What Ink Does the Canon PIXMA TS6420a Use?

Quick answer: The Canon PIXMA TS6420a uses PG-260 / CL-261 ink cartridges — one pigment black and one tri-color — with higher-capacity PG-260XL / CL-261XL versions available. Two cartridges in total, each with the printhead built in. If you have read that this printer takes PGI-280/CLI-281 tanks, that is a common mix-up — those belong to the TS6320 and TS8320 family, not the TS6420a.

Canon PIXMA TS6420a Ink Cartridges at a Glance

The TS6420a is a compact home all-in-one with an auto-duplexer and a small touchscreen. It is worth being precise about its ink, because it is frequently confused with the five-tank TS6320: the TS6420a is a two-cartridge FINE machine, and the cartridges are the same as the plain TS6420 and the TR7020.

Two Cartridges, One Big Trade-Off

The Canon PIXMA TS6420a is a two-cartridge printer: pigment black in one, and cyan, magenta and yellow combined in a single tri-color shell. That is what keeps the hardware cheap, and it is also what makes the ink relatively expensive per page.

The catch is all-or-nothing: when any one of the three colors runs out, the whole tri-color cartridge is finished, even if the other two still hold ink. Print a run of images heavy in one hue and you will discard usable ink. There is no fix in hardware — only in habits.

The two that actually work: set greyscale as the default in your print driver so ordinary documents never draw on the color cartridge, and buy the PG-260XL / CL-261XL versions so you hit that moment half as often.

Standard vs. PG-260XL / CL-261XL: Which Should You Buy?

Buy the XL versions. PG-260XL raises black from roughly 180 pages to 400, and CL-261XL takes color from about 180 to 300. On a printer with yields this modest to begin with, standard cartridges mean changing ink constantly.

Run the comparison on real prices with our Printer Ink Cost Calculator — on two-cartridge printers the gap between standard and XL is usually larger than people expect.

A Note on Compatible Cartridges and Ink Level Warnings

Canon printers show a warning and disable ink level monitoring when they detect a non-Canon cartridge. This is normal and it does not stop the printer working: hold the Stop button for roughly five seconds to dismiss it, and the printer carries on. You simply lose the on-screen estimate and judge by output instead — which, given how conservative those estimates are, is not much of a loss.

How to Replace the Ink in the Canon PIXMA TS6420a

1. With the printer on, open the front cover (and the paper output tray if it is closed). The cartridge holder moves to the replacement position.
2. Push down on the used cartridge to release the lock, then lift it out.
3. Take the new cartridge out of the package and remove the orange protective tape. Do not touch the gold contacts or the print nozzles underneath.
4. Insert the cartridge into its slot at a slight angle — black on one side, color on the other — and push up until it clicks.
5. Close the cover and wait for the printer to finish preparing the ink system.
6. Run a nozzle check from Maintenance if the first prints look banded, then Print Head Alignment if needed.

Keep the orange tape and packaging for a few days in case a cartridge proves faulty.

Troubleshooting Tips

The printer says a cartridge cannot be recognized: Remove it, wipe the gold contacts with a dry lint-free cloth, and reseat. If the message persists, the chip has failed and the cartridge should be replaced under guarantee.

Ink level monitoring is disabled after fitting a compatible: Expected. Canon disables its estimate for non-Canon cartridges — hold the Stop button for about five seconds to acknowledge, then judge by print quality instead.

Blank pages or missing colors: Run Cleaning, then Deep Cleaning from Maintenance. Because the printhead is built into the cartridge on this model, a cartridge that will not recover simply needs replacing.

One color gone but the others full: That is how a tri-color cartridge works — when any one color is exhausted the cartridge is done. Greyscale printing for documents is the only meaningful mitigation.

Paper feeding crooked or multiple sheets: Fan the stack and reseat the paper guides. Common on the compact Canon feeders and unrelated to ink.

How to Check Your Ink Levels on the Canon PIXMA TS6420a

On the Canon PIXMA TS6420a, ink levels appear in the Canon PRINT Inkjet/SELPHY app on your phone, in the Canon IJ Status Monitor on a connected computer, and — where the model has a screen — under Setup on the printer itself. If you are running compatible cartridges, Canon disables the on-screen estimate entirely, which is expected behaviour rather than a fault.

Treat every one of these readings as an estimate rather than a measurement. Printers calculate remaining ink by counting drops fired since the cartridge was installed, not by looking inside it, and manufacturers deliberately set the low-ink threshold early. It is routine to get a few hundred more pages after the first warning — keep printing until quality actually drops.

Storing Spare Cartridges

If you buy ink a few at a time, a little care keeps the spares usable:

• Leave them sealed until the moment you fit them. The foil pouch is what stops the nozzles and vents drying out.
• Store upright, the way they sit in the printer. On their side or upside down, ink can migrate and pool against the vent.
• Keep them at room temperature and out of direct sun. A cupboard is ideal; a garage or a car in summer is not.
• Do not refrigerate or freeze them, whatever you have read. Condensation on the contacts causes more failures than age does.
• Use them within about a year. Most cartridges carry a date on the box; buying a two-year supply to save a few dollars is usually a false economy.

