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Last post Author Topic: What's your experience with 3rd party color inkjet ink replacement?  (Read 48667 times)

tomos

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I generally check reviews here - I've seen subsitute inks (in europe) that have been tested as even better -in ways- than the original inks.
I'd trust (german language) tests/reviews by C't or Stiftung Warentest magazines.

Canon ink has very good longevity, but there are other's that have that too. That aspect doesnt bother me that much (as long as it's not very poor in the replacement inks).
The substitute inks I use are KMP, JET TEC, and Peach (I dont like Peach black, and cant recommend their service). I dont know are these good for all ink types but have been generally reviewed "good" as replacement for Canon CLI-8 inks (original inks are better).

If you are looking for a review, and your printer model is very new, find out what type of ink it uses (e.g. Canon CLI-8) and then search for substitutes for that
Tom

y0himba

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I have had the best luck with http://private.abacus24-7.com

I have a Canon MX860 and the ink is extremely affordable.  The cartridges have always worked, and they have a chip in them.  Abacus has been around a very long time. The couple of times I called due to shipping issues (storm delays) they are polite and laugh with you on the line.  Good folks. They provide telephone support and you talk to a person.

http://private.abacu...ty.aspx?compat=22631 (My ink)

You can see that they are inexpensive.  My printer is AMAZING and does everything.  Has a dialing pad for faxes, all that good stuff.  

I cannot recommend the printer or Abacus enough.

 

Renegade

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Many many moons ago I used to use inkjets, and used refills all the time with no problems. Ink. Syringe. Fun times! :)

I forget what kinds I had. I know I had a Canon... Not sure about any other brands though. It was a while ago.

I know people that swear by Epson though. A fellow I know managed to buy cases of cartridges for like a buck a piece. Not sure how. Perhaps an old out of date printer? I forget.
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HankFriedman

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I have been using the third party ink cartridges from LDProducts.com for my Canon iP5000 printer for many years, and they work flawlessly and save me about 70% of the cost of a new OEM cartridge.

I wouldn't go back if you paid me    :)

Ath

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Hm, pity they don't ship outside of USA/Canada :(

rutherfordpaul

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Come ON guys - you are (a lot) smarter than I am when it comes to programming - but as to being "Mr. Thrify" I'm not so sure.

Buying is about setting a standard of quality - and then finding the best deal that meets that standard ("buying competitevely against the standard).

(Trust me - I used to be a Buyer - for a large corporate.)

One of my standards of printer quality is being able to drive the cost of print consumables down - and down - and down.

So I run an Epson PhotoR285 and an HP Color Laserjet CM1312nfi MFP.

Why?

Apart from the very acceptable print quality ...

* the Epson accepts a continuous inking system (CIS).
Google for CIS.
I've been running mine for over 3 years and spent peanuts on ink.
(I ran its predecessor for years with a CIS)
As far as I'm concerned my ink jet print costs are ... cost of paper + virtually zero for ink.

* the HP's cartridges are refillable.
For about £35 (US$60) the four colour (oops - color) set.
OK, refilling them is a skill .. but its worth learning .. especially when you look at the £££'s (sorry, the $$$$) original HP replacments cost and the money you save..
Again, my colour laser print costs are ... cost of paper + say 1p (1.6c) a page for toner.

I guess its a bit like buying a car.

Ferraris are "sexy" - Fords aren't

I know of just one Ferrari dealer ... 30 miles away from where I live.

But there are 20 Ford dealers in the same radius.

Which is easiest to get fixed - Ford or Ferrari?

Believe it or not, a Ford that "goes" is faster than a Ferrari that doesn't.

The moral of the story is - when you buy a printer - work out the "fuel costs" FIRST.

Cordially - Paul Rutherford

phillfri

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There's only one place to go for this kind of advice!  :Thmbsup:
Inkjet Printer Forum

mouser

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Nice find  :up:

Carol Haynes

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FWIW I have seen a fair few dead Canon printers that are the product of cheap ink.

Having said that I still prefer Canon to the competition and haven't seen many problems from genuine ink (unless the printer is getting quite old).
« Last Edit: May 09, 2011, 01:51 PM by Carol Haynes »

MilesAhead

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Might be just a tad off topic, but I see Epson Stylus C88+ is still being sold with the on board Vista driver.  If you have a Vista machine and plug C88+ into it, it will serve the driver across the network to XP or W7.  But it doesn't work the other way around. If you plug into a W7 machine the client machines won't be served correctly.  Stuff like check ink levels won't work etc..

