DOES ANY BRAND/MODEL PRINT WHEN OUT OF 1 INK COLOR?

by Fancy Ideas Feb 19, 2014 9:29AM PST

My Epson Artisan will NOT print if ANY ink cartridge is empty. It will not print in black if I'm out of blue ink (as example). I cannot 'force' it to print in blue by any means if I am out of black ink. In other words, it DEMANDS that I buy new ink (that I really don't want right then) if I want to print anything.

I understand that HP does the same thing.

Is there ANY printer or printer model that will continue to print if there is an empty ink cartridge?

I'd even buy a refurbished printer to get away from the SHEER FRUSTRATION of not being to get a 'hard copy' when I need it - because a color I'm not using has run out.

Any suggestions on what to buy and where to find it would be appreciated!

Thanks!

Discussion is locked

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Rather than repeat why this is.

by r. proffitt Forum moderator Feb 19, 2014 9:46AM PST

The best printer for this is the laser BW printers. Lowest cost per print, no ink to dry out. Many out there for under 99 bucks.
Bob

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....but I need color also!

by Fancy Ideas Feb 19, 2014 12:49PM PST

Thanks for the suggestion, but I need color also, and know that will increase the cost of a laser printer quite a bit. Thanks for the input!

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Sorry but I just checked and didn't find this to be true.

by r. proffitt Forum moderator Feb 19, 2014 1:22PM PST

Are you in some other than NA country?

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Checkout

by Willy Feb 19, 2014 9:08PM PST

I would provide the techie answer, but look at it this way:.......

You have greased ball joints in your car, one needs grease but you drive it around anyways. What happens, if no attention to that grease empty ball joint? It fails sooner or later unless you give it the attention it needs during regular scheduled check-ups or found out.

the whole point is, if you decide to use your printer and swap it over to "black only" you allow the empty ink well to develop into a far worse case of "cleaning" to get it going again. For an Epson printer that's far worse than any other model brand out there. AND YEAH!!! they make $ on that ink but it maybe cheaper than replacing the printer if you can't "unclog" one.

tada -----Willy

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@WiIly Empty ink cartridges only temporary

by Fancy Ideas Feb 20, 2014 1:33AM PST

Thx Willy - but I need to explain that I print with BOTH color and black only almost every day, so I do have to replace ink when I run out of a color I need. BUT - my complaint is that I CAN'T PRINT ANYTHING when I run out of ANY color. I'm totally 'dead in the ink....er, water', and not able to print at all.

So.....it is doubtful that any ink cartridge would sit 'unused' for a long enough period for it to dry out.

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Now you know...why

by Willy Feb 20, 2014 3:18AM PST

The whole idea was to keep it *ALL* up and running in order to provide the best service as the maker intended. Once you deviate from that, problems arise and users expect the maker to fix when it was wholly in the user hands to prevent that. Which is why the maker doesn't provide a work-around and expects you the user to maintain the printer at 100% readiness. Which is why more often than not, its better to use laser output compared to ink even color because those down times are reduced plus cost per page is lower also up to a point and operational readiness is maintained. Basically, if you do alot of printing, then it may suffice to have one main printer, but also a 2nd b&w printer for general output or fast speedy drafts, etc..

tada ------Willy

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@R. Proffitt What wasn't true?

by Fancy Ideas Feb 20, 2014 1:30AM PST

Sorry - I didn't understand what you meant by this...
"I didn't find that to be true"
Did you mean that HP DOES have a printer like I want? Or that color laser was expensive? ????
Thx!

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From what I can tell HP no longer has such.

by r. proffitt Forum moderator Feb 20, 2014 3:18AM PST

From a simple consumer standpoint the average consumer won't know to not call HP for support when it prints but is out of an ink color. So to reduce support costs the design had to change.

As to my comment, I see color laser printers in the just around 100 range so I can't call that "quite a bit" expensive.

The BW laser rules here. I can only guess why folk take more than a few weeks to figure that out.
Bob

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You've almost 'sold' me on laser color/bw printers

by Fancy Ideas Feb 20, 2014 3:47AM PST

Thanks for the explanation. Any 'best buy' suggestions on brands/models?

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Haven't picked one up in years.

by r. proffitt Forum moderator Feb 20, 2014 3:56AM PST

We just bite the bullet and buy ink. But let me share how I shop. I use CNET (natch) and Amazon's best sellers in the category of interest. Example at about #47 in their Laser Printer list.
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Xpress-SL-C410W-XAA-Printer/dp/B00DOV194S/

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PS. Sorry. Keep shopping.

by r. proffitt Forum moderator Feb 20, 2014 4:02AM PST

I am not a good shopping concierge service. I see mid 100 buck color laser printers come up for sale a lot. But when we can't want for a sale or something at woot.com then it's full retail.

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Thanks - will keep looking.

by Fancy Ideas Feb 20, 2014 5:04AM PST

Didn't know about woot.com. Will give them a try, too. Appreciate all your comments.

DOES ANY BRAND/MODEL PRINT WHEN OUT OF 1 INK COLOR?

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