New Ink Jet Printer Needed - Sorry - Hear the Moans Already!

[RadDave]

Hello All! Well, seems about twice or so a year, a thread appears about a color printer need, whether an inkjet (IJ) or laser. So, some quick background for wife & I - we own a Brother Laser Jet (now about 6-7 years of age) which works fine via Wi-Fi; today our nearly 8 y/o Canon MX922 (shown below) died printing a Valentine's card for my spouse - alerts flashed w/ a message stating to turn off the printer, pull the AC plug, and take to a service center (no error code given; manual not of much help) - I would like to dump/recycle the printer and obtain a new one. Canon has been our 'go to' IJ printer for probably a dozen+ years and Brother for a laser printer; I had a great HP laser printer (4P) years ago but have never tried their IJs - on this forum HP lately seems to have gotten bad publicity, but just my impression (there are a lot of their IJs on Amazon @ good prices).

So, looking at some 'reviews', I concentrated on a recent Tom's Guide, which recommend a Brother IJ (top model below in second image) - $281 seemed like a steep price on Amazon but the next model below at >$100 less seemed to fit my needs - their Canon recommendation was not there (although a lesser model number shown was reasonably priced). My MX922 seems to be not available on the Canon website and is exorbitant on Amazon (an inflated price - I paid <$200 for that printer years ago). My other issue when looking through Amazon is the innumerable models available from different makers, esp. Canon. Now I won't get deeply into our needs, but a networked printer (Wi-Fi, AirPrint, etc.), decent color printing (photos much less important), and scanning/copying are basic; don't need fax.

Thus, what is being bought these days in the IJ market - ink and 'econo' tanks seem to be the newest features but we rarely print in color and would not like the ink to dry up and damage the nozzles, so a plus for frequent users and a negative for us in my mind? Thanks - Dave

 

[chscag]

I'm currently using a Canon PIXMA TR8520 that I purchased from B&H Photo in NY. I paid $129.99, but that was on Jun 30, 2020. The specs are similar to the TR7520 you show above. Not sure if the 7520 is a later model or earlier model?

It's a great printer and easy to use. However, there is one thing that I do not like about it: when it first starts to print (either in color or BW) it goes thru a short head cleaning/clearing cycle. After that, it will print without any further delay. I understand the PIXMA series printers all do that.

I also have a HP LaserJet 1012 that I use for BW printing and three hole printing for binders. That printer is going on 18 years old. I purchased it from COSTCO here in Fort Worth. Still works great but is fussy about paper used especially in the dry season.

If I had to choose a Laser printer today, I would definitely go with Brother. Choosing an Inkjet printer is not as easy but Canon appears to be a good choice. I still have an older Epson Inkjet that I use for backup. Still works good and is not fussy about refillable cartridges.

 

[RadDave]

Thanks Charlie for your comments - my MAIN complaint about the Canon IJ printer over the last nearly 8 years is the same that you mention, i.e. a 'print job' is sent and the printer head takes a minute or more to 'adjust' itself before printing - a great annoyance - I might just make a change and go w/ a Brother - the model I showed got excellent reviews and my wife found a Brother 'in black' (that she prefers) that looks similar. BUT, I'm waiting to hear from our son who buys a LOT of electronics for his firm in Indy, and others will likely 'chime in' - I MUST say that I've been much more pleased w/ my laser printers over the years, but not sure that I want to go 'laser color'? Dave

 

[chscag]

Unless you have a specific need for a color laser printer, my advice is not to buy one. Most color laser printers use 4 or 5 cartridges that will need to be refilled. Each cartridge can cost as much as $60 or $70 to replace. Additionally, some color laser printers will also require drum replacements after a number of copies are printed.

I don't think you can go wrong with buying a Brother Inkjet. Brother is usually very good about supplying drivers for macOS, and they do a decent job of printing. Besides all that, they make very good sewing machines.

