Beyond Upset: PIXMA G3202 ink absorber full

[Alyssia]

After months of researching for our homeschooling journey the PIXMA G3202 was highly recommended, it was a little over two hundred dollars. As a single income family of five, we decided it was a must to have to get the most out of our homeschooling journey. We got it, and it was nothing but consistent problems for the first year finally get it going good then sure enough after the warranty is up, it completely stops. Called customer support, said it was nothing I did that it was just the ink absorber.... can't even replace it. Have to get a whole new one. Very disappointed.

[Patrick]

Hi Alyssia,

The Support Representative is correct, the 5B00 that you are experiencing with your PIXMA G3202 is an error with the waste ink absorber and your PIXMA G3202 would require service.  You are eligible for Canon's Upgrade Program. This is for out of warranty units which have been diagnosed to require service, or for some reason are incompatible with a new or upgraded system. This option allows you a one-time opportunity to purchase a replacement product, discounted from the list price.

If you would like to take part in this option, please call our Sales Department at (866) 443-8002 Monday through Saturday, 9am to 9pm. Let them know you have been working with technical support and the Canon Upgrade Program was offered.

[Addtothose]

We have had our Printer for about 4 years (rarely to moderately used) and had no issues. Now, the absorption pad error appeared and is, per Canon, allegedly not fixable. I am not interested in the upgrade which is a scam considering that the product may still function well if the pad is changed and the electronics is updated. I have not looked at the new Canon printer models, but I hope they fixed that issue by permitting their customers to change the pad on their own and by providing the electronic key to update the printer's computer system. 

[SignifDigits]

As a former homeschooling father of several children on a single income I can relate to your financial frustration. That said, 4 years on a modern printer is not that bad, though I have gotten more years out of some printers and less on others.

I have had injet printers from HP and Brother over the years.  Canon is my go-to photo printer, but I never used one of their lower-cost models.  I loved their commercial units at work, and love my photo printer, but just never considered them for my go-to workhorse home printer.  I could certainly be wrong about that, and a I see some folks have had very good success, but that was my thinking at the time.  I still have one printer left over and it was the cheapest of the bunch on a Black Friday sale - I bought three of them about 8 years ago.  One of them is still working (even though I bought its' replacement on clearance which has been sitting on the shelf for over 2 years now).  That is a sheet-fed flatbed printer as I use it for scanning often. 

So, some tips.  First, I suspect most of your work is black and white.   I suggest getting an inexpensive laser printer for that work.  That technology is time-tested.  I ran an HP4 for many, many years, and they were (not the newer ones that I know of ) legendary for reliability. 

Reserve your ink jet for color work and scanning (if you need that).   ANY ink jet requires regular use, so a weekly print head report should be a part of your homeschool schedule if it sits idle.  I ran both Brother and HPs in that role and the Brother inkjet dried up more times than I can count, so I wound up in HP in that role.

I agree that a non-replaceable part that ensures the whole printer heads to the landfill should be avoided and it a bad idea.  That said, as I said, I always viewed Canon having a focus on print quality, and I believe that they excel in that arena.  From what I can see I would also avoid the lure of any manufacturers' ink tank printer.

I was (still am) a subscriber to Consumer Reports online.  I found their reviews somewhat helpful.  Sometimes they love a product that isn't super-reliable, though in my experience.  I always read the one- and two-star Amazon reviews to find out the downside of a product before I purchase.

Also, get a printer that will accept reconditioned OEM cartridges.  The real cost of the printer is the ink, not the printer itself.  Pretty much all of them now scan to make sure the cartridges are OEM, but some, I hear, disallow the refilling of the OEM cartridges.  That's not very eco-sensitive IMO.

I hope you find an unsupported fix that's easy to do.  If not, I wish you the best on your new printer selection, and hope my tips and personal experience prove useful to you.