Need A Printer That Does Not Require I Buy Color Ink To Print BLACK ONLY

[AARRGGHHH]

I fell in love with my Epson Artison 710, it was the best scanner / printer I had ever used. Until I ran out of color ink and it refused to print a black ink only document. It insisted I replace 5 color cartridges for the privileged of printing in black.

I bought a Lexmark Series 300 - 400 scanner / printer that did not have this issue. An update must have snuck past my firewall, and now it does have this issue. I have never printed a color document on it. Still, it is designed to use up color ink every time it starts, and every time I clean the black ink cartridge, and I'm sitting here trying to print with black ink, and it's refusing because it's out of cyan, magenta, and yellow.

I can probably buy a new printer for the cost of replacing all 4 ink cartridges, and that's exactly what I want to do. Somewhere, someone must make a printer that either doesn't intentionally waste my color ink with routine cleaning, or does not insist I replace empty color ink cartridges when the printer is set to print with black ink only.

I need an inexpensive printer suggestion. I'm sick to death of buying color ink that I never use.

Thank you very much.

 

[SBMfromLA]

Why not get an inexpensive Laser Printer that only uses black toner?

 

[AARRGGHHH]

That's going to be more expensive than going with an inexpensive inkjet. Also, I may want the option of printing in color at some point, without having multiple printers on my desk.

There has to be a company that doesn't screw its customers with this color ink scam. The damn things refuse to print in black unless I buy 3 color cartridges for the Lexmark, or 5 color cartridges for the Epson. Yes, I consider that a scam.

 

[SBMfromLA]

Well, I have a Brother Inkject Printer. I bought that because the cartridges seem to have the lowest prices around, around $10-15 per color and I haven't had any problem printing text when the colors ones were out of ink... but the only problem is.. those printers suck if you want to print photos... but text comes out great.

 

[Ralston18]

Seconding SBMfromLA.

Except I have a Canon MX870 printer. It has two black ink cartridges and will still print black when a color is empty. Does do well with photographs but faster and cheaper to take the digital images somewhere and do "mass production".

However, the ink cartridges have been going up in price. Now around $15 (US) for the most part. I can return empty ink cartridges for $2 (US) each towards future purchases (any product) via office supply store.

 

[The Paladin]

I use a Samsung Laser Scanner fax unit, cost me 79$ and cost 69$ for toner, I get 3000 copies from it.
time to crunch numbers, cause INK is more expensive in the long run. no doubt about it.

 

[ssddx]

here is the real kicker... even if you never use the color ink its still going to dry up eventually requiring the purchase of a new cartridge in many cases. sometimes you can clean them enough to get it working again (if there is still decent ink inside) sometimes not. also, all inkjet ink is expensive because they sell the printers at a loss and make the cash up on the inks. this is why they try so hard to make you buy their ink and why unbranded cartridges often do not work right. per gallon, inkjet printer ink is right up there on the worlds most expensive liquids. they could sell the printer for $300 and charge $6 for ink, but people would rather pay $50 for the printer and pay $30 for ink since they think they are getting a deal yet complain about ink prices later. the company needs to make its cash somewhere.

if you print black all the time and hardly ever print color then going with a laser printer would be ideal. costs per page are about 1/4 the cost of inkjets. we swapped over years ago and it certainly is better. if you do intend to print color, unless you do it often just have it done at a copy shop as you will be wasting cash on replacing dried up cartridges if you do not. we had this same problem ourselves

 

[madmatt30]

The canon MX & mg printers , ones with 3 colours & 2 blacks will continue to print grayscale pics or black text documents with no issues at all when colours are empty or not even installed.

A long time Epson user in the past who will stick with canon for the foreseeable future now.

 

[madmatt30]

Artisan 710?? The PX 710 in the UK , owned that printer , clogged heads & having to use head cleaning constantly- sometimes 3 or 4 times in a row.
Replaced with a px820 - High end model , fine for a year then the same issues again.

Spent roughly $60 on a mg5450 , been running 18 months , had to head clean a grand total of once for the yellow ink.
$8 for a full set of compatibles , been rhorugh 3 or 4 sets & that is the only singular issue I've ever had.

 

[AARRGGHHH]

Thank you very much for the thoughtful replies. Please keep them coming.

If I understand correctly: I can find an inexpensive inkjet that will cooperate with me, and not demand color ink when I'm printing in black only. However, the most economical option would be to pay a little more for an inexpensive black laser, and thus spend a lot less money on black ink. Did I get that right?

Also, any opinions on this one? https://www.walmart.com/ip/Canon-Imageclass-WiFi-MF232W-Monochrome-Laser-Printer-Scanner-Copier/54515391

Thank you

 

[madmatt30]

In theory yes , until you see the oricebif toner cartridges for the laser printers.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/CANON-0263B001-001-home-electronics-canon-electronics-canon-laser-printer-toners/150748452?action=product_interest&action_type=title&item_id=150748452&placement_id=irs-302-b1&strategy=SMT&visitor_id=R7vNkYw6XkWZOEsf0KpbYE&category=&client_guid=c7a5325b-3f9d-4ded-8259-c9c20ce28bbf&customer_id_enc=&config_id=302&parent_item_id=54515391&parent_anchor_item_id=54515391&guid=842d5fb9-cea3-4443-b658-917231a9bff6&bucket_id=irsbucketdefault&beacon_version=1.0.1&findingMethod=p13n