For W7 I'd make sure the printer model will serve the driver over the network.  Many of the Epson Stylus don't even have a downloadable driver.  The driver is on board and auto installs when you plug into USB. There's no way to update it that I know about.


Stoic Joker

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FWIW I have seen a fair few dead Canon printers that are the product of cheap ink.
-Carol Haynes (May 09, 2011, 01:47 PM)

interesting, what manner of death did they suffer?

Carol Haynes

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FWIW I have seen a fair few dead Canon printers that are the product of cheap ink.
-Carol Haynes (May 09, 2011, 01:47 PM)

interesting, what manner of death did they suffer?
-Stoic Joker (May 09, 2011, 06:28 PM)

Heads totally clogged and even after repeated cleaning in alcohol they never totally recovered. It might just be the local crappy inks off the local market that causes the problem but since Canon printer's most expensive spare part is the print head there is little justification to risk it by using cheap ink.

I have to say I don't find Canon inks too bad - unless you buy a printer that takes just a black and colour cartridge. Most of the more expensive printers in the range take 4, 5, 6 or more cartridges and I find those cartridges are not cheap but pretty reasonable (esp. compared with other manufacturers) and at least you get every last drop.

Stoic Joker

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FWIW I have seen a fair few dead Canon printers that are the product of cheap ink.
-Carol Haynes (May 09, 2011, 01:47 PM)

interesting, what manner of death did they suffer?
-Stoic Joker (May 09, 2011, 06:28 PM)

Heads totally clogged and even after repeated cleaning in alcohol they never totally recovered. It might just be the local crappy inks off the local market that causes the problem but since Canon printer's most expensive spare part is the print head there is little justification to risk it by using cheap ink.

I have to say I don't find Canon inks too bad - unless you buy a printer that takes just a black and colour cartridge. Most of the more expensive printers in the range take 4, 5, 6 or more cartridges and I find those cartridges are not cheap but pretty reasonable (esp. compared with other manufacturers) and at least you get every last drop.
-Carol Haynes (May 09, 2011, 07:34 PM)

Hm... I'm just not convinced that's completely the fault of the inks. While I work for an ASP, and should therefore stick to walking the party line...I've just never been any good at conformity  :-[ hehe

Print heads are a consumable, they are designed to (fail) be replaced at a rough interval. Most of the ones I've seen fail were usually user/printing behavior. Letting it sit too long between prints, trying to print more than the volume the device was designed for, or both at alternating points.

The CIS's mentioned above are actually quite good from what I've seen. It's quite simular to the high volume  ink systems used on a plotter. We have a client that uses them exclusively (with food coloring/dye) to print pictures on top of specialty cakes. Most of their service requirements are for mechanical (usually feed system) failures.

Carol Haynes

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In the cases I have seen there seems to be a convincingly odd correlation between the ink used and the head failures - some within warranty period (which I have never seen on Canon printers using genuine ink).

bobparham

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I have a Canon IP4600 printer that I have used OEM "equivalent" cartridges from the start. I have purchased cartridges from Meritline and pay in the neighborhood $5 each. They have the chips on them and I never have had a problem getting them to work. Quality of print is as good as OEM. So far, no problem with shelf life. One problem I have had, is on the yellow cartridge. When the ink is used out of the chamber feeding the print head in the printer it quits working. This printer has five cartridges. For the yellow I have been purchasing OEM. I'm not paying $13 for cartridges I can purchase for $5.

Bob P

mikiem

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With apologies for barging in late in a thread that might not have a lot of remaining interest, & purely FWIW of course...

Over the last 15 years or so I've found that OEM ink cartridges, besides being vastly over-priced, tend to have something added [glycol?] to keep them & the heads from drying out as rapidly as non-OEM inks. Aftermarket inks may also come very close but not exactly match OEM colors -- something more noticeable with 6 color printers.

Generally refilling is better quality than buying so-called re-man cartridges -- re-man often being more to get around legal fine points than actually meaning reman or refurbished... cartridges with the head [e.g. some Canon] may be an exception, but as the Canon cartridges at least only recently appeared at significant savings over OEM, I haven't had a chance to try them. The reason I say refilling is better is non-OEM casings may leak, may not fit properly, & you have no control or way to judge the amount of ink they hold -- I have gotten some that probably were at best 1/2 full. Epson is a special case because of the electronic version of DRM added -- if you print enough to justify it there are aftermarket cartridges designed to be both resettable & refillable, but the initial investment can run as much as a new set of OEM ink at some place like Sams Club [often cheapest].