Which Other Printers Use the Same Ink?

The PG-260 / CL-261 / PG-260XL / CL-261XL cartridge is used across a range of machines, which keeps compatible prices low and availability high. If you run more than one of these, a single cartridge type covers them all:

• Canon PIXMA TS5320 / TS5320a
• Canon PIXMA TS6420 / TS6420a
• Canon PIXMA TR7020 / TR7020a

Always check the number printed on the cartridge you are replacing before ordering — manufacturers reuse similar-looking numbers across families. You can also look your machine up in our Find Ink by Printer directory.

Compatible vs. OEM: What You're Actually Buying

An OEM cartridge is made by Canon. A compatible is newly manufactured by a third party to the same physical and electrical spec. A remanufactured cartridge is an original shell that has been collected, cleaned, fitted with new wear parts and refilled. All three will print in a Canon PIXMA TS6420a; what differs is price, consistency, and who stands behind it.

Quality across the compatible market is genuinely uneven, which is why the seller matters more than the label. A no-name cartridge from a marketplace listing with no return path is a gamble. Castle Ink tests PG-260 / CL-261 cartridges individually before they ship and backs every one with a replacement-or-refund guarantee.

And the warranty myth is just that: in the United States, the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act prevents a manufacturer from conditioning warranty coverage on the use of its own consumables. Canon would have to show the third-party cartridge caused the specific failure being claimed.

How to Make Ink Last Longer on the Canon PIXMA TS6420a

Manufacturer yields are quoted at 5% page coverage — a fairly sparse business letter. Real documents run denser, which is why cartridges so often feel like they run out early. A few habits genuinely stretch them:

• Print in draft/economy mode for anything internal. On a tri-color cartridge this matters double, because a single depleted color retires the whole cartridge.
• Leave the printer plugged in and powered. Inkjets run a small maintenance cycle on wake; unplugging between uses forces a full purge that costs more ink than the cycle it skipped.
• Print something at least every couple of weeks. Idle printheads dry out, and a clogged head burns far more ink in cleaning cycles than routine printing would have used.
• Skip the alignment page unless quality actually looks off. Those are high-coverage prints.
• Use a lighter font for drafts. Dropping from a 12pt heavy serif to an 11pt lighter face measurably cuts coverage over a long document.

Ignore advice about freezing cartridges or refilling them with syringe kits. Neither works reliably, and both are good ways to ruin a printhead.

Official Canon PIXMA TS6420a Resources

• Canon PIXMA TS6420a support page
• Canon USA support and drivers
• How to recycle used cartridges

Bottom Line

The TS6420a is a perfectly decent home printer, but its two-cartridge design means color printing is never going to be cheap. Buy PG-260XL and CL-261XL rather than the standard cartridges, default your driver to greyscale for documents, and double-check you are not being sold PGI-280 tanks by a listing that has confused this model with the TS6320.

Frequently Asked Questions

What ink does the Canon PIXMA TS6420a use? Canon PG-260 pigment black and CL-261 tri-color, with higher-capacity PG-260XL and CL-261XL versions available. Two cartridges in total.

Does the TS6420a use PGI-280 and CLI-281 tanks? No, and this is a common and expensive mix-up. Those five individual tanks belong to the TS6320, TS8320 and TS9520 family. The TS6420a is a two-cartridge FINE printer.

Is the TS6420a different from the plain TS6420? Not for ink. Canon lists PG-260 and CL-261 for the TS5320, TS6420, TS6420a and TR7020 together — the 'a' is a hardware revision, not an ink change.

Is the XL worth buying? Yes. PG-260XL more than doubles black pages and CL-261XL adds about two-thirds more color, for far less than the equivalent price increase.

Why does my printer say ink levels cannot be monitored? Canon disables its ink estimate for non-Canon cartridges. Hold the Stop button for about five seconds to acknowledge it; the printer keeps working normally.

Can I replace just the color that ran out? No. Cyan, magenta and yellow share one shell, so when any of them is exhausted the whole tri-color cartridge is finished.

Does compatible ink void my Canon warranty? No. In the US, the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act prevents a manufacturer voiding your warranty purely for using a third-party cartridge.

Written and reviewed by William Elward — Founder of Castle Ink, 20+ years in the printer and ink industry. Last updated August 2026.

Shop Compatible Ink at Castle Ink

Save 50–70% on replacement ink for the Canon PIXMA TS6420a. Every cartridge is tested before it ships and backed by Castle Ink's compatibility guarantee — if it does not work in your printer, we replace it or refund you.

• Canon PG-260XL black (compatible)
• Canon CL-261XL tri-color (compatible)
• Shop all Canon ink at Castle Ink

Buy the Canon PIXMA TS6420a on Amazon: Canon PIXMA TS6420a on Amazon

See also: Find Ink by Printer | Printer Ink Cost Calculator | Best Printers Buying Guide