What 3rd Party Ink?

[mccoady]

I have a Canon ip5000 and also will buy a Canon ip5200 or ip4200 and I'm looking for a good non OEM ink. I am not interested in refilling cartridges but just want a good ink that will print close to OEM without having to tweek settings, just click and print. Anything that could be recommended?

 

[Nifty]

Hi mccoady, welcome to the forum.

Your question is a hard one.... similar to "What is the best restaurant." Lots of variables to keep in mind and lots of opinions too.

I suggest you check out this link here: http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=316 and start searching the forums for comments and recommendations made by some of our wonderful 900+ members.

Good luck and keep us posted with what you find works for you.

 

[Osage]

To mccoady,

In terms of third party non-oem cartridge suppliers for the ip5000, there are a large number of those------some very good and others with some issues that have been noted on these forums.-----all these suppliers use some flavor of non-canon inks. But, bottom line---you can choose any third party non-oem cartridges vendors---pop in
one of these non-oem Canon prefilled cartridge--and print.----and if the ink they use is not far off of Canon OEM ink color balance you may not even notice any difference or have to change printer settings-----at least in the case of the ip5000.
Or you could refill your own cartridges with similar cautions---just don't get something far away from Canon OEM color balance.-----but either of these options in the ip5000 have saving that are too compelling to pass up.

With the new chipped Canon's like the ip4200&ip5200-----the using third party non-oem prefilled cartridge option is totally taken away from you--at least until a workaround is found for the new chips.-----you can still refill with some added pain but that nice option of using third party prefilled cartridges simply is not possible at present---so bless the ip5000 you have---its not chipped.

Just posting this responce to make sure you understand what added curses you buy when you get a new chipped Canon model.

 

[fotofreek]

mccoady - For the ip5000, the three most popular inks I've seen posted here are Formulabs, MIS, and Hobbicolors. Someone recently noted that Computer Friends bulk ink prices have come down to be competative with the others and that they were quite good also. Many people refill with any of these inks and just do a little tweaking to adjust the color balance if they think it is necessary. Those who are most particular about the color rendition do custom profiles. Important then to do a proper calibration of your monitor as well. If you need another printer ASAP and want to refill carts I would try to find another ip5000, 4000, or any other printer in that series. Most of us expect that aftermarket carts/inks/chip resetters will eventually hit the aftermarket ink marketplace in the near future.

 

[websnail]

Most of us expect that aftermarket carts/inks/chip resetters will eventually hit the aftermarket ink marketplace in the near future.

I hate to say it but from what I've been hearing direct from an aftermarker manufacturer, that's unlikely... The guesstimate I got from my source was closer to 9 months. Since then I've heard odd mutterings on the web about high level encryption of the chip data.

 

[klubber]

I compare this to the mod chips of the game consoles out on the market. For years the original playstation had a chip that required 5-7 wires to be soldered to the mother board and then you could copy games to a normal cd and then play the game backup. Then came the PS2. It took almost a year before a chip was available and you needed to solder 23 wires. Now there are solderless versions and different work arounds. If there is aftermarket money to be made, someone is working on the answer despite the encryption. Only one person will need to break the encryption and the market will be flooded.

 

[Osage]

Gotta agree with Klubber and also websnail-----breaking that chip is not going to be easy.----they have been at it for better than six months now and no answer yet.

But I am still wondering if the better answer is breaking the Canon software itself.
Decompile the program----and reset the ink nozzle counts to near infinite---or just telling the software to ignore the chip--you still lose ink level monitoring ---and could not be done on a profit basis---but making such a program freely available might be another way to go in terms of opening the flood gates.

This type of programming should be within the ability of any competent software hacker type---and then could be released as open source------OEM Canon software
tweaked some to remove its anti-consumer elements.------there may be more than one way to skin a cat.-----if the front door is locked try the back door.

In the event the Canon software is broken on a non profit basis---what could Canon do to stop it?--------I can just see them taking this to court and asking the court to protect their INALIENABLE right to rip off consumers.

 

[mccoady]

mccoady - For the ip5000, the three most popular inks I've seen posted here are Formulabs, MIS, and Hobbicolors.

Thanks for the replies. I'm really not interested in refilling cartridges but just want a good 3rd party prefilled ink cartridge that doesn't cost as much as OEM and looks good. So I guess you're all saying I just need to go to Formulabs, MIS or Hobbicolors website and order their cartridges and any of the three will probably look pretty good with my ip5000 and maybe without any (or little) tweeking. I actually probably wouldn't know how to tweek it without making it worse.

Also good to know about Canon's new chipped cartridges, I think I will hold off awhile before buying a new ip4200 or ip5200.

 

[klubber]

Mccoady,

I recently spoke to Joe at alotofthings.com and he reccommended Pro Color inks as a formulab cartridge from their sight. If you were to get into refilling the carts then he said they are relatively easy to work with. I am awaiting my first order and will post a review as soon as I can.

 

[drc023]

If you are dealing with Canon printers prior to the latest level using the chipped cartridges, no tweaking is necessary. While there a are multitude of aftermarket BCI-3/6 tanks available for these models, the advice you've been given about refilling with any one of the three bulk inks mentioned - Formulabs, MIS (actually Image Specialists ink) or HobbiColors is the most reliable. Refilling these cartridges, especially if you get a HobbiColors refill kit, is very easy. Most third party tanks are OK, but with bulk ink from these three sources you know exactly what is being used and you have assurance that the ink is from a highly reputable source.