Canon Users - Do You Believe????

[measekite]

How many people out their believe in using 3rd party inks? If so what
is your brand, printer, paper and your experience with them. How long
have you been using them and how often do you print. How many of you
have had problems with print clogging the head, fading, lower quality
print results?

How much of a mess is it to refill cartridges and how long does it
take. How can you tell when the tank is running low without having to
remove the cart and inspect is physically?


If you only print every couple of weeks with you have a clogging problem
with non factory ink? I have no problems now with my Canon Pixma IP4000
but spending half of what you paid for the printer for ink is high.
Also spending $75 for a print head is out of line when I just saw the
IP4000 for a net price of $100 at Frys after a $30 instant rebate plus a
$20 mail in rebate.

 

[Michael Johnson, PE]

I use 3rd party ink in all four of our Canon printers with no more
problems than I found using Canon's brand. After using three sets of
cartridges you will have saved enough to buy a new printer. Other than
maybe the possibility of Canon ink providing more fade resistant prints
I can't see any reason to pay their high prices. I get the cartridges
for $1.70 each shipped to my door so for me it isn't worth the hassles
to refill.

 

[herbzee]

Can U pls furnish a link to ur supplier ?
cheers-Herb.

 

[Michael Johnson, PE]

It is an ebay seller. I suggest sending them a message at
(e-mail address removed) and placing an order for the exact number and
color of cartridges you need. Also, you can still pay through Paypal.
I rarely need the same number of each color since our photo printer use
six ink tanks (i9100 & i960) and ordering this way allows me to mix and
match quantities and colors. I got the best price by doing this instead
of bidding through ebay. I order about 50 cartridges at once to keep
the per unit cost low. Here's a link to their ebay listings for Canon
compatible cartridges: http://tinyurl.com/52c6k

Their cartridges have a 25% larger ink reservoir than most others so you
get more prints per cartridge. I can personally confirm the reservoirs
are noticeably larger than OEM Canon cartridges. As for the print
quality, I can't see much, if any, difference from the Canon ink.
Definitely not enough to justify six times the cost.

 

[bmoag]

If you have any notion of color management why would you buy non-standard
inks?

 

[AMcLean]

If you have any notion of color management why would you buy
non-standard inks?

Few people who buy inkjets have any use or need for precise color
management or color science. For many of us, we can afford the
printer but can't afford the Canon cartridges that hold "two spoonfuls" of
ink and cost as much as the printer almost.

The several non-Canon inks I've tried deviate infinitismally little from
the so called "Canon standard", certainly not enough to justify me paying
up to 20 times the price. Yes, 20 times. I can fill my own cartridges for
under $5 - a set! Bring on the savings, and I'll deal with any color
variations I may encounter. Not that I've had to.

 

[Michael Johnson, PE]

If you have any notion of color management why would you buy non-standard
inks?

To save a boat load of money is a real good reason. In reality the
color difference is negligable. Anyone that is that picky about color
management can adjust the weighting of the individual ink tanks in the
printer driver to produce the results they prefer.

 

[Billw]

There is a very active yahoo group (see "Groups" from the Yahoo home page)
that deals exclusively with Canon inkjet printers. There are many, many
archived posts there about 3rd part inks used in Canons, including reports
and recommendations, and a few warnings. The general consensus, from what
I've seen, is that refilling (or even just buying refilled cartridges) works
very well for these printers and changes considerations of the price of ink
from being THE dominant factor to being almost no factor at all.

Go take a look.

 

[measekite]

Where do you buy them from?

What brand are they?

How frequently do you print?

Any problem at all with clogging?

How long have you been using non Canon brand ink?

 

[measekite]

What about clogging? How often do you print?

Few people who buy inkjets have any use or need for precise color
management or color science. For many of us, we can afford the
printer but can't afford the Canon cartridges that hold "two spoonfuls" of
ink and cost as much as the printer almost.

The several non-Canon inks I've tried deviate infinitismally little from
the so called "Canon standard", certainly not enough to justify me paying
up to 20 times the price. Yes, 20 times. I can fill my own cartridges for
under $5 - a set! Bring on the savings, and I'll deal with any color
variations I may encounter. Not that I've had to.

