In general, can you scan on an all-in-one printer if there is no ink?

[Dennis S]

A flea market here has a Canon (don't have the model number) for $4 but it needs ink, which is about $25. I don't want to take a chance on spending that much for ink but thought it would be good as a scanner if it worked without ink.

[testcase]

I would expect it to be able to scan to a device (computer, tablet, phone) depending upon what connections the scanner had.

[JoeH]

Depends on the printer, I have run into one in the past that would not scan with an empty ink cartridge. That was about 5-6 years ago, so I just remember that it was an Epson and don't recall which model.

[Robert M]

Dennis,

It depends on the printer. I have an hp officiating j4580 that scans despite empty cartridges. It doesn't print even with fresh cartridges. Still scans, though.

Robert

[freeradical]

I'm not sure if a $4 all in one would be worth it if you don't plan on using it as a printer.

It seems like a new cheap dedicated scanner would be a better deal, especially if it comes bundled with an OEM copy of Elements.

[rgG]

I have a Canon AIO Pixma of some sort that I have used without ink for quite a while.
I did recently add a new black cart that I found lying around.
I don't recall if I had left the empty carts in or not, I think not, but not sure, but the scanning feature was not affected by the ink carts being empty.

[davester]

Generic ink cartridges for those things are vastly cheaper than name-brand cartridges. With that said, printers (including all-in-ones) are in the razors vs razor blades category. New ones cost very little. It's the ink that costs money. It's probably not worth buying an old one that may be obsolete and/or have software that doesn't work with newer OSs when buying a new one costs so little.

[RgrF]

If I had something really worth scanning, I doubt I'd rely on a printer/scanner someone else had trashed.