Green tint with hobbicolors

[panos]

Very interesting post, Tin Ho.

I'd like to say that in my opinion the best cartridges for Canon printers are the ORIGINAL CANON CARTRIDGES.

Considering that the techniques and the information provided in this forum would allow even a new user to refill and clean up their original Canon cartridges, I think there is really no point in trying 3rd party cartridges.

 

[hpnetserver]

Panos, quality of Canon original cartridges may be very good or even the best but the price really sucks. Besides, will you buy a couple of sets of OEM cartridges in order to have enough for refilling? Are you sure you will pay more money than for a new printer for cartridges? I know some people will buy Lexmark printer again and again whenever their Lexmark cartridge runs out of ink. Perhaps this is one good reason to consider 3rd party ink cartridges.

Virgin BCI-3 and BCI-6 cartridges from Hobbicolors do work extremely well. The screw top fature is just additional that has nothing to do with quality. I have used them for a year and I have bought 2 sets of them. I bought 2 refill kits in fact for my ip8500. There is a very important reason among a few others why I bought the 2nd refill kit. I found the ink worked extremely well for my printer. This is not colors only. The ink has never given me any trouble. I was very careful and watched very closely if the ink would clog my printhead. Not only it did not I also found I almost never need to exercise the printer by cleaning cycles. Cleaning cycle is like digging its own grave. The more you do it the sooner the printer goes into that grave. Essentially my point is even the OEM cartridges are the best those from Hobbicolors are not too far behind. But if you include cost into your consideration HC cartridges are far ahead of OEM in my opinion.

Despite the original subject said I have found Hobbicolors ink very well matches my taste. It does not have a green tint nor a magenta tint. It is a very subjective matter I will agree. But I have done it many times by showing my photos to friends and relatives. I have found photos printed with HC ink won over OEM by more than 2 out of 3. This is another reason you really want to consider 3rd party products shuch as those from HC as point number 2nd.

You won't like the idea that you should wear only designated uniform whenever you walk into the street out of your home. You are not allowed to dress any other way you want as long as you live in this city... Will you buy a GM car that requires GM brand fuel only? This is point number the 3rd why you want to try 3rd party products.

I know there is a risk associated with it. Well this is what's being said all the time: the biggest risk is not taking one.

 

[fotofreek]

HP - all good points. The OEM carts, however, are still excellent for refilling, and with Granddad's cleaning technique they last a long time. I am still using the set that came with my first i960 printer a year and a half ago! Purged them twice and they still work like new.

 

[Osage]

A large number of good points are being made here--by HP, panos, Tin HO, and fotofreak.

But to somewhat sum up----for the refiller----its sure helps to have one or more spare sets of cartridges.

For a user purchasing a non-chipped Canon printer--or a chipped one for that matter--you start out with one set of Canon Oem cartridges.--which the user converts to a refillable cartridge by creating a ink inlet hole and finding a air tight means of resealing said hole.

To get that second set of cartridges---you can purchase another set of Canon OEM cartridges--rather pricey
but the only option for a chipped canon user---unless they can find someone throwing away their depleted ones.

A full five color empty set of hobbicolors will run $7.10 plus shipping. A six color set will be $9.90 plus shipping.-----and the hobbicolors sponges are known to be at least not bad.

But consider the dilema faced by someone who comes into the refilling process more indirectly--they buy a Canon printer--use up and throw away their original set--find this or a similar forum--and get the bright idea. There are big bucks to be saved. Like me they may first decide to go with third party prefilled cartridges. Safe and very convient. Then they get the bright idea that greater savings and better inks are to had when you refill-----so they are looking at their remaining supply of prefilled cartridges for that initial or spare set of cartridges to refill.

So it seems to me, its one thing for this forum to rate the quality of the ink you get in a prefilled third party cartridge---which this forum does fairly well at----and quite another thing to evaluate what will become a very important variable in any refill blank----namely how well will the sponge hold up over time??--and a number of refills.--and maybe also answer the question if anything ink in a depleted third party cartridge will react adversely with anothet brand of refill ink.---with a possible implication that the cartridge should be fully flushed before refilling.

I am now facing these questions with some remaining bulkinkjetcarts I have remaining. But am guessing any user experiences along these lines could prove useful to others.------with the sponge as a consideration theme regarding various third party cartridges.

 

[jonalava]

Update on this Green cast issue!!!

Dave got my test prints and concluded that there was something wrong with both MIS and Hobbicolors, the first one being too blue and the second one having problem with neutral grays and being a little faded. He suggested there was maybe a profile problem and to uninstall and reinstall the printer driver. I uninstalled the driver and manually deleted any profile associated with previous canons, then reinstalled it and tested again HC ink. There was definitely a difference. Colors were darker and more saturated, but I still get that strong green cast.

For me, it seems impossible to get a close match between HC and Canon OEM. I haven't been using OEM in a while but I remember the skin tones were always a bit pinkish on my IP3000 (just like MIS) and with HC, it is really olive/green/yellow.

I am ready to assume the problem is on my side (printer (brand new printhead), carts feeding (HC virgins), computer, ...) as everyone seems so satisfied with HC. Is there anyone prefering MIS over HC???

