ARC Refillable inkjet cartridges

wilko

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I posted, several months ago that I had started using these arc carts in my IP7250 and IP4500 printers. The IP7250 was a no brainer because there isn't any other alternative that I'm aware of, other than buying already refilled carts.

The IP4500, so far, has been a revelation. No blockages or any other problems. For several years I have used the German method of refilling and have gone through several print heads. Now I'm not proposing that these ARC carts are the answer to all ills, because basic inkjet print heads are not built to last. However, for me they have been great. No blockages in either of my printers.

My problems with refilling are probably down to myself in not following the suggestions from experts on here about purging carts etc. My opinion, for what it's worth, is that print head failure is more likely due to incorrect ink cartridge refilling rather than the ink used.

ARC refilling is not as satisfactory as traditional refilling because you cannot refill a cartridge until the printer announces the need for a refill. So you can have a scenario where all the carts are low on ink but you cannot refill any one of them until the printer tells you a cart needs refilling.

I know that I will lose any argument about using ARC carts on the IP4500 on here but ARC carts are the nearest thing you can get to traditional refilling on modern printers and it's so easy. Fit it into the cartridge holder (supplied) unpug the plug from the top of the cartridge, fill it up, refit the plug and away you go.

The IP7250 is an absolute bargain at £49.95 with 12 month warranty. You can sell the carts supplied for £20 on Ebay, buy refillable carts for £15 on Ebay, fill them with good quality ink and prints are just as good as the old favourites of yesteryear IP4000-IP4750). If you don't trust Ebay, Octoinkjet have various refilling kits to buy.

I has began to think that refilling was possibly over but these ARC carts have changed things once again.

Why do I think that the IP7250 is such a bargain? Well it's cheap, it has WiFi and prints are as good as previous Canon printers. No scanner but in my experience there isn't an AIO printer that can compare with a dedicated scanner. I have two Canon MG 6250s and a Brother AIO but I use an Epson Perfection V550 for scanning photos because the AIOs are not up to the job, IMO.

Not wishing to contradict the views of pros on here. They have far more experience than me and what I have posted only reflects my personal experience with Canon printers.
 

The Hat

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My problems with refilling are probably down to myself in not following the suggestions from experts on here about purging carts etc. My opinion, for what it's worth, is that print head failure is more likely due to incorrect ink cartridge refilling rather than the ink used.
@wilko, You couldn’t have put it better, because print head failure is usually always down to poor cartridge management.

If you get yourself an empty set of OEM CLI-8 cartridges for your iP4500, I will send you a resetter for the chips and that would be the best way of maintaining your fabulous printer, it would be a terrible shame if the ARC chips caused its demise... :(
The iP4500 is the King of Kings of printers:thumbsup
 

wilko

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Belated reply but I'm still using my ARC chipped refillable cartridges with no problems on my IP4500 and ip7250 printers. Top filling does it for me. That's not to say that the German refilling system is inferior. It's probably just that my ham filling procedure just doesn't work for me.
The IP7250 is a load of plastic junk compared to the IP4500 but it's cheap and produces great results.

So few options for a dedicated cheap photo printer out there. Everyone wants an MFP. Still Canon still believes that there is a market for a cheap non MFP photo printer.

The Ip7250 suits my needs. I have an Epson Scanner that is superior to any Canon MFP. So the Ip7250 is what I require for good photo prints

The IP4500 remains the best value printer that Canon ever produced but the IP7250 delivers similar results but probably doesn't have the longevity of the ip4500
 

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