A post by stevelee on the comp.periphs.printers newsgroup gave the hobbicolor carts AND inks high marks. I bought a starter kit some months ago but haven't used them yet as my present carts are still refillable and working well. I have used MIS virgin carts which cost $4.50 each and they work well. The fill hole plugs are tiny and a bit difficult to handle with rubber gloves on and slippery from ink. I changed over to the #6 - 1/2" stainless sheet metal phillips cap screws with an O ring for sealing the fill hole and that works really well. The plastic screw on the hobbicolor carts looks very convenient and the price is right!
Hobbicolors refill kit is an awesome alyernative to MIS or Formulabs. I have been using one on my ip8500 since two months ago. Just fantastic ink and cartridges. I have refilled all 8 colors once but some colors more than two or probably three times. I too print on Kirkland brand glossy photopaper. The colors are identical to Canon OEM. A friend, a realtor, uses 3 Canon printers to print hundreds of fliers and photos weekly. The ink bottles he uses are the size of shampoo bottles. The inks are from Hobbicolors too. You would be impressed if you saw the 3 printers in action. I am totally convinced that Canon printers are as heavy duty as one can expect. The virgin cartridges from Hobbicolors are simply awesome product. They uses plastic screws to seal the ink filling hole. I guess you can do that on your own cartridges too. But if you need new cartridges I will not hesitate to recommend Hobbicolors. They are on Ebay now.