Any agreement on what is best source of empty Canon carts?

[Jane]

As my subject line says "Any agreement on what is best source of empty Canon carts?" I am not in a position to buy a full set of Canon BCI-6 OEM full ink tanks; but having done some much switching around think it may be a good idea to start fresh with a set that is all filled with the same brand of ink (MIS). I would appreciate some feedback on this. And if I turn up needing new printer, what models still use this cartridge?

 

[ghwellsjr]

You haven't specified which colors you need in the BCI-6 empty cartridges. I purchase my empties on eBay and there are a few offerings available right now. Search on "empty canon". HINT: you can also use BCI-3e color cartridges in place of BCI-6 color cartridges. Many people do not know that they are interchangeable and that makes the demand a lot lower and therefore they tend to be available at a lower price. (There is a difference between BCI-3e black and BCI-6 black; the first is a wider pigment black and the second is the narrower dye black.)

As far as buying a new printer that uses the BCI-6 (and BCI-3eBK) cartridges, you don't have too many choices. CompUSA still has a few i9900 wide format printers for $450 that use eight BCI-6 cartridges and you can still get the very popular iP4000 printer or the MP780 all-in-one on eBay. These take 4 BCI-6 and one BCI-3eBK cartridges.

 

[Jane]

I made a mistake in how I worded things I think. By "empties" I was thinking of virgin empties as marketed by a number of the companies that also carry refill ink.

I was aware of the compatibility of the BCI-3 and 6.

The i9900 at $450 is too rich for my blood. Is there an easy way to identify those that take these combinations of ink that might show up unexpectedly? What does the ip4000 usually run? The newest thing I have is the S800.

 

[vkakula]

You are not going to find empty "virgin" OEM Canon cartridges. As for 3rd party vendors who make good replacements; I heard Hobbicolors sells a BCI3/6 cartridge with a screw on top specifically for refillers. These carts are sold empty and you can refill with whatever ink strikes your fancy.

They have an auction up now for their ink and the cartridges but you can email the seller and request just the cartridges if you dont want their ink.

eBay Item number: 250064926259

 

[Jane]

That was my way of making sure you knew I was looking for Canon rather than for Epson, etc.

 

[ghwellsjr]

You can easily determine what cartridges a printer uses by going to:

http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ProductCatIndex1Act&fcategoryid=103

Type the model number in the Search field and select one of the pages that includes "What's in the Box" or "Specifications" or even "Supplies & Accessories". You will see a list of the cartridges that the printer uses.

For example, I did this for your S800 and learned that it uses six BCI-6 cartridges. The i9900 uses those same six plus a red and a green which hardly ever get used and will last a very long time so it is essentially just like your S800 except that it has three times the nozzles per color so it is much faster, plus it will print up to 13x23 inches. This is the only printer that is still available in a store so watch for a sale.

Your other option is to find one on eBay where they generally are overpriced. I do not recommend the iP3000 because it does not include a dye black. The iP4000 sold new for less than $100 and is now going for at least double that on eBay. It is a very good printer. The MP780 sold new for less than $200 and is going for a little more than that so it is probably a better buy.

Good luck.

 

[Tin Ho]

You can buy Canon ip4300 for $79 and refill only your OEM cartridges. Ip4300 is much faster than ip4200 and ip4000.

 

[Jane]

Your other option is to find one on eBay where they generally are overpriced. I do not recommend the iP3000 because it does not include a dye black. The iP4000 sold new for less than $100 and is now going for at least double that on eBay. It is a very good printer. The MP780 sold new for less than $200 and is going for a little more than that so it is probably a better buy.

Good luck.

I have been checking e-bay today for the ip6000D but got to wondering about the ip3000 and the fact that I thought someone here had not recommended it because of the lack of a dye black. Sure enough, it was ghwellsjr! Now I am wondering what the problem is with the lack of the dye black?? Especially since the ip4000 seems so overpriced compared to what it went for new. It seems that the PC and PM are the problem colors on the 6 color models.

 

[mikling]

No dye black means that the printer has to mix colors in order to generate black in photo printing. This consumes more ink and also does not always produce deep blacks very well. The color balance is also more sensitive to any slight off colors.

 

[ghwellsjr]

Your other option is to find one on eBay where they generally are overpriced. I do not recommend the iP3000 because it does not include a dye black. The iP4000 sold new for less than $100 and is now going for at least double that on eBay. It is a very good printer. The MP780 sold new for less than $200 and is going for a little more than that so it is probably a better buy.

Good luck.

I have been checking e-bay today for the ip6000D but got to wondering about the ip3000 and the fact that I thought someone here had not recommended it because of the lack of a dye black. Sure enough, it was ghwellsjr! Now I am wondering what the problem is with the lack of the dye black?? Especially since the ip4000 seems so overpriced compared to what it went for new. It seems that the PC and PM are the problem colors on the 6 color models.

The iP3000 is an ideal plain paper printer since dye black is not used on plain paper. However, for printing on photo paper or on CDs, black has to be approximated by combining the three dye colors. On photo paper, it doesn't look too bad but on CDs, it is terrible.

Why do you think PC and PM are problem colors? I never heard of that.