New printer and need a complete refill kit

[Data]

I finally have decided to buy a new printer. I like the features of the Canon MG6220 and I'm ready to buy it.
I'd like to immediately move to refilling my own cartridges.
After reading allot of posts, I'm a little confused though.
I found some sites in the UK and in Germany, but none in the US, where they sell a complete beginners kit.
I'm looking for the best possible ink, the resetter, empty OEM cartridges, needles or whatever else I'd need.
I also would like to know if there is a difference in resetters.
If I'd buy the items separately, I find a resetter for the cli 226 for $40.00 at a store that is recommended by users of this site and I find the same thing on amazon for $9.00
Is there any difference?
Are cartridges with auto resett chips as good/better, than the ones where I have to resett manually?
Are there empty cartridges available, that are see through (OEM cli 221), but already come with the cli 226 chip installed?
What is the best ink brand?

Thanks for any help.

 

[The Hat]

Data
I finally have decided to buy a new printer. I like the features of the Canon MG6220 and I'm ready to buy it.

I hope youll be happy with your new printer when you get it.

I found some sites in the UK and in Germany, but none in the US, where they sell a complete beginners kit.
I'm looking for the best possible ink, the resetter, empty OEM cartridges, needles or whatever else I'd need.

One of the places to try for a complete refill kit would be precisioncolors.com and not all resetters are equal.

Are cartridges with auto resett chips as good/better, than the ones where I have to resett manually?

If you refill then stick with OEM cartridges and a resetter its the best and most reliable way to go.

ARC chips are good but you have to continually check the inks yourself because the ink levels reset
to full every time you turn on your printer so cant be trusted if you forget.

Are there empty cartridges available, that are see through (OEM cli 221), but already come with the cli 226 chip installed?

You can get either CLI-221 or CLI-521 empty cartridges to make up a set
but you will have to swap over to the 226 chips yourself which is easy too.

What is the best ink brand?

Most if not all of what youll need to get yourself started you can get at the website mentioned above
and if not then give inkjetcarts.us a try as well.

 

[stratman]

Looks like PrecisionColors.com's remake is not completely operational. Better to use Mikling's eBay site at http://stores.ebay.ca/PrecisionColors. I buy from Mikling. Trustworthy and excellent inks.

Also, instructions for chip swapping found here. I guess The Hat had a cramp in his hand and couldn't link his own instructions.

 

[Grandexp]

Not all resetters are equal, especially in the pricing. I chose the cheapest and 3 years later it still kicks like it should. I bought from American sellers so that I am better protected from getting DOA resetter. I have got 3 and all have been reliable so far. One was for an EPson printer.

Precisioncolors sells Image Specialists inks made in USA. I recently discovered that Image Specialists Canon inks are likely based on formulations that may be 10 years old. See this post for details: http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=7509

I have dug out some old Image Specialists inks in a box from my garage. I bought those in 2002 or 2003. Some of the part numbers of those old inks are exactly the same to what they are selling today.

Image Specialists inks are expensive. I do not know of any other brand names of ink that is more expensive, except OEM of course. Check out the FAQ of this forum for recommendations of alternative excellent brand names too.

Latest ARC chips are not reset each time you turn on the power of your printer. But why not just refill your own OEM cartridges and use a resetter? It is cheaper and better by just refilling OEM cartridges.

 

[The Hat]

Grandexp
Precisioncolors sells Image Specialists inks made in USA. I recently discovered that Image Specialists Canon inks are likely based on formulations that may be 10 years old. See this post for details: http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=7509

I shouldnt really respond to you latest attack on Image Specialists inks, all dough you have toned down your personal opinions now
to (likely based formulations) rather than previous saying actually selling ten year old inks, so thats to be welcomed.

Image Specialists inks are expensive. I do not know of any other brand names of ink that is more expensive, except OEM of course.
Check out the FAQ of this forum for recommendations of alternative excellent brand names too.

Image Specialists inks are not expensive to most guys who use them again and again (Including me) for its outstanding good quality
and in my opinion I.S. inks are the leaders in the North American ink market for their consistency in supplying quality to both small and large format printers.

But why not just refill your own OEM cartridges and use a resetter? It is cheaper and better by just refilling OEM cartridges.

If you would care to read Datas thread again this time carefully you might notice that his printer uses opaque cartridges
and he was concerned enough to seek an easier way to refill rather than starting out blind folded.


A barrel of apples has always one that is unpalatable ..

 

[ThrillaMozilla]

Data, if you're worried about filling opaque cartridges, you should consider top filling. Mikling on this forum (owner of Precision Colors) advocates that, and it should work out well for you. If I have his method right, you close the outlet port and the vent, then fill the ink chamber part way (about half if you fill it fast, 1/4 if you fill slowly). Then open the vent, wait a few seconds, close the vent and top up the ink chamber. He sells some very good, inexpensive plugs that you can use, that people on this forum swear by.

You prepare the cartridges by removing the plug (ball) that Canon put in there, then ream the hole with a 5/32" or 9/64" drill.

