Self Confessed Sceptic!

[Nifty]

Personally I believe that non OEM inks and cartridges don't perform as well as OEM inks and cartridges... BUT I believe that I've consistently, over the past 5+ years of refilling, received performance that is at least 85% - 95% as good as OEM in Canon, Lexmark, and HP printers.

In my opinion using 3rd party cartridges and/or bulk ink and getting a 5% - 15% reduction in "quality" (color match, longevity, non-clogging, etc.) is worth an 80% - 90% reduction in cost.

 

[laserman]

That's entirely reasonable. I was specifically referring to clogs as opposed to colour matching etc. My experience is mainly with printer failures and I have little experience with quality of output other than as a keen user. Your summary is spot on in my opinion.

 

[RC]

As far as people with printhead problems on this forum I find nothing unusual about that. I have had clogging problems with OEM cartridges and NON-OEM ones. The difference is that on this forum you will find people that are willing and ready to help, instead of sending you to a canon authorized repair location for a soaking. I have found more outright and sincere help here that from any manufacturer.

As for third party inks, I dont know who you have purchased in the past, but find plenty of choices where manufacturers and ink types are disclosed.

When using OEM ink on my Canon i960, I and many others get a reddish-magenta color shift, I personally dont like that.

Another thing I dont like is been taken for a fool by many printer manufacturers. Most say that if you dont use their ink and paper the printers life will be shorten and the warranty will be null. That is just plain bull. The only thing that will be shortened if their bottom line.

As for third party inks. Many wide format user are printing with third party inks and are having no problems.

Yes, I have had some problems with some third party inks, but I also have had more success that problems, and the savings are astronomical. I many cases I have been more satisfied with third party inks that OEM ones.

I do not consider myself an aftermarket club member, but I do consider myself an educated and well informed consumer, who is not willing to be made a fool by a printer company.

Robert

 

[hpnetserver]

He said "You be the judge." That's absolutely right and he already made the point. This is a forum of inkjet refilling. If he opposes refilling he can leave now and don't repeat the point again. I believe people who participate in this forum are interested in refilling. They are the judge and have made their decisions to be here.

I am here because I refill and I want to learn from others about their experiences. I want to find who are the best vendors of supplies and who have the best quaility/price and support. Technology is changing fast. New vendors are everywhere. VW beetle was good/excellent at one time. But don't think it is the only choice these days. The choice are the reason I am here. I amd not interested in hearing anything that says "drive the beetle only", specially words saying "only black beetle and nothing else".

 

[fotofreek]

Nifty - In side-by-side photo comparisons it is my opinion that the MIS inks are every bit as good as OEM. I can't speak for longevity of prints or fading, but the prints are beautiful and extremely close to what I see on my monitor.

 

[Nifty]

---------ADMIN REMINDER---------

Just so everyone is aware, I will NOT tolerate heated debates or name calling on my forum and will immediately delete posts and remove users if things get out of hand. This applies to each and every user on this forum. If any of you notice this type of behavior, please point it out to me via EMAIL and NOT by posting comments on the forum!

While I respect differences of opinion, please understand that this forum was created primarily for people who have already decided to refill their cartridges or use 3rd party ink and carts. I don't mind people giving their opinions, but I also won't allow the main objective of the forum, which is to promote and instruct on 3rd party inks and cartridges, to be diluted or altered.

Again, if you have personal problems with a user or their posts, contact ME or them DIRECTLY VIA EMAIL and do NOT post your feelings on this forum. FYI, there is a "Report" feature on every single post that you can use to notify me of problematic posts.

Okay... stepping off my soap box now.

 

[carusoswi]

This looks like an old topic - but I'm a new member, so I will comment from my perspective. In the old days, I used to refill my cartridges (a black and a three-color combo cartridge for a HP 400 C (I think)). Never had any clogs. Invested in an Epson Photo Stylus 800 (also back in the day). For its time, it was a marvelous printer - but was prone to head clogs. I never, ever used anything but Epson inks in it . . . didn't help. Finally had to retire it because I could not unclog the heads.

