Canon Pixma IP400 v IP4300

[ac]

I have a Canon Pixma IP3000 & IP4000 and in my experience they are the best
inkjet printers ever produced (especially the IP4000) Cartridges are
available at around 70p with replacement print heads available from the good
old USA at $47.95. Photographs are excellent and it is still cost effective
to print your own. Unfortunately Ebay auction prices often exceed the cost
of a new IP4300 and one day I will have to move on to a new printer.

The Canon IP4300 uses chipped cartridges which involves taking out the chip
from an original cartridge to use with a compatible cartridge. The low ink
warning is disabled and the compatible cartridges cost more than the IP4000.

All this I can live with but as anyone compared the print quality of the
IP4300 with the IP4000? Is it significantly better? Are there any other
advantages?

Love to read opinions from others on this NG (not Measekite please)

 

[zakezuke]

The Canon IP4300 uses chipped cartridges which involves taking out the chip
from an original cartridge to use with a compatible cartridge. The low ink
warning is disabled and the compatible cartridges cost more than the IP4000.

All this I can live with but as anyone compared the print quality of the
IP4300 with the IP4000? Is it significantly better? Are there any other
advantages?

Love to read opinions from others on this NG (not Measekite please)

I can speak about the leap from the ip3000/mp760 and the ip5200. The
cartridges are chipped, but there are two other benifits
1) Resolution - smaller drop size makes for a stellar
improvement in photos, as well as detail in photos. For example I can
print kanji smaller.
2) Color - Facial tones look much better under the new ink. You
can set the printer to Japanese mode and I believe you can use the
cli-8 inks in the printer.

 

[Burt]

I have a Canon Pixma IP3000 & IP4000 and in my experience they are the best
inkjet printers ever produced (especially the IP4000) Cartridges are
available at around 70p with replacement print heads available from the
good old USA at $47.95. Photographs are excellent and it is still cost
effective to print your own. Unfortunately Ebay auction prices often exceed
the cost of a new IP4300 and one day I will have to move on to a new
printer.

The Canon IP4300 uses chipped cartridges which involves taking out the
chip from an original cartridge to use with a compatible cartridge. The
low ink warning is disabled and the compatible cartridges cost more than
the IP4000.

All this I can live with but as anyone compared the print quality of the
IP4300 with the IP4000? Is it significantly better? Are there any other
advantages?

Love to read opinions from others on this NG (not Measekite please)

IF you buy the ip4300, consider refilling the original cartridges that come
with the printer. No transfer of chips. Just as easy to refill as the
ip4000 carts. Best to have an extra set of carts so you keep one set
filled and trade them out when the reservoir is about 80% or less empty.
Our nearby Staples store had this printer for $70 last week (closing them
out as the ip4500 is on the way). That is about the price of a set of
carts. I read of someone who bought two ip4300's at this price recently.
He wanted an extra set of carts for refilling as I described above and
buying the printer for about the price of the carts gave him an extra
printer/printhead in the bargain!

 

[DanG]

You will see no difference at all between the 4000 and 4300, quality-wise.
Hang on to your 4000 for as long as possible. I've already stocked up on
printheads for mine.

 

[Burt]

You will see no difference at all between the 4000 and 4300, quality-wise.
Hang on to your 4000 for as long as possible. I've already stocked up on
printheads for mine.

I totally agree with DanG - when the ip5000 printer was selling new for $100
on sale to clear them out of inventory before the new printers with chipped
carts came in I bought one for my wife and an additional one as a spare.
That was nearly two years ago and I still have the spare in its factory
sealed box sitting on the shelf. This is to extend, as long as possible, my
ability to refill without the chip hassle for years to come. My i960, on
its second printhead after four years, is still going strong, and I have a
spare i960 that we used for two years sitting on the shelf for when my
printer dies. I purged the printhead and dried it before storing the
printer.

 

[zakezuke]

You will see no difference at all between the 4000 and 4300, quality-wise.
Hang on to your 4000 for as long as possible. I've already stocked up on
printheads for mine.

While I somewhat agree text has not changed between the ip4000 and the
ip5200, which should be identical to the ip5200 it makes no odds, and
I agree the ip4000 is a great printer still worth keeping, I must say
I do notice a difference between the two printers.

1/2 the difference is in the ink used, which you should be able to
hack the ip3000/ip4000 to accept cli-8 aftermarket ink. I tested this
on my mp760 and if it wasn't for the fact that the display was 100%
Japanese, I'd continue using cli-8 inks in the mp760.

