Pixma- PRO-200 ink waste

[Wolfygang]

I print 15-20- 13X19 13 month calendars once a year. Half the page is a photograph from my vast collection of travel photos and the other half is a WORD calendar for that particular month. So each calendar uses up 13 pages of ink.

I recently switched to the PRO-200 from an Epson pigment printer. I figured that absolute archival is not necessary for calendars i give out to friends and neighbors, so the dye ink will be fine. One of these days I will print a test page and place it in a window with a strip of cardboard across the center to see how well the ink holds up, but so far I am VERY happy with the colors I am getting as well as the increased contrast and sharpness this printer is giving me over pigment inks. 

One thing that was really starting to irk me however was how fast the ink warning sign appeared on the lighter color cartridges such as LGY, PM, PC, and Y.  Since I was going to be doing all those pages, I had purchased 2 full sets of carts besides the ones the printer came with. So, when the yellow warning sign popped up I finished 2 more pages and then changed the cartridge. But as soon as I had done that, another cartridge warning popped up after a printer initiated "cleaning" cycle which I figured was to get the ink in the new cartridge flowing as it should. So I changed that cart as well, but after a page or so another warning sign pops up!  So, starting to get angry, I just let the printer keep printing until a new Red warning exclamation mark popped up. But I figured, "what have I got to lose?"  and printed 6 more pages and then changed that last cart.  In the meantime another yellow cart warning had popped up but I ignored that for as long as the last one, and continued printing. Pretty soon it became painfully obvious that I had thrown away at least 3 carts way too soon, wasting at least 1/4-1/3 of the cart by changing it before it was actually low enough to be an issue. 

So, fellow forum members, how many others have noticed this wasteful habit by pixma pro-200 printers- pushing careful users to throw away precious quantities of ink before changing cartridges is actually necessary? A CLI-65 cart apparently contains 12.6 ml of ink.  That's 0.0033285679 US gallon.  I will venture to say that 4ml of ink is wasted if the cart is discarded after the yellow exclamation point appears. Depending on what you pay for carts, I'll let you do the math.

[tenzanstudio]

Replying in the hope that another person replies to my reply haha

we own two canon pixma pro-200 and print approximately 200-500 11x14 and 13x19 prints a week using Canon paper (pro premium matte).

Ignore the yellow warning ⚠️ , there is no difference in print quality. The ❌ can also be ignored, to a point! You must click ok (once only) in order to continue printing after the ❌ appears. 

Eventually, the ink will be completely dry and the printer will not allow you to continue. The above is from my experience. I have run both printers, at the same time, one with full other with ❌ on a single cartridge (want to try it will all) and there is zero degradation in quality (currently doing this and ❌ cartridge has lasted for 10 A3+ prints so far and counting.

What I hope others will add is, whether they have a similar experience or different.

[tenzanstudio]

I have never run a test like I am today with side by side full and ❌ cartridges and am annoyed that I have replaced any of the ❌ ones, it has been hundreds.

Hopeful a Canon employee replies with the actual time we should replace.

[jrhoffman75]

Whenever you replace a cartridge the printer runs a purge cycle which affects all cartridges, and which uses a lot of ink. You have discovered what some folks call the domino effect. What I do is wait till one cartridge gets a red X and the warning pops up that a cartridge has run out. Then I replace that cartridge and any that are showing an exclamation mark.

Somethings you can do to minimize unnecessary ink use: 1. don't turn printer fully off - set the auto mode in the driver. A cold startup uses a lot of ink. 2. there are timers (I have never seen official data) that come into play depending on how long the printer has been idle. For the Pro-100 I have seen it posted that they are 60 hrs, 120 hrs and 240 hrs. The longer the printer is idle the longer the pre-printing cleaning. Some folks recommend run a nozzle check every two days. Uses very little ink and resets the timer. At some point (don't know when) there is a crossover; the cleaning cycles could use more ink if the printer is unused for say a month. 

I have had a Pro-100 for more than 10 years. Used to print a lot. For the last several years printing much less; could be months between printing. I don't do anything special, like running cleaning cycles. I have never had a head clog, so whatever Canon is doing with its programmed cleaning has worked for me.