- Joined
- Dec 27, 2014
- Messages
- 6,010
- Reaction score
- 7,150
- Points
- 363
- Location
- Germany
- Printer Model
- L805, WF2010, ET8550
I recently got a Megatank G1520 printer by a friend of mine, he told me to install and activate the printer and use it for a while, he got the printer as a bargain but actually is looking for some other model with a scanner and more options. This was an opportunity to do some testing with this Megatank printer and its inks GI-51. The G1520 is just a basic printer, at the lowest end of the Canon Megatankt printers, it just prints - with 4 inks - nothing more - no scanner and other options. It uses the GI-51 inkset with 3 colors CMY and a pigment black ink. Epson offers a kind of corresponding Ecotank printer - the ET-1810, as well as printer only and with 4 inks as well. I did some tests of the GI-51 inkset, it is a pretty weak ink, no contrast and a small gamut. I'll post some details later, I just can tell everybody looking to this printer model - don't use the GI-51 inkset but directly start with the GI-53 inks of the G550 printer, it offers more contrast and gamut, and more longevity of the dye inks.
I was using an Epson Pro 7600 for a long time, a 24 inch printer - large and heavy and reliable. But plastic parts started to deteriorate after almost 20 years of its life, so had to dump it to the electrical scrap depot. I felt over time that I couldn't really go without an 24 inch printer and was looking for alternatives.
There are several low end 24" models on the market by Canon and Epson and HP, you may get more information from these German druckerchannel articles - use Google Translate if needed
https://www.druckerchannel.de/artikel.php?ID=4002&t=epson_surecolor_sc_t3100_und_sc_t5100
https://www.druckerchannel.de/artik...20_epson_surecolor_sc_t2100_hp_designjet_t230
The main competitors in Germany are Canon and Epson, both start with the T2100 or TC-20 at the 700 - 800 € range , there is a family of Epson printers in this feature range, and Canon as well offers several models. Most of the models run with ink cartridges with 4 or 5 inks, but there is as well a Canon Megatank model TC-20 and an Epson T3100X running with bottled inks - Canon with pigment inks PFI-050 and Epson with dye inks T49H. Canon is offering this model for about 750 - 800€ in Germany (prices may vary in other countries), and the PFI-050 70ml ink bottles are priced at about 65€ , a pretty high price for bottled inks; Epon is offering a T3100 with pigment inks in (rather)small cartridges for about 1100€, and a model T3100X as a Megank model with dye inks at about 25€ for 140ml bottles which is about a typical Epson price for bottled inks. But Epson raised the price for the Ecotank printer model T3100X to more than 2000€ almost doubling the price of the base model.
So I decided to get a Canon TC-20 in this pricing situation, and I directly initialized the printer with GI-53 Canon dye inks which works fine at this time. I chose dye inks since I still had some paper left from the 7600 - glossy and semiglossy, and I didn't want to go through a new test cycle with the Canon pigment inks for bronzing etc effects. Keith Cooper's positive and very detailed test report of the TC-20 helped me to choose a Canon printer at this time. So I'm suddenly a Canon user with 2 Canon printers at this time - but the G1520 will go shortly which was not a positive experience - with a weak ink and lots of noise from the printer - at startup and during printing - many minutes of the printer motor running and some klonk noises now and then. Epson printers generate much less maintenance noise - the WF-2010W virtually nothing, same for an L805, and some more noise from an ET-8550 but still much shorter than the noise from the G1520.
https://www.northlight-images.co.uk/canon-tc-20m-printer-review/
(The TC-20M is the same as the TC-20, but just with an additional A4 scanner)
I was using an Epson Pro 7600 for a long time, a 24 inch printer - large and heavy and reliable. But plastic parts started to deteriorate after almost 20 years of its life, so had to dump it to the electrical scrap depot. I felt over time that I couldn't really go without an 24 inch printer and was looking for alternatives.
There are several low end 24" models on the market by Canon and Epson and HP, you may get more information from these German druckerchannel articles - use Google Translate if needed
https://www.druckerchannel.de/artikel.php?ID=4002&t=epson_surecolor_sc_t3100_und_sc_t5100
https://www.druckerchannel.de/artik...20_epson_surecolor_sc_t2100_hp_designjet_t230
The main competitors in Germany are Canon and Epson, both start with the T2100 or TC-20 at the 700 - 800 € range , there is a family of Epson printers in this feature range, and Canon as well offers several models. Most of the models run with ink cartridges with 4 or 5 inks, but there is as well a Canon Megatank model TC-20 and an Epson T3100X running with bottled inks - Canon with pigment inks PFI-050 and Epson with dye inks T49H. Canon is offering this model for about 750 - 800€ in Germany (prices may vary in other countries), and the PFI-050 70ml ink bottles are priced at about 65€ , a pretty high price for bottled inks; Epon is offering a T3100 with pigment inks in (rather)small cartridges for about 1100€, and a model T3100X as a Megank model with dye inks at about 25€ for 140ml bottles which is about a typical Epson price for bottled inks. But Epson raised the price for the Ecotank printer model T3100X to more than 2000€ almost doubling the price of the base model.
So I decided to get a Canon TC-20 in this pricing situation, and I directly initialized the printer with GI-53 Canon dye inks which works fine at this time. I chose dye inks since I still had some paper left from the 7600 - glossy and semiglossy, and I didn't want to go through a new test cycle with the Canon pigment inks for bronzing etc effects. Keith Cooper's positive and very detailed test report of the TC-20 helped me to choose a Canon printer at this time. So I'm suddenly a Canon user with 2 Canon printers at this time - but the G1520 will go shortly which was not a positive experience - with a weak ink and lots of noise from the printer - at startup and during printing - many minutes of the printer motor running and some klonk noises now and then. Epson printers generate much less maintenance noise - the WF-2010W virtually nothing, same for an L805, and some more noise from an ET-8550 but still much shorter than the noise from the G1520.
https://www.northlight-images.co.uk/canon-tc-20m-printer-review/
(The TC-20M is the same as the TC-20, but just with an additional A4 scanner)
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