Or all this could just be a matter of taste. I know I like my prints a bit on the magenta side, but I cannot accept such a green cast.

As always, Dave was really helpful and tried to do all he could to understand the problem. I think I am giving up. I ordered some G&G (after reading Neil's recent tests) and will compare the results. If they work better than HC, I will just refill them with MIS ink.

Thanks again for all the help!

 

[hpnetserver]

It's not a best strategy to assume what the problem is instead of finding the truth. My printer is a 8500 so it is not going to be completely representative for your ip3000. Here is what I think. Canon is a comapny from Asia. Asians skin all have a pinkish tint, especially young females with light skin. Well, this does not apply to South Eastern Asians though. This is probably the reason Canon ink has a pinkish or magenta tone especially on skin tone. It's probably the way they want it to be. However, for most westerners perfect skin tone should be you guess it. Just go to a beach in Florida and you will see it all over there. No pinkish tint whatsoever. Look at any fashion magazines or a Playboy magazine. No pinkish skin tone there either.

This is probbaly why your printer with HC ink does not give you the reddish or bluish tint MIS ink gives you. You said your printer has a new printhead. But why did you get a new printhead? Was there a problem before? You may need to check if your printer electronics is doing this fuzz to you.

 

[Osage]

HP makes some good points--other possibilities exist.

But it still seems to me that we have not ruled out part of the problem being a poorly feeding cartridge.
Only a set of systematic tests will get to the bottom of the matter.And all that is being done so far is to change many variables all at once---making it difficult to ever say what is causing what.

But its still odd that Jonalava is the only one posting this problem.

 

[jonalava]

Okay, before giving up, I tried one more thing. Some of you suspected a misfeeding magenta cart and I suspected maybe a yellow one also. So I replaced those 2 by 2 known good ones and filled them with HC ink. After printing tons of purging patterns (to clean the sponges from previous ink) I made a last test.

TA-DA. The print was different. In fact, it was not bad at all. Still a bit green for my taste, but nothing really wrong.

Anyway, I can make some conclusions out of this experience:

- HC ink is not that bad, in fact, much better than most prefilled 3rd party carts.
- Color accuracy of MIS is still better than HC, compared to Canon OEM.
- HC virgin carts are pretty inconsistent and, in my experience, not reliable. From my first set, 1 cyan cart was not feeding correctly, and in the second set at least the magenta or yellow was defective. I also had to return a bci-3ebk cart to Dave from my first order a while ago as the sponge was not feeding correctly. So out of 12 carts, I got at least 3-4 misfeeding ones. How could I be satisfied with a good ink but unreliable carts that can't show the real potential of the ink?
- I think MIS is still superior and I will surely post about G&G when I get my order.

Anyway, i would be REALLY interested in hearing comments from people which have used MIS AND HC ink to know what they prefer.

Comments are welcome, as always.

 

[Osage]

To Jonalava,

I would sure hate to see this thread end without some challenge to some of your conclusions.

1. Science is somewhat cheated here----you state you replaced both the hobbicolors in yellow and magenta with new ones---leaving the print vastly improved but still a little too green--leaving unanswered the question was it yellow or magenta--or a combination of both.

2. I have no problem with you liking MIS better. But many of us still wish to make sure your reasons are valid and apply past you to the more general user.

3. You report feeding problems with eight out of 12 hobbicolor cartridges--a very high fraction defective. Yet I have refilled nine out of nine HC cartridges with zero mal feeding cartridges. In fact, the only other post I recall seeing about problems with HC cartridges was ghostbear who reported one cartridge cracked when the wing nut was removed. Could the problem be your refilling technique?

4. If nothing else, it does prove hibbicolors did go the extra mile in customer service.

5. I for one would like to see this thread go towards a more definitive conclusion. But if MIS ink works better for you, by all means stay with it.

 

[hpnetserver]

"You report feeding problems with eight out of 12 hobbicolor cartridges--a very high fraction defective"

You know, that's a bit funny indeed. For such a high defective rate in virgin cartridges you blame the ink first. You said the ink is not bad yet it has the same strong green tint. You then report 8 out 12 cartridges have ink feeding problem. If this is true you should have easily spotted bad nozzle test result. You reported none. This makes little sense to blame the cartridges then. You also said you reinstalled the driver and profiles of the printer and it definitly made a difference. You have blamed 3 totally mutually exclusive problems.

I can hardly understand if you think the ink is not bad but still has a strong green tint. So the ink is not bad. But if 8 out of 12 virgin cartridges are defective how can you determine the ink is not bad? This is like saying your car is in good condition but it has a blown cylinger head. You know it doesn't make sense.

Sorry to be a little skeptical here. I got a feeling you still do not have a correct diagnosis of your problem yet. You have not told us why you get a new printhead either. Was there a printhead problem before? Maybe there is something wrong with your printer. Have you used any other ink that may have runined your new printhead? You have jumped into 3 conclusions, 3 contradictory ones. None makes good sense.

If your post was to get help you need to provide information that makes good sense. Wish you best luck.