Mavericks issue or do new printers use over 10x as much ink?

[mhschmieder]

I lost my entire edit buffer just as I was attempting to do a cut/save to avoid such a scenario. I rarely can write things up as well the second time around, due to frustration.

Anyway, I am wondering if new printers eat ink like crazy, or if there is a Mavericks problem or even a vendor print driver issue (though it just updated itself without asking permission a few days ago as a Mavericks compatibility change).

A few months ago, I finally had to replace my older printer as even 100 hours of analysis and diagnosis did not resolve the problem of it no longer being able to power on. I try to avoid being part of our throwaway culture, so I tried as hard as possible to keep that printer working.

My new printer is the Canon MG6320. Although I haven't printed much since buying it in AUG/SEP, I have already had to replace all the ink cartridges twice. The second time was yesterday, and though I've only printed a couple dozen sparse pages since then, the cyan already indicates itself as being low, and the magenta isn't far behind.

These new cartridges aren't transparent like the old ones, so you can't visually inspect them for ink levels, but you can shake them and it seems they are emptying rather quickly.

I thought maybe it's defaulting to photo quality, but can't find settings in the Canon utilities or under System Preferences. I thought there used to be an easy way to change that preference, and am guessing this MUST be the explanation. OTOH the cartridges are make as holding 7 milliliters of ink; maybe these just don't have much ink compared to the older printers?

Has anyone else experienced this problem? I can't afford to go on like this; my bandleader switched to a black and white laser printer to save money after his newest Hewlett-Packard printer exhibited similar thirst. I need colour a lot of the time though, even though I don't print photos, because colour is often the only cue in a document (remember how hard the DP plug-in effects and VI chapters were to read that time they used uncompensated black & white scanning, as one example?).

Sorry this is much less intelligible and doesn't flow as well as my first write-up.

[bayswater]

I know that at least some new Cannon printers come from the factory with ink cartridges that have very little ink in them. So they run out very quickly, but once you replace the cartridges, they should last a lot longer. (I also found that Cannon printers are a lot more tolerant of very cheap third party cartridges than other printers.)

[HCMarkus]

Costco and others do refills...

[mikehalloran]

I have one of the last HP all-in-ones made to support CD printing. One of its best features is a B&W mode that uses only the black ink cartridge and looks very good. It's a real money saver (what was HP thinking?).

I have not noticed any increased ink consumption since updating to OS 10.9, then 10.9.1. My wife prints a lot more than I do but the ink comes out of my budget.

Anyway, it's not uncommon for new printers to have very little ink in the new cartridges.

I think that only Epson still does CD printing in the USA due to licensing issues but I understand that Canon printers can be hacked.

I will be very sad if this puppy ever quits on me. The model is the Photosmart Premium c309a.

[mhschmieder]

Good to know about the Costco refills; I've been afraid to do anything but buy new vendor-labeled cartridges as I am still convinced the reason my old printer finally died (and I spent 100 hours trying to fix it through consultation of the repair manual etc.) is because I put Office Depot brand ink cartridges in it a couple of hours before it shut itself off and refused to ever power on again (the saga is here somewhere, but I definitely tried everything over a three day period of unplugging, etc.).

It's possible my cyan drained quickly because I held back on replacing the others until I was certain they were actually out of ink, as I'm trying to determine when is the right time vs. the first time the printer issues an alert or the first time it says it's actually empty (both of which are WAY premature). I'll see if this trend continues with the next batch, but this is already my second batch of replacement cartridges, so I don't think I'm getting more out of these than the ones it shipped with.

I haven't even used the scanner yet; I keep forgetting it's there. Most of what I need to scan requires an expensive (yet MANY years old and never marked down) Nikon scanner due to multiple emulsion layers and silver and other metallics in the film (Kodachrome slides). But I do plan to finally start scanning some of my artwork at some point. The grey ink in this printer helps get accurate tones, so once I scan my art I'll feel comfortable printing a few proof copies at home.

[bayswater]

I haven't found Costco printer cartridges, at least around here, to be any cheaper than anywhere else. I've been using these http://www.123inkcartridges.ca for a few years now on a Cannon printer without difficulty. They cost about 15% as much as the Cannon branded ink.

I did have a lot of problems with clogged nozzles using third party ink in Epson printers. I was told by a local used Mac dealer that this was typical, and it is less of a problem with Cannon printers.

[mhschmieder]

Ah yes, I remember them being talked about before (maybe here, I don't know) and being quite reputable. Being in Canada, they aren't subject to the same rules down here that make it hard to compete at the level of full compatibility (up-to-date chip etc.).

