INKGRABBER IMPROVEMENTS

[neilslade]

Although there are many alternative ink suppliers out there, alas, I don't have time to test them all.

I've been a fan of MIS inks and quite satisfied with their bulk Canon inks (4 oz bottles) and found them very close to Canon colors, and for all practical purposes a perfect alternative.

For FILLED cartridges, I have recommended Inkgrabber Inks, for the money they are very good bargains. The only drawback has been their cyan and photo cyan ink- good for general work, but unfortunately, grays and mid-tone grays take on a slight green/blue tint- depending on your print. For casual photos, its not an issue, especially considering that the inkgrabber carts are 1/6th the price of Canon and half the price of MIS filled carts.

HOWEVER--- I've been testing their new line of inks made by a different manufacturer, and hopefully they will be replacing their previous "Rainbow" brand with these very soon- I will make the announcement when its official...

The cyans are a MUCH MUCH better match to Canon, unlike the Rainbow brand.
This results in perfectly neutral gray mid-tones in prints--- impossible and a detriment to the Rainbow colors--- the Rainbow cyan was always off a bit, and so gray colors came out green/blue tinted. This brand eliminates that problem. Blacks are black and grays are gray.

The orange clip to seal the outlet hole is also a big improvement over EVERYTHING else, including Canon carts-- this clip is easy to remove and prevents ink splattering everywhere.

Stay tuned-- I'll let everyone know when these are available at Inkgrabber-- they will be an ASTONISHING FANTASTIC BUY.

Neil

 

[fotofreek]

Neil - I posted this question to the other thread that the above most of yours was on and then saw this new thread. Sorry for the duplicate post, but wanted to get your answer. How are the inks from Computer Friends? After reading your web site info I bought their kit for the plugs. Haven't used the ink yet as I am happily using MIS inks. If they are not up to MIS standard I won't bother to use them.

 

[neilslade]

Its been a while, but I don't remember any problem with Computer Friends inks, I think they are just fine like MIS.

 

[Nifty]

Okay, I just received an email from a friend of mine regarding these cartridges. Here is what she said:

A cool new plastic holder! The cart snaps into the holder and is locked in. Pulling down on the little tab on the right unlocks the cart.
These holders are the best idea that I have seen for ease of use and convenience. They should also be great for refilling.
Their prices have gone up to $3.00/cart, but they are still only $2.50/cart if you order 6 of the same color at once.
It seems that they are really full of ink. There are probably 4-5 CCs more ink in these than in any other new cart that I have seen. The box says 15 CC, but I think that there is more total ink than this in the cart. You will probably be able to actually USE 15 CCs before the ink chamber empties, with another few CCs left in the sponge.
It appears that the sponge is a single piece.
The boxes are marked "G&G.
Yesterday, I printed about 80 photos and didn't miss a beat. I also printed (3) 8x10s this morning and had absolutely no problems with ink delivery/clogging, etc.
My standard routine when I change ink types is to do 2 cleaning cycles with the new carts and check the nozzle pattern. For some reason, the Cyan and PC didn't want to feed, but I got full patterns after a few more cleaning cycles.
I then printed 3 8x10s of a heavily colored test pattern on regular paper to make sure that I flushed the new ink into the heads. All of the colors were printing OK, except for the C and PC. I then put the original ("old" InkGrabber) C and PC carts back in, did a cleaning cycle and now my test pattern had good C and PC flow.
At this time, I noticed that the new carts were probably only 55 degrees (from shipping), so I warmed them up between my hands for a few minutes and put them back in. They now worked perfectly!
After printing a few more test patterns to flush the colors, I profiled the printer on Kirkland paper with the new ink, and then printed 3 test sheets;
o With the new profile, the grays were "spot-on" throughout the range of white to black and the other colors were also good.
o Using the old InkGrabber/Kirkland Profile, the grays now have a pink cast in the middle grays. This usually means that they lightened up on the cyans compared to the old inks.
o Using Canon's Photo Paper Pro profile, there is a slight blue cast in the darker grays. For most applications, the new ink and Photo Paper Pro settings will probably be good enough for most people using Kirkland paper. With a few tweaks of the color settings, they can probably get them even better.

Here's a picture:

 

[neilslade]

Yes, Inkgrabber switched to a new formula for their inks-- I was one of the testers-

What the changed most was adjusting the tint of the CYAN, not so much the intensity.

The Canon cyans and photocyans are an ultramarine tint rather than a cobalt (the old inkgrabber). Ultramarine is more of a purple blue rather than a pure blue.

So, by adjusting, the inkgrabber formula more closely matches Canon OEM.

I found that one could reduce the Cyan levels in the printer settings and get even closer- but this is really tweaking it beyond levels most people need.

 

[Scrubking]

I ordered from inkgrabber a week ago and I am glad that I recieved the new carts. I can say that they are really full and vacuum packed so they last longer I guess. I haven't used them yet.

 

[Nifty]

Scrubking,

Thanks for the pictures, especially the one of the packaging! Keep us posted of your experiences with the clip and the ink!

 

[Grandad35]

I have been trying some of the new InkGrabber carts, and have now emptied 4 of them (1 each of PM, PC, M and Y). I just noticed that almost none of the ink in the sponge appears to have been used in the PM, PC and M carts - only the Y shows any air in the top of the sponge. If this is true, these carts are only delivering about 7 CCs of ink before the ink chamber empties vs. 10 for most other carts which pull ink from the top of the sponge before the ink chamber empties. This is in spite of the fact that the sponges in new carts appear to contain extra ink when compared to OEM carts.

This is only a concern if you don't refill and install new carts when the low ink warning is given. Does anyone else have any experience with this?

 

[neilslade]

The sponge should always remain saturated with ink, in any cart. When ink is drawn from the sponge side, it does not change color- as if draining with ink. The time to change carts occurs when the reservoir side goes empty. You can continue to print after this, but this is when the printer signals LOW INK-- think about it-- the SENSOR for ink level is on the bottom (the little triangular prism) RESERVOIR ink side, not the sponge side. Further, ink moves from the reservoir chamber to the sponge chamber through an opening at the bottom of the cart. There is a 1/8 inch of air space above the sponge side, true of all carts.

The new inkgrabber carts show consistant fully saturated sponges in new carts, and I've seen older inkgrabber and CANON carts come with less saturation at the top of the sponges. This is not of great consequence in any case, since ink level and flow is established from the reservoir level and refill of the sponge as described above. The only difference would be in printing past the low or empty cart level indicator from the printer, which would allow a slight bit more ink remaining in a fully saturated sponge, than a less so sponge-- but given better sponge saturation in the new inkgrabber carts, it seems you're still better off.