 

[krs]

I usually end up with an Epson Inkjet but that is mostly because I need to print and scan up to A3 and ledger size paper.
There aren't that many printers than can handle that size.
I bought a Brother printer a few years ago for just regular letter & legal size prints - problem I had (to my great surprise) is that it couldn't print on heavy paper, like 50 or 60 lb paper. The paper got stuck inside the printer because of the tight 180 degree turn in the paper path.
Epson I think is more prone to clogging of the heads than for instance Canon, but I can get very good and inexpensive 3rd party cartridges for the WF-7720 I use right now, so running the cleaning cycle every once in a while is no issue.

 

[RadDave]

Unless you have a specific need for a color laser printer, my advice is not to buy one. Most color laser printers use 4 or 5 cartridges that will need to be refilled. Each cartridge can cost as much as $60 or $70 to replace. Additionally, some color laser printers will also require drum replacements after a number of copies are printed.

I don't think you can go wrong with buying a Brother Inkjet. Brother is usually very good about supplying drivers for macOS, and they do a decent job of printing. Besides all that, they make very good sewing machines.

Thanks again Charlie - believe that I'd only consider a color laser printer if was our sole machine; otherwise, I'll stick w/ the laser for B&W and ink jet for color needs - will explore the ink jet further but the Brother may be a nice change for us, but who knows? Dave

 

[pm-r]

Dave, I'm sorry to hear about your printer problem, especially as I have and use the same model.

But besides all the dramatic flashing and warnings, did you try googling the problem??

If smoke came pouring out, I wouldn't bother, otherwise, you might want to have a look here:

Canon MX922 just quit alerts flashed w/ a message stating to turn off the printer, pull the AC plug, and take to a service center - Google Search

www.google.com

And a maybe specifically hair:
Canon MX922 not printing - I found the SOLUTION!!

You never know, it may not be completely dead yet.


- Patrick
=======

 

[RadDave]

Dave, I'm sorry to hear about your printer problem, especially as I have and use the same model.

But besides all the dramatic flashing and warnings, did you try googling the problem??

If smoke came pouring out, I wouldn't bother, otherwise, you might want to have a look here:

Canon MX922 just quit alerts flashed w/ a message stating to turn off the printer, pull the AC plug, and take to a service center - Google Search

www.google.com

And a maybe specifically hair:
Canon MX922 not printing - I found the SOLUTION!!

You never know, it may not be completely dead yet.

Hi Patrick - thanks for your help - BTW, the video refers to paper issues w/ the lower cassette tray - I've been getting his message for years and really annoying - her fix of jiggling the paper usually works.

I did some googling but results were often non-specific - downloaded the 243 page 'troubleshooting' guide for the MX922 but not of much help - there were numerous error codes given about a 'printer error' like the one of many below w/ the same action, i.e. the message I received although a code did not appear. I was hoping for something simpler like code 1700 - how to clean the ink absorber (easily instructions HERE) -

This morning I plugged the Canon back in and printed a B&W letter and a color pic w/o difficulty - will simply leave alone and see what happens? In all honesty, the most annoying feature (or defect) of this machine (and the same in some other IJets we've owned) is the inordinate time between sending a print job to the device and waiting for the output which often takes a minute or more as the machine rumbles, burps, and the print heads seem to be moving erratically - what gives w/ these color IJs? Dave

 

[badshoehabit]

My Canon MG6600 is temperamental and today has told me several times that there is no paper. THERE IS PAPER!

 

[pm-r]

This morning I plugged the Canon back in and printed a B&W letter and a color pic w/o difficulty - will simply leave alone and see what happens?

Great news Dave!!! It's great to know that the good old power-down, wait a while, reboot, fix method still seems to work with so many electronic devices including printers.

Let's hope it lasts.

By the way, my Canon Pixma MX922 doesn't seem to delay and burp quite as long or as much since I have been leaving it turned on.
It will still do the cartridge purge but depending on how long it has been since it was last used it seems.

Sometimes lately it has even printed out the project with hardly any delay and then maybe does a cartridge purge shortly after the job has finished. Rather strange and I don't recall it ever doing that before.

