Hobbicolors new UW-8 ink reviewed for the ip5000 on kirkland paper

[arw4]

Inky,

It's good to know that you've derived very pleasing results from the Hobbicolor UW8 inks.

Just out of interest, do you happen to know who manufactures the Hobbicolor ink?

 

[Inky]

No idea who makes the ink but the UW8 works great in my ip5000. Assume it's better in recent models but don't know. They also have BCI-6 ink which is just ok imo.

Hobbicolors seems like a good company so I reccomend them. Mention this forum as i did and they'll probaly be xtra nice.

Their online store could be better, but they take cusotm orders if you email or phone them.

 

[drc023]

This reply is more of a "me too" response. I've also been using HobbiColors UW8 ink in my iP4000. There really isn't anything significant to report other than to say the print is outstanding and the colors are quite accurate - which has always been my experience with HobbiColors ink. As usual the service from HobbiColors is second to none.
--
Ron

 

[hpnetserver]

I agree that Hobbicolors UW8 ink is high quality stuff. I have used the old WC6 ink with plenty satisfaction. The UW8 ink gives a deeper blue and more saturated yellow. If you print graphic arts this ink will give you more vibrant colors. There isn't a huge difference in printing photos as photos usually do not contain a huge range of colors. The only problem, or question actually you may have is for some reason Hobbicolors has not put up a good web site nor an online store which would have made a huge difference in helping their sales.

 

[Inky]

Cool to see others agree. The UW8 are giving me better color balance and more neutral grays also.

I do notice they're slightly more clog prone though, i.e. I have to run a cleaning cycle or a test sheet if i havn't printed for a week. With the WC6 I almost never had to clean, so either it's the ink or just my printer aging.

Still though, for the price and the color accuracy without profiling, it's hard to beat the UW8 ink.

 

[hpnetserver]

Inky, I have used both WC6 and UW8 ink from Hobbicolors. I sometimes leave my ip8500 unused for two weeks sometimes more than a month. I rarely ever need to run cleaning cycles. actually if I am not careful to screw in the plastic screw my cartridges have a nasty trend to leak slightly. I tend to believe you probably need to check your cartridges for slight leaking. If the ink clogs your print head you are not likely to get away from a cleaning cycle.

 

[Polecat]

Hello all. I too have discovered Hobbicolors UW8 ink and am very happy with it (and with the service from Hobbicolors). I have noticed some reference to leakage around the plastic fill screws causing problems. I am currently using two sets of virgin tanks from Hobbicolors that I filled with UW8 ink and have had no problems but I first modified them by chamfering the fill hole (with a countersink in my drill press) and using a small O ring under the screw head. The presence of the chamfer lessens the tendancy of the O ring to jump out from under the screw head when you compress it to make a seal.

 

[jackson]

@Polecat
That's a good idea.I 'm going to do that on my non-Hobbicolor tanks too.

 

[fotofreek]

With the hobbicolors carts I replaced the plastic screw with stainless steel phillips panhead sheet metal screws which are a bit larger, easier to handle, pointed ends which guide the screw into the hole instead of the flat end and machine thread plastic screws that are sometimes a little tricky to insert and start, and phillips instead of the blade type screw driver slot so the screwdriver self-centers and stays where it belongs. The panhead tends to prevent the o-ring from spreading and losing seal if you select a very tight fitting o-ring and only tighten enough to effect a seal.

 

[Inky]

My previous leak problem was a defective cart, and I suspect the UW8 cyan is ever so slightly different viscosity from OEM. Hobbicolors sent a replacement cart prefilled with UW8 ink. No problems with the replaced cart of the other carts, and have refilled a few times.

Btw, to clarify, I don't ever run clean cycles anymore, because I don't want to fill up the cleaning sponges. The only color I occasionally have issue with is cyan, which developes a slight banding in QL1 photo printing, if left unused for too long. It's even possible it's my print head.

So, about once a month when necessary, I print a quarter page cyan 10-25% gradient using plain paper. That seems to clean the heads, requires minimal cyan ink, doesn't fill the sponges, and is actually faster than head cleaning cycles. I like being able to clean a head individually onto waste paper much more than default cleaning all colors into sponges.