Canon PG-240 Ink Cartridge Review – Genuine Black for Canon Printers

Quick Verdict

If you're hunting for a dependable black ink cartridge for a Canon inkjet printer from the MG, MX, or TS lineup, the Canon PG-240 genuine black ink cartridge does exactly what it says on the box. It won't win awards for page yield, and it costs more than third-party alternatives — but for text quality and print-head longevity, Canon genuine ink is the safer bet. I'd rate it 4.2 out of 5: great for light-to-moderate home users, less appealing if you're printing hundreds of pages a month.

What Is the Canon PG-240?

The Canon PG-240 is a genuine (OEM) black ink cartridge designed for a broad range of Canon Pixma inkjet printers. It uses Canon's FINE (Full-photolithography Inkjet Nozzle Engineering) technology, which packs over 6,000 precision nozzles into the print head — that's the part responsible for laying down ink droplets with enough accuracy to keep text razor-sharp and photos well-detailed.

In the box you're getting one cartridge, rated by Canon at up to 180 pages using the ISO/IEC 24711 standard (that's 5% page coverage, roughly a standard single-spaced letter). The cartridge ships with a pull-tab that protects the print head during transit — peel that off carefully or you'll smudge ink across your first few prints, a rookie move I definitely made the first time.

Key Features

• FINE technology with 6,000+ nozzles — delivers higher print precision than budget cartridges for cleaner text edges
• Up to 180 pages per cartridge — honest page yield for light home or office use
• Compatible with 20+ Canon Pixma models — MG, MX, and TS series listed clearly on the packaging
• Crisp black text output — ideal for documents, homework, and invoices without bleeding or feathering
• Canon genuine ink formulation — engineered specifically for Canon print heads to reduce clogging risk
• Authenticity verified by Canon logo — packaging includes holographic elements to confirm it's genuine
• Plug-and-print installation — no drivers needed; printer recognizes cartridge via chip automatically

Hands-On Review

I ran the PG-240 through its paces on a Canon MG3520 that had been sitting idle for a few weeks — a realistic scenario, since most home printers spend more time dormant than printing. I loaded it up, peeled the protective tab (carefully this time), and hit print on a 15-page contract draft.

The first thing I noticed was how clean the black text looked right out of the gate. No banding, no ink pooling at the edges of letters, no that-wet-paper smell lingering after the page came out. By the fifth page, I was fully confident. The FINE technology does what Canon claims: droplets land precisely where they should, producing text that reads well even at small point sizes.

Photo printing is where the PG-240 shows its limits. Black ink on photo paper produces decent grayscale — I printed a few test photos and they looked fine for casual use. But Canon clearly intended the color cartridge (CL-241) to tag-team with this one for anything beyond draft-quality grayscale work. Without that color cartridge, photos feel slightly washed out compared to what a four- or five-cartridge system produces.

What surprised me was the low-ink warning timing. By page 140, the printer flagged "ink low" — earlier than the 180-page estimate, but not wildly so. I had maybe 30-40 pages left in the tank, which is roughly typical for Canon cartridges in my experience. The chip-based monitoring is conservative by design; it wants you to swap before you're completely dry to protect the print head.

After six weeks of mixed use — a few contracts, some homework packets, the occasional recipe printout — I went through one PG-240 cartridge. That's roughly 165 pages total. For context: if you're printing 10-15 pages a week, this cartridge will last you a full quarter. Volume users will burn through it faster and feel the cost difference more acutely.

Who Should Buy It?

The Canon PG-240 is a solid match for:

• Home users with MG or TS series printers who print 10-20 pages a week and value clean, professional-looking text
• Students printing essays, reports, and research papers where legibility matters more than photo quality
• Home-office users who need reliable ink that won't gum up print heads during occasional use
• Anyone prioritizing print-head health — genuine Canon ink is formulated to work with Canon's FINE print heads, reducing long-term maintenance risk

Skip this cartridge if you print 50+ pages a week — the cost per page adds up fast, and you'd be better off with a high-yield XL variant or a printer designed for bulk ink systems. Also skip it if you primarily print photos and don't want to spring for the separate color cartridge; you'll be disappointed with grayscale-only output.

Alternatives Worth Considering

• Canon PG-240XL High Yield — same ink formula and printer compatibility, but rated for significantly more pages per cartridge. Higher upfront cost, but better cost-per-page for moderate-to-heavy users.
• E-Z Ink (or other third-party) PG-240 compatible cartridges — cheaper per cartridge and claim similar page counts. They work for basic text printing, but I've seen inconsistent results on photo quality and occasional print-head clogs. Use at your own risk.
• Canon Pixma G6020 MegaTank — if you're tired of replacing cartridges altogether, this bulk-ink system prints thousands of pages per refill. Higher initial investment, dramatically lower long-term ink cost.

FAQ

Final Verdict

The Canon PG-240 genuine black ink cartridge earns its place as the default replacement for a wide range of Canon Pixma printers. Text quality is genuinely good — crisp, dark, and consistent — and the genuine ink formulation keeps your print heads happier longer than third-party options typically do. The 180-page yield is modest, and the price per page is higher than you'd pay with compatible cartridges or bulk-ink systems, but for light-to-moderate use, it's money well spent on reliability.

If you're running a Canon MG, MX, or TS series printer and want ink that just works without surprises, the PG-240 is the sensible choice.