Advice for buying a new multifunction home printer/scanner suitable for refilling.

[PeterBJ]

Thank you for testing the service tool v. 5204 on the TS5050.

 

[PeterBJ]

I have just noticed that Canon is introducing a series of ink tank printers with a user replaceable maintenance tank. See this. And here are specs for one of the new printers from a Canon official website.

Would one of these new printers be of interest?

 

[stratman]

2 print heads, one for Black and one for Color. Interesting. If you fry the Black nozzles and get the dreaded railroad tracks on nozzle check you can easily, and maybe less expensively, replace that print head. Same for separate issues with the other print head for Color.

Along with the swappable waste ink tank, Canon is getting more modular. I like it.


EDIT
I don't see these new models on the Products page at Canon USA. I do see that Canon has been using separate print heads for their tank models all along. Learning something every day!

 

[Treby]

Apologies PeterBJ for being misleading, but I haven't tested the service tool v. 5204 on the TS5050.

I only confirmed, in the information about it on ebay, that it was able reset the waste ink counter amongst many other printers in the Canon range. I'll take that on trust.


Thanks PeterBJ for bringing the new Canon ink tank printers with a user replaceable maintenance tank to my attention.
This is a interesting development and certainly of interest.

I'll check them out, but I expect the upfront costs will be similar or higher than the Epson ecotank range which will put me off.

Thank you Stratman, for the heads-up regarding the two separate print heads of this new Canon range.

This makes them even more interesting.

Along with the swappable waste ink tank, Canon is getting more modular. I like it.

So do I!!
It's about time too!

This makes Canon even more modular that Epson now.

However, I bet you'll still do much better financially refilling an inexpensive printer that's been made hackable but while it's still available like the TS5050 especially if you're not printing high volumes.

Methinks perhaps Canon are losing the battle with the Chinese copy-cat producers of cheap compatible cartridges and refillable cartridges with ARC chips so may well be looking at changing their business strategy to getting consumers cash up-front.

At the very least, Canon are giving customers who print a lot a "pay up-front" option for the hardware with more realistic ink prices and hopefully no underhand traps like non- replaceable absorber pads, which means that perfectly good printers won't end up in land-fill anymore!

This may be the beginning of the end of cheap printers that are worth hacking.

It may also give the refilling & compatibles industry a very painful kick in the groin!

The non OEM ink industry though may still flourish if the OEM inks are too over-priced .

 

[stratman]

I bet you'll still do much better financially refilling an inexpensive printer that's been made hackable but while it's still available like the TS5050 especially if you're not printing high volumes.

You may be correct. I just do not have information about the TS5050 to say one way or the other.

It may also be true that the Total Cost of Ownership of the Tank printers will take a long time to break even and before that time you will be on to a new printer for whatever reason.

 

[Treby]

Yes, I agree Stratman, it's simply not possible to really know the long term.
Too many unknowns.
Maybe even sneaky Canon traps like their "Yellow Jellow" trick!
But... if you spend the minimum possible initially on a printer that adequately serves your purpose with ink costs that are the minimum achievable you really can't lose financially.

As long as the printer is half decent quality, so remains serviceable for only a moderate time, you're in win-win.
You have a guarantee period after all.
If the printer isn't durable, then you've lost very little, as you've not overspent on it.

As I have had no comments about the Epson print heads, I'm going to have to take Jose Rodriguez' word (who has a photo "printer knowledge" style YouTube channel - I'm sure you gurus are aware of him) that Epson are in a different ball park to Canon when it comes to their propensity to block their print heads if left unloved.

He even said in this video ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xi2qZEHSVw
that a Canon could conceivably spring back into life after anything up to a year idle, if simply sealed in an airtight bag.

However he said this would never be the case with an Epson, which would have to be stored only after a very thorough flush with non drying piezo-flush, then also bagged which is how Inject Mall prepare their Epson printers for storage.
I think Jose Rodriguez's video says it all in the absence of any comments to the contrary from knowledgeable members of this forum.

Added to the above, my discovery thanks to palombian, of the ability to reset the waste ink counter on the Canon TS5050 with the Service tool 5204 was the clincher.

So, decision made...

I've gone and ordered 2 new Canon TS5050's
A second printer was only about £22 more than a reserve print head! That will probably outlast me!!
Delivery 21st November to 22nd December --- good thing I'm not in any hurry for it!


Reasons...

Very reasonable initial purchase price -- Amazon UK £79.99

Incredibly cheap refillable cartridges with auto-reset chips -- Amazon UK £14.98

Waste ink counter is resettable with Service tool 5204 from ebay uk for under £4

I've had 2 Canon printers before, so I'm familair with all aspects of them, know they're pretty well made & reliable.

