advice needed please

[curiouspalate]

I print our take-out menu regularly cause it's always changing. Bought a Canon MX700 and a real cheap CIS system. Saved lots of $ on the initial price and ink savings via CIS, but what a headache. The nozzles always clogging/failing and nozzle lines often needed purging. I'm handy enough to know it's time to toss out the printer and cheapo CIS, I must getting something else.
Need advice on make and hopefully model (or series) I should get.

Need combo unit:

Color printer, mostly low/med quality on 20 & 32lb stock. Speed is a plus but not if it costs extra.
Scanner, copier and fax (yes, companies still fax in orders the old fashioned way!).
Recommended CIS that works well with the printer and keeps ink costs low.
Thank you in advance!
Elliot

 

[ghwellsjr]

Your experience with CIS is very common. Why do you need CIS? It's just as cheap to refill your cartridges. With the German method, it only takes a couple minutes to refill each cartridge and you could do it once a day while your printing demands are at a minimum. Do you have any cartridges that are still intact or can you buy a set to see if your printer will work correctly?

 

[curiouspalate]

I bought an Epson Artisan 800 today. Should I get a CIS or refillable ink cartridges? Maybe I should go with refillable. Its cheaper initially, easier to install and hopefully more dependable. Im willing to refill them as needed. What do you think? Not sure which ink is more economical.

 

[curiouspalate]

What is this German method you wrote about? See what Echostore says, see below.

From: EchoStore.com [mailto:service@echostore.com]
Sent: Sunday, September 20, 2009 4:07 PM
To: Me
Subject: Re: CIS or refillable?

if 25 pages/day, continuous ink system is better, but The easiest way to install this ink system is to modify your printer a little bit as the pictures show(in this case, no parts are needed): http://continuousink.echostore.com/image/artisan-800-ink-system.jpg

If you buy the refillable cartridges, you need to fill them from time to time.

 

[ghwellsjr]

I was not advising you to buy another printer. I was advising you to refill the cartridges in your Canon printer that you could not get the CIS to work with. I'm sorry if you thought I was suggesting that it would be easy to refill the cartridges for an Epson printer. I don't know if it is easy or not. I have no experience refilling Epson cartridges and I know nothing about CIS for any printer (except that so many people have trouble keeping them going).

As far as I know, the German method of refilling applies only to certain Canon cartridges, such as the ones in your MX700. That is what I still think you should do. I would advise you to return your Epson and use the German method to refill your MX700. But first, you need to make sure your MX700 is working correctly. If you don't already have some Canon cartridges, I would advise you to buy a set of new Canon cartridges, not compatibles, and put them in your printer and see if it works correctly. If it doesn't, report here what happens and we'll try to help you get it going.

You can read about the German method by going to the top of this page and clicking on Nifty-Stuff. Then off to the right under Categories, click on the link called Printers. The first article describes the German refill method. Since the cartridges used in the MX700 have electronic chips in them to monitor the ink levels (and to figure out if you are refilling them), you probably should get a chip resetter, although you can still print even if you don't but your warranty will be void which it probably already is.

 

[ghwellsjr]

As a result of another user's bad experience with CIS on the Epson Artisan 800, I did a Google search on this printer and found this review:

http://reviews.cnet.com/multifunction-devices/epson-artisan-800/4505-3181_7-33241287.html

They recommend against this printer in favor of the Canon MX700 or an HP printer. Again, I urge you to give your MX700 a retry with fresh Canon cartridges.