inkjet line that has such a feature. The ink is slightly more expensive than both Canon and HP at about $40-$50 for a 4 color set of refills instead of $20-$30, but the tanks are overall larger and the printer itself tends to provide better performance and more consistent prints.
Thats good to know.
I have an Ecotank printer and i do believe it even came with a spare maintenance box for waste ink included.
Thank you Glenn!
I also have an Epson Ecotank ET-4850 that I spent nearly $500 on in January 2022. I saw this video and was concerned that the Epson would have the same flaw as Canon.
I spent the extra $ on the Ecotank in the hopes it would be better engineered vs cheaper inkjet printers.
It’s relieving to know Epson took the time to implement a solution for this issue.
Was not my experience at all. Perhaps you have a more "Deluxe" model. Mine simply told me the sponge was full and it was game over.
@@edubbs3528 Oh, that’s interesting. Perhaps there are variance in the models. Like more expensive models have more maintenance features built-in, whereas less expensive models have things non-user replaceable sponges. That would be a crappy thing for Epson to do though. Getting good reviews on the fancy models, misleading people to think all of them have the same robustness.
@@edubbs3528 Maybe you had to just cut out the tube to the sponge and put it somewhere to drain the ink from the very new state. But it would work if we know, that the "full sponge" detected by some "wet sensor". And I don't know, whether there is a moisture sensor at all. Maybe there is just a counter...
After various colour inkjet printers from Canon and Epson, I gave up on ink jet printing a long, long time ago due to the ridiculous cost of replacement inks, the generally inferior quality of third party inks, firmware updates that rejected third party cartridges, shamefully low print counts per cartridge, etc. We now have a moderately priced, high quality (in our experience) Brother mono-laser that accepts third party toner cartridges, for all our general printing needs. Any colour printing we use either a retail store or there are now quite a few online stores that print and ship prints at a very low cost ... and all with superior results to what the inkjet printers ever gave me even at their best. Your video is very on point, and I would go further to suggest that everyone should simply, and permanently, shun inkjet printers marketed for home use, so as to cease rewarding manufacturers in their shameful inkjet cartridge cost 'scams'. Third party printing services, that use higher quality machines than the home user could afford, while printing at a lower cost per page than the home user could achieve, are the way to go!
Well said!
I am in total agreement! I use a Brother monochrome laser and it is bulletproof and very cost-effective!
The reason I'm here is that I need a document with personal info on it printed immediately and my printer isn't working. They know they can do whatever they want
What's hilarious is I was already going through all of this like 15 years ago. So they're still at it and going strong. I haven't had a printer in a long time
Thanks for the video, it is appreciated. You hit all the problems with the home printers and the companies just aren't hearing it yet. I assume they will eventually.
I have a slightly fancier version of this same generation of printer, I print about 100 pages a month, only had to run the deep cleaning once or twice. Works pretty great still. Ink jets do require regular use, the nature of crystals [print heads] that clog. That being said, an ink sponge maintenance kit and reset option should absolutely be available from the manufacturer.
If you get the same problem as him it will be air in the lines and you run the INK FLUSH option to fix it.
I have been using this printer for about 5 years without running into any problem. Sometimes i dont use it for months and everything is working good. It’s an awesome printer. Haven’t buy an ink bottle since i bought it 😅
Me too. I am very happy with mine
Thanks for the video! I have the missing colour problem on my TS8000 and hesitant to do a deep clean but once I’m through all my ink it can be retired. Not sure if I will replace her really. I was interested in something like this unit but we’ll see
I’ve been using Epson’s version the Ecotank 4760 for several years and it has been working great for me. I’ve printed nearly 4000 pages without a single problem and only recently had to refill the black ink. The colors all still have ink in them.
What you neglected to mention and what Canon doesn't advertise is that these printers are made for daily printing; basically business owners.
This is why I use a 31 year old dot matrix printer for my documents. It never fails and the ink ribbon is cheap and lasts a lot. For Photos I prefer to go to a dedicated center to get them printed.
It's also why I travel on horseback to avoid motor vehicle costs.
@@incandescentwithrage I'm winding a generator manually right now to save electricity. Typing this with the other hand.
@@incandescentwithrage I mean, don't knock the dot matrix. For document printing they are still adequate.
What you are telling is true to the tiniest detail, thank you for informing other people as well..
I have a Canon PIXMA printer (E414), even though it doesn't have a tank to hold ink , I had the same problem . I have been refilling my cartridges for a while now and I thought I struck gold because my ink cost was cheap and the cartridges didn't mind getting refilled. But then I faced the same error, cleaned the absorber but couldn't reset the absorber counter( by using 3rd party service Software) and now it's literally dead. If anyone has a solution or work around this problem ,i appreciate the help .
the solution to this problem is buy another printer :)
Some newer canon magatank printers have a user replacable waste tank. We have just bought a Maxify GX4050 and also purchased a replacement waste tank. We were going to get an Epson until we found out about Epson Error E-11. Canon do seem to have acted on this.
I have heard of the Epson Eco-tanks doing the same thing as this, but haven't encountered it myself. Printing once a week with a very bribrant colourful image has helped keep my printer in tip top shape.
That doesn't always work, and my Epson ET-1810 now refuses to print. I had been printing out a special image three times a week; sometimes several copies each time, but still the black print head would clog. Removing and replacing the waste tank is easy and the sponges can be cleaned with soap and water. But there is no way to reset the printer, something that could have been easily added to the printer utility.
Thank you so much for this! I always thought these refillable printers are “too good to be true”. I will for sure get a laser printer instead.
I absolutely love every Brother laser printer I've purchased. But lasers are not good for photos, just keep that in mind.
