should I replace my Canon MX850?

[pvrbulls]

I have been refilling CLI-8/PGI-5 carts since 2007 (using first the top fill method and then the German method) for a Canon 4300; for over two years I never had any problems. In July, 2009 I bought a MX850 because I thought I needed an all-in-one. At the same time I ordered a new batch of Hobbicolors ink(I have used Hobbicolors inks for years.) Almost immediately I started having problems with the yellow nozzles clogging. Thinking that I had gotten a defective head, in December, 2009 I bought another head for the 850 which, like the previous one, started clogging(yellow only) almost immediately. I have used it since then essentially without the benefit of yellow ink. I don't know for sure what the problem was/is, but I suspect a bad batch of yellow ink or perhaps the smaller(than the 4300) nozzles on the 850 won't handle that particular ink. Heck, perhaps something was "growing" in my yellow carts! Anyway, up to now I have had no problems at all with the other colors on the 850. Upon refilling this weekend, it seems that the PGI-5 black is now at least partially clogged(I tried a second cartridge with identical results).

The cost of a new head for the 850 will be at least $75 delivered and it is time to order a new batch of ink. Right now, the MX870 is available from Staples for $100(after rebate) delivered. I have a lot of questions.
First, does the MX850 have any kind of a reputation(either good or bad) as it relates to refilling.
Second, is the MX870 thought to be a good printer as it relates to refilling? I know it uses the CLI-221 carts.
Are they about the same as the CLI-8's as far as refilling is concerned?
Is the capacity of the CLI-221 less that the CLI-8?
Is there another all-in-one printer that is known to be particularly reliable and easy to refill? I am not married to Canon or the MX series.
Has anyone heard of there having been a problem with the Hobbicolors yellow ink? I have found no such reference.
(As I said, lots of questions!):|

As far as I know, my 850 is mechanically working just fine, so buying a new head, purging all my carts and buying new ink should get me back in business, but .......

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[guyg]

I have an MX870, it is a nice printer. The built in wireless is more convienent than an ethernet wireless setup you would need on the MX850. The 221 carts are smaller but can be refilled and reset fairly easily. The printhead has about half the amount of nozzles as the MX850, so printing will be slower. Otherwise the specs are fairly similar, but the big question is how will the MX870 hold up long term? It seems that the newer printers may not be made as well, I guess time will tell. If you look around the forum at peoples signatures you will see alot of MX850-IP4500 users, these machines hold up and preform well. I am on the lookout for one locally but on Craigslist if one comes up it is gone instantly, you have to be quick or its gone. I see Amazon has 1 used listed for $600.00, I really do not think it's that good though. So, if I had an MX850 in good shape I would get it working while the printheads are still available, I'm sure you could sell it on ebay for a tiddy sum if you still wanted the MX870, but they will be around easily for a few more months. ( Maybe? It seems once the supply runs out the price will spike upwards).

 

[pvrbulls]

Thanks for the reply.

I just ordered the new printhead as they seemed to be going fast! I was able to get the PGI-5bk straightened out with a couple of cleanings, so I am back to just the problem with yellow. I will order some new ink tomorrow and purge my carts. Hopefully, that along with the new printhead will fix whatever has been causing the problem.

Thanks again for your help.

 

[ghwellsjr]

There is a big difference between the MX850 and the MX870 in the number of nozzles and thus the speed of the printing. There are twice as many dye ink nozzles in the MX850 as there are in the MX870 so I think your choice to get a new print head for your MX850 is a good one.

 

[guyg]

Reading through other posts I found a thread that sounded similar to your problem, but then again new ink may be all you need. http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=25992#p25992 ,regardless, make sure you get a good noozle check before printing with your new printhead, good luck.

 

[pvrbulls]

Reading through other posts I found a thread that sounded similar to your problem, but then again new ink may be all you need. http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=25992#p25992 ,regardless, make sure you get a good noozle check before printing with your new printhead, good luck.

Wow! That does sound a lot like my problem!

But getting to the purge pads on the MX850 will require at least some disassembly....I think(I wonder if there is some sort of online manual that would give some guidance as to how to gain access those purge pads?). If it turns out that, in fact, this is my problem I will certainly not want to use the new printhead until I can get it fixed. I am sure that my other two printheads are ruined by now with all the printing I have done with practically no yellow flowing. What I don't quite understand, though, is why a clogged purge pad would only affect the yellow. If I read the thread correctly, there are two purge pads: one for the black pigment ink and one for the dye based inks. I just did a nozzle check and the other colors colors, as well as the black pigment, look "perfect." I get only some pale streaking on the bottom "half" of the yellow strip; the top "half" is almost completely blank.

