ink consumption for photosmart premium C309a

[work2long]

Wish there were a setting to avoid spitting out 30sec of ink (multiple dozens of pages?) for every junk fax. 

Legitimate faxes typically come with a cover page.  Printing that cover page would likely purge/prime the printheads. 

Even if the cover page was slightly faint, the following fax pages should be legible.  

[PeteC2]

Hmm, well, I get no junk faxes, but if I did, i would use the "junk fax blocker" feature.  I get no junk faxes at home, and only a very few at work, where we receive faxes from quite a few places, and still, the number of junk faxes are minimal.  I do understand how that would be maddening!  That however has nothing to do with the fax machine/printer used.

The 309A at any rate, is not an ideal "heavy usage" machine, if I wanted an inkjet AIO for business usage I would go to the OfficeJet 8500 series, which offers truly low consumable usage, being even more economical than many lasers printers, not faster, but plenty economical cost-wise.

At any rate, as with any other technology, usage is the primary factor of whether one is satisfied or not.  I do some heavy-duty text printing that is work related from home, and I have a combination of the Photosmart 309A for most stuff, and a dirt-cheap networked laser printer for those times that I am churning out lots of text pages for work.

All ink-jet printers will go through a head-priming stage, that is the nature of the beast!  I have found my 309A to be no better or worse in that regard.  IMHO, color laser-jet printers are too bulky, expensive, and not yet truly "prime-time" for a home/SOHO set-up.  When/if that time comes, then I would consider one, but until then, I really like the combination of a high quality ink jet AIO and a low-cost text-churning laser.

As for the person getting only a handful of text pages per cartridge?  Hate to say it, but there must be something wrong with that individual printer.

[work2long]

Junk fax blocking assumes that there is a valid phone # to block for the origniating fax.  Spam faxes cleverly spoof #s.  I get too many spam emails, but at least there are tools to filter many of those spam emails.  But, there are not tools to filter out spam faxes.  This is not a heavy usage business machine, but a personal AiO used for medical faxes and occasional personal color page printing.   (I think my Canon printer does better in making photo prints.)   I use a cheap network attached laser for most printing, and wished I bought a laser AiO for my fax needs.

[dontubelieveit]

HP's customer service has been outstanding with the ink issues I am having with this printer.  It is not yet resolved, but it is believed that this printer has a defective part which is to be replaced.  I will update this forum if this is resolved.  I want to emphasize that this printer was selected for the photo/CD capabilities and the fax is not set up at this time.  The quality of the design and overall ease of use for this printer is outstanding.  It is sleek and the paper trays durable and the sounds are not loud or annoying.  There is no overflow or spill of the ink cartridges, so we are hopeful that replacing the printhead will resolve the "depleted" ink cartridge errors.  

This printer replaced the Epson Artisan 800 for me.  Although the photo printing standard for this printer was unbelievable, the structure of the machine is inferior and poorly designed - check out the paper tray/feed on it for starters.  And, unlike HP customer service, I have had no contact from Epson despite repeated attempts.      

[ChrisC]

I would be interested to know if you got a resolution to the problem - did a part replacement work?

I received a new Photosmart C309a printer last week - have 17 black text A4 pages, 11 multi colour standard type pages and 9 xA4 colour pages in 3-4 sessions The ink levels are all now around 50%. Have had many ink jet printers before and never had this performance. Am about to call HP support, but would be interested to know if this is a known problem and if anyone has had a resolution.

Thanks

Chris

[dontubelieveit]

HP replaced the printhead and this resolved the problems I was having right away.  I have used the printer for the past two months without problems.  Ink consumption has been normal for the different tasks and I am satisfied with the efforts by HP to get this resolved.  This is the nicest printer I have owned - ease of setup, its use and the quality printing.  It is the first HP we have owned (previously always had Epson).  Had purchased the Epson Artisan 800 prior to this and with similar issues (though I loved the prints I got from this printer as well).  But after weeks of runaround with the tech department, I bought the HP. HP was were extremely professional, helpful and concerned with getting the issue resolved.  New printhead was mailed promptly - I returned the bad one and all is well.  Love the printer.   

[work2long]

Setup/PrintReport/PrintQuality shows how many pages have been printed.  I print 80+% B&W text (mostly recieved faxes) and have not printed any photos since day #1 install.  I get < half the claimed pages/cartridge, including color cartridges never needed for B&W faxes / text printing. 

Initial setup cartiridges didn't last 24hrs. 

In hindsight, HP's inkjet "wake-up head-purge" was not a good choice for a lighltly used printer (primarily received faxes).  Have had many printers over past 20yrs -- lasers have been most economical.  Now wish I had bought laser AiO instead of ink jet.

[Jim72]

I'm still printing a couple of weeks after the ink level indicators tell me to replace the cartridges.  Just hit OK on the panel and continue.  I have done this several times on each cartridge.  Its just a ruse to sell more ink, I think.

[dontubelieveit]

Jim72 is correct - I also have selected the OK button when low ink message comes up - and have been able to get by without replacing ink cartridges as soon as display indicates.  You will know when you have no choice but to replace the cartridges - the print quality will deteriorate quickly once they are out.  

As an aside note - my operating system is MacOS and I recently upgraded to Snow Leopard.  This created a minor error with scanning - no longer functional from the printer buttons - at least for now - scanning must be initiated from your computer as most drivers are part of the Snow Leopard install.  Had the same issue with my portable Canoscan.  It is recommended that you uninstall your printer software on Macs - then do a clean install with the upgrade to Snow Leopard.  HP posted on this very soon after the upgrades came out.      

[Chris38]

I have the same problem as well. The XL cartridges are advertised for 800 pages (HP webpage) and they last only 50% (using normal or draft option). The printer has excellent printing quality but the ink consumption is TERRIBLE!

I am not sure if there is a solution from HP.