Recommend New Canon Printer

[RWL]

My i860 just died - the magic smoke came out. Sniff.

I'm pretty set on Canon since my experience with them over the years has been good compared to Epsons and HPs, and I've been refilling their cartridges for over 10 years.

Major requirement - ability to refill the cartridges easily, and the ability to reset the chip if the model takes chipped cartridges.

I print mostly documents, but occasionally I'll print photos. I print about once a week or every other week.

Not sure what my quality needs are with regard to 1pl 2pl 5pl print heads. I'll have to let you guys tell me what you see in the prints.

I'm not inclined to spend extra for an all in one since I have a working flatbed scanner, but if there's some advantage to spending the extra $$$, like superior prints or a great buy, I'd consider a multifunction machine.

Wires don't bother me, so I don't need wireless.

I occasionally print sheet music and it would be nice if there were an affordable printer that printed the large 12x18 sheets of paper. I'm know they exist at a price, but thought I'd mention it in case there's an obvious good choice there that's not really that much more expensive.

Canon's got a confusing series of model numbers, so it's hard to explore each one in a reasonable amount of time. The experience of others is a good start on researching what printer I want.

Thanks
RWL

 

[pharmacist]

Refillable A3+ printer at a reasonable price and for your needs: mostyl text and once a while a photo is the Canon IX4000 (sold in Europe): this printer uses 4 cartridge: dye-based CLI-8 cyan/magenta/yellow and pigment-based PGI-5 for crisp black text. It does its work well, and even photo's are reasonable good (even there is no photoblack to improve contrast) and print speed is very good. Six colour CcMmYK printers like the Epson 1400 are better in printing photos, but the lack of pigment black might be a problem to produce sharp en really black text. The Epson 1400 is refillable too or you can even install a CISS-system if you like.

Take otherwise a look at Brother's new A3+ all-in-one printer with cartridges that are refillable and not limited by any chips: the MFC6940CW. For roughly the same price as the Epson 1400 you will have all the extra's like flatbad scanner, copier and fax.

 

[RWL]

Thanks Pharmacist. I note that the Pixma 4000 is no longer available except used - at least at Amazon. It uses 3 colors and one black. Is that using the black to print on photos or is it making black on images by combining the three colors? Since my i860 has a separate black for prints, I'd prefer not to take a step backwards in print quality if the printer is combining colors to make black.

What's the last Canon model to use the BCI-6 tanks?

What's the last model(s) of Canon to use cartridges with chips for which there is a resetter? I understand that Canon has changed the cartridges some time in the recent past, making them smaller and using a different chip that doesn't have a resetter yet.

I looked at the Brother model you cited. I think the printing would be a step backwards in quality and speed from my i860, so despite the large size paper, I don't think that one would be a good choice for me.

RWL

 

[DomtheMon]

You need an ip4500 if you can get one, excellent printer with cli8 and pgi5 cartridges (dye and pigment black carts and cyan, magenta, yellow). Not available off the shelf but you can get fully guaranteed ones off ebay from Canon UK (refurbed but new printhead and carts). You can get cartridge resetter for these.

 

[RWL]

Thanks for the advice guys. After getting your suggesions and looking around the forum I discovered that the MP610 is the same as an i4500 with a scanner attached. The ip4500 printers were more expensive than the MP610 All In One machines. NewEgg has refurbished MP610's for $55, and since one of the Canon techs who posts on another forum said the refurbished units are as good as new, that's what I ordered. Thanks again for your comments.

As an aside. The one comment about the refurbished printer mentions that the one he received does duplex printing, and it isn't mentioned in the Canon advertising. That will be a new feature for me.


RWL

 

[stratman]

Canon MP610 does Duplex Printing and it is a great feature.

Good economical choice. Enjoy!