ip4000 or ip5000???

DJ KooPee

Newbie to Printing
Joined
Jun 26, 2006
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Points
7
Finally decided to get rid of the ink guzzling Lexmark I picked up (worst decision ever!!!)

Been reading through the various posts on here and i'm now stuck between the ip4000 and ip5000...

The difference in price between the two is neglible...

Main bulk of my printing is full colour DVD covers, usually 15-20 a week...

Which would be my best choice???

-EDIT-

Or i've just found a MP130 for the same price as the ip5000, is this a better option???
 

ghwellsjr

Printer Master
Platinum Printer Member
Joined
Jun 16, 2006
Messages
3,645
Reaction score
85
Points
233
Location
La Verne, California
Printer Model
Epson WP-4530
The main difference between the iP4000 and iP5000 is that first one produces 2 picoliter drops and the latter one produces 1 picoliter drops, except for the pigment black (BCI-3eBK) which both produce 5 picoliter drops. In theory, this means that the photo images are better with the iP5000--under a magnifying glass, but in practice, it means that the iP5000 is more prone to clogging, especially with third party inks.

But where can you buy either of these two printers now? I have not been able to locate any, except maybe on ebay.
 

hpnetserver

Printer Guru
Joined
Jul 8, 2005
Messages
311
Reaction score
0
Points
119
I have had my ip8500 with 1 pico liter droplet for a year and several months. Have been using 3rd party refill kits and I still have my first set of OEM cartridges about 80% full. Never had a clog. Have printed 2k maybe 3k pages of text mixed with color graphics and several hurdered 8x10 and another several hurdered of 4x6 photos. I have decided to be a little protective for the 8500 and bought a mp780 for most of my text printing tasks. Have used a refill kit on the 780 and has not had a slight clogging for 4 months since I got it new. I can agree that the 1 pico liter droplet size makes the printer more likely to get clogging. But it is not the most critical element for the printer to get a clog.
 

DJ KooPee

Newbie to Printing
Joined
Jun 26, 2006
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Points
7
ghwellsjr said:
But where can you buy either of these two printers now? I have not been able to locate any, except maybe on ebay.
Theres refurbished units available on amazon.co.uk and ebay.co.uk, so UK still has some supplies around...

Think i'll go with the ip4000, save some money to buy some ink...

Cheers for your help...
 

ghwellsjr

Printer Master
Platinum Printer Member
Joined
Jun 16, 2006
Messages
3,645
Reaction score
85
Points
233
Location
La Verne, California
Printer Model
Epson WP-4530
According to Canon's website, the iP8500 uses 2 picoliter drops. It looks just like the iP3000/4000/5000 series but uses the same eight BCI-6 cartridges that are in the i9900.

It appears that all of Canon's new line of printers that use the chipped BCI-8 cartridges produce 1 picoliter drops and they claim to have a new type of ink in those cartridges. It wouldn't surprise me if one of the major differences is that it works well with 1 picoliter print heads. I won't be surprised if people doing their own refills end up with a lot of clogged heads. Hopefully not.

Interestingly, I checked on Amazon for the availabilty of the iP8500. There was one with a list price of $349.99 but a NEW LOW price of $549.99!
 

Grandad35

Printer Master
Platinum Printer Member
Joined
Feb 24, 2005
Messages
1,669
Reaction score
182
Points
223
Location
North of Boston, USA
Printer Model
Canon i9900 (plus 5 spares)

DJ KooPee

Newbie to Printing
Joined
Jun 26, 2006
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Points
7
Already bought the ip4000, it was only 49.99 + P&P (about $90)...

I went the cheap and cheerful route!!!

Any1 know a good UK supplier for refill packages???
 

Latest posts

Top