Best value black ink for cheap printer

[jimmy shilacky]

I looked all over the site and could not really find a definitive answer for the best value color printer issue. I have been using a basic Lexmark for years and its now time for a new printer, but I am weary of buying one again because of my experience and stories heard involving the horrible economy of the small ink cartridges. I know its a lot less expensive in the long run to get a printer with a big ink tank, and that is a priority in this purchase. I have heard wonderful things about Canons, and will be doing some photo printing in the future, although not more than a dozen or so pictures a month. The quality of these photos is not much of a concern, I was almost satisfied by my cheap Lexmark before, but would like a little better. So... My first favorite was the Canon IP1600, but I read that it is not a good value for the money in the long run because of the small and expensive cartridges. So is there another Canon product that gets better ink economy thats not too much more expensive? I dont really need a fancy multi function device, although I don't mind getting one if it gets better ink economy. I would like to keep it under $100, although I can go as high as $150 or $200 to get the best long term deal. I also don't mind saving money by buying online, preferably at NewEgg. Are there any other manufactures that are good values and as reliable as Canons?
To summarize:
-want to spend under $150
-best black ink economy
-prefer reliable (long term investment)
-would like color and photo ability also, although just color is fine too

EDIT: I meant to say that I know that you can go cheeper by getting aftermarket cartridges, but I would prefer to keep it OEM, and I dont know how much aftermarket pieces would affect economy anyway.

Any comments/suggestions would be much appreciated!
Jimmy

 

[Grandad35]

Jimmy,

This link discusses how much ink is used for an 8x10 color photo print (http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=500). In summary, about 0.7 CCs of ink is used for each 8x10 print on an 8 color Canon i9900. I suspect that the ink usage with a printer from any other printer supplier will be similar, with the exception of a printer that does not use the "photo" inks (PM/PC) - they should be able to get the same color coverage with about 20-30% less ink.

Canon carts come with about 13-15 CCs of ink, but only about 9 CCs is actually used. Without any better information, I would use the same 2/3 ratio (9/14) for single color carts in other printers when estimating how much ink is actually available to print. As you can see from the previous link, Cyan/Magenta/Yellow inks are not used at the same rate, so with multiple color carts there will be more wasted ink. You will have to guess at how much additional ink will be wasted, but the total ink loss might be on the order of 50%. When looking at the volume of ink in a multiple color cart, remember that the stated value is the total for the entire cart, not for each color.

I have no data on text printing, but printers with a pigmented black for text are said to give darker, sharper text, so a printer with a pigmented black ink tank for text would seem to be a good choice for you. You certainly don't need a printer with the "photo" inks, and you probably don't even need a printer with a "photo black" (a black dye ink) cart. To summarize, you need a printer with C/M/Y and pigment black. The addition of a dye black would be nice, but not necessary in your case.

If you don't print much text and only print a dozen 4x6 photos/month, you will average using a cart every 2-3 months (assuming Canon BCI-6 carts). Note that the calculations would indicate that you would use fewer carts than this, but such infrequent use requires periodic cleaning cycles that will use additional ink. The net result is that you will be using 4-6 carts per year. At $14 for a Canon BCI-8 cart (for their newest printers), this is $56 to $84 per year for ink. If this is OK with you, your decision is made as soon as you do the same analysis on Epson/HP/Lexmark printers.

HOWEVER, this is a refilling forum, so you can't escape without a discussion on alternative ink choices. You don't sound like a "fussy" user, as you aren't that concerned about color accuracy or longevity, so you are an ideal candidate for 3rd party prefilled carts (at your low usage rate, I wouldn't recommend refilling). The latest generation of Canon printers use carts with chips to prevent the use of 3rd party carts, but it shouldn't be too long before prefilled carts become available for these printers. OTOH, the previous generation of Canon printers have a large number of alternative prefilled cart suppliers with a cost of about 20-25% of the Canon carts. Would you be interested in reducing your ink cost to under $20 per year? If so, look for one of the older Canon models that use BCI-6 carts. Others may want to jump in with the best printer in this class and where to buy one (or maybe two - as a spare if the price is right). I don't use prefilled carts, so I can't comment on a good supplier, but others may want to jump in with their experience.

You will also need a good, low cost photo paper. Many of the people on this forum use Kirkland Glossy Photo paper (from Costco) - you can buy (300) 4x6 sheets for about $13 or (125) 8.5x11 sheets for about $19.

