My new printer. Canon iP7250

[Monkey Shoulder]

I posted here with the problems I was having with my old iP3000, and after some sage advice from your members, finally skipped the old beast and bought a new iP7250. So I thought someone might like to know of my experience.
It is a fine printer, and does everything I need. The only complaint I have is the annoying chundering and clunking it makes before it is ready to print. The thought that it is wasting ink by purging it's nozzles during this process puts my teeth on edge. Bought in March, I was expecting the supplied cartridges to run out quite quickly, but it is now July and I have only had to replace one 550 PGBK ink cartridge. I replaced it with a 550 XL PGBK bought from "Office World" via Amazon, which was one of a bargain deal of 6 x 550 XL, plus 2 each of the 551 XL 's of each colour, for only £ 12.99. I have no problem with that, less than £ 1.00 per cartridge.
The replacement cartridge was accepted by the printer without a problem, and the ink levels are reported without complaint. My fear that cheap, dodgy cartridges would be rejected has proved unfounded, and I am wiping away the sweat that accumulated on my brow as I installed one.
Cheers.

 

[palombian]

Canon printers start to do "the annoying chundering and clunking" when not used for some time (starting from 60 hrs).
Most probably inkjet printers from other suppliers do just the same to keep the ink channels open, that's why you better use them regularly.
4 months with one cartridge, you have no reason to complain.

Regarding the "less than £ 1.00" cartridges, in this forum the conviction is to use "quality" refill ink.
If you refill yourself, this ink will cost you much less than that.

I must admit that all the printheads I lost were at some time run with very cheap cartridges (I got for free).
The printers were second hand and over 5 years old, maybe there is a programmed obsolescence, nothing can be proven.
There are few or no tests of refill inks either, it is a matter of confidence.

So make the calculation if investing in refillable cartridges (or a resetter to refill the OEM's) will be paid back before the end of your printer.

 

[Monkey Shoulder]

Regarding the "less than £ 1.00" cartridges, in this forum the conviction is to use "quality" refill ink.
If you refill yourself, this ink will cost you much less than that.

It remains to be seen whether my cheap cartridges are of good quality. I will let you know if I have a problem.

I have been tempted by the refillable system offered by "Coralgraph", do you know of them?
Has anyone here anything to report about them?

(http://www.coralgraph.com/bulk-refill-ink)

They seem legit. Can you speak of their quality?

 

[stratman]

Any vendor selling a one-ink-fits-all Canon printers is unlikely to be of high quality or reproduce the output of OEM Canon ink without profiling/tweaking. Who knows what the pigment ink will do to your print head. Do yourself a favor and stay away from universal inksets unless you cannot afford better or do not care.

Spend the extra quid and purchase from quality vendors such as OctoInk. The owner of the web site is a long time member of the forum and an all around good guy who sells quality refill supplies. If I were in your part of the world that is where I would buy my kit. There are other quality vendors in your part of the world that other forum members can tell you about.

 

[palombian]

...
Spend the extra quid and purchase from quality vendors ...

Indeed, at the mentioned seller you will pay GBP 6,45 for 125 ml of ink, thats good for 11 refills.
So, after paying off your refill equipment, 1 cart costs you about half a pound.
Maybe you can buy ink at half that price, but GBP 0,25 is not much to reduce the risk in that part of the equation.

The quality of the cartridge and the refilling technique is as much - if not more - important.
Any 3th party cartridge is less functional than the Canon original (sponge design etc), but IMO as a beginner you risk more ink feed problems by refilling than by buying filled 3th party's (decide between the Top fill or German method, etc).

... or reproduce the output of OEM Canon ink without profiling/tweaking ...

This was not the first concern of TS, and I must see the first (dye) ink set that does not need it's own profile for quality photo work.
Several tests on this forum (and my own 3 year experience) have proven that all (dye) refill inks fade rather fast - and even faster than prefilled 3th party carts.

So, if you print a lot - non-critical - work, and/or can share the investment in refill equipment and ink with friends and family, you certainly can reduce your printing costs drastically, but the average home user who buys a basic printer for a few hundred pages a year maybe better goes for 3th party prefilled carts (as most of them do).

Unless you do it for fun, wellcome to this forum then

PS: if you want to be serious in refilling, bite the bullet and go for pigment

 

[stratman]

This was not the first concern of TS

True. It was forum wisdom free of charge in addition to responding to his question. The same could be said for your wisdom concerning dye ink fading and printing a lot.

PS: if you want to be serious in refilling, bite the bullet and go for pigment

I disagree. Being serious about refilling has nothing to do specifically with the choice of pigment or dye ink, but rather whether one desires, for instance, maximizing longevity of the print.

 

[palombian]

Sorry for the rant .

 

[stratman]

@palombian - no problem, friend.

 

[Emulator]

@stratman, having observed your diplomacy for several years now, I think the management should award you an appropriate honour of some sort.

 

[The Hat]

I think the management should award you an appropriate honour of some sort.

O’ but we do, we encourage him to entertain the troops and keep the moral up.
Nifty just wouldn’t be Nifty without @stratman...

Bob Hope eat your heart out...