I have had a canon mx850 that was almost too good to be true.

The ink was inexpensive,
The printer used ink efficiently,
I could scan
I could print photo quality pictures on photopaper
I could copy and scan multiple pages at once
I could print legal sized paper from the rear tray
I could duplex print
The user ratings for this printer were through the roof.

With a price tag of $253, I thought my days of buying a printer were over.


So what happened?

The printer has five cartridges, Two Black, Cyan, Mag., and Yellow.

The first time I ran out of ink, I ran out of 1 color: Yellow. The printer let me know I was out of ink by DISABLING THE ENTIRE PRINTER.

I couldn't scan, print in black only, copy. I was locked out of the system.

FINE. I went without a printer for a week while I ordered more ink from ebay. Plugged the cartridge in and everything worked perfectly.

Several months later, for no damn reason. It told me "error b200". That's it.
After researching it, there was a print head error.
PRINT HEAD ERROR??? how the fuck? I was using the printer lightly all day and nothing could have happened that could have pushed it to the point of breaking.

So again, the error disabled the print of ALL the functions. I couldn't copy using the scanner2CPU function, couldn't use the USB ports for nothing, no fax machine....NOTHING.

So I wait 7 days and buy a print head from ebay for $36 (cannon wanted $100)
The ebay dude sends the wrong head even though the heads were EXACTLY THE SAME except for the printer can recognize that it's for a different printer using a serial code.

Had to wait 14 more days to get a replacement for free since the dude was on vacation.

So finally I get the new print head! It works!

I use it for about 2 months perfectly, and then it stops printing. I clean it, it prints 1 page and prints every other line. When I put the setting to high quality, it wouldn't print anything at all. Spits out blank pages.

So finally it got what it was coming to it. I hulk smashed the printer


Moral of the story: CANON is so greedy that they caused this beautiful machine to be WORTHLESS if any 1 little thing went wrong. CANON help support even recommended for me to buy a new printer when I asked them about the ominous code B200.


I will never ever buy a CANON printer again because they use the philosophy "If you build it to break, the customer will spend more money"


Can anyone recommend a printer with all these functions that is easy to repair when it breaks AND doesn't disable every function if only 1 function is broken AND that isn't a canon?

[Edited on August 3, 2012 at 1:45 PM. Reason : .]

8/3/2012 1:39:56 PM

ouch. just ran into a wall of text.

8/3/2012 1:51:03 PM

It's probably my 2nd to longest post ever.

8/3/2012 1:55:15 PM

I've got an MP830, it works great, also I have never punched it

I literally didn't use it for a year, and the first time I used it after that time, it printed flawlessly. No dried up ink, nothing.

8/3/2012 2:25:41 PM

MP850



MP830


It's error handling that's the problem.
The problem isn't performance.


For example: Take one of your color ink cartridges out and try to use any other function that doesn't have to do with printing (like scanning) and you'll see it doesn't work. You can't even print in black if you have a ton of black ink.

[Edited on August 3, 2012 at 2:37 PM. Reason : .]

8/3/2012 2:36:55 PM

Quote :

"I was using the printer lightly all day and nothing could have happened that could have pushed it to the point of breaking."

But on a serious note, I've never had a printer that worked well for long periods of time. They are the most finicky piece of hardware you can get for a computer.

Well, except for our old dot matrix printer. That thing ran for years and years and years.

8/3/2012 3:16:57 PM

do you print a fairly high volume?

8/3/2012 3:22:26 PM

I have an MX380 but only use it for scanning.

Its bullshit that a scanner costs more than a multi function unit.

8/3/2012 3:39:41 PM

Have had an HP P1005 Laser Printer for over 3 years with no problem. Cost $60 at the time, toner replacements cost $40. Black only but totally worth it. New models are only ~130 and have built in wifi.

8/3/2012 5:49:52 PM

We had one of the HP laser printers that we bought in the early/mid 90s. Thing popped out 8 pages a minute, got countless drinks/snacks/cookie-crumbs/etc spilled on it, and was still going strong like 10 years later.

8/3/2012 6:18:50 PM

I can print in black and white if a color cartridge is empty, but still in the slot

8/3/2012 6:23:07 PM

Quote :

"Have had an HP P1005 Laser Printer LaserJet 1320 for over 3 8 years with no problem. Cost $60 at the time, toner replacements cost $40. Black only but totally worth it. New models are only ~130 and have built in wifi."

8/3/2012 11:00:16 PM

Quote :

" The first time I ran out of ink, I ran out of 1 color: Yellow. The printer let me know I was out of ink by DISABLING THE ENTIRE PRINTER."

This is not uncommon on newer printers, Canon or otherwise.

