Opinions on the Canon iP3680??

[alexandereci]

Like I said in one of my older threads, my iP3300 is dying. Let's just say at that time it was showing symptoms, this time it looks like it has to be admitted in the ICU. With the repair center a good 5-6 hours drive away from me, I'm looking to perhaps spend a few more thousand pesos and get me a new printer.

I visited my Canon dealer today, and I was told that the iP3300 has been phased out. In fact, the printer that replaced the 3300 has been phased out too! WTF? How fast do these printers go "out of fashion" anyway? So the salesman tells me that what was the 3300 before is now called the iP3680, with specs right here. Apparently, the cart types are PGI-820 BK, CLI-821 BK / C / M / Y, which I'm told is "like" the CLI-8s, but with smaller capacity.

Any thoughts on this printer? Should I get it? I'm itching to, seeing as it can do 1pl and has more nozzles, but how does this printer perform from a "I-do-my-own-refills" standpoint? Can I do the German refill method with these carts?

Thanks very much!

 

[pharmacist]

Alexandereci,

The IP3680 is presumably the asian version of the IP3600 and the PGI-820/CLI-821 cartridges are the equivalent versions of the european PGI-520/CLI-521 and the US-based PGI-220/CLI-221 cartridges. So I think there is a region coding like DVD's to protect the different markets. In fact all the 3 versions are physicall the same, but maybe the chip is programmed differently.

The German refill method according to druckerchannel.de:

http://www.druckerchannel.de/artikel.php?ID=2192&seite=5&t=schritt_2_kanuele_einfuehren

So actually nothing has changed.

 

[Manuchau]

Except for the fact that the newer cartridges are smaller, and as yet, I have not seen a chip resetter for them. Try f you can to find another model using the larger, easy-to-reset pgi-5s and cli-8s

 

[alexandereci]

I don't care for the chip resetter so long as the printer continues printing EVEN with "drained/empty" ink tanks. I've never reset my 3300 carts and I use the Eyeball Mk II method to verify ink levels.

pharmacist, what do you mean about the chip being programmed differently? Is that just for the chip resetter? Or should I be worried about something? Also, what do you mean "nothing has changed"??

Any idea how much ink can the tanks store? My current tanks can take approx. 7ml of ink in the reservoir.

 

[panos]

Alexandereci what happened to the printer you bought some months ago ?

What do you mean "you should be worried about something" ?

Also, did you find any technical specification on Canon's site about the capacity (ml) of the cartridges ?

 

[alexandereci]

The printer I bought IS this iP3300!! This printer isn't even a year old yet!

Re: worried --- like maybe the printer "locks" itself up when it detects that the carts are "supposed" to be empty... I seem to remember a friend of mine talking about this but I'm not sure if there's any truth in it.

 

[panos]

No, don't worry. You just won't be able to reset them with the current redsetter.

Did you find any official info about the capacity of the cartridges?

What happened to the IP3300 ? Did it break ?

 

[lin]

I don't care for the chip resetter so long as the printer continues printing EVEN with "drained/empty" ink tanks. I've never reset my 3300 carts and I use the Eyeball Mk II method to verify ink levels.

pharmacist, what do you mean about the chip being programmed differently? Is that just for the chip resetter? Or should I be worried about something? Also, what do you mean "nothing has changed"??

Any idea how much ink can the tanks store? My current tanks can take approx. 7ml of ink in the reservoir.

IP3680 , PGI-820 - 19ml , CLI-821 - 9ml

Yes, certainly you can eyeball the ink levels, but bear in mind, if you remove the cartridges to check the ink level, the printer will perform a light purge cleaning to pull the ink into the printhead whenever the cartridges are removed and replaced back. That will mean frequent refilling. Alternatively, maybe is to go back to inkmon software like previously some people were used to.

And depending on your region, you may find it hard to get the waste ink full cleared should you encounter this in the future without having go to the Canon Center as they currently uses software to do so. And they will most likely insist there is a necessity to replace the waste ink absorber pad and will charge you a fee equivalent to buying a new printer to replace those pad apart from resetting the waste ink full message.

Some region may be more fortunate, where they could probably register for the software instead of bring back to Canon Center.

But I don't think there is any choice since the previous series had been discontinued and at some region those previous series printer are difficult to find.

Hopefully maybe someone who has the utility software will share it in the future.

 

[alexandereci]

No info on the carts capacity, and I doubt what lin has posted. Like I said, I fill an empty reservoir with 7ml of ink with my current carts, the 821 carts are said to be smaller, so I doubt a capacity of 9ml. Maybe that's with a totally virgin cart with the dry sponge?

The 3300 is faulty... when printing a test page, it prints one band of black and two bands of each color, the first band being darker than the second. My problem is with the cyan. At first, the second band lost the lower half of that band... that's okay, I can still print when set to high settings. Now, the second band is totally gone, and the first band now lost its lower half. Grayscale is the only option for me, since printing in color gives me a yellowish tint to things since I guess the cyan isn't firing to "balance" out the colors.

 

[lin]

No info on the carts capacity, and I doubt what lin has posted. Like I said, I fill an empty reservoir with 7ml of ink with my current carts, the 821 carts are said to be smaller, so I doubt a capacity of 9ml. Maybe that's with a totally virgin cart with the dry sponge?

The 3300 is faulty... when printing a test page, it prints one band of black and two bands of each color, the first band being darker than the second. My problem is with the cyan. At first, the second band lost the lower half of that band... that's okay, I can still print when set to high settings. Now, the second band is totally gone, and the first band now lost its lower half. Grayscale is the only option for me, since printing in color gives me a yellowish tint to things since I guess the cyan isn't firing to "balance" out the colors.

You don't have to believe me. The PGI-820 - 19ml , CLI-821 - 9ml are what were written on the box. I didn't said that is the amount you should refill. You don't need to believe me as well as what the box had written.