Canon G Series Inks v. Chromalife 100

[Paul Verizzo]

I'm sure this has been asked or commented on before, but I sure can't find anything with the Search function. Nada, zero, zip. This is more of a curiosity question than thinking I'm going to sell archival prints or something. Or worrying about prints in the house light.

For the cost per ml, I don't expect the G series dye inks to be Chromalife. OTOH, ink is cheap at the manufacturer level, so cost isn't a likely reason to go to new inks. Do they still use Chromalife in any new printers?

I found a page which shows that there are five families of G series printer inks. (One has to wonder what management decisions were made to make it all more complicated.) The Maxify printers use pigment across the board. The bottles are twice as big as the G series, yet only cost $28. Which supports my theory that ink cost is probably close to the same for all of them at the manufacturer level.

I do have a very vague recollection of a forum posting two years ago when I got my G2260 about some better (Chromalife?) inks that could be used. Or, maybe it's my old age. (But I did stop drinking, so we can eliminate that!)

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

You are right wirh your assumption that different models of the G series printer family may use different inks - and not just making the destinction pigment vs. dye. It's the G550 printer standing out with the inks - this is the only Canon printer which uses the Chromalife inks - which come with a much better longevity performance than the other dye inks. It could very well be that some G series inks are the same but come with different product numbers; this would allow Canon marketing to price them differently or running a sales action on one type but not the other. Anyway - it is the GI53 ink of the G550 printer with a much better longevity performance, and you can use them on the other G series dye ink printers as well, or even as refill ink for printers with cartridges. The GI51 ink is an example for an ink with low longevity performance - the difference of the GI51 ink to the GI53 is much bigger than the price difference may imply, you can use lower cost compatible 3rd party inks to replace the GI51 inks with the similar performance.
And it should be clear that lots of printouts just don't need a high level of longevity at all - you print it, read it and throw it away. And it's very much a matter of the storage conditions. So you have the choice - Chromalife inks or other lower performing inks - it's the longevity, there is not much of a difference with the gamut between the different inks, there is no concern that you might loose color saturation.

 

[Paul Verizzo]

You are right wirh your assumption that different models of the G series printer family may use different inks - and not just making the destinction pigment vs. dye. It's the G550 printer standing out with the inks - this is the only Canon printer which uses the Chromalife inks - which come with a much better longevity performance than the other dye inks. It could very well be that some G series inks are the same but come with different product numbers; this would allow Canon marketing to price them differently or running a sales action on one type but not the other. Anyway - it is the GI53 ink of the G550 printer with a much better longevity performance, and you can use them on the other G series dye ink printers as well, or even as refill ink for printers with cartridges. The GI51 ink is an example for an ink with low longevity performance - the difference of the GI51 ink to the GI53 is much bigger than the price difference may imply, you can use lower cost compatible 3rd party inks to replace the GI51 inks with the similar performance.
And it should be clear that lots of printouts just don't need a high level of longevity at all - you print it, read it and throw it away. And it's very much a matter of the storage conditions. So you have the choice - Chromalife inks or other lower performing inks - it's the longevity, there is not much of a difference with the gamut between the different inks, there is no concern that you might loose color saturation.

Wow, thanks for that, Printer Oracle!

Yes, often marketing does its own thing vs. technical issues.

 

[Paul Verizzo]

It appears that that's a European only model, an additional gray and "red." All dye inks.

Do you know if the GI53 would be drop in for other G printers? After all, there are five ink types here just in the US.

Not a mention that I could find about being Chromalife or anything hinting at archival.

Some outfit in the UK is selling them on eBay for $30/bottle. Now all I have to do is use up all of the ink in my new G2260. Or suck it out.

I'm starting to think I can live with these inferior inks. If I need Chromalife, I've got my PRO-100. After experiencing a tank system, cartridges look like yesterday's girlfriend.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

You may search the forum for 'Chromalife' or 'GI53' which would get you plenty of hits. I have tested the GI53 ink in comparison to the Epson 106 and 114 Claria inks recently, and there are more tests posted in the past.
The G550 comes as well in another configuration - G650 - in Europe, you may check Canon's other business region - middle/South America - and check if there is some (gray) import possible. I remember a member posting here that he just goes over the border to Mexico, but that's an option for a very few people only.
You need a rather long needle to suck out the ink from the Canon bottles, you cannot remove or unscrew the bottle heads as with Epson bottles, but there is a way into the bottle along the air vent opening.

You may find some info about Chromalife 100 (+) inks here

https://www.usa.canon.com/explore/chromalife

Canon is not actively promoting the GI-53 inks as Chromalife inks, even less to use this inkset in other G series printers, but it is stated at a few locations like here in the announcement of the G550 printer

https://www.canon.co.uk/press-centr...gatank-printers-where-quality-meets-quantity/

 

[PeterBJ]

It looks like the inks are available worldwide. The type number format is GIx3 where x is a region dependent number,

For North America meaning US and Canada the region number is 2 and the inks are GI23. Here is an OEM ink, and here are compatible inks for all regions.

Here it looks like the inks are Chromalife 100.

Here is a list of Canon regions compiled from an ink vendors website:

Canon regions:
Region 1 for South American and Mexican markets
Region 2 for North American market = USA and Canada
Region 3 for Japanese market
Region 4 for Middle East, Russian and African markets
Region 5 for European and Australian markets *)
Region 7 for Asian market
Region 8 for Chinese market
*) With the introduction of the PGI-x50/CLI-x51 cartridges Australia and New Zealand got their own region 6:
PGI-650, CLI-651 C/M/Y/BK/GY

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

thanks, that clarifies a lot, the printer in question is the G620 in the U.S. using the GI-23 inks

https://www.usa.canon.com/shop/p/gi-23?color=Red&type=New

It is stated in the description for this ink that it is the Chromalife 100 ink. It is nevertheless not mentioned anywhere else and not printed on the bottles itself. This could even mean that the GI-23 inks could used for refill of an Pro-100, with a dilutant/clear ink base for the light colors, or using OEM light colors and GI-23 inks for the other colors. It may be necessary to create and use specific icc profiles for the ink/paper combinations in use.