Canon may make the most clog resistant design of print head. Especially important if I leave it unloved home alone for extended periods, which I may well do.

Replacement genuine Canon print heads are available @ £57.59 which fit 17 other Canon printers including much newer models, so should be available for a while yet if I really like the printer and decide to invest in a spare print head.

The print heads are very easily removable for deep cleaning.

Deep cleaning the print heads manually is not too difficult.

It will adequately serve my requirements without bells and whistles I can manage without.
Auto-duplex would have been nice, but it has manual duplex for the rare times I might want it.
A front loading cassette under the printer would have been nice in addition to a rear paper feed but I don't think I'll miss it.
The advantage of not having a front loading cassette under the printer is it gives the option of routing a waste ink pipe through the underside of the printer to an external tank.
The Canon TS6350 would have the extra bells and whistles, but the cost today of the equivalent extras I would need would mean one Canon TS6350 would cost almost the same as two TS5050's (only £13.47 less, as the auto reset carts cost £61.50 and the printer is £20 more plus compatible cartridges are about £19 more!)

It's available now and pretty much already fully hacked, except for the "printer potty" option.
It gives me a certain amount of pleasure to beat the daft marketing game the manufacturers are playing... sort of "beating the system".

A chip re-setter is available at a reasonable cost from Octoinkjet UK@ £34.95 which gives even more refilling flexibility. Although not essential it's good to know there's an option to refill original Canon cartridges which I'm already practised at.

Very cheap compatible PGI 570 Black / CLI 571 colour cartridges are available if I'm feeling really lazy.
Less than £12 for a full 5 cartridge set.

It takes 5 separate tank style cartridges 4 dye and 1 pigment black.

I already have the Canon compatible inks, as it takes exactly the same inks as my MP600.

A friend has already bought this printer which I have set-up for her with refillable cartridges with auto-reset chips.
I have already seen how well it functions.

I will have some fun trying to sort the final & ultimate hack of fitting a printer potty!
Having scrutinized my friends TS5050, I think conversion to an external waste ink tank may be reasonably doable.
If I'm successful, I'll post on this forum how to do it as well as converting my friend's TS5050 when her printer's waste ink absorber is full.
That will give me even more "beating the system" pleasure!

Phew!

 

[stratman]

I have already seen how well it functions.

You've done your homework AND you've set up and seen the printer in action. What more could you ask for! Terrific.

Best wishes with your new addition(s). Please let us know your impressions after you've spent some "quality time" together.

 

[Treby]

Will do Senor Stratman.
Thank you very much for your contructive feedback in response to my protracted ramblings which have been something of a probably tedious thinking-out-loud exercise.
Choosing a new printer seems like such a complicated minefield especially when you first start looking, it's easy to get a bit overwhelmed by the detail & distracted by triva.
Probably me overthinking things.
Thanks to everyone who has engaged... you have all helped clarify & direct my fuzzy thinking.

I look forward to being able to help any other purchasers af a Canon TS5050 by following up with a useful review and hopefully how to execute the final, as yet undocumented, hack,.. fitting an external waste ink tank.

So... when it laughs at owners, refuses to print any more (and even stops you from using its bl**dy scanner), then tells you it's got to its end of life, or you need to send it to the service centre for a "service" before you can continue to use it (totally impractical / not cost effective--- i.e. time to stick me in a hole in the ground), you can laugh right back at the bl**dy thing, and for a small environmentally friendly fee, give it a swift "WIC Reset" kick up the arse with the 5204 service tool, fit an extrenal waste ink solution your choice, and force it to live into very old age until it genuinely dies a geriatric printer death from wear and tear.
It may even outlive me if I don't get fed-up with it and chuck it out!

 

[palombian]

...
Replacement genuine Canon print heads are available @ £57.59 which fit 17 other Canon printers including much newer models, so should be available for a while yet if I really like the printer and decide to invest in a spare print head. ...

It would be interesting to know if these newer printheads last longer.

In my experience heads for dye ink printers of the 525/526 generation (European codes) fail rather soon.
Also the printhead of the PRO-9500(II) was - according to @mikling - based on the same design, but the successors PRO-10 and PRO-300 seem to have a newly designed more reliable printhead.

Is (was ?) this limited life caused by a design/manufacturing inability or deliberately built in ?
Nearly everyone I know is pissed off by this.

Will printheads with a longer life be reserved for printers with a higher duty cycle as the Maxify's and the mega-tank series ?

 

[PeterBJ]

@Treby I look forward to your review of the TS5050. I think nothing has been posted yet on the forum about these printers. The TS series of printers look to be much more compact and sturdy than the predecessors such as the MG5550, and the rear paper feed is back.