The main limitation of refilling is the old ink dried on the sponges inside, reducing capacity unless you clean them out. With cartridge/head combos like many Canon's you can also get clogged heads from sitting [empty or full] prior to (re)use, which can take a day or three to dissolve -- I usually run a couple of cleaning cycles, let it sit, print a test in notepad to reset, then run a couple more, with a 12 hour or overnight rest to soak... running the 3rd cleaning cycle without a real print job in between often triggers a Super cleaning cycle that wastes a lot of ink, makes a mess inside the printer etc.

Personally my problem is no one prints enough so heads clog, OEM ink or not, & family members have been un-willing to use a printer in another room over the network, so I've got 3 to deal with. My solution is to buy cheap refurb printers on sale -- I've bought 1 Epson & 6 Canon AIOs over the past 3 or 4 years, paying between $15 & $35 each, which in all cases was less than the new OEM cartridges that came with them -- I generally prefer the Canons using 2 cartridges that each include the heads in case one gets thoroughly clogged... permanent heads can both clog & do things like leak, which I have seen in the past from Canon. When a cartridge needs replaced I'll pull the top of the old one, soak everything to clean it, then put it back together, sticking it on the shelf until needed, when I'll refill it. Working that way I can use each cartridge 3 or 4 times usually.

I was able to buy the Epson cheap because it was a problem model [RX 595], & I originally intended to get rid of it when the cartridges emptied... instead I held onto it because it prints DVDs. It has a habit of rejecting/not recognizing cartridges (OEM or not), the aftermarket ones from meritline are the only ones I've had luck with, & frankly I would have been better off to buy an OEM set at Sams Club had I known how much I'd spend buying 2 sets that didn't work, &/or that the sets that do work from Meritline last just a bit over 1/3 as long as the originals.

Finally, again FWIW, folks that do a LOT of printing AFAIK usually add an ink tank setup, with tubes running from the much larger ink tanks to special cartridges.

mikiem

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In the cases I have seen there seems to be a convincingly odd correlation between the ink used and the head failures - some within warranty period (which I have never seen on Canon printers using genuine ink).
-Carol Haynes (May 10, 2011, 03:58 AM)

Unfortunately I have, Carol -- very last printer I ever bought for >$150... no more!

My current logic is to pay as little as possible for what I consider a disposable commodity.  If I want really, *Really* nice prints I'll order them online for less than the ink & paper will cost me.

Target

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Finally, again FWIW, folks that do a LOT of printing AFAIK usually add an ink tank setup, with tubes running from the much larger ink tanks to special cartridges.

thanks for this reference - I'd never heard of this before (though it seems perfectly logical now that I have)

seems there is a fair bit of info about on 'continuous inking systems', I even found an Australian supplier!

granted $150AU may be something of a shock for a set of printer cartridges (or maybe not :o), but they claim to hold roughly 5 times as much as standard tank, and they're refillable...

cranioscopical

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I'd never heard of this before

Join th'ink tank?

MilesAhead

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I'd never heard of this before

Join th'ink tank?
-cranioscopical (May 19, 2011, 11:09 PM)

Now I know why companies talk about "being in the black."  If you're out of black ink you're screwed.




tomos

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I'll just note here - some newer HP inkjets claim to print very cheaply - cheaper than laser (colour laser I presume).
I cant remember the figures but it is pretty cheap for text pages, with original ink.
I'll also note that I presume you only gets the cheap price per page if you prints a lot - otherwise there's always (lots?) ink wasted every time you start the printer...
Tom

mouser

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mikiem,
thank you for such a detailed post.

i'll note that i have had a third-party blank ink cartridge leak in my canon printer once.

Stoic Joker

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I've been thinking (scary - I know...) ... And the most truly common cause of death for inkjets (all brands) that I've seen is people not carrying them level.

The cleaning/purge station where the print head is cleaned and "parks" never dries. So if the printer is (not very new and) tipped a bit in transport the ink will dump out of the purge tank and all over inside the printer.

Properly cleaning up this mess (which I've had to do several times), generally costs (in labor) about twice what the printer is worth.

*Shrug* Just thought I'd toss that in. :)

cranioscopical

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Just thought I'd toss that in.

-Stoic Joker (May 20, 2011, 06:50 AM)

A very level-headed response…

Stoic Joker

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Just thought I'd toss that in.

-Stoic Joker (May 20, 2011, 06:50 AM)

A very level-headed response…
-cranioscopical (May 20, 2011, 12:19 PM)

Tanks for that.