What is best option for a Canon MP610

[NickC]

Hi All,

Can anyone suggest what is the best option for me to do with my Canon MP610, polite answers only. This unit seems to guzzle colour ink even though 99% of my printing is in black & white.

What is the current state of play - buy compatibles, refill existing or CIS? I rather liked the idea of CIS but seem to be reading quite a lot about problems others have with this.

I have previously tried an inkrite for the pigment black but that seemed to smear.

Thanks,
Nick

 

[leo8088]

I am not sure what you are really looking for. MP610 is based on a very common PGI5 and CLI8 ink cartridges. They are very easy to refill and you have an option of buying a resetter to reset the chips. You don't have to reset the chips and it is really easy to live without ink level status. Stay away from CISS and compatible cartridges. Your best strategy is to refill the cartridges by yourself with quality ink. A lot of people are afraid of taking the plunge the very first time when facing the challenge of using a syringe and drilling a hole on the cartridges to refill. There is really not much to worry about in all these. The only hard part in my opinion is finding the really good quality ink to buy. It is the single most critical element that will determine if your refilling will be successful or not. If the black pigment ink smeared it was probably a dye black ink. A true pigment ink will not smear as long as it is given a little while to dry.

 

[pebe]

I have an MP600 which is very similar to the 610, and that certainly doesn't guzzle coloured ink - or black ink for that matter. I found it most economical.

If you are printing mainly in black and white and you select plain paper you will only use the large PGI-5BK cart. Your only loss of CLI-5 inks will be for head cleaning.

 

[IGExpandingPanda]

Hi All,

Can anyone suggest what is the best option for me to do with my Canon MP610, polite answers only. This unit seems to guzzle colour ink even though 99% of my printing is in black & white.

Perhaps you can share what you are printing exactly. Color is used with black and white. Duplex printing tends to use black dye, perhaps some color. Full page printing might use dye though I'm not sure on this issue.

I've been told CIS systems are problematic for the Canon, and even if you are able to find one that works, you are still stuck with having to find good aftermarket pigment ink. I'm pleased with MIS pigment black. It floats at about $2.50/ounce for 4oz.

 

[NickC]

Thanks for the opinions. Sounds like the best thing to do is refill Canon cartridges and buy a chip resetter, as suggested stay away from CISS.

I have a suspicious feeling that Canon have deliberately built something in to cause these printers to guzzle loads of ink cleaning. I am getting only around 200 pages per set of cartridges, the vast majority of that is black & white but it still seems to consume colour inks, magenta and cyan only yellow does not seem to be used as much.

Drilling a small hole in the carts to refill them isn't a problem, although the idea of drilling a hole at the bottom doesn't sound quite right, logic suggests that a small hole in the top would be better.

Which inks do you suggest? Does anyone know if that MIS Pigment black suggested is available in the UK anywhere?

Cheers,
Nick

 

[Froggy]

I have a suspicious feeling that Canon have deliberately built something in to cause these printers to guzzle loads of ink cleaning.

I have a MP610, in my opinion it does not guzzle ink, but my opinion is based only on my experience. The complaint about guzzling ink I have heard from a friend who has an epson printer, increased by the fact that everytime he uses a new cart he has to do a head clean to get it working perfectly. I suggested this was a fault with the printer, cause you should not have to to a head clean even with a new OEM cart. Not heard from him for a bit.

Certainly, refilling is a good option, you can get the Redsetter / Bluesetter quite cheaply in the UK. You can use the "German" method or the traditional hole in the top refill method- whatever you feel happy with. There is still hassle, but much less hassle and expense than keeping a CISS running.

I'm still exploring ink options, I am currently finishing off the Sudhause inks which came with the Redsetter, but the refilled carts are only just hitting the printer now, so the Jury is out. Then I need to compare them with an ebay supplier as recommended by someone on this forum. My main use for this printer will be colour.

Talking of which, if you are doing 99% of your printing in black and white (assuming text) have you considered getting a (cheap) laserjet?

 

[IGExpandingPanda]

Thanks for the opinions. Sounds like the best thing to do is refill Canon cartridges and buy a chip resetter, as suggested stay away from CISS.

I have a suspicious feeling that Canon have deliberately built something in to cause these printers to guzzle loads of ink cleaning. I am getting only around 200 pages per set of cartridges, the vast majority of that is black & white but it still seems to consume colour inks, magenta and cyan only yellow does not seem to be used as much.

Drilling a small hole in the carts to refill them isn't a problem, although the idea of drilling a hole at the bottom doesn't sound quite right, logic suggests that a small hole in the top would be better.

Which inks do you suggest? Does anyone know if that MIS Pigment black suggested is available in the UK anywhere?

Cheers,
Nick

I don't know the UK solutions.
KMP ink from Germany has been sitedin this forum. On german sites I see it floating at 29.99EUR per liter. That's more than half what I'm spending on bulk in, but I buy by the cup.

Hobbicolors gets good reviews, though they are in the states shipping overseas isn't really an issue. I'm told they do use pigment black now. I have one of their older kits and I wasn't impressed with the black at the time, but this may have changed.

You might want to share your printing options because, well, you shouldn't be guzzling ink. You may wish to talk to canon about this. You should be getting 525pages at 5% coverage from your PGI-5 tank. This presumes you're using plain paper. I don't recall what the small black is rated at, but significantly lower. Dye black is used in duplex mode , perhaps borderless mode though I'm not positive on that.


I top fill. I tape the caps on so the top vent hole above the sponge is covered. This seems to help prevent over filling of the sponge. I use a #6 tap right around the area above the reservoir, though #8 might be better. The actual tap doesn't matter so long as it's slightly larger than the hole without the ball. M5 AFAIK is in between the two sizes. I use nylon screws, and it looks like modelfixings.co.uk carries nylon thumbscrews.

 

[pharmacist]

Drilling a small hole in the carts to refill them isn't a problem, although the idea of drilling a hole at the bottom doesn't sound quite right, logic suggests that a small hole in the top would be better.

Which inks do you suggest? Does anyone know if that MIS Pigment black suggested is available in the UK anywhere?

Cheers,
Nick

I would recommend to refill one cartridge with the traditional top method above the ink compartment and another with the German durchstich method. Tell me later, which one you like......

Recommended inks: for pigment black KMP as earlier quoted and for the dye colours Hobbicolors UW-8 (warmer) or Inktec CLI-8 compatible ink (cooler).

 

[IGExpandingPanda]

Recommended inks: for pigment black KMP as earlier quoted and for the dye colours Hobbicolors UW-8 (warmer) or Inktec CLI-8 compatible ink (cooler).

I don't know this company, I just happened to google it

http://www.octoink.co.uk/store/products/Canon-CLI%2d8-{47}-PGI%2d5K-Refill-Set-100%2b250ml.html


39.50 for 250ml pigment black, 100ml of Cyan, magenta, yellow, and dye black.

MIS is an official distributer of Image Specialists. They never came right out and said "our ink is Image Specialists", i'm pretty sure it is.

 

[Froggy]

I don't know this company, I just happened to google it

http://www.octoink.co.uk/store/products/Canon-CLI%2d8-{47}-PGI%2d5K-Refill-Set-100%2b250ml.html

That's good old Websnail, he's one of "us" inkystuff forum members.