Canon iP4500.

[stratman]

http://www.druckerchannel.de/ has many excellent articles and reviews on aftermarket inks and cartridges, all availabile in Europe for a reasonable price. If German language is a problem, use Google's translation page to translate entire pages at a time. This is probably the best overall product-to-product analyses on these topics that I've seen - short summaries and excellent pictures.

Having a PGI-5 pigment black that is as Highlighter proof as Canon's OEM pigment black ink is something I would like to have. For others, not so much of an issue.

 

[petrocelli]

If anyone can honestly hand on heart tell me that HobbyColours ink is so superior that it would give me significantly longer printhead life then I am all ears, but as it stands I feel the asc ink gives a fair life for the printhead?

I take your point,that is a fair number of prints certainly much more than I would ever do.I don't use HobbiColors myself as I have only recently bought a Canon MP610 and I am just following these threads to try and get a clue about some decent inks here in the UK.The original Canon carts are still in the machine and the only way I know about the Phoenix ink is because I filled an empty Canon original PGi-5 cart with this ink and tried it in the printer where,as I said, it produced good text almost as good as the Canon original but as soon as I touched it with a wet finger it ran immediately.Over on the Druckerchannel site one of the inks mentioned for good results is JETTEC.I can't find any bulk supplier of this but they do a BMYK kit specifically for PGi5 and CLi-8 carts and I have bought one of these to try.The black ink is meant to fill both the black carts.I haven't tried any of this ink yet except an unscientific test of the black i.e a blob on paper followed by the wet finger test and it doesn't run.It doesn't claim the ink is pigmented so it must be some sort of hybrid.Will report back when i have refilled.This ink is produced in the UK then again so was the Phoenix stuff.

 

[stratman]

Highlight and water proofing requires a pigmented ink.

Here is an example of highlighting testing from my last post - http://www.druckerchannel.de/artike...wasserfestigkeit_canon_versus_nachbaupatronen.

JetTec, InkTec and KMP bulk inks can be found at http://www.tintenalarm.de/nachfuelltinte-c-21_22_464_2705_2707.html. I had no luck getting an email response about shipping charges to the USA but others claim to have.

Please report in the forum your exeriences with PGI-5 refill ink.

 

[leo8088]

True pigment based ink can withstand a brutal abuse of water. But you need to wait after the ink dries. Not all ink dry at a same speed. I looked at the highlighting test web page. It's in German. I wonder if they applied the highlighter immediately after printing. I am surprised that they showed that Canon OEM pgi5 ink smudged a little. I remember seeing a Canon sales rep demonstrating in a computer store. They put a print in a bowl of water for the duration of his demon. The black text was undamaged. I would test my ink that way too. If I accidentally spill a cup of water or coffee I would not want to watch my black text washed away in front of me. That's the point of using pigmented ink.

 

[stratman]

leo8088:

Try Google's translation page.

Canon OEM PGI-5 pigmented ink is good. I would like to find a reasonably priced and available for shipping to/in the USA bulk ink supplier with replacement ink that performs as well as OEM.

Maybe Grandad35 will do another of his superb tests if we send him the ink!?!

 

[pharmacist]

Stratman,

KMP pigment black will be your solution. I use it and even better highlighter resistant than the original Canon ink. And blacker too !

 

[stratman]

Pharmacist:

KMP appeared to perform poorly in the highlighter test I posted above. Maybe the KMP ink was not purely pigment ink. What do you think happened?

Jettec appeared to do best.

The German company thats ells both KMP and Jettek that has been posted here did not respond to my email enquiry in the past. So, I am not purchaseing from them blindly. Maybe I'll try again someday. For now I continue to use OEM PGI-5 cartridges/ink.

Funny side note --- Google translates "Jettec" as "Camera"! (German --> English)

 

[pharmacist]

Stratman,

I do not know what the reason is, but maybe there is a difference between their ink used in ready to use cartridges of KMP (the test you are referring to) and the bulk ink they sell. I use the bulk ink. Somewhat similar to the difference between the Mont Blanc blue-black ink in a ink well (iron gall based) and fountain pen cartridges (dye based).

But watch out for this on druckerchannel.de:

"Mit den Originalpatronen, den Patronen von Sudhaus, Pearl, Peach, Pelikan und Geha verschmiert der Text nur leicht. Am besten schneidet Jettec ab - die Tinte verschmiert gar nicht. Kein Wunder, denn in die Textschwarzpatrone hat Jettec Dye- anstatt Pigment-Tinte abgefllt. Diese zieht ins Papier ein und ist somit gegen den Leuchtstift resistent. "

The last sentences translates as: No wunder, as the textblackcartridge of Jettec contains dye ink instead of pigment ink. This penetrates into the paper and will make it highlighter resistant.

So maybe smearproof, but if water will spill over it.......

I refill this ink for many friends of mine and they are very satisfied with the results.

 

[stratman]

Pharmacist:

I saw that about the dye ink and was confused. You'd think dye ink would smear as well.

I believe you about the quality of the ink. I'd like to try the KMP pigment black one day. Maybe I'll try emailing the German outfit again for costs/shipping specifics. Currently, I have several OEM PGI-5 cartridges, so I'm in no hurry!

 

[pharmacist]

Stratman,

According to druckerchannel.de dye ink will not smear (as depicted with the Jettec dye based text black ink), but I can assure you with a drop of water and the ink will be migrate within minutes leaving a blank hole on the centre of the droplet.

Don't forget to keep your empty PGI-5 cartridges in a tightly sealed box (likewise Tupper or similar) to keep your cartridges moist until you refill them.