I have been given a Lexmark 3200 Colour Jetprinter which has not been used
for about a year, which doesn't work. I am assured that it was alright when
last used. I suspect that the cartridges, there are 2. (Colour & Black) have
dried up or are empty. My question is can I test the printer before buying
new cartridges, as I don't want to buy new ones and find out something else
is broken.
I have the Lexmark driver and the users guide. I have been through all the
instructions several times and tried nozzle cleaning and printing a test
page. The printer goes through its program after every instruction, with
plenty of action, but does not print. I never get any warning to say that
the cartridges are empty or failing. Finally where can I get the cheapest
cartridges?
You have a good question. In troubleshooting you either need
1) test equipment
2) field replacements
I imagine that one could design a ink cartridge tester, in fact if we
repaired inkjets this would be handy. But such a tester would be at
least equal in value to an inkjet cartridge. You could hit up a
repair place for testing, but again, plopping in a cartridge will run
them pennies per printer vs test equipment which will certainly cost
more than the cartridge, and their time would likely be in excess of
the value of the cartridges.
+-There are ways to unclog cartridges, but I won't get into that
because I've not enjoyed much luck in this department.
http://www.inkshop.co.uk/shop/shop.php?&c1=Lexmark Ink Cartridges&c2=LEXMARK JP3200
I think the refurbished price on those cartridges is 10 quid each.
Amazon lists the color as £16 quid, and the black at £17.56. IIRC
that model offers a photo or regular cartridge. I think the black
offers a 600p yield or 3p/page @ 5% coverage.
Canon offers a lower price per page for their black for their inktank
models, I'll have to look up their budget printers.
You can replace your lexmark for about 20 quid. but such a lexmark
would take the 18C1530 Black Ink Cartridge (Lexmark 3) rated at 475
pages @ £16.14 or 3.3p/page.
Another budget choice is the canon ip1800 Taking the pg-40 300p @
£16.99 or 5.6p/page.
HP DeskJet D1560 also £30 has a black yield of 190 pages @ £12.93 or
6.8c/page
As a good rule of thumb, any new printer in the £30 is going to cost
you more to operate than a printer in the £60 class. Older printers
often have lower priced consumables, which may be a good reason to
keep it in service. You may only print 100pages/year or less, in
which case it might make sense to buy the cheap printer with the
slightly more expensive cartridges.
However
Canon ip3500 £47.99 Black is £14.99 500-525p or 2.8p - 3p/page
The canon will come with full sized cartridges. The yield isn't as
high as the lexmark, but the cost per page is lower. This is not my
favorite model, but prints at the same resolution as the budget
printers, but takes full sized cartridges.
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The point. You can get a new printer for the same price as the
cartridges in the budget class. I don't see a budget printer that has
a lower cost per page than your lexmark. You can go consumer class
and lower your cost per page, but this only makes sense if you
actually use your printer on a regular basis. If you plan to go
months or a year without printing, inkjets are not a good solution.