That Epson 800 was a marvelous paper handler, could take really small bits of paper (like personal check forms). But it was subject to clogging. I should dig it out to see if it still works. Printed some great photos back then when most people in my crowd did not have the capability to do so.

Today, I own a Canon i850, i960, Epson RX380 and RX595. So far, nothing but OEM inks because I haven't taken the time to figure out how to refill them, and, I'm just not organized or preplanned enough to order from refillers online.

However, I have recently purchased a couple of expensive DSLR's, have many shots to print and want to print them. I signed on here to see how I might save on ink costs (and also trouble shoot a problem with my RX595 where it is leaving an intermittent smudge right smack in the middle of some of my prints - talk about waste!).

I will not hesitate to try refilled cartridges. To begin with, the Canon heads are replaceable - don't know what the cost, but they can be removed. Haven't explored how you clean them, but bet that I can find some info on that from this forum as well.

In the end, we should each proceed in the manner most comfortable to us.

Caruso

 

[fotofreek]

yes - measekite is the very same troll who blasts eveyone and everything related to aftermarket inks on a printer newsgroup.. he did sign onto this forum three years ago and do his usual diatribe until he was told that he was welcome to stay only as long as he was not argumentative or confrontational and wished to contribute to the forum with the realization that the purpose of the forum is to help people who have decided to refill their cartreidges and wish to share their experience. no use giving him any exposure here by repeating his old counterproductive posts. since it is a moderated forum, i have taken the liberty to delet the posts that include his nonsense.

 

[ghwellsjr]

This looks like an old topic - but I'm a new member, so I will comment from my perspective. In the old days, I used to refill my cartridges (a black and a three-color combo cartridge for a HP 400 C (I think)). Never had any clogs. Invested in an Epson Photo Stylus 800 (also back in the day). For its time, it was a marvelous printer - but was prone to head clogs. I never, ever used anything but Epson inks in it . . . didn't help. Finally had to retire it because I could not unclog the heads.

That Epson 800 was a marvelous paper handler, could take really small bits of paper (like personal check forms). But it was subject to clogging. I should dig it out to see if it still works. Printed some great photos back then when most people in my crowd did not have the capability to do so.

Today, I own a Canon i850, i960, Epson RX380 and RX595. So far, nothing but OEM inks because I haven't taken the time to figure out how to refill them, and, I'm just not organized or preplanned enough to order from refillers online.

However, I have recently purchased a couple of expensive DSLR's, have many shots to print and want to print them. I signed on here to see how I might save on ink costs (and also trouble shoot a problem with my RX595 where it is leaving an intermittent smudge right smack in the middle of some of my prints - talk about waste!).

I will not hesitate to try refilled cartridges. To begin with, the Canon heads are replaceable - don't know what the cost, but they can be removed. Haven't explored how you clean them, but bet that I can find some info on that from this forum as well.

In the end, we should each proceed in the manner most comfortable to us.

Caruso

I can't speak to your Epson printers but here is a link to the best way to unclog your Canon heads (in my opinion):

http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=17971#p17971

Don't discard any of your Canon cartridges, they are the best to refill. In fact, I would never use any non-Canon cartridges, refilled or not. If you need more Canon cartridges, you can find empties on eBay or if you don't want to learn how to refill just yet, you might be able to get prefilled Canon cartridges--see the bottom line of this post.

 

[derekrock]

CANON PIXMA IP4700 PRINTER.

I have been using Canon's 220/221 ink to do all my personal and commercial photo prints but now, thinking of cheaper but quality alternatives to the ink (cost $85 canadian) per set canon inks. I was thinking of CISS but read on this forum its not the best for canon printers. Am open to CISS, REFILL etc. I print only photos with this printer (5x7 and 8X10) only. There are weeks I print nothing and there are days I print over 100 pictures. Right now, I have 500 8x10 to print and need a cheaper alternative to the gauging high OEM ink.
I also managed to covert my Canadian Printer to a European model to enable CD PRINTING (instead of the lightscribe i have used for years). That means, I will also use the same PIXMA IP4700 for direct disk printing.

I have other brand printers for large format print-up to 33inches.

Please advice me on cheaper but quality options. Any suggestion where i could buy the refill/ciss system?
Thanks