 

[Martin Trautmann]

All this I can live with but as anyone compared the print quality of the
IP4300 with the IP4000? Is it significantly better? Are there any other
advantages?

The successor of the iP4000 was the iP4200 - and this model was much
closer to the iP5000 than to the iP4000 (1 pl drops instead of 2 pl).

So print quality of the iP4200 became better - but having twice as much
drops to place was much slower.

iP4300 became faster.

So print quality of the iP4300 is better than the iP4000, at comparable
speed (check the specs for details and ask yourself for your needs).

The major drawback, as you know, are the chip cartridges.

- Martin

 

[measekite]

I have a Canon Pixma IP3000 & IP4000 and in my experience they are the best
inkjet printers ever produced (especially the IP4000) Cartridges are
available at around 70p with replacement print heads available from the good
old USA at $47.95. Photographs are excellent and it is still cost effective
to print your own. Unfortunately Ebay auction prices often exceed the cost
of a new IP4300 and one day I will have to move on to a new printer.

The Canon IP4300 uses chipped cartridges which involves taking out the chip
from an original cartridge to use with a compatible cartridge. The low ink
warning is disabled and the compatible cartridges cost more than the IP4000.

That is incorrect information. If you have an IP4300 that uses the
longer lasting Chroma Life 100 ink you do not have to do anything with
the chip on a new Canon cart. Just put it in the printer and print.
Canon takes care of the rest.

All this I can live with but as anyone compared the print quality of the
IP4300 with the IP4000? Is it significantly better? Are there any other
advantages?

Yes. Longevity

 

[measekite]

Martin Trautmann wrote:

On Sat, 08 Sep 2007 23:00:59 GMT, ac wrote:



All this I can live with but as anyone compared the print quality of the IP4300 with the IP4000? Is it significantly better? Are there any other advantages?



The successor of the iP4000 was the iP4200 - and this model was much closer to the iP5000 than to the iP4000 (1 pl drops instead of 2 pl). So print quality of the iP4200 became better - but having twice as much drops to place was much slower. iP4300 became faster. So print quality of the iP4300 is better than the iP4000, at comparable speed (check the specs for details and ask yourself for your needs). The major drawback, as you know, are the chip cartridges.


That is not a drawback.  The drawback is that the carts cost more and it is not because of the better ink which it is but because of the chip.


- Martin

 

[zakezuke]

The successor of the iP4000 was the iP4200 - and this model was much
closer to the iP5000 than to the iP4000 (1 pl drops instead of 2 pl).

It's hard to say what the successor truly was
I would submit that the ip5000 essentially replaced by the ip4200 and
ip5200, which merged into the ip4200, which was in turn as succeeded
by the now current ip4500.

It's hard to place the ip4000 in there since it used an 2pl/5pl head
vs the current 1pl/5pl head. The major difference between the ip5000/
ip4200 and the ip5200/4300/4500 is the size of the head. The ip5000
was seen as many to be an experimental model.

The ip3000 was succeeded by the ip3200 and now current ip3500 which
the only difference i'm aware is the inks. There can be no argument
on this subject as the specs are basically the same except the ink,
and possibly camera printing on the ip3500.

The new inks seem to do better with skintones, and there is an
improvement in higher quality modes which is determined by the paper
selection and quality selector.

 

[measekite]

DanG wrote:

You will see no difference at all between the 4000 and 4300, quality-wise. Hang on to your 4000 for as long as possible. I've already stocked up on printheads for mine.


That is not totally true and you know it.  Within a day after you print the same thing from each printer you will not see a difference.  As time goes on and on and on the ChromaLife 100 ink that is used in the IP4300 is far more resistent to fading.

That said (I have an IP4000) my printer (using only Canon ink and not the garbage stuff) has produced results that are over 3 years old sitting on a desktop in front of a window and they still look good.  No fading yet.


"ac" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...



I have a Canon Pixma IP3000 & IP4000 and in my experience they are the best inkjet printers ever produced (especially the IP4000) Cartridges are available at around 70p with replacement print heads available from the good old USA at $47.95. Photographs are excellent and it is still cost effective to print your own. Unfortunately Ebay auction prices often exceed the cost of a new IP4300 and one day I will have to move on to a new printer. The Canon IP4300 uses chipped cartridges which involves taking out the chip from an original cartridge to use with a compatible cartridge. The low ink warning is disabled and the compatible cartridges cost more than the IP4000. All this I can live with but as anyone compared the print quality of the IP4300 with the IP4000? Is it significantly better? Are there any other advantages? Love to read opinions from others on this NG (not Measekite please)