Recommendations

[Caprock]

Hello,
My Canon MP610 just died this weekend (bad power adapter). I had been filling the OEM carts with ink from Hobbicolors using the German Durchstich method and have been happy with the results. Rather than repairing my old printer, I decided to order a new MG7120 which uses the newer CLI-251 & PGI-250 Carts. I have a couple of questions that I would like to ask you pro's. I plan on purchasing some aftermarket carts with ARC chips. Can you guys recommend a good source / brand of cart? From what I have read, there appears to be two generations of ARC chips and if I understand correctly, the newer ones will reset themselves and will allow the printer to show actual ink levels of the carts, is this correct? Finally, I will probably stick with Hobbicolors ink since it has worked good for me for years. However, I am considering Precision Colors. Do you guys have any recommendations? Thanks, Mike

 

[The Hat]

Hi
I am sorry to hear of your loss, but maybe you could pick up another MP 610 somewhere and use it for spare parts to revive your trusty old MP610 again.

The MG7120 is a nice little printer and I hope your happy with it, but don’t be tempted to upgrade your firmware on the printer ever, there are two types of compatible carts for that printer, the ones you need are the latest version which have ARC’s fitted and the older ones only have one time chips, how to tell them apart is anyone’s guess, just be careful where you buy them.

You might be better off getting your new ink from Precisioncolor because the ink set for the MG7120 is slightly different than the MP610, that’s only if you care about colour accuracy, if we knew where you are then that would make things a little easier..

 

[Caprock]

Hello,
Thanks for the quick reply. To answer your question, I live in Texas.

Do you believe that Hobbicolors has changed their formulation for the newer cartridges? I have sent the Hobbicolors distributer this question, but have not yet heard back.

There are so many sellers of inks and cartridges for these Canon printers that it is a little confusing which one may be better than others. If I recall, doesn't Canon uses a two part sponge. It appears that all of these second source cartridge manufactures use a single sponge which I wouldn't think would be as good, but just don't know??

I'll take your advice about the firmware. I don't want to mess up a good thing. It sounds like you made this comment from experience.

Thanks, Mike

 

[PeterBJ]

Unlike earlier generations of Canon OEM cartridges, the PGI-250/CLI-251 cartridges are not suitable for refill, as no resetter for these cartridges exists, and probably never will. The chips might be of the single use type, making reset impossible. You can disable ink level monitoring and use refilled cartridges, but as the cartridges are opaque, visual inspection of ink levels is not an option.

Canon OEM cartridges use a patented two part sponge made from a fibrous material, making them superior for refill. 3rd party cartridges use a single sponge made from a foam material. Some 3rd party cartridges are better than others, and mikling from precisioncolors is doing tests to find a compatible refillable cartridge with ARC chip, that can be recommended, see this post, from this thread. Precisioncolors sell an inkset for your printer, and you could use the contact info from their website to ask about compatible cartridges. The Image Specialists or IS brand sold by Precisioncolors in Canada and Octoinkjet in UK is recommended by many forum members.

Epson OEM cartridges are next to impossible to refill, So Epson owners have used compatible cartridges with ARC chips for years, and Epson fights back with firmware upgrades that render the ARC chips useless. Canon might start doing the same. It has also been speculated that firmware upgrades for a Canon printer might prevent users from entering service mode, even if the it was possible before a firmware upgrade.

 

[Caprock]

Thank you Peter for the information and the links.

It appears that Mikling has done some good tests on 3rd party cartridges. I am hoping that he chimes in on a reply that I made on one of the links that you posted above.

From what I have gathered, it appears that the ARC chips for these carts are coming from China and the resellers are vague about their function.

 

[mikling]

The ARC chipped aftermarket that I now stock for the 250/251.

Allow the optical sensor to warn of low ink. Yes.
Allow the cartridge to issue yellow warning about low ink level. Yes
Allow the cartridge to proceed to red empty warning. Yes.
When removed, refilled of course, and then replaced, the ink level function will reset to FULL. Yes.
Will retain, the intermediate ink levels when the printer is shut off, shut down, power cycled etc. Like an OEM chip. Yes.

In all aspects it behaves like an OEM chips. The ink flow is working well and there are no leaks in the intermediate wall betweeen tank and sponge. Yes.
The sponge is not of fiber and no long term tests have been done except that I have used it for months on my MG5420 and MG6320. The first two generations were inadequate in performance and chip function. The hard test is photo printing with no starvation and these pass those tests. Not all aftermarkets perform the same in this test.

So far this is the best answer to these printers 250/251 despite having no resetters.

 

[stratman]

@mikling -- where are these ARC chipped compatibles offered on your website Precision Colors? Looked around but did not see them.

 

[Caprock]

Mickling, What you have sounds like a good solution. How can I go about getting a set of these? Thanks, Mike

 

[mikling]

I have been so busy with one thing after another. Will do listing today after shipping some goods, buying parts to fix a broken toilet (WC__You know how important that thing is!). Installing said parts. Our unit was retrofitted with a "Water Saver adaptation". Works like crap and finally broke.Gotta get er fixed.

 

[mikling]

@mikling -- where are these ARC chipped compatibles offered on your website Precision Colors? Looked around but did not see them.

http://www.precisioncolors.com/C6Ecart.html
http://www.precisioncolors.com/C5Ecart.html

Got the above loaded BUT the WC has to wait till tomorrow. Will continue to use a chain for a while. Remember the ones that had the tanks high up on the wall?