Appreciate advice: appropriate 8.5" wide CLI-8 printer w/ all die ink?

[l_d_allan]

I read this older article by Rob:
best-inkjet-printer-for-refilling

and would appreciate guidance on what might be the best fit for my situation.

* Currently have Canon Pro 9000-2 and very happy with it, except the size.
* For the past two summers, I've been the volunteer photographer for a "Kids Camps" that takes place at a site outside of Denver.
* I anticipate doing at least 3 such camps this summer, and perhaps more.
* Previously, we made up a DVD with hundreds of pictures, and sent them to each of the campers after the camp was over. That is part of the charge of the camp. We will be doing that again this year.
* We've also uploaded some pictures to a password protected photo-sharing site, but child protection laws are pretty restrictive.

* This summer, we want to "raise the bar" and make letter size photos on-site while the camp is going oin.
* We hope to be able to have some prints ready the next morning, and also for the parents to take-away when they pick up their camper.
* The attendance ranges from 150 to 300, so this is a non-trivial undertaking. Our budget can't justify having the prints made at Sams or CostCo.
* I am not thrilled with taking my Pro 9000-2 remotely, but I probably will.
* I'd like to have a backup ... actually I'd like the 9000-2 to be a backup to this printer.
* Strictly for photos. No interest in all-in-one. Prefer to not have any pigment ink in the device, if possible.
* Prefer to be able to reuse my exisiting OCP ink and resetter for CLI-8 carts.

* Perhaps a more recent CLI-221 based printer would work? My speculation is that the CLI-221 generation is very similar to the CLI-8, but with a different chip. It wouldn't be the end of the world to get a new resetter, and perhaps some different ink, but I'd rather not. And I really would prefer to not have to keep track of two types of carts.

I've about given myself a headache reading reviews and ebay listings. About once a week I have been checking CraigsList, but nothing much had shown up in photo/video. Hmmmm ... just expanded to "all listings" and there are several.

I plan to check out several thrift stores locally and see what turns up. I may put in a WTB (wanted to buy) on CraigsList, but I'm not sure what to specify.

Suggestions appreciated.

 

[ghwellsjr]

I already answered your question here and I still think you should get a couple iP4500 printers.

I see there is one for sale in Littleton for $150 and in my area (Los Angeles) there is one for sale at $60, new in box. Maybe you could call the guy and have him send it to you.

 

[on30trainman]

I agree about the ip4500 - have two and they work great. Photos from the ip4500 rival my Pro9000 output - but it is slower. Other possibilities with the CLI-8 cartridges are the ip4200 and ip4300. Got all my recent Canon printers off Craigslist.

Steve W.

 

[l_d_allan]

ghwellsjr (& on30trainman),

Thanks for the info about the ip4500 in the LA area. I found the ad, spoke to the owner briefly, did some more checking, and sent an email with an offer. We'll see.

The ip4500 appears to be a CLI-8 based, narrower 9000 without PM, PC, Red, Green, and with both die black and pigment black, and paper tray. Looks pretty much exactly what I have in mind. Looks like the original MSRP was $250 to $350?

The ip4200 and ip4300 appear very similar, except slower. Is that the difference? Maybe one or both don't do legal?

And please accept my apology for losing track of your earlier answer recommending the ip4500. I've been totally immersed in printing/refilling the last several weeks, and have been in a fog.

It was all kind of hypothetical until Friday and a "go ahead" for on-location prints at the Kids Camp. At least 300 letter sized prints, and perhaps up to 1000. We'd like each parent to go home with at least a sub-group picture with their kid, and 1 or 2+ featuring their kid having a great time .

The camp director and I are meeting on Thursday to discuss details. Then I'll try to get some helpers. Big fun, but probably even more exhausting than the previous two years were.

 

[ghwellsjr]

I believe all the iP4xxx line of printers have the same capability, the difference being in the type of cartridge and the number of nozzles. I would recommend that once you start getting alternative printers, you only get ones that use the same print head. This would be the iP4500 and the MX850, for example.

Your next decision when faced with printing lots of letter-size photos is what paper to use. I would suggest that you keep your eyes open for the next time Staples has one of their $1 or $2 sales on the double-sided matte photo paper. This is thick enough so that it won't get a messed up on the way home from camp and if you have time you can offer two pictures. Usually, there is a limit per day or per store but you can work it so that you get a lot of boxes of the paper.

 

[l_d_allan]

I am pretty much completely ignorant about print-heads. I've never looked at the one in my 9000-2. They would be ~$90 but are out of stock on a replacment at Amazon

My impression is that this would be a strike against using the iP4500 as a backup to the Pro-9000-2.
* QY6-0075 Pixma iP4500, MP610, MP810, MX850
* QY6-0076 Printhead for the i9900, Pixma iP8500, Pro9000

Thanks for the "heads up" on the Staples sale. I'll keep my eye out for it. So far, I'm pretty happy with Costco Kirkland letter size paper. I did find this link that has long since expired:
http://www.pocketyourdollars.com/20...items-photo-paper-for-1-after-rebate-exp-814/
but it wasn't clear to me how it worked.

BTW, somehow or other, my wife and I get a $10 off of $20 purchases every quarter or so from OfficeMax. I think it is due to a dormant dba from the early 1980's. I don't think the asst. store manager had ever seen one.

 

[ghwellsjr]

I wasn't suggesting that the iP4500 be a backup for your Pro-9000-2 because you asked for a smaller printer that would be more portable. I don't think Canon makes a smaller printer that uses the same print head as the Pro-9000-2. My point is that you shouldn't buy an iP4000, an iP4200, an iP4300 and an iP4500 since they all use different print heads. You would be better off buying four of any one of them but since you also want to use the same cartridges as the ones in the Pro-9000-2, that eliminates the iP4000. And if you are concerned about speed, the iP4500 would be the obvious choice but if you could only find those at $150 each and you could find some iP4200's at $20 then you might want to consider more of the cheaper ones.

You can look on Canon's website to find out how many nozzles a printer has and obviously if two printers have a different number of nozzles, they must use a different print head. But just because they have the same number of nozzles, that doesn't mean they use the same print head. What I do is go on eBay and do a search for a print head for a particular printer. If you can find one, they will generally list all the other printers that it will work in.

One last point that I want to repeat with regard to printers used for mass printing: printers that have a photo magenta and photo cyan cartridge will go through those cartridges very quickly. They have about one-seventh of the color as the regular cartridges and typically are used at about three times the rate as the regular ones. You will either have to bring along a lot of previously refilled cartridges or re-ink on the spot.

 

[RMM]

You can in fact use CLI-8 cartridges in the BCI printers. I tried it in a IP6000D that I had and it worked fine.

The iP6600D is a 6 color CLI-8 photo printer. (Just giving another option)

 

[martin0reg]

CLI-8 and BCI-6 cartridges have slightly different magenta and photoblack ink...(see discussions elsewhere in the forum)
And the PGI-5bk cartridge has a different "snap profile" (is that english??) than the BCI-3ebk, you have to cut it otherwise it don't snap in the printhead. I am wondering why they have done this with the text(pigment)black cart, while the cyan-magenta-yellow-photoblacj CLI-8 carts are fitting in BCI printers without cutting the plastic snap...

 

[RMM]

You are correct that the inks are different. But if you are refilling/using custom profiles it doesn't really matter.