I'll give them a try; maybe first with just cyan to see how it goes.

[mhschmieder]

Awesome; I read all the details on each product page and also the estimated page count (significantly higher even with the standard OEM non-XL cartridges than what I'm seeing), which is over 2x the amount of ink for the XL version vs. the OEM.

To qualify for free shipping, I ordered the four pack, plus the grey, plus an extra cyan as that is what gets used up the quickest. Shipping is free, but there's a mild duty tax to pay of slightly over $2. All around, a good deal.

[mhschmieder]

Heads-up: LOTS of bugs on their order page -- I had to go to Live Chat to resolve them.

You can't select your state, even if you reselect United States as the country; it only shows provinces. But if you specifically select Canada and then reselect United States, the list of states shows up; albeit not quite in alphabetical order.

After that, if you have a different billing address from your shipping address, the only way to get the Country drop-list to show up again is to un-check "different billing address" then reselect it and do the same dance you did for the shipping address.

After that, all is fine.

[bayswater]

These guys are not web page geniuses. Sometimes they do a big sales and the order page won't load at all. But I had to laugh when I read your post -- in Canada you get used to being told by order pages that your six character postal code is not a valid zip code, etc.

[mikehalloran]

Re: ink jet printers

Until recently, you could group them into three general groups:

Epson - the print heads are built in and you replace ink only. Advantage, lower ink cost (?). Disadvantage, heads clog easily and, if can't be cleaned, time to replace the printer. Aftermarket ink could really screw up a printer - or not but you were taking your chances. Let an Epson printer sit unused a long time, it's ruined - cheaper to replace than to have the head removed and cleaned.

HP - the print heads were part of the cartridge. Advantage, a clogged print head doesn't ruin the printer; aftermarket ink, worst case doesn't work as well. Disadvantage, HP cartridges cost more.

Canon - you could always buy the ink with a head or without a head.

Epson hasn't changed - for that reason, I will no longer buy one unless I ever need a CD printer again. HP finally made the head a user replaceable part separate from the ink lowering the price of replacement ink. My c309a is still on its first head. I now buy HP instead of Epson and am happy with the change. I haven't bought a Canon printer in years and don't know how they handle heads / cartridges anymore.

Any scanner that your Mac can see can use Apple's Image Capture. Wireless scanning is not supported in OS 10.6. It doesn't work well (or at all) in various builds of OS 10.7 through 10.8.1. It works like a champ and fully supports wireless scanning in 10.8.2 and later. It behaves a little differently in Mavericks but works quite well including 10.9.1.

Many applications also support scanning beginning with OS 10.6. TWAIN drivers are no longer supported since 10.5. Use Image Capture instead.

[bayswater]

Epson - the print heads are built in and you replace ink only. Advantage, lower ink cost (?). Disadvantage, heads clog easily and, if can't be cleaned, time to replace the printer.

That confirms what I was told about Epson printers, and what happened to two Epson printers I had. Seems like a near fatal design flaw.

Epson hasn't changed - for that reason, I will no longer buy one unless I ever need a CD printer again.

I assume you mean printing a label directly on a CD designed for the purpose. I do that on a Canon printer without problems. It came with holders and software.

Any scanner that your Mac can see can use Apple's Image Capture. Wireless scanning is not supported in OS 10.6. It doesn't work well (or at all) in various builds of OS 10.7 through 10.8.1. It works like a champ and fully supports wireless scanning in 10.8.2 and later. It behaves a little differently in Mavericks but works quite well including 10.9.1.
Many applications also support scanning beginning with OS 10.6. TWAIN drivers are no longer supported since 10.5. Use Image Capture instead.

I have an ancient Canon scanner I got for $5 at a garage sale. To my surprise, there are up to date drivers for it. As you noted it works well in 10.6, not in 10.7, and then works again in 10.8 and 10.9. I have to say that Canon has outperformed Epson pretty consistently for me.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

I used to be able to tear down and clean the Epson heads but it's a messy and fairly complex task. Saved a few printers that way but don't recommend it. All laser these days except my old fax/scanner.

[bayswater]

Is there a laser you would recommend? My printing is almost all b&w now, so that's an obvious next step for me.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

My Ricoh wide format has been great. I wouldn't blink an eye before buying another. For regular format color our Lexmark has been great and Lexmark support is fantastic.

I'll post the name of the reseller in Dallas if I remember when I'm on my Mac.