Hobbicolors cartridges and inks

[fotofreek]

I copied part of a posting from the comp.periphs.printers newsgroup for information on this product. If anyone has had experience with it a reply would help others. I did buy the beginning kit as it was worth the price of the carts alone. They have a plastic knurled screw that seals the fill hole. Looks really convenient. I haven't tried them yet, and I wasn't going to try the ink until I read this post. He uses IP8500 and i960 canon printers.

This is part of the posting from Steve Lee:

"Then I found this source on Ebay called Hobbicolors. I bet you never heard of it. I did not either. It was their virgin cartridges (BCI-6) that attracted me to give it a try. The cartridge has a plastic screw for sealing instead of a plug that is tiny and hard to seal.

Surprisingly, the ink worked so well that really impressed me. I have bought from
it the 2nd time. Same cool stuff. Best part is it is quite cheap. Don't know about
the ink's archival quality. But colors are just fantastic. Their smallest kit is
about the same price as the one from Costco but it includes a set of virgin cartridges.
Just searched Ebay and they are still there. Check it out to see if you know about
it. Their price is probably only half of MIS's prices. Don't know how it compares
with MIS quality. But I have no problems. My photo printout compares side by side
with Canon very well. Could hardly see any difference."

 

[JV]

fotofreek,

Good find!! I liked the product, detailed description and price. With shipping my ink cost would be ($29.95 + $4.90 ) / 6 refils x (55) 8.5 x 11 photos per PM cart = 10.6 cents per page. I will consider buying this refill kit once my present cart supplies are used up.

I was wondering if you could mail me a 8.5 x 11 photo print with the above refill kit ink of the "Getty_Images_Test_Image.jpg (11 MB) (see www.chromix.com/ColorSmarts/ "Test Images"). I would pay your expenses or send you a print with the ink I am using.

JV

 

[fotofreek]

JV - I guess I wasn't clear in describing the quote. It was from someone who is using Hobbicolor carts with their ink. I did buy their starter kit but haven't used it yet. I bought it primarily for the empty cart as the price of the kit included six empty carts. After reading Steve Lee's message (quoted in my posting to start this thread) I decided that I will use the ink as well as the carts. I found his message on the printers newsgroup and thought that it would be of interest here as well.

 

[DRoss]

I bought 2 Hobbicolor kits for my I9900 and filled the virgin carts with thier ink. I figured the carts alone were worth the cost so the ink was free, if the ink didn't work oh well.

My results are: The screew on the carts works fine with out a o-ring (I'll have to wait and see if this changes)
When filling a couple of colors soaked into the sponge slower than the others don't know if it
was do to the ink or the carts.

Printing with stock Canon profile was not close green cast, reds were orange ect.

Printing with a Profile Prisim profile for Kirkland Paper after adjustments ( took me 5 ) perfect.
Might be best color match I have made with PP, It takes 10-15 min for the colors to set when
first printed there is a strong magenta cast that fades away.

All in all very happy, even if I have to add an o-ring to the seal latter I don't see a down side with the carts.
Inks seem fine after profile. Now just have to decide use these carts and ink or switch bact to Weink carts and ink? And what ink to put in the 8 empty carts? Anyways this fourm rocks hope my first post is helpfull to someone.

Doug

 

[Kenyada]

Just received a Hobbicolors Kit for my iP5000. I'll be working on a profile using Profile Prism, based on Ilford Clasic Pearl. The kit looks impressive. The virgin cartridges are very well made. A key factor will be the wear and tear of the nylon screw/fill hole, after repeated uses.

 

[dashisiong]

Those ink carts they make themselve or from china again?

 

[JV]

In an e-mail to Hobbicolors, I asked the question:

Who is the manufacturer of Hobbicolor inks for the Canon BCI-6 BK,Y,M,C,PM,PC,R,G compatible cartridges? I have printer profiles for Formulabs, Image Specialists, Old and New InkGrabber inks and would like to know if the profiles would work with your inks.

Parts of answer by Dave from Hobbicolors:

"The question you asked is a confidential matter of our business. I am shure you will find most, if not all, bulk ink retailers safeguard information of their source of ink strictly. I am sorry we can not disclose our source of ink either."
"We have done a statistic in a/b comparison test. About 70% of people voted in favor of the color rendition of our ink comparing with that of Canon OEM. Our ink has a wider gamut than Canon's."
"One of the concerns is if ink will clog your print head. We have tested extensively the ink on our ip8500 and have been using the printer daily for 10 months."

One exception is www.printerfillingstation.com that sell bulk ink bottles (2oz and larger) labeled with Image Specialists Ink Numbers. Gordon Lewis from printerfillingstation confirmed it in an e-mail. Also their oldest ink is two weeks old.

In speculating on the reasons for not disclosing the ink source one scenario would be that many retailers sell the same ink at different prices and would not want another competitor. Another reason would be flexibility of the retailer to change inks to reduce cost or improve product without having to explain it. The ink may not be from a major ink manufacturer. Or may be a patented ink.

JV

 

[drc023]

I recently tested HobbiColors ink against Formulabs ink and some inexpensive generic cartridges from www.inkforsale.com. I've been a long time user of Formulabs ink and wanted to test out HobbicColors since it's received quite a few favorable comments. HobbiColors inks may seem at first glance to be a little weak as compared to Formulabs ink, but in reality I found the color gamut to be better. Step scales for most colors were more distinct with HobbiColors ink. Regular photos and scanned portraits also had a wider and clearer color range with HobbiColors ink. With either ink, highly acceptable results can be achieved with a minimum of fuss. Profiling, assuming you are printing with an ICC compatible application would obviously give the best results with either ink, but a little bit of tweaking the ink settings in the driver would be fine for other applications. Even without any adjustments, the results I received on the comparison test were very good.

JV was curious as to the source of HobbiColors ink, as am I, but it's understandable why a vendor wishes to keep that info confidential. In reality, it doesn't make a lot of difference. If the ink provides the results that I'm seeking, I'm happy with it. I just trust the vendor to keep on providing a quality product. My other favorite vendor is www.alotofthings.com and they clearly state on their web site that all the bulk ink they sell is Sensient-Formulabs. There are numerous other vendors who also state the source of their inks, but for me it all boils down to a simple 'if it works for me, then that's all I care about'.

 

[CP83]

I bought the hobbicolors kit several weeks ago and one of the carts was defective. The yellow would print a bit and then it would quit. I emailed Dave at hobbicolors about it and he was great! He was very interested in finding out what the problem was with the cartridge. I mailed it back to him so they could see what was wrong with it and he sent me a new cart filled with yellow ink and an extra empty one for my trouble. The new one works great and the colors look great to my admittedly newbie eye. Even though I did have a problem with the cart, the way Dave handled the problem and answered all my questions has impressed me and I will be a repeat customer.

 

[KCDoug]

I'm considering giving HC inks a try, but am concerned about getting the right color profiles for my i960. I primarily use Canon Photo Paper Pro and an exact equivalent (uses same profile) from a web supplier. I am not experienced at developing my own profiles and want to avoid hit and miss experimenting that wastes a lot of paper.

Also, any updates about the perceived quality of HC inks (and on what paper and printer) - not only the color accuracy, but also fade resistance/durability?

Thanks,
-Doug