 

[measekite]

Where do you buy them from?

What brand are they?

How frequently do you print?

Any problem at all with clogging?

How long have you been using non Canon brand ink?

 

[Michael Johnson, PE]

Where do you buy them from?

Check my reply to herbzee for the answer.

What brand are they?

See above.

How frequently do you print?

I print on one of the printers almost daily. My wife prints quite a few
photos since she is into scrap booking. Aside from the i9100 and i960
we have an MP780 and an N2000. I only use the N2000 for printing
Autocad half size drawings and the MP780 for mainly faxes and the odd
web page etc. I also ave an HP 2100M that I use for most black and
white printing on letter size and smaller.

Any problem at all with clogging?

I've only had any issues with the i9100 regarding clogging and, IMO, it
hasn't been any worse than you would see with Canon cartridges. Also,
it is the most used printer in the house. I use the air can method of
unclogging the heads that really works great. I take the head out and
blow compressed air into the ink feed hole. Be sure to cover the
nozzles with a paper towel of you will have a mess on your hands.

How long have you been using non Canon brand ink?

For about a year. This is how long we have had the i9100 and it was our
first Canon printer. The i960 has had compatibles in it from day one.
I still have the original Canon OEM's sitting on my desk. It has never
clogged and sometimes sets for over a week between printing sessions.

 

[herbzee]

This is herbzee, I HAVE NOT seen this:
"Check my reply to herbzee for the answer."
stillooking, pls repeat. Thanx,cheers-Herb.

 

[herbzee]

herbzee has not seen a reply.

Check my reply to herbzee for the answer.



See above.



I print on one of the printers almost daily. My wife prints quite a few
photos since she is into scrap booking. Aside from the i9100 and i960
we have an MP780 and an N2000. I only use the N2000 for printing
Autocad half size drawings and the MP780 for mainly faxes and the odd
web page etc. I also ave an HP 2100M that I use for most black and
white printing on letter size and smaller.



I've only had any issues with the i9100 regarding clogging and, IMO, it
hasn't been any worse than you would see with Canon cartridges. Also,
it is the most used printer in the house. I use the air can method of
unclogging the heads that really works great. I take the head out and
blow compressed air into the ink feed hole. Be sure to cover the
nozzles with a paper towel of you will have a mess on your hands.



For about a year. This is how long we have had the i9100 and it was our
first Canon printer. The i960 has had compatibles in it from day one. I
still have the original Canon OEM's sitting on my desk. It has never
clogged and sometimes sets for over a week between printing sessions.

 

[Michael Johnson, PE]

Here is my response to your post:

It is an ebay seller. I suggest sending them a message at
(e-mail address removed) and placing an order for the exact number and
color of cartridges you need. Also, you can still pay through Paypal. I
rarely need the same number of each color since our photo printer use
six ink tanks (i9100 & i960) and ordering this way allows me to mix and
match quantities and colors. I got the best price by doing this instead
of bidding through ebay. I order about 50 cartridges at once to keep
the per unit cost low. Here's a link to their ebay listings for Canon
compatible cartridges: http://tinyurl.com/52c6k

Their cartridges have a 25% larger ink reservoir than most others so you
get more prints per cartridge. I can personally confirm the reservoirs
are noticeably larger than OEM Canon cartridges. As for the print
quality, I can't see much, if any, difference from the Canon ink.
Definitely not enough to justify six times the cost.

 

[Larry]

For about a year. This is how long we have had the i9100 and it was our
first Canon printer. The i960 has had compatibles in it from day one.
I still have the original Canon OEM's sitting on my desk. It has never
clogged and sometimes sets for over a week between printing sessions.

I can add to this:

I have a Canon i959 and 2 Canon i960's as well as an ip4000.

The i950 and the 960s have sat unused for up to 2 months at a time, and all I
do is run a cleaning cycle on them before printing after a "lay off" like
that.

