Canon PIXMA TR7020a

Canon PIXMA TR7020a Ink — PG-260 / CL-261

The PIXMA TR7020a is a home-office all-in-one with an automatic document feeder and full wireless, built for document work, and it runs on the PG-260 / CL-261 FINE family: PG-260 black (up to 180 pages; no compatible cartridge sold for this code yet); PG-260XL black (up to 400 pages, $34.49); CL-261 tri-color (up to 180 pages; no compatible cartridge sold for this code yet); CL-261XL tri-color (up to 300 pages, $38.99). Every cartridge listed here is a Clever Supplies compatible, filled to the genuine specification and covered by our Lifetime Warranty.

Running a TR7020a on a replace-both-at-once habit wastes color. Its home-office workload, feeder documents, forms and reports, is black-led, so the black cartridge is the repeat purchase and the tri-color cartridge is the occasional one. Two FINE cartridges are all there is to manage, each with a new printhead inside, which is why an idle spell normally ends with a cartridge change rather than a repair. The stock here is the XL fill of the PG-260 / CL-261 family, since no compatible standard version is sold yet. Stay with those codes when you reorder; a cartridge from a neighboring Canon family will not be recognized, however similar it looks.

Which PG-260 / CL-261 should you buy?

The busy side is black: the PG-260XL Black Ink Cartridge ($34.49) tops up the PG-260XL side alone — up to 400 pages, matching the black-first rhythm of a home-office desk.
The quiet side finally emptied: the CL-261XL Tri-Color Ink Cartridge ($38.99) renews the CL-261XL side alone — up to 300 pages before tri-color asks again on its slower schedule.
The five-pack route: the PG-260XL CL-261XL Ink Cartridges Set of 5 ($172.50) stocks the shelf for several black cycles and the slower color turn.
If both ran low: the PG-260XL CL-261XL Ink Cartridges Set of 2 ($71.97) changes both sides at the same time — best when neither cartridge has anything left.

Chip, ink and everyday use

On the TR7020a, black is the level that moves. Every cartridge carries a new compatible chip, so the printer reads levels normally and warns before the working cartridge runs dry. That cartridge is normally the pigment black, sharp, smudge-resistant text for documents, while the dye tri-color waits for bright photo color and empties far more slowly. The printhead lives inside the cartridge on FINE printers, so fitting the fresh side also renews the printhead and clears the streaks and gaps cleaning cycles leave behind. Keep spares sealed until install day; an opened FINE cartridge can dry at the nozzle plate.