canon ip4200 black text printing

[ronaries]

I have been unable to figure out how to print from the bulk black cartridge in mry canon ip4200 as I do mostly text printing. If I don't specify the black, I run thru many expensive color cartridges needlessly - and often annoyingly - as simple black text is preferred. I am wanting to avoid printing the combination color black....preferring the true black.

I have tried specifiying the FAST print setting, with and without the Grayscale print setting, without success. I've also searched the documentation of the printer without success ... it seems like Canon wants to print all shown color, regardless!

Aprreciate your help on this issue of how to just print BLACK!

[glc]

This is probably not what you want to hear, but why don't you buy a cheap entry level laser for a second printer and use that for all your text printing? Use the Canon for what it's best at - color and photo printing. A laser will print black text that looks better than ANY inkjet on dirt cheap paper and toner cost is a fraction of ink cost per page.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16828115080

This one is on sale for 95 bucks with free shipping, it's a HP which means it should give you many years of good service.

Last year, I finally got fed up with inkjets, period. Constant head clogs, ink guzzling, etc. etc. I coughed up the $300 for a HP color laser and haven't looked back.

[Rev_pizzaguy]

Wow, that's a nice printer for the price. I rarely print color and have a Canon MP160 multifunction. I hate it that the ink doesn't last very long at all and it fairly pricey. Even printing black and white, I still use up the color. That Laserjet would be nice, but every once in a while I need something in color... and I like having the scanner/copier feature in a small package. Seems like most multifunction lasers are pretty big. :/

[ronaries]

canon ip4200 black text printing

Yes, a mono laser is a good idea -- but in my case I use the 4200 wedged in living room to support notebook usage - have laser in home office upstairs, 2 rooms distant. Probably should hook up a network but its too complex for me! So here all I want to do is to get the canon4200 to print black and save the color cartridges $$$ when I don't need color.
So - anyone know how to disable the color print and print black ink, single cartridge use?

[ronaries]

glc,
the printer you cite shows pricing starting at $800. How did you find it at $300 - or is that a typo?

"Last year, I finally got fed up with inkjets, period. Constant head clogs, ink guzzling, etc. etc. I coughed up the $300 for a HP color laser and haven't looked back."

I also have experienced a lot of inkjet frustration - this ip4200 is good but the inks get expensive particularly if you didn't even want to use color! And if you don't have spare color cartridge on hand -for each color- , you may not be able to print til you get one!

[glc]

The $95 printer is a mono laserjet. My color laserjet is no longer a current model - it's a 2600n. It's not that good doing photos, but for casual color use it's sweet. You still can't beat an inkjet and quality paper for good photo printing. However, it's a lot cheaper to take your photos over to Walgreens, etc. on some kind of USB memory device for printing.

Configuring a network is actually quite easy, and would be an ideal solution for you. All you have to do is move the Canon upstairs and connect it to your PC as a second printer. Then get a wireless router, enable file and print sharing, and share the printers. As long as your PC is on, you can print to either printer from a wireless notebook anywhere in the house. The notebook would only have to be on the same workgroup, this is an easy setting.

The best suggestion I can make as far as the Canon is - explore all driver settings. There may be something hidden or buried in there to do it.

[Khalil]

This is probably not what you want to hear, but why don't you buy a cheap entry level laser for a second printer and use that for all your text printing? Use the Canon for what it's best at - color and photo printing. A laser will print black text that looks better than ANY inkjet on dirt cheap paper and toner cost is a fraction of ink cost per page.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16828115080

This one is on sale for 95 bucks with free shipping, it's a HP which means it should give you many years of good service.

Last year, I finally got fed up with inkjets, period. Constant head clogs, ink guzzling, etc. etc. I coughed up the $300 for a HP color laser and haven't looked back.

I own 3 of these, one for each one of my shops, they are work horses, we use them for customer invoices. Never had one fail in 3 years, the toners last a very long time. You can buy toners very cheap for them on ebay!