@@TheTechBuyersGuru I am now officially interested in getting a Brother. Are there color print versions?
@@JeanLucCaptain Yes
My Brother 3290 laser is a horrible printer. I’ve always loved Brother laser printers, but this model has streaks that their tech support could never resolve. It works ok as long as it is a white background, but colored backgrounds streak. It was under warranty, but Brother was not very helpful despite hours on the phone with them.
I have a G4210, that suffered the same malady as described in the video. Upon discovering what the error code indicated, I searched the web to no avail looking for replacement ink pads. My next resort was to call Canon USA, where-upon I was told ( by a very nice lady, whom I cannot fault as she was only the messenger ) that: 1. "Canon has no service centers, and the factory will do no service past warranty". 2. "This product is not field serviceable". 3. "Canon will not provide replacement ink pads". 4. "Canon will not provide the error re-set key". However, she did offer info about a discount on a new printer. So, figuring that I couldn't hurt a "dead" machine, I set-out to prove Canon wrong on point #2 above. A couple of DIY videos later I had the machine open enough ( quite easy ) to remove the offending ink filled pads ( fairly easy with a large tweezers ). Note though, that one pad is locked in position behind the "power entry box" and will come out not undamaged unless much more disassembly is undertaken.
As my wife washed the pads that I could get out ( it took her about 45 mins. - solving most of point #3 ), I pulled and tugged on the last pad till I accepted the "locked-in" assessment. Again thinking what can it hurt, I decided to flush the pad in-place with a squirt bulb using hot water. It was labor and paper towel intensive ( but I was on a mission about point #2 ), and I probably achieved 80-90% success ( this pad could be left alone as the others are probably 75-80% of the overall capacity ). After blow-drying the machine and re-inserting the cleaned pads, re-assembly was just reverse dis-assembly ( One caution, take care to mark the position of the ink flush tubes in their deflectors above the pads. If you push the tubes in too far during re-assembly, it puts a strain on the movement of the mechanisms at the other end. Do the marking, however you chose to do it, BEFORE you pull them out in the beginning. I learned this the hard way! ). Once back together, I used a FREE on-line error code reset key to bypass point #4 above. The "dead toss-away" is back in service. Sorry Canon ....... nah, not really.
Heroic effort! Very interesting to hear Canon's official position on this.
About the point #4, there is always a rule about this: "if someone has physical access to your machine, it's no longer your machine". And it's of great use here.
It boils down to the logical "and" of all of these truisms:
- Printers have firmware.
- Firmware is stored in flash chips on the motherboard.
- Motherboards can be taken out of the device.
- Flash chips are soldered, so they can be desoldered and put in a programmer again.
- Firmware is written in a machine language.
- For every compiled program, there is a possibility to translate it back into assembly, and then disassemble and analyze.
- A service center should have an option to reset non-user-resettable parts of the memory, and it shouldn't involve soldering.
So, basically: there is always a factory service mode (FSM for short), and so, there is always a method to access FSM. And, in the FSM, there are operations that can be performed from there.
Taking this further:
- Any method to access FSM will sooner or later be discovered and published.
- Any FSM opcodes will sooner or later be documented independently of the NDA-gatekeeped service centers.
Taking the G3x10 series:
- FSM entry sequence is already known (printer OFF -> hold power button, press stop 5 times, release power).
- FSM opcodes are three-digit, no "0" can exist in them, you enter digits using stop button (as many times as the target digit states) and confirm with a single press of a power button.
- "Reset waste ink pad utilization and recalibrate print head movement" is already known to be opcode 435.
Beautiful.
Ken, was your error code the same, or was it something else? I have your model and am getting a 5200 when i try to deep clean. Also what's he equiv of "system clean" for this one? Flush? The online manual suggests a "system clean" but I find nothing labeled such in the mtc menu.
I do remember it as being 5200 - but it's been a while now and I've since moved on to another machine/brand as the canon developed a hit and miss printing style that I didn't want to mess with. "Rest in pieces Canons everywhere!"
Sorry if I talk with different brand, but I will said, Epson ECOTank that we use in the office is working perfectly fine (320K+ pages), but we do had replace the ink absorber as well. Epson told on the manual and you need replaced as it use cotton sponges, not standard sponges. i tried to wash it but like you said, it take few days to dry (must bone dry) and they will compacted and not as dense as before. And now for the newer model, the maintenance box had chip on it, so you cannot replace as easy as the older models.
now For the missing color, Epson technician who service my printer told me, there is 2 reason: either the printhead is clogged if you rarely use it, or pump failure. If you rarely print, like your printer idle for few weeks, then you had chance that ink clogged the printhead and you don't need to replace, unless if the printhead is damage. Epson technician recommended you flush/deep cleaning several times then try to use the printer everyday. this is no.1 common problem that epson service center had. While my office printer is actually had PUMP Failure, and the technician said is actually very common if your printer already print 320K pages within 4-5 years, and the pump sparepart is quite afforable too when I service it on epson service center.
but again , the technician always (what i seen), he always told me, NO MATTER THE BRAND IS, most tank based printer he seen can had long life as long you do this:
1. Print everyday if you can, at least 2 pages of mixed text & images. the longer idle duration of the printer, the higher chance your ink will clogged the printhead.
2. Use same ink, whether official ones or off brand ones, always stick to that brand. Never try to change brand every single refills.
3. save some money on fresh maintenance box, if you use older models then stock some fresh sponges. this one is rarely need to be done, but when the notification is showed, then it is the time to replace it.
that why when I pickup the printer after he service it, he pointed out to some customer why my office printer can last 4+ year, but they don't. And that tips also said by some print station nearby my uni as well, and that's why their printer can print thousand of pages every day without any troubled.