Need advice on cli-8 cart printers

[fotofreek]

I've been blessed to stay with the unchipped BCI cart printers, but I am now on my last few of these "golden oldies." I've been looking on Craig's list for the next generation of printers that use the pgi-5 and cli-8 carts to store away for when my bci-6 printers all die.

I just picked up a lightly used ip4300 in really good shape with an excellent printhead ($25) and have a line on an ip4500 that just came up on Craigs list as well ($40). Since I am unfamiliar with this next generation of printers I would appreciate comments on which of these printers is the better on for me to keep. If they are pretty much equal I'll keep both, primarily as spares for my wife who is using my one remaining i960. I am using an ip5000, have a spare unused ip5000 still in the sealed factory box, and an additional spare new unopened ip5000 printhead.

I fear that I am falling into that "printer collection fever" that so many of us have succumbed to! All to keep the refill ink flowing!!!!

 

[ghwellsjr]

I'm surprised you don't have a single all-in-one.

I'm also surprised that you haven't standardized on a single print head. At least you might consider that for your next round of printers.

Personally, I think you're going to miss some of the advantages of your BCI-6 printers. Can't you get some good buys on replacements for them? People seem to sell perfectly good printers because they want wireless.

 

[The Hat]

fotofreek
I have both the ip4300, ip4500 and they use the same cartridges but the 4500 beats the pants off the 4300 in quality + I think the paper feed mechanism is a bit better on the 4500.
If you have the chance then get both of them, you wont regret it.
Then are both excellent little printers..
At the price of $25 + $40, it would cost you that for a single print head alone..

 

[nche11]

I missed my ip8500 the most. Its print head smoked one day. The printer rejected it afterwards. Under s magnifier I could see a small spot on a wire laminated underneath the print head surface that was burnt out. I replaced the printer with a Pro9000. But I still want to get another print head for the ip8500. It uses 8 BCI-6 ink cartridges. I paid $299 plus tax for it.

 

[fotofreek]

I'm surprised you don't have a single all-in-one.

I'm also surprised that you haven't standardized on a single print head. At least you might consider that for your next round of printers.

Personally, I think you're going to miss some of the advantages of your BCI-6 printers. Can't you get some good buys on replacements for them? People seem to sell perfectly good printers because they want wireless.

George - There are no more printheads available for the i960 or the ip5000, both really good printers. I've been on Craig's list every day for a few months and haven't seen an i960 or ip5000 that was worth buying. Since printheads are still available for the ip4300 and ip4500 I've decided to put these in reserve with an extra printhead each. Just a bit of insurance for when my bci-6 printers finally die.

Another issue is that most of the printers that I'd have purchased on Craig's list are in the San Francisco bay area, but they are an hours drive from my home in SF. If a good ip5000 printer shows up close to home I'll go check it out and buy it.

I don't need an all-in-one. I have a really good scanner that will also do slides and film strips up to 120 film or the slightly wider negatives that I have from my family from almost 100 years ago (I also have the Kodak bellows camera that my father used to take these pictures). I have a fax machine, copy machine, and industrial strength laser printer in my home office. If one of these goes down I can still funtion with the others. This way I don't have to compromise on any one piece of equipment.

 

[Kefp]

ip4500 is a great printer.

 

[on30trainman]

fotofreek,
I have both the ip4200 and ip4500. I think the ip4500 provides a better print and is faster. Believe the ip4200 and the ip4300 are very similar - a print nozzle check showing two shadings of Magenta and Cyan - normal and lighter. The ip4500 nozzle check shows three degrees of shading for both colors. All three printers should give a very good color print. In fact I have recently been comparing 8.5X11 prints from the ip4500 against the Pro9000 MK II which is an eight color printer. It is really hard to see any real differences between the two, but the Pro9000 is so much faster.
So - the ip4500 is probably the better of the two printers. But as others have said - get both. I got two ip4500s and the ip4200 brand new off our local Craigslist but that was two years ago when they were still available new. The two ip4500s had been bought almost free with Canon P&S cameras and the buyers had no use for the printers. One woman couldn't even give it away to her nephew.
BTW I have been using OCP inks for a few months now and they seem very good.

Steve W.

 

[fotofreek]

I just picked up the ip4500 today. The owner was a student from Japan who was studying English for prospective teachers of English to other language speakers. He's leaving for Japan next week and has a teaching job lined up. I had been in Tokyo 59-60 with the US Air Force. Turns out that his family lived about a 10 minute drive from where I lived for the two years! So -- I went to pick up the printer and he is renting a room just two blocks from my home!

About the printer. He bought it two years ago, used it to print some documents, decided that he really needed a laser printer, and stored the ip4500 in the basement in the factory box. He had used up the black pigmented cart, but the other original cartridges were virtually full. He had a new PGI-5bk cart which we installed in the printer. I ran two deep cleanings and printed a perfect nozzle check. That after the printer sat unused for two years! Really a good find at $40. I may pick up an extra printhead while they are still available and store the printer away until my bci-6 printers give out.

 

[stratman]

I just picked up the ip4500 today. I ran two deep cleanings and printed a perfect nozzle check. That after the printer sat unused for two years! Really a good find at $40.

You lucky dog! Nice!

 

[ghwellsjr]

I may pick up an extra printhead while they are still available and store the printer away until my bci-6 printers give out.

I'm afraid you don't know how "printer collection fever" works. When you discover how much an extra printhead costs (more than you paid for the printer), you conclude that it would make more sense to look for another used printer, and so you scan craigslist daily and plan all your weekends around visiting the potential buys. And then when you find a printer even cheaper than the one you just got, you do it all over again. Along the way, you find more iP5000 and i960 printers and you pick those up. There is no cure for "printer collection fever" except for running out of places to store the printers. You're no where near done. You're just getting started.

Oh, and by the way, you need to update the signature on your profile. Look at mine and consider that I own multiple printers of each type (average of more than three).