Looking for a decent CIS/Printer combination

[ecoly]

Hey all! - What a great site! I'm looking for a decent CIS and printer combination. I've been doing some research and found that many CIS's are difficult to install or have problems with compatibility. Does anyone know a good quality color printer that has a decent CIS to match?

I've noticed a few brands online like sohojet and the like. I just was wondering if the experts here have any advice.

Thanks!

 

[websnail]

First off if you want a trouble free CIS install then steer clear of Canon printers.. The printheads and pressure sensitivity of the printer means you can sometimes get a great combo, and then one small change and it all goes very, very wrong.

Epson printers are pretty good with CIS's and depending on what sort of output you want (photos?, general printing? detailed graphics? - would help to know) you can get some good units.. I would avoid the really new printers like the D120 or R285 because the chips on these need you to either physically remove the cartridges to get the ARC's (auto reset chips) to reset or (if you're using Ink Republic) click a little reset switch. Either way, not good.

As for myself I moved away from Epsons in favour of Canons for a bit and then settled on HP printers because the printers actually have a CIS already pre-installed. The Epson printers I was using also using pigment inks which tended to clog a LOT in schools (summer holidays, etc..) and it was getting to be a bind. Along the way I discovered that the HP K550 was a bit of a pig, the K5400 quite a bit better and the L7780, a very useful multifunctional to have around. The HP88 black can be a right pain in the **** in the wrong environment but I've found that using dyebase instead of pigment inks in that printer resolves that problem nicely.

Anyway... what you really need to do though is give a bit more gen on what you intend/want the printer to be able to do, media it should work with and the like...

 

[ecoly]

websnail,

Thanks much for the advice. As far as output, I do a little of everything - photos, graphics, flyers, accounting reports, etc. Mostly though, I print thousands of single page flyers each month for my real estate business. They almost always include photos of the house. Right now, I am spending about $200 a month on cartridges.

I see what you say about Epson, from what I understand, they have made it very difficult to use anything but high-priced Epson supplies.

As I mentioned, I found some combinations from SoHoJet.com - they are in line with the HP models you suggested. When you combine the printer plus CIS plus the ink it seems like a real bargain.

Since you seem to be an expert, could you look briefly at them and give me some feedback? You can find them at sohojet.com. I would be forever grateful!!!

Thanks!

 

[websnail]

Thanks much for the advice. As far as output, I do a little of everything - photos, graphics, flyers, accounting reports, etc. Mostly though, I print thousands of single page flyers each month for my real estate business. They almost always include photos of the house. Right now, I am spending about $200 a month on cartridges.

Little on the pricey side then

I see what you say about Epson, from what I understand, they have made it very difficult to use anything but high-priced Epson supplies.

Well, the key things here is not that Epsons' are bad... It's just that you should avoid the "newest" versions as with most things the technology has yet to be understood and 3rd party alternatives provided. The same thing is happening with Canon's latest printers (iP4600, etc..)

That said the sheet amount you're looking to produce does make me wonder if an Epson would necessarily be of the right speed... You might want to look at the costing for a B500-DN and see if that grabs your interest. It's the newest Epson line that's similar to the Officejet K5400... obviously there's no alternatives on the cartridge front but it may still appeal..

As I mentioned, I found some combinations from SoHoJet.com - they are in line with the HP models you suggested. When you combine the printer plus CIS plus the ink it seems like a real bargain.

Since you seem to be an expert, could you look briefly at them and give me some feedback? You can find them at sohojet.com. I would be forever grateful!!!

They seem OK but I'd want to get a clean understanding of what the actual ink quality is and where it's sourced from. I'll be honest I have my own CIS design for the HP Officejet series and the minimum capacity is 250ml per colour. Given that the cartridges go up to 70ml on their own (for the black) you don't really want a sub-100ml system or you'll be refilling all the time.

The kit listing on their site shows an Epson CIS in the kit photo so it's hard to qualify this next point but my guess is that the system also uses a non-OEM cartridge to feed the ink into the printer. Taking the one photo of a pre-equipped K5400, if the guess about the cartridge is true then the location of the reservoirs is a major concern as non-OEM cartridges do not have the rubber bulb/pump in the base. This is what the printer uses to pump the ink into the printheads so if it doesn't exist the printhead is going to be stressed with negative ink pressure. Definitely not good!

EDIT: Having looked at the pre-equipped printer pic again... it's occured to me that it's just a photo shopped printer pasted over some reservoirs so it's not a good indicator. The question now has to be why they haven't take a picture of a kit pre-installed?? At bare minimum I'd be asking for actual photos before purchasing.

To be honest I don't know everything there is to know about the Officejet printer systems and some of my reverse engineering may have resulted in inaccurate conclusions but that said I'm not overly impressed with most of the CIS's out there for those printers.

Unfortunately I have my own kits so I'm heavily biased and as a result I'd recommend taking what I say with a huge pinch of salt... I would definitely recommend casting your net further afield though and seeing what else is out there.

 

[ecoly]

I ended up purchasing the K5400 from SoHoJet.com. I found the ink quality to be excellent. In my opinion, the color is actually improved over the OEM cartridges.

I found no problem with the cartridges either. They do not leak and the auto reset feature works well (Although It took a little time to figure it out).

Overall, I found that this system is great. I also found that the only real modification made to the printer is a hole inserted into the side of the printer. This allows the ink tubes to exit without having to leave the cartridge door open. They also installed some very handy velcro holders to keep the ink tank level in case you need to move it. I plan on adding another printer and will probably just purchase the CIS system itself. You can find it here: http://www.sohojet.com/store/p/16-C...K550-K8600-L7580-L7780-L7680-With-UV-Ink.html

I print about 15,000 pages a month mix/match with color graphics and have saved a ton of $ with this system. I actually found out about it from a publishing company that has several units set up in series to print high volume.

As with all CIS, there are a few tricks, but this system worked out well for us.