 

[Grandexp]

I shouldnt really respond to you latest attack on Image Specialists inks, all dough you have toned down your personal opinions now
to (likely based formulations) rather than previous saying actually selling ten year old inks, so thats to be welcomed.

Apparently you don't understand the necessity of consumer scrutiny of poplar brand name products. Do you pay attention to news on this side of the pond? If you eat American beef you better ask what it is all about people eating beef slime.

R&D of color materials for formulating inks have been in full steam in recent years. Canon alone, since their old BCI-6 series of inks, have released Chromalife, Chromalife+, etc. If you take a look at Image Specialists catalog you can easily find that some of the inks they sell for the latest Canon printers have the same part numbers they sold 10 years ago for Canon BCI-6 series cartridges. I have Image Specialists inks I bought 9 or 10 years ago to prove that as well.

You may call this my own opinion. I understand that you love Image Specialists so much. You have recommended it to just about every newbie who came out to ask what ink to buy. But calling my address of Image Specialists an attack you have lost your ability to judgement.

 

[fotofreek]

Precisioncolors sells Image Specialists inks made in USA. I recently discovered that Image Specialists Canon inks are likely based on formulations that may be 10 years old. See this post for details: http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=7509

I have dug out some old Image Specialists inks in a box from my garage. I bought those in 2002 or 2003. Some of the part numbers of those old inks are exactly the same to what they are selling today.

Image Specialists inks are expensive. I do not know of any other brand names of ink that is more expensive, except OEM of course. Check out the FAQ of this forum for recommendations of alternative excellent brand names too.

Until now I have avoided responding to the concern about the same stock numbers of IS inks still being sold after several years. As a longtime user of IS inks and Canon printers my sense is that Canon's ink formulas have changed less than they would lead us to think. Although there was a real change in some of the color formulations when Canon moved from the BCI-6 carts to the first series of chipped carts, IS did change the color formulation of the ink colors to match Canon's change. Although I am still (fortunately) using BCI-6 cart printers, my recollection is that the major change was in the magenta formulation. Although there have been some changes color-wise, these changes appear to be only with a limited number of ink colors. Although aftermarket inks will not be an exact color match of OEM inks, my experience has been that the color profiles built into the drivers of my Canon printers produce prints with IS inks that are extremely close to OEM color output.

Do the IS formulations keep up with the presumed increase in image stability? I don't know. It does appear, however that the color response has kept up pretty well with the OEM inks through the minimal color changes that Canon has made.

Because vendors tend to hide the actual source of their inks it is really difficult to compare price for any given quality of aftermarket ink. I have used what was presumed to be IS inks from two vendors prior to my purchases from Precision Color. Precision color does absolutely identify their inks as manufactured by IS. They are also much less expensive than the two other vendors that I had previously used. Aftermarket inks are so much cheaper than OEM inks that I am reluctant to try cheaper brands to save another few percent of ink costs over OEM.

I am not touting IS inks or Precision Color as the only ink or vendor that might produce good results that are safe for your printer. I can only relate my own experience with IS inks and the vendors I have used.

 

[Data]

Thanks for all the helpful advice I've got.
I bought the printer and printed a couple of pictures.
So far so good, I love the results.
I have also ordered the resetter and the ink. As soon as the items arrive and I'm in the need of my first fill, I will let you know how it went.
I decided to give the first refill a try, with the cartridges that came with the printer, before going the clear cartridge route and replacing chips etc.

I'm in the need of some 8X10 matte and glossy photo papers.
I found a site called Redriver paper, is this a good place to go for that, or are there better/cheaper alternatives?

Thanks again

 

[fotofreek]

Data - where are you located? If in the USA and near a Staples store they have 8 1/2 x 11 Photo Supreme double sided matte paper that is quite good. It occasionally goes on sale for $2 for a package of 50 sheets after a mailed refund. This paper is fairly heavy in weight and is very good for double sided printing for greeting cards as well as other matte printing. If you can get it on sale it can't be beat for value as well. Also, Costo's Kirkland professional glossy paper is very good and comes in 8 1/2 x 11 and 4x6 sizes. great price and very good results. There may be other papers, however, that provide a more long-lasting stable image. Since I don't sell my photos (I don't know who would buy them!) and I either have prints in albums or displayed under glass in frames I haven't worried about producing archival prints.

When I started to refill I simply refilled the OEM carts without first purging the remaining OEM ink. Any purist would tell you that your color response would be different in the transition period when the ink in the carts is mixed OEM and IS. There doesn't seem to have been any incompatability with the mixed inks during the transition. To my unschooled eye the colors appeared quite consistant from OEM inks to mixed OEM and IS inks to purely IS inks. The most accurate way to deal with a change in ink would be to use purged and dried OEM carts, refill with the aftermarket ink of choice, and get a custom profile of the ink/paper combination. There is a lot of information on this forum about custom profiles. My unscientific approach has been to keep it simple and just refill. You may, at some time, have to purge carts after several refills if a cart gets sluggish with its ink delivery. That information has been dealt with quite well on this forum as well.