German "Durchstich" refill method for the PGI-520/CLI-521 cartridges

[strobemonkey]

Thanks answering my question gwellsjr.

I also found a review/comparison here:
http://alexeames.com/blog/?tag=review

 

[Photofan1986]

@websnail:
Hi! I bought a set of CLI-221 inks for my Pixma MP540 several months ago, and while the inks worked quite well, I must say that I bought two new ink tanks (cyan and magenta) and have been refilling them only recently. Now, the colors went off, having a greenish tint. Then I had the idea to check the references of the inks bottles and I saw that every color matches the references on your site except the cyan one (my cyan is the 244D while on your site, I see a 2032D). My yellow is 797D, magenta is 6121D and cyan is 244D. Do you think it may have something to do with the wrong colors?
Is it an inappropriate ink or is the reference random?

Thanks in advance!

 

[websnail]

@websnail:
Hi! I bought a set of CLI-221 inks for my Pixma MP540 several months ago, and while the inks worked quite well, I must say that I bought two new ink tanks (cyan and magenta) and have been refilling them only recently. Now, the colors went off, having a greenish tint.

*cringe*...

Much as I'd love to blame this on you it's a known issue with what I believe is a specific batch of ink and one that I'd hoped to have solved before someone queried publicly... *poof goes that dream* :/ but as we're here...

I'm currently waiting on new batches of ink from my supplier, particularly the Magenta and Photo black and there are two customers who already reported the problem and who are waiting to run a bunch of tests to help me track down the culprit.

My guess is that I received a duff batch of ink that was incorrectly labelled but I'd rather have a definitive cause and be able to replace the problem ink (for free naturally) than run around headless style and wait for the sky to fall in.

If you could email me your order number and name I'll use that info to further narrow down who has been affected and, of course, add you to the list to get the correct replacement(s) once the imposter has been caught and jumped up and down on.

Then I had the idea to check the references of the inks bottles and I saw that every color matches the references on your site except the cyan one (my cyan is the 244D while on your site, I see a 2032D). My yellow is 797D, magenta is 6121D and cyan is 244D. Do you think it may have something to do with the wrong colors?
Is it an inappropriate ink or is the reference random?

The 2032 is actually the Canon CLI-8C type Cyan, whereas the 244 is actually an older ink resurrected and re-used in the CLI-221C/521C.

 

[Photofan1986]

Thank you very much! I am reassured to know this, as I was struggling to get correct colours, and finally I have been thinking that those inks simply are not that great and that if I wanted correct colours, I needed to buy original Canon tanks. Thanks goodness, it's only a wrong batch
I'll send you my name and order number by mail.
Thanks again

 

[websnail]

Thank you very much! I am reassured to know this, as I was struggling to get correct colours, and finally I have been thinking that those inks simply are not that great and that if I wanted correct colours, I needed to buy original Canon tanks. Thanks goodness, it's only a wrong batch

I'm sure you'll understand if I wish it were just you ... I'll have some information on what's happened and get everything squared up as soon as I can, but as you can imagine I'm keen to take the time to be sure, not rush and be wrong.

I'll send you my name and order number by mail.
Thanks again

I'll keep an eye out of it..

 

[websnail]

Just to update on the issue of a green cast.

After finally getting my latest order (including a completely fresh batch of the appropriate Magenta) I spent the day testing the inks against OEM output and a rather boring empirical process.

What I found was that:
- The CLI-521/221 compatible Magenta from Image Specialists showed a slight but noticeable green cast when used on it's own with Canon OEM cartridges
- The same ink loaded with all other compatible Image Specialist inks had virtually no green cast at all. As a result, it seems that there is good reason to flush and refill all the cartridges before using them, and to use a full set of inks, rather than mix n' match.

I also did a bit of digging and found out that the distributor had to ship in a completely fresh supply of the Magenta ink, hence the delay but it takes no genius to work out that the last batch I'd received and the one that coincides with the green cast, was the end of the previous barrel so it may have been the dregs or suffered from a similar issue. Either way it seems the strong cast issue is resolved with a fresh bottle of the new Magenta so I'll be shipping those out to affected customers tomorrow.


I'd be interested to know if this is something other folks have noticed, but right now I'm just glad to have identified the culprit.

 

[Photofan1986]

Thank you very much for your effort!
I'll be glad to report back when the magenta ink arrives.
Also, I would like to buy some pigment black ink and empty carts, so if you send me the magenta ink, you can send the rest at the same time
I'll do the transaction now and pay with paypal, so that it's immediate.

Thumbs up for the customer support

edit: oops, no empty carts, as I see you don't have cli-221 ones. Never mind.

 

[websnail]

edit: oops, no empty carts, as I see you don't have cli-221 ones. Never mind.

Yeah... Only have about 7 in total and those are all in use for testing now.

 

[Nifty]

By way of update: I just refilled all my carts with the "German Method" and I'm super pleased with how well it works. Ive been refilling carts for over 10 years and this is by far the easiest and most reliable process (Canon OEM carts / "German method") that I've ever used. It has proven to be faster, easier, less messy, and I have less nozzle problems.

I only wish I had known about and used this process sooner!

 

[binkie]

By way of update: I just refilled all my carts with the "German Method" and I'm super pleased with how well it works. Ive been refilling carts for over 10 years and this is by far the easiest and most reliable process (Canon cards / "German method") that I've ever used. It has proven to be faster, easier, less messy, and I have less nozzle problems.

I only wish I had known about and used this process sooner!

It's even faster and less messy if you use squeeze bottles.

Click here to see squeeze bottles

Binkie