Anyway, I shall remember your shut-down trick if it ever happens to go berserk as yours did.

I think I had to do a similar thing on the previous canon inkjet I had before this one but it did not fix the problem. It would not print out the lines properly spaced and their support tech said it was due to the printhead going goofy. Unfortunately the replacement printhead I found online cost about four times the amount I paid for the printer itself. Anyway, this printer is much better and includes fax and the cd writer part which I haven't used yet.

I sure miss the old Global Village software for sending and receiving faxes, even though I haven't used the function very many times, but certainly is handy when it is needed.

I believe it was Randy's and other's suggestions that the Canon Pixma MX922 was such a good printer that convinced me to purchase it, and I guess it was being discontinued when I did in June 2017 as Best Buy had it on sale locally for $69.85 cdn!!! Not a bad purchase at all!!!


- Patrick
=======

 

[RadDave]

Great news Dave!!! It's great to know that the good old power-down, wait a while, reboot, fix method still seems to work with so many electronic devices including printers. Let's hope it lasts.

Well, we rarely use that printer anymore since I've gotten Susan to stop printing SO MUCH (which ended up in the recycle bin) and to use the Brother laser B&W if color wasn't needed - it has worked and MUCH less paper to recycle.

By the way, my Canon Pixma MX922 doesn't seem to delay and burp quite as long or as much since I have been leaving it turned on.
It will still do the cartridge purge but depending on how long it has been since it was last used it seems.

Sometimes lately it has even printed out the project with hardly any delay and then maybe does a cartridge purge shortly after the job has finished. Rather strange and I don't recall it ever doing that before.

Anyway, I shall remember your shut-down trick if it ever happens to go berserk as yours did.

Well, trying to think back on my other IJ printers, but cartridge adjustments seemed to always be a feature delaying the final output of paper - always (and still) annoys me. I think that it's a way for these companies to waste ink we paid for by 'clearing out nozzles' squirting ink into the absorption sponges - actually, I should take a look at these sponges (of course, with gloves on!) to see how much ink has been wasted?

I believe it was Randy's and other's suggestions that the Canon Pixma MX922 was such a good printer that convinced me to purchase it, and I guess it was being
discontinued when I did in June 2017 as Best Buy had it on sale locally for $69.85 cdn!!! Not a bad purchase at all!!!

Yes, Randy has been recommending the Canon Pixma MX922 for a while - I had purchased mine before I started to post much on the forum and it has done a lot of good work for us although irritating w/ those waits. My purchase price was probably in the mid-$100-$200 - can't remember?

P.S. Patrick, believe you brought up 'printing to disc' - I've been using this feature from the beginning, on both DVD-Rs (burned from the TCM channel but no longer have that Sony machine) plus numerous CD-Rs of mostly MP3 music downloads just to have a physical disc. Requirements include: 1) Printable discs (which are cheap now); and 2) Software that has the feature to write directly to disc - I first used Canon's 'My Image Garden' - a horrible clunky piece of programming but it did work and more recently Swift Publisher which has a learning curve but does work fine. But, I'm not doing much MP3 DL anymore or buying CDs - streaming has become more dominant. Dave
.


.

 

[chscag]

I first used Canon's 'My Image Garden' - a horrible clunky piece of programming but it did work and more recently Swift Publisher which has a learning curve but does work fine.

The first thing I did when I installed my Canon printer and software was to get rid of their "Image Garden" software.

I noticed you mentioned Swift Publisher. I have a copy and long ago removed it. It was the most confusing and non functional publishing software I have used. At the time we were publishing bulletins in book format and started with Swift. After several days fighting it, I gave up and instead downloaded iStudio Publisher. It took us about 30 minutes to get our bulletins up and running. What a difference!

My favorite all time publishing program is MS Publisher. Too bad they never came out with a Mac version.

 

[RadDave]

The first thing I did when I installed my Canon printer and software was to get rid of their "Image Garden" software.