You want a rock-solid reliable printer that will give you years and years of solid service? Get an old HP laserjet. My personal recommendation would be a 4100dn or dtn. The 4200's just weren't quite as good, though I woudln't turn one down. (My 1996-vintage LaserJet 5n is still running like a champ).

Color? Color is harder. So is scanning. That having been said I have a Canon MP620 that I've been happy with for almost 5 years now, save for its not having an ADF so I cannot scan multiple page jobs in one shot. I don't use it all that often but it always comes to life without complaint when I do.

8/4/2012 2:06:20 AM

I've had the Canon mx880 for over a year now and it has been great. WiFi built in, full duplex, auto doc feed scans plus flatbed and individual ink carts so no more of the run out of one color problem. Bought the generic ink from amazon and its never given me an issue

Oh yeah it was 40 bucks brand new too

8/4/2012 3:07:36 AM

I will never ever buy a CANON printer again because they use the philosophy "If you build it to break, the customer will spend more money"

8/4/2012 3:05:02 PM

That's the philosophy of every printer maker for the last decade or so

8/4/2012 6:37:16 PM

So I lied, I bought another Canon printer on craigslist.

It's a MP530.

While it disables itself when there's an error like the mx850 does, at least this one works for right now.

It scans, prints, and copies like the mx850, even uses the same ink, so I don't have to buy new ink.

I talked him down from $20 to $15.

$15 is pretty much the true price for one of these pieces of shit.

Thank you guys for your suggestions.

I know I will be using this thread in a couple months when this one's print head fails for no reason



[Edited on August 4, 2012 at 7:12 PM. Reason : .]

8/4/2012 7:10:10 PM

I could go on for a while about printers (I repair and refurbish a lot of them, heh). The basic gist of the matter is that consumer ones are made for one reason and one reason only: to sell ink.

That's why everything shuts down if you're out of one color. They're sold at a loss because ink has absurd markups. HP #45 black ink is one of the most expensive liquids on the planet, well above blood and even plasma. Everything is geared toward those cartridges, the scanner and display and wifi and whatever else are just things they dangle to get you to be an ink buyer.



If you want to pay a reasonable price for printing, buy a commercial level machine. End of topic. That doesn't mean a huge investment though, as other people have said older HP's are usually an excellent value. I'm also a fan of the Xerox Phaser line. They're more upkeep than the HP's but the print quality is amazing (and shiny and glossy!).

Consumer models have wildly inflated specs whereas business models (usually) don't lie, and most people don't understand the limitations of the technology. Your Canon says it can print like 4800x2800dpi. Its printheads can TECHNICALLY do that, but since you're squirting liquid ink onto paper fibers that disperse it your actual results are nowhere near that. Unless you're printing with brand new heads on $2 a sheet ultra-specialty paper specifically designed for it. Meanwhile laser or even solid ink instead disperses a super fine layer of ink powder or wax and then fuses it into the paper with heat. Even on shitty cheap paper you get perfect, rock solid prints every time. You get the exact 2400x1200 or 1200x1200 that you pay for. Which is usually better than the 4800xwhatever . . . sharper, crisper, better color.

8/5/2012 3:56:08 AM

SO TUFF!

8/5/2012 7:38:32 PM

Quote :

"With a price tag of $253"

You payed $253 for an inkjet printer?

8/6/2012 10:50:23 AM

My canon MP620 went to shit, so I bought a brother color laser.

tired of dealing with ink that needs to be replaced after 30 print jobs.

consumables are pretty reasonable.

8/6/2012 11:16:25 AM

office space?

8/6/2012 12:06:08 PM

I have a used a HP Laserjet 6L as my primary printer since I got it for free in 2002. The thing is a damned work horse. Have only had to replace the toner twice, once my freshman year in 2004 and last week I replaced it again with a $13.99 brand new oem cartridge that will last another 8 years. I highly recommend it to anyone else who is looking to circumvent the printer company toner schemes.

8/7/2012 9:00:07 PM

^While I commend your luck with yours, overall I'm against gravity feed printers. I find tray-based models to be more reliable. That having been said, as long as you keep up with the separator pad maintenance, the 6L is another representative of the Indestructable Era of HP printers.

8/8/2012 9:37:35 AM

I had a Canon MP620 that worked for almost 3 years exactly, then I got the dreaded printer head error. It always pissed me off that I couldnt print anything if I was out of one color of ink, even if it was in freakin black and white.

This is a good video on how to fix your Canon printer if you still have it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyHaxjFg8aI

8/12/2012 11:34:13 PM

So tuff

8/13/2012 9:57:37 AM

I wonder if we could fix GxB by punching him or throwing him off a second story deck into a parking lot?

8/13/2012 10:05:34 AM