Replacement for Canon MG5350 Inkjet

[Sunnyjohn]

For the 12 years I've had a computer, I've always used Canon inkjets. I'm on my third - the other two lasted about 5 years The problem with this one is the failure of a colour. I go through the usual maintenance procedures of cleaning and trying a replacement cartridge. I use Canon's own cartridges but I keep getting the problem and Canon can only suggest waiting 24 hours and trying again. For a while, it was the magenta cartridge so I bought a cleaning cartridge and was prepared to use that when it happened again but now it's the cyan. I'm thinking to replace it and was wondering about a colour l-aser but have read that these do not give such quality for photos - which is most of what we print. Any thoughts, please?

[mixture]

I'm thinking to replace it and was wondering about a colour l-aser but have read that these do not give such quality for photos - which is most of what we print.

Yes. I own or have owned multiple colour lasers (of the various kinds ...i.e. wax and toner).

They are absolutely fantastic at saving you money for "normal" colour printing, absolutely no argument there. They print stuff so much quicker than inkjet too ! I would never go back to inkjet for "normal" printing... and these days laser is well within the price point of your average home user.

There is equally no argument in the photo department. They are NOT photo printers, by any stretch of the imagination. They don't do a terrible job of it, but its still blatantly obvious it was printed on a colour laser.

The only alternative for photos to inkjet is dyesub printing. I've been contemplating treating myself to a dyesub for christmas :cool:

If you're sticking with inkjet, my money is on Epson. I keep one in a cupboard gathering dust, which I only use on the odd occasions I want to print photos. Just took it out the cupboard the other day after (approx) a six month period of no use...a couple of automatic nozzle cleans and it was churning out photos as if it had only been used the other day. Admittedly that might be to do with the fact that mine was one of the higher end Epsons (the old R2000 series, I think ....), so I can't speak for the cheaper Epsons....different parts, different price points, and all that jazz....

[jimtherev]

Like Mix, I use a l aser for 'production' stuff. (currently a Dell, not a patch on my huge old HP which was honourably retired last year). But when my scanner turned up its toes I decided to give a Canon MG5250 a go. Fantastic colour quality, and good scanner. Used as a printer about once a month when quality demands it. Probably wastes a lot of ink with the start-up cleaning routine, but never a suspicion of colour failure.
Yet.
But when they're so cheap that ink retailers 'give them away' if you buy a couple of sets of cartridges from them, one shouldn't expect longevity, I guess...

[Sunnyjohn]

Thanks both of you. Just to update, I managed to get all colours working, changed the magenta because it was empty and that wouldn't print. Ran it with a cleaning cartridge and that solved that but now the cyan again won't play ball. Just found a method of cleaning the print head which I will try tomorrow.

[Ancient Observer]

I rather like the Canon 5250 aswell. Economic, Good-enough, (but not perfect) for photos, and quick-ish, but not super fast, for documents.
As I try not to print too many docs, it meets my needs.

It's only downside is that it does not do Airprint, or whatever Apple call it. So to print from an i-whatever, a different App, non-Apple is required. (Mixture will be along to tell us what Apple call it).

[Sunnyjohn]

Another update. Removed the printhead and cleaned with a solution of 50:50 distilled water and ammonia based window cleaner. Warmed the solution up and soaked for three minutes. No good. Repeated. This time the test print printed the cyan but then the cyan ceased to work. It's clearly a blockage in the feed from the cyan cartridge. Now soaking overnight. I now have nothing to lose since a new printhead is £75 and a new comparable Canon printer is £63.

[Saab Dastard]

Just to check the obvious - you did remove the cover from the vent hole on the cartridge?

SD

[Sunnyjohn]

Thanks SD - yes!

After soaking overnight, I cleaned, dried and refitted the head and cartridges and the printer is now working fine. In the course of all this I've used up three Canon cartridges - £50. Now that I've discovered how easy it is to remove and clean the head, I'll go - as frequently advised here - from now on for Canon compatible cartridges at a third of the cost. Should this result in a printing problem, I now know how to clean the head!

Thanks for all your comments.

[Saab Dastard]

I admit to once wasting an hour and much ink cleaning and troubleshooting my inkjet when a brand new cartridge wouldn't print, only to discover that I'd left the seal on the vent.

Or the time I disconnected the battery troubleshooting why the car wouldn't start, only to discover I'd left it in D...

:O

SD

[Loose rivets]

I was blowing window cleaner through the nozzles when Epson rang me. They agreed a replacement despite the 5600 being 18 months old. I was pleased when I got a 6600 . . . until I saw the cartridge size:*:*:* and the fact it blocked again after a few days. Head clean? Sheeesh, that's 30% gone.

Bear in mind it's hot here. If the AC is off, the office hits 32c with ease.

I ended up with five units passing though, and for some reason had two to keep. That along with the Kodak and its replacement and another I can't remember, went out on Craigslist Free Stuff in one big pile.

Oh, by the way, the nozzles did clear - buy why should I have to do that?

it was in the bucket, so:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v703/walnaze/PpruNe/DSCN1829.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/walnaze/media/PpruNe/DSCN1829.jpg.html)


I traveled from Dallas to the boarder with a bloke who was going to change the heads in a photographic printer. IIRC $90,000 plus two days. A rather different league.