Thanks for the head-up on this issue. I will be watching it closely when I install the new head.

 

[ghwellsjr]

You should be able to see and if you are careful, access the two purge pads off to the right where the print head parks.

It might be helpful for us to see a picture of your nozzle check. If half of the yellow is completely missing, that is almost certainly an electrical problem that cannot be fixed, except by getting a new print head.

I just noticed that you indicated that you have been using Hobbicolors inks for years. I have would not recommend their pigment black ink as it appears to have the same problem as the BCI-3eBk Inktec ink that clogged many of the printers that I was supplying ink to. Have you had any problems with your pigment black ink?

 

[pvrbulls]

You should be able to see and if you are careful, access the two purge pads off to the right where the print head parks.

It might be helpful for us to see a picture of your nozzle check. If half of the yellow is completely missing, that is almost certainly an electrical problem that cannot be fixed, except by getting a new print head.

I just noticed that you indicated that you have been using Hobbicolors inks for years. I have would not recommend their pigment black ink as it appears to have the same problem as the BCI-3eBk Inktec ink that clogged many of the printers that I was supplying ink to. Have you had any problems with your pigment black ink?

Upon refilling last Thursday, I had what appeared to be some clogging of the pigment black. That was the first time, however, that I have had any problem with the pigment black since I switched to Hobbicolors in 2007. I ran a couple of cleaning cycles, but that didn't seem to help. I inserted another cart thinking that perhaps it was an ink flow problem; that didn't help either. That is when I decided that perhaps it was time to get a different printer and found the Staples deal on the MX870 and then posted here. I ran another cleaning cycle, however, and the problem with the pigment black seems to be completely cleared up. I print mostly financial articles from the web and the text is, right now, as sharp and black as it has ever been. I use a relatively cheap paper that I get from Sam's Club and just noticed that it has ColorLok technology. In reading on this site I discovered that there has been a fair amount of discussion on that subject. I had not realized that the "technology" was only applied to one side of the paper, which explains why at times my prints look so much sharper than others. Unfortunately, I almost always print on both sides, so I guess I need to re-evaluate more than just which inks or printer to use!:|

I have tried to scan the nozzle check, but it just comes out horrible. I have only used the scanner a couple of times and really don't know how to use the software. As a matter of fact, at the moment I can't even find where to change the settings!

I am trying to decide right now which inks to order as I am just about out of pigment black. I am still not at all certain as to the cause of my problem with the yellow clogging. I originally just assumed that it was a bad printhead. When the problem almost immediately appeared with the second printhead, I began to suspect either some sort of contamination in my yellow cartridges or a bad batch of yellow ink from Hobbicolors. I have not been able to find any where that others have had a similiar problem; if it had been a bad batch of yellow, surely I would not have been the only one to have encountered problems! My yellow carts have since become rather dark in appearance, so I have concluded that I need to flush/clean all my cartridges and start over. What inks would you recommend?

 

[pvrbulls]

You should be able to see and if you are careful, access the two purge pads off to the right where the print head parks.

It might be helpful for us to see a picture of your nozzle check. If half of the yellow is completely missing, that is almost certainly an electrical problem that cannot be fixed, except by getting a new print head.

I just noticed that you indicated that you have been using Hobbicolors inks for years. I have would not recommend their pigment black ink as it appears to have the same problem as the BCI-3eBk Inktec ink that clogged many of the printers that I was supplying ink to. Have you had any problems with your pigment black ink?

Yes, I can just barely see the two purge pads. Is there a safe/easy way to disconnect the "lid" so as to be able to raise it up higher so as to gain better access? With my arthritis, I'm not at all certain I can get to the purge pads, otherwise.

 

[pvrbulls]

I don't know if this will be very usesul or not, but here is an image of the last nozzle check:

Hey, that turned out better than I thought it would!

The CLI-8bk shows up as more streaked in this scan than it appears on paper. Also, all the colors in the scanned image are darker than on paper because of what I did to the image in Photoshop to make it show up better; I could not find any manual setting to change in the Canon software to darken the image, so I did it in Photoshop. Here is the same image without any alteration except for resizing:

The paper image appears to be somewhere between these two images in terms of darkness or saturation.