Biggest difference between the iP4600 and iP4820

[mikling]

Picked up an iP 4820 to mess around with

OK, the 4820 uses the CLI-226 vs. The CLI-221. Same ink internally BTW, most defintely no change in ink shades. Different chips. Need we ask?

The CLI-226 are opaque BLACK all the way around. The CLI-221 at least had the window to the reservoir. No more. Heck I wonder how the German method refillers are going to see anything with these? You're essentially threading the needle blind now. Same issue with PGI226 BTW. Only the area around the optical detector is translucent.

The driver no longer allows the use of Canon Photo Paper Pro or Pro II. Geez Canon sure is changing media names quickly!!! What if I had a ton of Canon Photo Paper Pro kicking around?

They both use identical profiles, leading me to believe that the internal RIP remains the same. So same inks, same profiles etc, same body.

Now here is where it gets interesting. Canon no longer allows you print a nozzle check from the rear tray. You must fiddle with the bottom cassette feeder to print a nozzle check!!!!!!

I don't know if I am different but I don't like the bottom cassette. I prefer to have a smaller footprint. When I am finished, I close the front door so that the printers takes up less space. I don't need the bottom cassette sticking out all the time so I simply don't use it.

Heck of a great idea isn't it !!! Now can someone explain to me why this is an improvement. You MUST use the bottom cassette. GRRRRRRRR

 

[ghwellsjr]

Tell us the truth now, you got this printer at a ridiculously low price because the seller thought it was broken since it wouldn't do a nozzle check from the rear tray and he didn't even know there was a cassette.

 

[mikling]

No, in double confirming that my new inkset for the 4600 and 4820 meets my standards and are in fact identical , it was cheaper to buy this printer new on sale rather than cartridges by themselves. Having the printer also confirmed the identical ICC profiles.
Yet, Canon told me that this is a totally new printer and that is why it does not perform a nozzle check from the rear tray. In fact it is quite simply a firmware change and nothing else to provide this additional feature as well as the new chips. Well they might have further cost reduced the innards but I did not check that.
So far I have revised and improved the inkset from Image Specialists for these printers dramatically. I also have done so for the R1900 which is quite a bit trickier...much more so in fact.

 

[PeterBJ]

Hi Mikling

Could you please tell if this new printer uses the new bent sheet metal or the good old steel rod for carriage rail ? Could you compare the build quality to say a Pixma 4200 ?

Peter.

 

[l_d_allan]

Just checked, and NewEgg has them for $80, including shipping. I'm curious where you got yours, and at what price. For my situtation, a smaller, lighter printer compared to my Pro-9000-2 might be justified. The smaller limit of letter/legal would be ok for most of the printing I anticipate doing, especially for some on-location quick turnaround printing I'd like to be able to do more of.

Have you been able to determine what the ink capacity is? Canon's webpage for this printer has little or no info in the specs. Same for NewEgg. My speculation is that the capacity might be the same as the CLI-8, but that is perhaps wishful thinking.

I did notice that Canon has a $15 price reduction on the printer. It appears to not be an All-in-one, but does have duplex capability. Correct?

Just checked on the R-Jet Tek website what ink they use. The ip4820 appears to be a 5 cartridge printer with Black-Die, Black-Pigment, Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow. So I would need separate supplies from my 8 cart Pro-9000-2. I would have thought that the Black-Die would be the same, but no. Drat.

I zoomed into this NewEgg illustration to confirm what cartridges it has.

The refilling newbie would think that you could cope with the opaque carts by refilling with a known amount of ink, using a syringe rather than a squeeze bottle. So far, I've been using the "traditional top filling method". When it reported empty, a "hold your nose work-around" might be to put in an amount known to be less than capacity, and just plan on refilling more often than you would if the reservoir was see-through. But that could be deeply flawed ...

