Canon Printhead Life Span, How Many Pages

[Smile]

Hello, just had an idea it would be informative if we share the amount of pages we printed using our printers (can be found using firmaware printout page). This would give an average estimate how good bad particular printer is.

 

[ghwellsjr]

The problem is, when the printer goes bad, it's too late to find out the information.

Also, there are two different factors involved. One is the life of the printhead, as you mentioned in your title, and the other is the life of the printer, which you mentioned in your post. If you have a lot of printers and maybe a lot more printheads, and you are swapping the printheads to keep some of the printers working, most people have never kept track of which printheads and for how many pages they have printed in the different printers.

There is also the issue of deciding what constitutes the end of life of a printhead. Is it when a single nozzle apparently permanently clogs? Is it when you damage a printhead trying to clear up a clog? Is it when you damage a printhead by putting it into a printer that burns out every printhead, but maybe not immediately, that is put into it?

Finally, there is the issue of what good is knowing the information you seek? By the time enough statistical data is collected for a particular printer, that printer is no longer being made by Canon and maybe the printheads are no longer available.

In my experience, which is mainly with the older unchipped Canon printers, the printheads and the printers don't last as long as the waste ink tank would allow them to last. I don't think Canon designed in obsolescence, I think it is just a weakness of the design. In my experience, Canon is very good about honoring their one-year warranty commitment but after that, you're out of luck.

 

[mikling]

About 7-8 years on an MP500. Daily printer. Lost one printhead along the way. Pigment Black channel. Just went away..electronic failure.
Recaptured a printhead off an iP4200. Still daily printer. At least 6 cases of paper or over 60,000 sheets and over thousands and thousands of labels.
I always used the resetter properly so my waste ink pad has not come up yet.

Canon has stated to me once that the avg printer life in the consumer's hands is 2years. Done by survey I guess. This might explain why their newer printers are not made to be as durable as the older ones.

 

[ghwellsjr]

I always used the resetter properly so my waste ink pad has not come up yet.

What do you mean by this statement? What does using the resetter properly have to do with the waste ink pad? And how do you use the resetter improperly?

I think a problem, which I have promoted I'm sorry to say, is using Windex on the pads where the print head parks which fills the waste ink pads prematurely and causes leaking of the waste ink out the bottom of the printer. But I don't think that is what you were talking about.

 

[PeterBJ]

What do you mean by this statement? What does using the resetter properly have to do with the waste ink pad? And how do you use the resetter improperly?

I have seen reports on the forum, that disabling the ink monitoring increases the number of nozzle cleanings, and so decreases the life span of the ink absorbers. The use of a resetter prevents this, as you don't need to disable ink monitoring. I guess this is the explanation.