One other thing to remember - once you get your printing costs down you will find yourself printing a lot more. In the end, you may not actually save much money with the 3rd party inks since you will print a lot more photos than you initially planned.

 

[jimmy shilacky]

Grandad35, thank you very much for your detailed response. It was hard to find a non-photo ink printer with pigmented black ink, and its also hard to find some of the older Canon models you mentioned because of the holiday rush. Based on your recommendations, I decided on the Canon PIXMA iP4200 Photo Printer, sold on Amazon for $95 with free shipping. It has the 3 individual color ink tanks, a tank for black dye ink, and a tank for pigmented black ink. This seemed like a good deal because of its low price and versatility for printing photos. I will keep my eye out on the net and on this site for 3rd party ink deals. Again, I really appreciate your help, and I am confident that you saved me a bunch of money on ink in the long run.

 

[Osage]

First, I note grandad said he had no data on text printing costs. I have relied on basically two main sources for text data-------the April/05 issue of consumer reports and some of the older Tom Hardware guide reviews although the newest one seems totally bogus.

But both consumer reports and Tom's reported a ink consumable cost for 5% black text at three cents per page on the ip4000.------using Canon Oem cartridges. And consumable cost is only beat out by the ip5000 which was listed at two cents on Tom's and still three cents on Consumer reports.

Most of the other reviewed printers on the April/05 issue of CU came in far higher in terms of 5% text costs--------ranging from a low of 5.5 cents for the HP6450 to as high of eight cents to 8.5 cents for some dell and Lexmark entries. The Epson entries came in at low of 4 cents for the r800 and a high of six cents for the c86. The Canons based on the ip1500 printer engine came in at 6.5 cents.

A similar clustering occurs in Tom Hardware guide reviews----its the Canons based on the BCI-3&6 line clearly in front, followed by Epsons at about 1.5x as expensive, and HP and Lexmarks trailing with per page costs about 2.5 times as much as the ip4000 or 5000.

The earlier Tom's guides also had a breakdwon for 25% coverage mixed color and text similar to printing a web page on plain paper. Here the Canon ip4000&5000
came in at eight cents, the Epson r300 at 11, the Epson c86 at 19, the Canon ip1500 printer engine model at 16, and far back in the pack is the HP8150 at 25, the HP7450 at 27, and the Lexmark z816 at 30 cents.

Of course that assumes OEM cartridges are being used------note also that these are not the low end printers of the HP and Lexmark line where ink costs would be expected to be far higher.---although those printers based on Canon ip1500 engine are the Canon low end and do use small cartridges.--but a similar clustering
exists-----the BCI-3&6 cartridges Canon printers lead the pack, followed by Epsons fairly close behind, and way way way behind come the HP's and Lexmarks.

To what extent this is due to printhead and cartridge design I leave to the reader to guess.---------but the HP's and Lexmarks have the printhead on the cartridge itself,
the Canon's and Epsons have the printhead seperate from the Cartridge.

Of course two jokers exist in the deck--------(1) Neither CU or Toms hardware guide make testing proseidures clear.-----but compared to most other reviews they at least come up with numbers. (2) One assumes these tests refer to continuous printing. Most people print some and resume later----meaning the printer when resumed is likely to run cleaning cycles and waste ink in the process.

But it seems to me that Jimmy S's bottom line is as follows if he is interested in printing economy.

1. If Canon OEM cartridges are going to be used exclusively-----by all means get one of the new chipped Canons like the ip4200 or ip5200 where printing costs are likely to be similar to the above quoted figures for the ip4000&5000. Avoid the ip1600 which is basically just a new chipped version of the ip1500 printer engine.
While you can use refilling in these models, its an added pain and you lose the ink monitor. You do get the slightly superior chromalife 100 ink. And really have a great printer if and when they figure out ways around that cursed chip.----and the giant curse of the chip is that TOTALLY cuts off using third party cartridges.---and to add injury to insult costs you $2.25 more per cartridge to buy.

2. Or get a Canon ip3000, 4000, or ip5000. Then you can use cheap BCI-3&6 third party cartridges that cost as low as 15% of Canon OEM. Or refill with no hassle to get even cheaper costs without losing the ink monitoring. Suddenly the cheap initial cost printers based on the ip1500 printer engine can get economical if you use third party cartridges at a buck a pop. Those listed printers are already getting somewhat hard to find but I still see them on ebay with some $100 buy it nows plus shipping on ebay for an ip4000.

