What is Caon Doing with their new printers

[Trigger 37]

Hello, I'm posting this message to solicite information and FACTUAL data from others on the newer Canon Printers. I want to gather information on each and every printer model they are releasing that use the new CLI-221 chipped ink carts. Also, I want to compare the print quality in terms of performance, resolution, and ink capacity and usage. Finaly I want to document on this web site for all to see, what design changes have been made to lower the cost and as I predict, the quality and total life of these new products.

I have worked on and repair scores of Canon printers, everything since the Multipass 2500, through the entire line of the i Series printers, all of the early Multifunction MPXXX printer, and most all of the iPXXXX printers, all of the S Series printers. All of these printer are very well designed and are built to last. All of the parts to repari any of them are still available from Canon. The quality of these designs are excellent.

Recently I been given several ---New Generation printers--- to repair, and as I have taken them apart I was totally shocked on just how much Canon has degraded the design just for the purpose of reducing the total cost of the printer so they can either give them alway or sell they for such a very low cost, they can now compete with HP in the "Throw away printer Market". As we look at these new ink carts, we see they only provide 2/3 as much ink as the older CLI-8, and even less of the BCI-6 ink carts. Yet the price is even more. It is all about charging more and providing less ink.

If Canon does this to all of their new printers, then the older printers will become much more valuable. I am hoping that Canon continues to make a line of printers that maintian the high performance and Quality of the earlier models, and in fact improve on them rather than degrade them.

So you can see why this information will be valuable to anyone who is looking for a new printer, or need a good high quality printer and they want to keep it for a long time. This is one reason that I purchased 15 Canon iP4200 printer from a salvage company a year ago. They are a very high quality and high performance and durable printer. I've sold about 1/2 of these but still have the rest.

So I would ask that anyone that has any Factual information about any of these model numbers, please post the information to this thread.

 

[yupkime]

Wow ... inkjet printer speculation!! Maybe my ip4000 will soon be valuable enough to pay off the rest of my mortgage!

 

[Smile]

Well

PIXMA Pro9000 costs 849$
PIXMA Pro9000 Mark II 499$

and if you compare the print speed of PIXMA Pro9500 series:

PIXMA Pro9500 11" x 14"(on 13" x 19" paper): approximately 4 minutes
PIXMA Pro9500 Mark II 11" x 14" Photo on 13" x 19" paper: 7 minutes 55 seconds

Who the hell want's to print that slow being a professional??? Did you notice that it got slower with new printer?

So they did screw up professional photo printers too If you remember that they screwed up with their "Mark II" digital cameras it's very obvious that Canon is no more world technology leader and that Canon looses customer respect too.

First it was the chips on carts, now even smaller carts than BCI-6 with ridiculous dark sides so you can't check ink levels.
When everything in IT seems to go forward the printer market for consumers and professional market seems to deteriorate with every generation.

We should already be using gray cartridges in all out "photo" labeled printers and have at least 20ml of ink for every color IMO.

 

[qwertydude]

This is why we refill, if ink was truly affordable there'd be no reason to refill.

 

[Trigger 37]

What I'm hoping for is information from those who actually own these new printers. Since I don't have access to them, I can't do the checking myself.
However, I can tell you what to look for. These are things that I have seen Canon do to LOWER THE TOTAL COST of the product,.. and in my opinion
to reduce it's long term reliability and/or servicability.

1. With cover open, check to see if your new printer has a "Bright Stainless Steel shaft" on which the carriage and the printhead move from left to right.
If you don't see this, let me know. It may have been replace with nothing but a flat edge of sheet metal of the center of the chassis.

2. Look to see if you still see a purge unit where the printhead rests on ink pads. It may still have this but check to see if this is nothing but a sliding sled
that is pushed into position the the carriage is moved to the far right and locked in position.

3. Also, if you notice anything else about the design of the paper path and/or how smooth and quite the operation of the paper is.

 

[Smile]

1. With cover open, check to see if your new printer has a "Bright Stainless Steel shaft" on which the carriage and the printhead move from left to right.
If you don't see this, let me know. It may have been replace with nothing but a flat edge of sheet metal of the center of the chassis.

My older ip1600, and 1900 has this so it's no new as was used in lower quality models. But I heard that ip4600 has this too where the older ip3500 does not.

 

[lin]

The newer models like IP4600 if you need to reset the waste ink full, or print out any EEPROMS info, or extended/details nozzles checks print, in some region, you may be fortunate enough to go Canon and register for the service tool utility program. Some region you may have to bring the printer back to the service center where they will perform the reset for you.

 

[qwertydude]

I have my IP4600 in front of me and I do notice there is no stainless steel rod, it's only a bent sheet metal edge that the carriage rides on. There is a purge unit with tubes leading somewhere underneath the pads, with a squeegee that moves over the print heads to clean liquid ink buildup. Feed mechanism seems alright but the tray is somewhat flimsy and tough to align the paper sometimes.

 

[birdy176]

Trigger:

I just joined this group for the reasons you describe: Canon's declining quality. I have the i4000 and i6000. The latter stopped printing in black recently and a new one would cost twice what I paid 3 years ago. The i4000 works in reverse: Only black prints, no colors. The defect may well be my fault in that I used either sparingly in the past year which may have caused clogging but then what is cleaning for?

Both models are otherwise in pristine shape but repeated cleaning has not brought it back to doing what they were bought for. Since they're already half-dead, would there be any use taking the print heads off and cleaning them manually? The new iP4600 has gotten very mixed reviews and also comes with a new generation of carts. I want to use the BCI type ones I have stocked up because their see-through feature has always been my guide as to when to refill/replace. I have been refilling cartridges ever since HP used the hackneyed warning that doing so would void their warranty. The BCI ones are easy to refill and seal with a hot glue gun.

Neither the i6000 nor i4000 has ever jammed but always produced great images whether 4x6 or 5x7.

Your advice?

 

[fotofreek]

click on the FAQ link at the top of the page and read through the various head cleaning techniques from the first FAQ. the cleaning routines in the printer software do a good job of maintaining the nozzles unless you develop serious clogs. Not using the printers for a long time will produce problems that may require more agressive cleaning. Lots of techniques. Start with the least agessive ones.