Paul Heslop said:
(snip)
That's his one track record. Just the fact that you mentioned
compatibles will have him spinning in someone else's grave.
Heidy - What Paul is very kindly saying is that Measekite, with one ip4000
inkjet to his name, has, for the last three years that I've been
participating on this newsgroup taken it upon himself to be the sworn enemy
of any and all users, vendors, and positive posters regarding aftermarket
cartridges and inks. He has no experience with these materials and has
hijacked this newsgroup over this one issue. Nearly all the dubious advice
he has offered you has been from his reading of other peoples' reviews and
not his own experience.
You asked, in your original post, about printing pictures from the internet.
Most of these images are from reduced size files - they have been reduced to
speed up transmission, and they do not have to be large files with lots of
included detail as the resolution of the monitors is limited. In other
words, since there is a finite limit as to how much resolution a monitor can
show, there is no need for the large image files you would use for excellent
quality prints. You don't need an exotic printer for that kind of use.
Your list of printers from which to choose is far too extensive. You need
to focus on your needs. If you want a printer that can print up to 8.5xll,
you don't need to include wide format printers. If your printing needs are
simple - a few letters, web page printouts, and photos, a good general
purpose inkjet will do. Measekite is correct that the ip4300 would be a
good printer for general use and very decent photo printing. It does,
however, use the new chipped Canon cartridges for which there are no
easy-to-use compatable carts available. (you can expect his immediate
negative response to this statement due to his fanatical aversion to all
aftermarket products). These carts can be refilled successfully, but you
then have to check the ink levels as Canon disables their ink monitor when
you refill the carts. You may also lose your warranty.
Someone had responded to you with a suggestion to find a new ip6000 online.
This six color cart photo printer is very good, is from the previous
generation of Canons, and it does use the bci-6 carts that are widely
available aftermarket. The quality of some of these aftermarket carts is
very poor, however, and you must get the advice of someone who has good
experience with a specific brand and vendor. For best reliability and
uniform ink quality, however, you are best off to refill carts with good
quality aftermarket bulk inks from one of the vendors that have been
suggested by actual users on this NG. (again, MK will follow this post with
his usual biased diatribe). I use Canon i960 and Canon ip5000 printers and
refill my carts with MIS inks. This combination of printers and inks
produces prints that are every bit as beautiful as with OEM Canon inks, and
the prints have been very stable so far for the three years I've used these
printers.
There are reasonably priced good Epson printers that have a ready supply of
aftermarket carts, good refill inks, and chip resetters. There are
participants on this NG who use them and can give you advice. I don't
remember her name, but one person who participates on this NG has reported
using several Epsons with aftermarket inks in a school. Hopefully, she will
see this thread and respond to you. From what I recall, she uses pigment-ink
based printers, but she has substituted dye-based inks and this has cured
the clogging problems.
I don't know anything about HP inkjet printers. I do know that many of them
use carts with the printhead built in. From what I've read, patents prevent
the manufacture of aftermarket carts, so the prefilled aftermarket carts you
can buy are actually original HP carts that have been refilled. For home
refilling, many HP carts can be successfully refilled, but they do have
chips in them that signal to the printer that they have been enmptied. Once
refilled, you have to play some tricks on the printer to recognize them.
Measekite, our very own persistant, biased, misinforming troll, has given
you all the second hand advice of which he is capable. Don't waste your
time responding to him. Most of us have him killfiled and only see his
posts when included in a response such as yours.
