Feeling frustrated with my Canon iP1600 today

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Okay, sorry for the rant, but here goes:

I haven't had my Canon iP1600 for very long. Less than a year, I think. I got the cartridges refilled once, and it seemed to work fine. Until today. The black cartridge still felt heavy with ink, but the printer said it was empty. I couldn't get it to try printing anyway.

So I take it to Cyto-Ink refill near Metrotown, and the guy says he didn't know of this printer model locking out refilled cartridges. He didn't think refilling it would work again, and he tested the cartridges for ink by pressing the nozzles to a piece of absorbent paper. Yup, there's ink.

So he sells me a refurbished black cartridge. I plod home in the sweltering heat and put it in the printer. Now, the printer says it detects the cartridge as a previously used one, and it won't detect ink levels, but I can press RESUME to print anyway.

Only there's no RESUME button. I click okay. The message pops up again. The printer's still not printing. I hit cancel. No printout.

Thankfully the guy at Cyto-Ink gave me a refund. He thinks the printer's messed up somehow. I take a chance and buy a brand new black cartridge from Best Buy. Works fine. For now.

So much for reuse and recycle and help the environment and all that. It's ~$30 for a new black cartridge. Why not buy a new cheap-ass printer with cartridges included? I mean, honestly -- check out the prices and deals on the Amazon widgets to the right. Add up the cost of a couple of cartridges, and you'll see that if you spent a bit more, often you might as well get a brand new printer, which will come with cartridges anyway.

All this on top of the paper feeder occasionally deciding it doesn't want to pick up paper. URGH.

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