What's the general scene on refilling now?

[Lumi]

Hello guys!

I've been refilling my Canon printers years ago thanks to the help I got through these forums. Unfortunately, I've lost my old login, so this is a new account. The last time I was here, Canons seemed to be the printer-of-choice even for those who print pictures or do photography for a living. It was also the start of cartridges that were chipped, before that you could have 3-5 cartridges that you simply cycled through so by the time you get back to the first cartridge, the printer thought it was a new one.

Obviously times have changed now, eh? I've been out of the loop for so long, I wonder if anyone has any advice as to what printers I should consider buying? I've tried several Canon printers that use the black and 3-in-1 colored cartridges, and I've also used a Canon printer that had individual tanks.... the 2-cartridge printers were lightweight and I'd only do a 100-page (50-sheet) print run while the individual-tanks printer I could do 300-500 pages (can't remember how many would fit in the paper feeder) with no problem. For the moment, I am looking for a cheap all-in-one (print, copy, scan) printer that is easy to refill but still prints beautiful pictures and from what I've seen in stores, these tend to be the ones with two cartridges. I'd consider one that has individual tanks as well, even if it wasn't AIO, as long as it was low priced.

The main purpose of this printer will be to print out pictures, some 100-200 page PDF books, RPG books, the few odd banners here and there, and some of the kid's homework and projects. I guess the "toughest work" for this is my book-printing projects, but those are few-and-far between.

Are Hobbicolors still a trusted line? What are the new brands of quality 3rd-party inks? Has CIS systems improved over the last years? Problems I've heard of in CIS are clogging, failure to feed, etc.

Thanks, and it's nice to be back!

 

[fotofreek]

Lumi - Best to get an all individual ink cartridge printer. Check out this recent link, http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=7954, in which I described the five cart, non-chipped, bci-6 cartridge printers (most desireable if you can find a good one) or clli-8 cart printers, the first generation of printers with chipped cartridges. The three-color cartridges hold so little of each color that I wouldn't buy one. Also, as ghwellsjr mentioned in the second post of the link I included in this post, the basic printer for decent photo printers requires the four dye-base cartridges, which includes a dye-based black cart. I didn't mention any all-in-one printers but the same suggestion prevails.

Users of Hobbicolors appear to be happy with their inks and do post their positive experiences with them. OCP is another brand that some users are please with. I have used Image Specialist inks for over eight years and have had very good experience with their inks. Those are the three that have the most positive posts on this forum. Choice of inks might depend on your location. I buy mine from Precision Colors, located in Canada. They ship to the US and are competatively priced and very reliable. MIS is another vendor, located in the US. If you are in another country we have participants who can guide you on inks available where you live.

 

[Lumi]

I am in the UK. A quick eBay search shows that Hobbicolors ships from the USA. I can't seem to find the other two.

Checking the Canon UK site, it seems like the iP4950 and iP3600 are the "latest models," while Currys has the MG3150 which is a wireless AIO using CLI-8 carts. Is there any specific model type or number that you could recommend to narrow down my search? I'm a bit familiar with the iP and MP family as I've had such printers before, but the latest MG line... what is that? Is that the name for the latest AIOs?

 

[PeterBJ]

I use Image Specialists dye inks and KMP-U pigment ink for refilling Canon BCI-3e/6, PGI-5/CLI-8 and PGI-520/CLI-521 cartridges. I am very satisfied with the inks and I buy them from a UK supplier: http://www.octoink.co.uk/

I have no experience with OCP inks, but they are available from a German supplier, along with other brands of ink: http://www.octopus-office.de/en/shop/l/c/printer-ink-canon/

Lumi wrote:
while Currys has the MG3150 which is a wireless AIO using CLI-8 carts.

The MG3150 does not use PGI-5/CLI-8 cartridges. It is an entry level printer using two sponged cartridges HP 56/57 style. Canon has even adopted the HP concept of standard and XL cartridges. See this: https://store.canon-europe.com/stor...ategoryID=1307200&secondaryCategoryID=1454400

As mentioned by fotofreek only printers using individual cartridges are suitable for refill.

 

[fotofreek]

Lumi - My experience has been only with bci-6 cart printers as I bought and stored spares when the chipped carts came out. I do have an ip4500 that I bought slightly used on craigs list, tested, cleaned, and stored for future use. I also bought a lightly used ip4300 for my daughter. From what I've read on the forum the IP4500 is an excellent printer. I've also read that succeeding generations of canon printers have been built less well. If you are in a large metropolitan area and have craigs list or something similar you might try to find either a five cart bci-6 printer or an ip4300 or preferably ip4500 printer that you can test before purchase. Model numbers may be different in the UK from our US model numbers. You can check online by looking for the models that use the same printhead. Octoinks may also be able to give you some guidance as to the models in the UK that are best to purchase. Octoink has a very good reputation on the forum and is operated by a valuable contiubutor of information here. My experience with IS inks that he sells has been very good.