The ip4000 hasnt been idle for more than a day since I bought it. Its been
through 4 sets of 3rd party refilled carts, and not a skip or a clog.

I use the 4000 a lot as its quite fast and does duplexing, so I dont need to
use a Photo Printer for daily documents.

 

[measekite]

What 3rd party ink do you use in the IP4000 and where do you get it?

Do you use 3rd party carts or do the pain in the butt refill your self
(messy)?

Is the results as good?

What about fading?

 

[Ron Cohen]

If you look at the archives for this newsgroup or do a Google search you'll
see this has been discussed over and over. I have several Canon printers
(s820's, i950, iP4000) that I refill on a regular basis. I've used
Sensient-Formulabs ink from alotofthings.com for a couple of years and the
results have been excellent. No fading and reference sheets made using this
ink and OEM Canon ink show no detectible difference. Prior to using
Formulabs ink I used ink from MIS (inksupply.com) and atlascopy.com. Both of
those inks also preformed quite well. I've also purchased third party
cartridges from alothofthings.com and tylermartin.com. Results from these
tanks were excellent and once empty were put into my refill rotation.
Clogging has not been a problem with any of the above products. Refilling is
quick and easy with Canon tanks and done properly (using a little common
sense) is not messy.

You point about the original printer cost compared to refilling is quite
valid. Purchase a set of refill supplies at about $50 and after your third
refill, the cost of the bulk ink and the initial printer cost is completely
covered. Anything after that and you are saving approximately $60 each time
you refill an entire set. BTW, even if you do have to purchase a new printer
now and then as a result of a damaged printhead caused by refills (which is
not likely to happen since refilling using quality inks has not been shown
to be a cause of printhead failures) the cost savings from refilling will
more than cover a replacement unit. Don't forget the new printer would also
have a full set of OEM tanks which is worth about $60 so the net cost of a
new iP4000 would only be about $40 using the prices you quoted below.

The key thing to remember is that refilling requires the use of quality inks
and not a generic or universal ink. Review the newsgroup and you'll see
recommendations for several suppliers. I prefer Sensient-Formulabs ink from
alotofthings.com because of its low cost and quality output, but I'm only
one voice. Other users are happy with weinks.com, inkjetgoodies.com,
atlascopy.com, inksupply.com, and many more I can't think of. Send me a
private email and I'll send you a pdf file that I made showing how easy it
is to refill Canon ink cartridges.

 

[Ron Shaw]

I've been using sensient refill ink (from alotofthings.com) for a year
now in my i960. Refills average about 60 cents per cartridge. The refill
process is very simple and not messy. Prints are excellent, comparable
to Canon cartridges. I try to print at least once a week, and have had
no clogs or other problems. The prism in the cartridge gives me a
dependable warning when the ink is low. I have already saved more than
the cost of a new printer (compared to Canon cartridges) and have only
used about 10% of the 4 ounce bottles of ink I originally bought. You
don't need to buy a refill kit if you have access to some old syringes
and a hot glue gun (for sealing the refill holes). A drill or a heated
nail works fine for putting a refill hole in the cartridge. I bought
several empty cartridges for backup, but haven't had to use them yet, as
the cartridges that came with the printer are still working fine after 5
or 6 refills each. Instructions for refilling are available on-line from
a bunch of sources. This has been a complete winner for me!

 

[Jim]

I buy my cartridges from a guy on ebay. I've been using them for a
couple of years with no problems in my I860.
I bought a set of cartridges at a computer show. The color was really
bad. I ruined about 50 photos before I noticed the problem.
I installed cartridges from the ebay guy and the problem did not go
away. I didn't realize that the ink in the sponge at the head had to
work it's way out. When that finally happened the prints came out
fine.
Every bit as good as genuine Canon ones.

The sellers ebay id is abacusInk
My last purchase from him was for 4 complete sets, 20 cartridges in
all. The cost was 40.80. That is about what 1 set of cannon
cartridges would be.
I realize that it's more than the reinking cost but there is no fuss
or bother.
I have no relationship with abacusink other than as a customer.