Tin Ho said:
Most ink sellers do not disclose their suppliers. Let's look at it from this angle. Does Image Specialists disclose their source of color dyes and color pigments? We have no way to find out if they source from China, Canada, Japan, Germany or India. To me it really does not matter. I would only be concerned if a seller sells Chinese ink. By the way, the bottles of Hobbicolors ink all have the "Made in USA" words on them.
The main reason that I have never tested Hobbicolors' products is solely and specifically because they will not disclose their source(s). I seem to recall that it has been inferred that they may buy from Sensient (Formulabs). I note that they offer an
8 color set for the Pro9000/i9900/i9950, and I know from conversations with Sensient that they no longer make the Red or Green inks for my printer, so one must conclude:
1. They aren't using Sensient inks (or)
2. They are supplying mix/match ink sets.
AFAIK, the Pro9000 uses CLI-8 carts and the i9900/i9950 use BCI-6 carts. We know from
previous work that the colors of the inks in these two sets of carts are different. You are free to draw your own conclusions about a supplier who sells the same ink for both of these carts.
There is a BIG difference in buying ink traceable to a known reputable ink formulator like Sensient or Image Specialists. It's true that they do not state where they purchase their supplies or give out their formulations, but they are reputable companies who understand the need to supply a consistent product. If they switch suppliers for their dyes, I am confident that they will have done the appropriate research to make sure that their inks will have the same color and characteristics in my printer and that I can mix the new inks with my existing inks and use the same printer profiles without worry. If the color in even one ink changes, I have to discard all of my old ink, purge my carts and generate new printer profiles.
When I run out of my old supply of Kirkland paper and switch to the new "Tulip" paper, I will have to generate new profiles, but that will be a clean changeover with no waste of paper (other than the two sheets required to print the color patches to generate the new profile). Replacing all of my inks when changing suppliers (like I had to do when switching from Formulabs to IS inks) is a far more difficult and expensive proposition.