[Sunnyjohn]

Oh, by the way, the nozzles did clear - buy why should I have to do that? I do agree, Loose rivets, but needs as needs must. If I can keep my Canon going by the occasional soaking of the print head, that's saving me $120!

[ShyTorque]

I've just bought myself an Epson WF-3520 as a replacement for my old and now defunct Lexmark.

It does WiFi or USB connections plus scanning/faxing and will print from my wife's Ipad or my Iphone. You can also email it (it has its own email address via the Epson connect system) and it will print emails direct.

I thought it excellent value at £99 delivered, via Ama$on.

[Loose rivets]

I do agree, Sonny, that's why I'm always trying to fix things. A new steering link on the car today before becoming a watchmaker again.

Shy, how much ink do you get for starters?

[jimtherev]

Ah yes, we know that one, don't we. Printers ship with cartridges which are half-filled. Enough to get you going, but meaning you have to rush to the shop or t'internet before you can do any serious work.


Reminds me of a previous Pope who was asked how many people worked in the Vatican.
'About half of 'em', he replied.

[ShyTorque]

Shy, how much ink do you get for starters?

No idea but it seems to be doing well so far and it's been given a fair amount of use by myself and the two others using it.

I checked out the cost of replacement cartridges before buying this Epson.

The Lexmark cost me a small fortune in inks, because one colour finished from the tri-colour cartridge meant the whole thing came to a halt. It told me it was empty and that was it, it refused to let me carry on trying. I bought XL cartridges in an attempt to save money until I discovered by experimentation, that a so-called "empty" XL cartridge weighed the same as normal sized one did when full.

[Sunnyjohn]

Printers ship with cartridges which are half-filled. This is usually the case but about a year ago I bought a Brother b/w L.aser to replace my useless Samsung. The Brother is excellent and, so far, has shown no signs of running out with the supplied toner cartridge.

[henry_crun]

The only good printer is someone else's.

I kick my pics from my phone straight up to Skydrive and then print them at a library or coffee shop on their big, expensive, well-maintained color l-aser printer.

[P.Pilcher]

Be advised that I have been using compatible cartridges/ink ever since I changed over from a dot matrix unit to ink jet ones over 10 years ago. At present I am using a Canon photo printer with refillable cartridges and B.S. standard inks. To refill a cartridge costs me about 50p and I have never, ever had a printer problem which I can put down to the use of non-manufacturer's inks. The difficulty has always been to defeat the elaborate mechanisms that manufacturers introduce to prevent users from using third party cartridges.
Of course the market requires the manufacturers to charge peanuts for their printers so they have to (try and) make their profit by selling ink.

P.P.

[Capn Bloggs]

At present I am using a Canon photo printer with refillable cartridges and B.S. standard inks. To refill a cartridge costs me about 50p
Same here. The kitchen looks like a clandestine drug lab when I'm in "refill" mode! Syringes and blunt "needles" everywhere.

Got one of these just in case I get a head blockage (I hope this bloke doesn't do CRM courses!):

tydjteB1xNU

[Sunnyjohn]

Well, the saga goes on.The MG3530 refused to print the blue again so I soaked the print head overnight and ran a clean and a deep clean cycle. It now works. It's clear to me, however, that there is a real problem with this print head. I now have two options: I can buy a new print head from Amazon (the cheapest I could find anywhere on the net) for £74 or I can buy a brand new MG3250 for £47. That means I could use my stock of ink and, if I wanted, exchange the print heads as they are compatible. Guess which I'll go for?!!

[Capn Bloggs]

74 vs 47? Just goes to show: the printers themselves are just a cheap (but effective) wallet-opening devices, from which will flow hundreds if not thousands of dollars/pounds in ink purchases...

[Sunnyjohn]

Another update. I have found a superb forum here:
Clogged Canon print head | PrinterKnowledge (http://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/clogged-canon-print-head.227/)
It was started five years ago and is still going strong. The amount of DIY expertise and information with regard to cleaning and maintenance of inkjet heads on this forum is quite staggering. I was curious to discover whether it was possible to strip down a printer head to see where the problem might be. The answer is yes, provided you have some DIY or engineering knowledge or both. However, there is a lot of advice there regarding removing blockages before getting to the strip-down stage. I am minded to buy the MG3250 anyway, change the head over and then work on the old head. Watch this space.

[Sunnyjohn]

A little bit more on this subject about inks. I was explaining to my youngest son, who is an archaeologist, about my printer problem, and he pointed out that cheap inks do not provide long-term stability for hard-copy photographs. Canon inks are guaranteed to be stable and provide archive quality for up to one hundred years. This is important if, like us, you are producing hard copy photos for your family to keep and pass on down through the family archive. So what I intend to do is to purchase the MG5250 and. once installed and running, repair the head of my existing MG5350 and then fit one with Canon inks for archive photos and the other with cheap inks for day-to-day stuff. Incidentally, after the last clean, the 5350 has worked perfectly.