But if the capacity is significantly reduced, that could get to be a real nuisance. My concern is that if the ink capacity on my Pro-9000-2 cartridges are significantly greater than the iP4820 carts, then they would be drained pretty quickly if I have a batch of prints to make. However, since it doesn't have the quickly used up PM and PC, but just Cyan and Magenta, that might be not such a factor. The quality wouldn't be as high as the Pro-9000-2 with its C+PC and M+PM, but might be good enough on-location.

And what about print speed compared to the 9000 shown in your signature? I'd never had an inkjet until the Pro-9000-2, and was spoiled by use of a LaserJet. I consider the 9000-2 to be quite slow because I don't have a basis of comparison, and if the iP4820 was much slower, I'd be underwhelmed.

BTW, do you have an original 9000-1 or 9000-2? If the mark 1, do you know if print speed is pretty much the same compared to the Mark-2?

 

[l_d_allan]

The driver no longer allows the use of Canon Photo Paper Pro or Pro II. Geez Canon sure is changing media names quickly!!! What if I had a ton of Canon Photo Paper Pro kicking around?

IIRC, you do your own profiles?

My first thought was ... "just do an updated profile", but then this printing newbie got to wondering if I have some misconceptions about what the choice of paper in the print driver accomplishes.

Does this choice have some bearing on the amount of ink laid down (and other factors), irrespective of the profile? So it would vary depending on whether you selected general purpose paper, resin-based, etc.?

And if you are paying to have profiles down by a service, it adds up.

 

[Digital10d]

See that Canon are about to launch a new A3 / 5 ink printer iX6550. Will this be the ultimate B&W printer using your excellent inks. Still printing with your B&W inks in my 4700, hope the same inks can be used in this new printer. Fingers crossed.

 

[mikling]

We can all do a search on when the 4600 was introduced to find the new aspects of this printer. All physical aspects have been carried forward to the 4700 and 4820. Remember these single function printers serve as the base building block for all the other printers within the generation including multifunction units.
BTW about the rod? Forget about getting another one of those in an entry level printer down the road. Start feeling nostalgic about those in entry level printers. A finely machined rod is too expensive vs bent metal.

What is interesting is why Canon has not introduced a 5 ink 13" or A3 unit into North America. One has to wonder why? What happens in Europe that doesn't happen in NA?? Is it because they would sell less inks? These 4600, 4700 and 4800 machines are actually quite capable of producing excellent images. I would expect similar print quality. I think these could potentially cannibalise the Pro9000 market. Look at it this way. The list price for the 6550 is 199 pounds vs 99 pounds for the 4850. That could potentially mean that the 6550 could sell in NA for $160 or twice what a 4820 sells for or less. Yeah, that could kill a lot of Pro9000 sales. Here's the deal though. They could give these things away for free whenever someone purchases something like a Prosumer dSLR.

The same inks will be equally useable on these wide bodied CMYK printers like the iX6550. No need to cross fingers! You're lucky to have access to these inexpensive wide body machines! My bet is that the same ICC profiles for the 4700 are useable for the 6550. I'm 99% sure so it wouldn't really be a bet.

 

[Digital10d]

Looks like I will be buying bigger bottles of your ink in the future. I think the only reason the cheaper A3 printer will not be available on your side of the pond is that it would take sales away form the Pro9000. Here in the UK the Pro9000 is expensive at 350. Still sucks.

Changing the subject, have you tried refilling using the german method on these new opaque carts. I have not seen them yet, but I understand that they have a clear bottom by the prism, so I am guessing that you can still see when the needle is in the reservoir and fill until you can see the ink.

 

[websnail]

Now here is where it gets interesting. Canon no longer allows you print a nozzle check from the rear tray. You must fiddle with the bottom cassette feeder to print a nozzle check!!!!!!

Having just installed the European equivalent on my XP I noticed that they are very specific in terms of what media goes where...
ie: Plain paper in the cassette and photo paper in the rear feed.

However, having just gone into the preferences and chosen to run a nozzle check it's just asked me which paper source I want to use:

That's with a standard driver install (on WinXP 32bit) and going through Printing Preferences > Maintenance > Nozzle Check