Cheap and good eBay cartridge source.

[Paul Verizzo]

I know this forum is about refilling, which I've been doing for some 15 years. But sometimes, like when you are in a rush, a decent new cartridge is the answer.

Fifteen Canon carts for $11 with shipping. (USA, here.)

http://stores.ebay.com/etonersupplyqualityinksandtoner/

Bought them for my workhorse office iP4500 printer, which has always made amazing photos, too.

Just for grins, I ran four test prints, not expecting much. One was official Canon Photo Paper Plus semi-gloss, two were HP swellable polymer glossy papers, very cheap and not cheap, and a heavy matte double sided which I've loved for years. Each paper type was changed to the closest logical one in the printer setup.

Amazing. While there are differences, none of the prints are fatally flawed. All within "Very nice." This is after twelve hours of drying time. The official Canon paper is a small amount better in a flesh tone portion, but not enough to notice except by comparison.

My test image is adjusted for full 0-255 computer RGB gamut, both color and B&W in one. It's on my OneDrive: http://1drv.ms/1ziPm9H

Obviously, my experience only holds true for Canon CLI-8 generics at this point in time. YMMV, after all, all this is Chinese sourced.

 

[Smile]

But the fading will be very bad I think, or not depending on ink quality

 

[Paul Verizzo]

But the fading will be very bad I think, or not depending on ink quality

Belaboring the obvious? Not an issue for hobby/home/office use.

And besides, you never know. There are only so many ink manufacturers in China, who then sell to fillers who then sell to retailers. Surely it's always in flux, who has the best prices, etc. just like any manufacturing network.

It's perfectly plausible, although I'm not stating as fact, that official Canon ink disappears from their chemist, and/or is copied spot on in every regard. This isn't rocket science anymore.

 

[The Hat]

But the fading will be very bad I think, or not depending on ink quality

I tend to agree, I reckon you have bought coloured water for that price, $11 and free P&P, but if you’re happy then that’s all that matters..

 

[Paul Verizzo]

I tend to agree, I reckon you have bought coloured water for that price, $11 and free P&P, but if you’re happy then that’s all that matters..

And what might you think dye ink is, Hat? Hint: it's aqueous and not transparent.

It obviously works very well. You know, like test prints instead of just holding one's nose up in disdain, judgement, and disbelief.

 

[The Hat]

The 4500 is one of the best old Canon printers and it would be a shame to kill it off from neglect or abuse, it’s your printer so do with it as you will..

 

[CakeHole]

Some people just do not listen to good advice.

 

[3dogs]

The 4500 is one of the best old Canon printers and it would be a shame to kill it off from neglect or abuse, it’s your printer so do with it as you will..

On the other hand @TheHat this is Printer Knowledge and we DO experiment an awful lot, how else to learn?

 

[Łukasz]

And what might you think dye ink is, Hat? Hint: it's aqueous and not transparent.

It obviously works very well. You know, like test prints instead of just holding one's nose up in disdain, judgement, and disbelief.

Almost choked on when eating cake while reading!

I'm also user of compatibles, not because I like compatibles.

Every time I spot "5 blinks" affected Pixma printer in my country, it is because refilling OEM's, and it is typically ~1500 prints (especially x25/x26 and newer inks).
Ready-made compatibles let printer (or rather printhead) die after ~5000 prints, regardless of ink generation.

I can only guess, 5/8 ink tanks was good to refill.
x25/x26 ink tanks are bad in my opinion.
x50/x55/x51 ink tanks are by far worse.

I have 2 sets of OEMs 525/526, never tried refilling them. Once refilled compatible PGI-520 (with reseted 525 chip) with InkTec pigment (for PG-40) and found it working, but only because it was transparent - in other cases I was unable to fill it correctly, flushed sponge was hard to soak with pigment ink.

I also tried refilling with 7-year old ActiveJet pigment (very popular local brand in Poland) dedicated to Canon/HP/Lexmark (have to old Lexies - Z612 and X1190).
Nozzle print was fine, but starving was main issue.

Ł.

 

[Paul Verizzo]

The 4500 is one of the best old Canon printers and it would be a shame to kill it off from neglect or abuse, it’s your printer so do with it as you will..

I guess I'm some kind of lucky fool, having been refilling Canon carts for some fifteen years, I think. And sometimes have used generic carts. No printer yet "killed off" from "neglect" or "abuse." WTF are you really talking about? You remind me of a man I knew who could not tolerate a different opinion about whatever topic was at hand. He'd get red in the face, he'd start spitting as he argued.

Are you not able to accept that (experienced) others may have a different experience and opinion?

Surely you know that Canon would claim that your refilling endeavors are "abuse," no?