Gahhh, love this printer....have had it about a year and came up with the B200. Did some research and started poking around and cleaning things. Nothing worked. I had an old head that had the pigment black clogged that had been cleaned and was sitting in a drawer so I just popped it in to see what would happen. All returned to normal (well except the pigment black is still clogged- bleh). So it is safe to assume that in my case the printer head fried. So I go online and order a refurbished printer head.
At least the canons HAVE a replaceable printer head...that's a big deal to me to be able to just replace the darn thing by myself.
Still I had already planned to get another printer in a week or so...I planned on getting another one of these. I think I still should and will....for all I know that the initial problem isn't the printer head but something else frying the printer head for me.
Canon.....I love that the printer head is replaceable. I don't mind every blue moon replacing a printer head but the other parts of the printer need to be built to last for the kind of price being asked. It's hard on customers who learn to use a certian printer, love it to peices, to have to then go out in such a short time and have to buy something, and generally by that time models have changed and the new and improved is often new but not even close to improved...and we're stuck with it.
As much as I love this printer ...I love THIS printer and I don't really want your new model. If I have to continually fuss with it or if the printer itself turns out to be short lived....I will get another printer but it probably won't be a canon. There is great value to the replaceable printer head...but only with a printer that is otherwise basically built to last like a little workhorse in the first place. If the machine itself is going to fail after a year or two beyond the print head, it pretty much negates any benefit gained by being able to replace a printer head at home.
Canon...I'll skrimp and save to pay $200 on a printer....even $300 for a printer that is built to last years like a little workhorse with only ink and the occasional print head replacement. I'm not too interested in paying that for a year or two of service before I have to pay it all over again. I've always known Canon items to be of good, solid, quality...that is what the name Canon has always meant....but it seems maybe not anymore to read the comments on the internet. That's a bad road to go down. We'll see how this printer goes.
I need a good printer...I am homeschooling 2 children and am constantly needing to print out all kinds of things.
