Canon Pixma non-OEM cartridges CLI-221 -- best in your experience?

[myu]

The world of printer ink is such a convoluted one. For the uninitiated, it is daunting. Printing is not such a simple thing as the common person might think. There are so many different types of printers, printing techniques, and inks involved. It seems clear to me that for frequent professional quality printing, you must either go with a CIS (continuous ink system) or out-source your printing needs.

But what about the home user who wants good quality prints using cartridges without breaking the bank?

I have a Canon Pixma MX860 printer, which works very well for its size and intended purposes. Canon OEM ink is really too expensive for my taste, and I'm wondering if there must be some really good "near OEM" quality inks had for half the price or less. Certainly very cheap ink may be found, even "with chip included", but I won't trust it the low end.

Most of the chatter I've seen is about refillable and CIS ink types. Not much on cartridges. For the quantity of printing I do, a cartridge system is fine for my particular printer. Can folks here recommend a good dependable source for non-OEM cartridges? I really don't want to buy from sellers in China/Hong Kong who first, have suspicious ink quality, and two, take 14-23 days to ship. I've heard some good talk about 4inkjets.com, but not really well confirmed. I don't need the cheapest... just the best bang for the buck, meaning good quality and at a good price. Accurate color, decent shelf-life, and not very fade susceptible.

Any input? Thanks.

 

[ian]

I always get my cartridges empty this way i can control what ink goes in them. There are so many cheap Chinese inks out there on the market today and 90% of them are very poor quality. I only use Sensient inks in my cartridges because it is the best on the market and i do not want to get a bad name with my refilled or compatible cartridges. OPC ink from R-JetTek is one of the best out there as well and they will supply you from 16oz and up.

 

[irvweiner]

myu, I hope this post gives you a good head start. irv weiner

As an aid to those starting to consider refilling their printer carts here is my growing list of vendors recognized by the community as supplying quality ink and other accessories needed. I post this response to aid the spoon-fed generation too lazy to search sites like this one or dpreview or others.

If you have additional quality resources to add, please do so. Hopefully, we can generate a trustworthy 'sticky'.


The cost of the ink contained in OEM carts runs 3-5 times the cost of human blood!! Over the last decade of my printing I've polled the many photo sites and other users to determine whose stuff I can trust sanely and safely.

Among the good inks listed below you can pay over a 3:1 range; $11-32/16oz (500ml)
For the good auto/manual reset chips the range is: $2-13/chip

If you choose manual reset chips or just want reset your OEM carts after refilling expect to pay $12-39 for the resetter. Your original Canon/Epson carts with good care might even last longer than your printer, considering cost of repair!

These are some of the vendors that are most recommended:
OCP Ink Compatibility List: http://www.ocp.de/content.php?sessi...eite=seiten/support_compatibilitylists_en.php

rjettek.com OCP ink cartridge plugs and much more
inkjetreset.com ink,carts,chips and more
inkjetcarts.us ink,carts,chips and more
octoink.co.uk/ ink,carts,chips and more
Hobbicolors ink,carts,chips and more
Image Specialists ink,carts,chips and more image-specialists.com/about_us.aspx
Precision Colors inks http://home.eol.ca/~mikling/
Cone Inks color & B&W inks conecolor.com inkjetmall.com
Ink Republic inks & more http://www.inkrepublic.com/knowledgebase/3800-iRefill-faq.asp
Efillink inks & more efillink.com
Howard Electronics Bottles Needles & more howardelectronics.com

For more info and to build a working knowledge of this subject go to:
dpreview.com good set of forums, especially the inkjet printing forum
Inkjet Printer Forum here is where tuff?'s get handled! http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/index.php
Northlight Images: http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/arti mages.html
The Canon, Epson, HP Printer forums on Yahoo, Google

 

[myu]

Awesome reply, Irv! Lots of good stuff to look into here. Thanks.


So is this refill method utilizing the OEM cartridges? You simply refill them with whatever ink you choose? I really like that idea. I'd had the notion that the heads don't last very long. But I guess I'm wrong... About resetting the chips, I'm curious--these chips function purely in sequential fashion? It sounds like it's worthwhile getting a resetter tool. You buy it once and just keep reusing it. Will these work for both CLI-221 and PGI-220? Where'd you get yours?

Over on dpreview (I was there first, and found a recommendation to visit here), there's a lot of praise for OCP ink. Mixed opinions about Hobbicolors.

 

[vallejoboy]

I also have a MX860 and I'm still using my original cartridges that came with the printer maybe a year ago. Since then I have gone through about 8-10 refills using Hobbicolors ink. But I believe I need to flush my cartridges now because they are starting to have some problems, probably because of improper filling (i.e. overfilling). Also I'm using a resetter from inkjetreset.com and just a note although the resetter all look the same, they do not all work. You can find more info about cli221 pgi 2210 reseters here http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=4996&p=1

 

[rreznikoff]

I also have a Canon PIXMA MX860 printer which I bought specifically because Stratitec.com makes a set of refillable cartridges that also reset automatically after filling. They come with a rubber stopper that you remove, refill with a syringe, and reinsert. It's that easy. They also sell inks as sets or individual bottles. I get excellent copies for the least cost and easy refilling. The best of all worlds.

 

[joseph.jiang2010]

I am a newbie. I used Canon Pixma Mx 860 and non-OEM cartridges for a while. I do not really enjoy refilling the cartridges and use resetter. I have a bad experience for the first time try for refilling. The ink is all over my hand and stay there for 3 days. I only buy some cheaper non-OEM cartridges online. lol. I am a lazy man..