Obviously searching around you'll get ink for less than that but you're still talking $80 or so best case scenario

 

[madmatt30]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1NK39J3426&cm_re=Mf232w-_-9SIA1NK39J3426-_-Product

Would seem for that particular model you can actually get compatibles.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1NK39J3426&cm_re=Mf232w-_-9SIA1NK39J3426-_-Product

 

[AARRGGHHH]

Forgive the stupid question, but I've never had a laser printer before. Is there a way to know you're running low on laser "ink" and need to order it from a place like New Egg, where it takes a few days to get it (since Walmart doesn't stock the compatible)? Thanks

 

[madmatt30]

exactly like other printers youll have an estimated % of ink left in the toner on the lcd display.
Always keep one in hand is the best solution at the end of the day.
That was just a quick search on newegg,theyre freely available from amazon too.

https://www.amazon.com/E-Z-Ink-Compatible-Replacement-ImageClass/dp/B01NBB1J9U/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1482311599&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=canon+mf232w

https://www.amazon.com/ValueToner-Compatible-Cartridge-Replacement-ImageClass/dp/B017WOSUF8/ref=pd_sim_229_8?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=3ZFM0X1411KMZRXJ4M2F

https://www.amazon.com/Compatible-Cartridge-Replacement-9435B001AA-ImageClass/dp/B01GHQC6AW/ref=pd_sbs_229_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=AYR4SVK6NWR6W2B60THN
Cannot vouch absolutely for quality of ink as Im UK & have used the same supplier for 5 years+

 

[ssddx]

laser printers use "toner" not "ink". this will help your searching on google.

yes, the prices of official toner cartridges can be scary at first but once you calculate it out the price per page is much less than inkjet. prices seem to average about $60-80 for many models although of course there are some higher priced (but also much higher yield generally) models. just divide the price by the estimated pages it prints to know if its a good deal when buying printers.

i have not tried alternate brand cartridges as i've heard both good luck stories and bad.

our particular model, the canon mf229dw, gets about 2400 pages per cartridge. retail price in office stores (you can likely beat this online) is $83 for a 2400pg toner cartridge. this comes out to about 3.4 cents per page.

we used to replace inkjet cartridges once every week or two weeks and now we replace cartridges after months of use. given how the black ink packs were at least $15-20 each i would say our savings showed itself in the first month.

there is normally a toner level warning if you have all the programs installed (i generally uninstall everything but the basic printer drivers on my own pc since i dont like bloatware) but you should be able to check it on the printer itself as well. generally when you start seeing lighter toned prints you know to order as well. if you shake the toner cartridge you can normally get a bit more life out of it but do order when you start seeing lighter prints.

after using a laser for many years now would we buy another? absolutely. we may even buy a color laser if we felt the need for it. now, an inkjet will always be capable of far better "photo prints" but for general use a laser really is convenient and fast.

 

[AARRGGHHH]

Do these generic toner cartridges work as well as the name brands? I'm asking since the name brands seem somewhat unaffordable.

Also, I'm not at all certain that a Laser printer is going to fit in the area under my desk where my current Ink Jet is. If anyone else is familiar with Ink Jets that don't scam you into buying color ink when you're only printing in black, please feel free to let me know the make and model, in case I run into a space issue.

Many thanks and happy holidays.

 

[ssddx]

i have not tried generic brand toner as the cost for canon brand is only 3 cents a page which if you calculate it out is far less than buying ink cartridges ever was. getting hit with a $60 or $80 bill is unsettling at first but you soon realize the savings. if you are willing to take a chance on no-name brands then you might discover a brand which works fine for much cheaper but its always a risk. for us we would rather not take a risk and buy a known to work cartridge.

as with generic ink there are both "good" and "bad" brands since due to copyright infringement they need to come up with their own methods for cartridges in many cases as well as differing quality of toner in some cases. a good brand can be just as good as the original while a bad brand can be much worse or not work properly at all.

 

[Sudsy12]

here is the real kicker... even if you never use the color ink its still going to dry up eventually requiring the purchase of a new cartridge in many cases. sometimes you can clean them enough to get it working again (if there is still decent ink inside) sometimes not. also, all inkjet ink is expensive because they sell the printers at a loss and make the cash up on the inks. this is why they try so hard to make you buy their ink and why unbranded cartridges often do not work right. per gallon, inkjet printer ink is right up there on the worlds most expensive liquids. they could sell the printer for $300 and charge $6 for ink, but people would rather pay $50 for the printer and pay $30 for ink since they think they are getting a deal yet complain about ink prices later. the company needs to make its cash somewhere.

if you print black all the time and hardly ever print color then going with a laser printer would be ideal. costs per page are about 1/4 the cost of inkjets. we swapped over years ago and it certainly is better. if you do intend to print color, unless you do it often just have it done at a copy shop as you will be wasting cash on replacing dried up cartridges if you do not. we had this same problem ourselves

 

[Sudsy12]

Looking for an inexpensive printer that uses black ink only. I know there are laser printers available, but isn't the ink cartridge for it really expensive. Just purchased a "refilled" black ink for HP Envy from Safe Ship - got what I paid for!! Maybe printed 12 pages in total before drying up.