I noticed you mentioned Swift Publisher. I have a copy and long ago removed it. It was the most confusing and non functional publishing software I have used. At the time we were publishing bulletins in book format and started with Swift. After several days fighting it, I gave up and instead downloaded iStudio Publisher. It took us about 30 minutes to get our bulletins up and running. What a difference!

My favorite all time publishing program is MS Publisher. Too bad they never came out with a Mac version.

Hi Charlie - we seen to travel in the same circles - My Image Garden is adequate for CD/DVD disc printing but requires a re-learning time that can be a torture, if used infrequently, as in my case.

For a publishing program, I also use iStudio Publisher (in fact printing out from that app started this thread) and enjoy, although if used only 3-4x/year, a re-learning is needed at least for me which prolongs my effort; but the program had no options for CD/DVD printing (although maybe a template could be made - their offerings shown below in the top pic)? So, I looked for another app and came upon Swift Publisher (now up to version 5.x - not sure which one you used - might have improved?) - but all that I've done w/ the program is to make CD/DVD printing labels, as shown in the lower pic.

If this Canon printer decides to really die, my next purchase will probably not include a disc printing option so I'll just use iStudio - ALSO, must second your mention of MS Publisher - when we were on PCs at home (i.e. my working career for 30+ years), that program was used by all of us - son did a family newsletter, Susan was involved w/ many organizations that needed 'newsletters' and she was one of the few around w/ a computer/printer and the knowledge to use it - for me, I had other priorities - BUT, can still remember it. Dave

.

 

[badshoehabit]

Think mine is terminal. Continually says no paper, load paper, just not picking paper up. Switched off, vack on again, different stack of paper - won't play.

 

[RadDave]

Think mine is terminal. Continually says no paper, load paper, just not picking paper up. Switched off, vack on again, different stack of paper - won't play.

Boy, I feel the pain! Makes you want to scream, right? My son (an IT guy whose responsible for purchasing at his company in Indianapolis) has exchanged a few recent emails w/ me about a 'new' IJ printer - he seems to like Canon (and in the past had the same complaints about his machines as we have experienced) - sent me the YouTube video link below that I'm sure many can relate to - Dave

 

[pm-r]

Think mine is terminal. Continually says no paper, load paper, just not picking paper up. Switched off, vack on again, different stack of paper - won't play.

Just to add to Daves video:

PS: what brand and model printer is it that you have that is not feeding the paper properly???

Have you tried soaking a sheet of paper in Isopropanol Alcohol and feeding it through the printer a few times???
The idea is to remove any old residue from the rollers and the pickup pads.


- Patrick
=======

 

[chscag]

Have you tried soaking a sheet of paper in Isopropanol Alcohol and feeding it through the printer a few times???
The idea is to remove any old residue from the rollers and the pickup pads.

That process may backfire on you if the soaked paper tears apart while making its way over the rollers and pads. You then have a worse problem trying to remove the pieces.

It's best to try to remove or access the rollers if possible and clean them with a soft cloth soaked with Alcohol. Unfortunately, most modern day printers are a nightmare to take apart.

Let's face it, printer manufacturers are not building quality in their printers. The idea is to sell cheap printers and then rip you off with buying consumables.

 

[pm-r]

The idea is to sell cheap printers and then rip you off with buying consumables.

Thank God for the good third-party ink and toner manufacturers but pity for those who are not able to use them or are prevented from using them by the manufacturer. There should be a law against such a practice if some are still doing that practice.


- Patrick
=======

 

[chscag]

You might remember when HP was using cartridges that had a chip in them that told the printer firmware that it was a genuine HP cartridge. Refillable cartridges that did not contain that chip were rejected by the printer. HP took a lot of flack over that and discontinued the use of those special cartridges.

 

[RavingMac]

I switched to a HP Color Laser last year, and so far so good. May change my mind when it comes time for toner replacement, but we do most of our printing B&W, so hopefully will be a while