Thread: Cannon printers and generic refills

Posting this as a courtesy to other consumers so they can can avoid the same problem. (Highlights are in bold, since many don't bother to read an entire post and then make offensive comments.)

I bought a Canon Pixma ip3600 photo printer in August. The cartridges that came with the unit ran out recently, so I went to a well-known refill/replacement franchise in my area. I purchased 5 refill cartridges. I bought 3 at one store, and 2 at another store (in other words, as they ran out).

I now cannot get the printer to print in black (for example, a document off the internet, and Word documents have to be changed to blue ink in order to get a faint print). After I complained to both stores that I couldn't get the black ink to print, the 2nd store finally informed me "Canon printers 'don't like' generic refill cartridges."

Why would two different ink cartridge refill stores sell me cartridges for a printer that both stores informed me was "well-known for "printer head" problems," and the second store also informed me that Canon printers don't like generic refill cartridges?

(Never mind, moot point.)

Now I'm out over $50 and still need to buy ink, only this time I have to buy CANON cartridges, which are far more expensive. Not only that, the full cartridges I have are worthless because the Printer will not recognized them. Had I known this, I would not have purchased the Canon printer.

(By the way, I did my research before purchasing this printer and did not see any negative reviews regarding (1) the print head issue and (2) the generic cartridge issue.

To me, it isn't really a "print head" issue like I was told. It's a "proprietary" issue. Canon manufactures their product in a proprietary manner so that generic refill brands cannot be utilized. Refill stores aren't necessarily going to tell you up front. And they obviously don't do returns either.




If anyone has a solution to this problem, please advise. I've run and re-run and re-run all printer utilities, maintenance and troubleshooting.

your post is from November, so mebbe this advice is other folks, but

please, for the love of all that is holy do not ever buy a printer that uses ink jets. printing out photos at home isn't really worth it at this point. (unless you don't want the clerk at walgreens/cvs seeing what your printed pictures are). Without expensive photo paper, your printed picture look less than ideal and the inkjets are just a pain, they either get used too fast or dry out and clog the nozzles. resulting in you having to order more ink cartridges or get ink everywhere trying to refill them.

If you really need to print stuff, ie word docs, pdf, black and white 95% of the time get a reliable laserjet.

Seriously folks, i know they even sound cool, think about it, Lasers AND Jets. it's like an American Gladiator and a NFL team together working for you.

Anyhow at the end of the day you will have to cough up more dough to get the printer, but at the end of the day you will experience significantly less headaches and super cool laserjet print quality.

A laserjet can save you money in the long run as it is cheaper over the long haul as their toner cartridges have a longer duty cycle than an inkjet.

that's my .02 cents, end of rant, just don't get stuck in the inkjet scam. seriously, they practically give the printers away so you will buy more ink jet refills.