3. The last of the readily available non-chipped Canons now seems to be their top of the line flagship multifunctional, the Canon MP780. Based on the ip4000 printer engine its on sale for $200. at Staples cash and carry according to the Sunday paper I just read. It prints, flatbed scans, copies, and faxes.--plus has an ADF.--little over the budget of $150., but worth it in my opinion.

For what its worth, I may be what granddad calls a non-fussy printer. I got a Canon ip4000 for my wife and picked up a cheap used MP730 for myself. I use cartridges from www.bulkinkjetcarts.com partly due to a very good review done on this forum by JV. But what I wrote above is alot of what shaped my buying decisions when I purchased. I just recommend to anyone that they look at what the printer will cost them long term and look past the low initial purchase price.

Lastly, I would somewhat say I SLIGHTLY prefer a pigmented black for text printing. Its somewhat of a blacker black. But I hardly notice the difference with a dye based black I am now using.

 

[jimmy shilacky]

Thank you Osage for your input. It was reassuring to see hard data proving the economy of the IP4000 series printers. Although I would prefer to use OEM carts to keep things safe, the more and more I read about 3rd party ones it really makes sense. But, there is currently no way to get around the cart protection on the IP4200? I imagine someone will figure it out eventually, and I will keep an eye out on this site too see if thats an option. I will also look around the forum more to see if i have what it takes to refill carts.
Jimmy

 

[Osage]

To jimmy shilacky,

Glad to see you are keeping an open mind and looking at information. A basic step too many don't take.

In terms of using readily available third party cartridges, you can start out with the most economical printer in ink jet history------the ip3000, 4000, or 5000 and reduce that cost by perhaps a factor of UP TO 8X in terms of per page consumable costs by using readily available third party cartridges. Lots of vendors out there and their are reviews on this site to keep you from buying a pig in the poke.

I have done the math, perhaps overly optimistic, that if you buy a high qulaity bulk inkfrom MIS at $85.00/gallon, you could use refilling methods and reduce that cost UP TOa Factor of 28X over OEM ink in those same printers.

In either the above cases, you beat even the best monochrome laser and get color printing to boot.-------yes you do pay a somewhat cost premium over the cheapest inkjets priced as low as $20., $100. spent for the best economy champ is only $80 premium easily made up in one set of cartridges for the el ripoff cheap inkjet printers printer.----which is likely to yield only 100 pages before its cartridge change time. In terms of color lasers, the bottom price seems to be about $300., and they don't seem to deliver per page consumable costs much lower than the best Canons even using OEM ink.--at least on color printing costs.

But if you want to explore refilling, you came to the right forum.-----as for me, my printing volume is not high enough to get me to try, but those hobbicolor kits sure look easy and I like the screw seal cartridges.--better still, the hobbicolor vendor is responsive to email questions and thats a big plus in my book.

But at the end of the day its your money and your choice. But I find this forum the #1 best place for inkjet printer information bar none.

What somewhat disturbs me is the new chipped Canons have been out for at least six months-----no way found around the chip yet----I do note that the Epsons had chips and now chip resetters exist. My fear is that Canon has learned that Epson lesson and made their new chips much harder to defeat.

But that seems to be the wave of the future for all inkjet manufacters----force the users to use OEM cartridges at ever higher per page costs.

 

[jimmy shilacky]

Thanks for all your support and information everyone. I received my iP4200 in the mail from Amazon last week and I am very impressed with all of its features. I guess it's because I have been using cheep Lexmarks for so long, but the overall build quality and ease of use of this Canon is in a whole different league. I am actually excited to use it, and thanks to the information from this forum I am confident that I have the best product for my needs. Thanks again.

One more question! I bought the box of Kirkland signature 4x6 glossy inject photo paper from Costco this week and I am confused about what to classify the type of photo paper as. In Canon's packaged photo printing program called "Easy-PhotoPrint" it asks you to select from several types of photo paper: Matte, Glossy, photo paper plus glossy, and photo paper pro. I know these descriptions are designed around products only made by Canon, but just wondered which kind of paper the Kirkland Signature is equivalent too. My guess is to just use the regular "glossy photo paper" setting, but I want to make sure. Any ideas?

 

[Grandad35]

Jimmy,

The Kirkland paper can be expected to have a slight color cast when compared to the Canon paper, so print the same test print using each of the available settings to see which one gives the best color and "pop" to the print.

 

[Nifty]

My 8.5 x 11 Kirkland glossy inkjet photo paper has a piece of paper that says what setting to use with what printer. I use the "photo paper pro" for my i860 and MP750