newbie seeking advice

[sgd]

Hello there,
I have been using an inkjet printer for a couple of years but its gluttonous use of my color inks has just become too much for me to bear. No matter how careful I am, always checking that it prints in black only, the color inks disappear mysteriously and fast.
Could anyone perhaps recommend some printer(s) that use only black ink when told to, and generally don't mysteriously eat up half a cartridge in one gulp under the pretense of cleaning up their head? I don't need anything fancy, I usually print only articles in black and white, but I would like something that can handle color as well for occasional use. I would prefer something that can take refillable cartridges if possible, I mean, while I'm at it...
Thank you in advance if you can help.

 

[mrelmo]

where are you states UK? what printer are you presently using now

 

[sgd]

I'm in the US. I'm using an Epson stylus CX 7400.

 

[mrelmo]

most printers do a cleaning cycle every time they are turned on, that is why i never power my printer off unless i am on vacation, as far as another printer you can go to the canon store online and get a mp640R for 70.00 free shipping, they had mp560s uptil today for 50.00 but are now out of stock, these printers are refurbished, i have bought several of them with out any problems, also precision colors in canada is one of the better vendors for ink

 

[fotofreek]

Any of the five cartridge canon printers that have the large piment-based black cartridge will print black only from that cartridge when the setting is "plain paper" and you are not set on duplex printing. Although the automatic cleaning cycles use ink from all of the cartridges, there is a setting for selecting the four dye based carts OR the large black pigment ink cart for an additional cleaning, should you need to do one.

If you ever intend to do any color prints you need to appreciate that without these cleaning cycles you would end up with clogged nozzles where the unused carts would have delivered ink. If you really only want to do black text printing you should consider a monocolor laser printer instead of an inkjet.

 

[nche11]

If you don't print colors at all you can reset those empty cartridges and continue to print. As long as you have ink in the black cartridge despite all color cartridges are empty youe Epson printer will print the black just fine. You can't do this to any Canon or HP printers. It will burn out the nozzles. Nothing will happen to Epson print head if there is no ink in the cartridge. If the cartridges are reset the printer will not know the fact there is no ink in those color cartridges. The print head will not be clogged by doing this. I have done that on an Epson for more than a year. When I eventually replaced the empty cartridges it took only two cleaning cycles to bring the colors back.

 

[sgd]

Thanks a lot for all your advice! I am going to look at the mp640R then. But in the meantime, how does one "reset" empty cartridges? Is it a matter of taking them out and putting them back in as if I was changing them for new ones?
Which reminds me that when I do this, and tell the printer to load the ink, it uses up ink from all cartridges, not just the one I just replaced... I guess that's another feature that is true across all printers?

 

[ink_junkie]

I agree with fotofreak if you have the desk/work space. By adding a monocolor laser printer and making it your default printer. That way you are only using the color inkjet when you truly need it (and saving money).

 

[ghwellsjr]

how does one "reset" empty cartridges? Is it a matter of taking them out and putting them back in as if I was changing them for new ones?
Which reminds me that when I do this, and tell the printer to load the ink, it uses up ink from all cartridges, not just the one I just replaced... I guess that's another feature that is true across all printers?

You need to buy a resetter (if one is available for your type of cartridge) so after you take a cartridge out of your printer, you have to reset and refill it, and then when you put it back in your printer, it will think it is a new one.

And yes, when you put in a new or reset cartridge, your printer has to prime it by sucking on the bottom of the print head which will use up ink in other cartridges, too. As far as I know, this is true of all inkjet printers.