Printer Ink

Kevin!

I bought a Canon MG4150 today, I had presumed that it was possible to buy compatible ink as opposed to the genuine canon stuff but I cant seem to find any on the internet?

With my old Epson printer, cartridges could be sourced for 1-2euro online..?

Thanks

rob316

Hate to be the barer of bad news mate but that printer takes print headed cartridges. No compatibles im afraid your options are refills but in my experience ( im in this trade) canon refills are really poor.

My advice send it back if you can and get a brother, epson or upgrade to a canon that takes ink tanks (single inks).

That canon will rob you in the long run.

Kevin!

rob316 wrote: »

Hate to be the barer of bad news mate but that printer takes print headed cartridges. No compatibles im afraid your options are refills but in my experience ( im in this trade) canon refills are really poor.

My advice send it back if you can and get a brother, epson or upgrade to a canon that takes ink tanks (single inks).

That canon will rob you in the long run.

Thanks for the advise mate but really not what I wanted to hear :L have the printer open and everything I doubt they'd be willing to take it back?

EDIT: as horrible as this idea is, I might just have to buy another printer once this one runs out of ink - what would you recommend for cheap cartridges?

rob316

Try pack it back up as best you can maybe..Take it back and ask could you pay the extra for the mg5150, that takes the 525/526 ink tanks which you should pick up fairly cheap about in compatibles.

rob316

KEvin, just saw your edit there. Me and the company work for sell Brother to our customers, 2 reasons good quality machine and you will have zero problems with using cheap ink. You will never see them really on sale in most places as the cost is much higher than the €29 canon all in one you'll find in Tesco and the like. €99 doesnt have the same appeal as €29!

Hp inkjet printers printers are good but overly complex and have mostly print headed cartridges also. Although you can get ones that take just chipped ink tanks such as the 364 and 920 cartridges.

Epson I would avoid to be honest, the older models were great but the latest I find are cheaply made, and we encountered alot of compatibilty issues with genuine and compatible cartridges. Not to mention they seem to drink ink.

Canon are great if you pick up a single ink like the mg5150. I have an old pixma canon that takes the 520/521 ink tanks and its brilliant for compatibles and would print a very high quality photo.

Hope all this helps and cut your losses on the mg4150 is your best choice if you can't take it back.

Kevin!

rob316 wrote: »

KEvin, just saw your edit there. Me and the company work for sell Brother to our customers, 2 reasons good quality machine and you will have zero problems with using cheap ink. You will never see them really on sale in most places as the cost is much higher than the €29 canon all in one you'll find in Tesco and the like. €99 doesnt have the same appeal as €29!

Hp inkjet printers printers are good but overly complex and have mostly print headed cartridges also. Although you can get ones that take just chipped ink tanks such as the 364 and 920 cartridges.

Epson I would avoid to be honest, the older models were great but the latest I find are cheaply made, and we encountered alot of compatibilty issues with genuine and compatible cartridges. Not to mention they seem to drink ink.

Canon are great if you pick up a single ink like the mg5150. I have an old pixma canon that takes the 520/521 ink tanks and its brilliant for compatibles and would print a very high quality photo.

Hope all this helps and cut your losses on the mg4150 is your best choice if you can't take it back.

Thanks for your detailed reply Rob, the help is greatly appreciated!

Regarding the brother printer: what model would you recommend? I had seen some brother printers today but they appeared to be laser based.

I'll try to pack it up I suppose but I'd be doing very well for them to take it back considering the cartridges are installed, I'll have a look at it in the morning :L

EDIT: Posted on adverts if someone wants to save 20e on a brand new printer... http://www.adverts.ie/other-electronics/canon-mg4150-brand-new-70e-in-pc-world-wifi-enabled-lcd-display/2122505

rob316

no problem Kevin. Hmm recommend...what are your requirements in a printer?

Kevin!

rob316 wrote: »

no problem Kevin. Hmm recommend...what are your requirements in a printer?

A color printer with cheap ink, reasonably fast - quality doesn't have to be superb but decent

Mainly for documents, not really for photographs etc

thanks

rob316

I'd go for a Brother J525W,all in one its simple, wireless, does about 25ppm colour and 32 b/w. It takes the LC1240 so you'll be able to find those fairly cheap around the place

cormie

I'm going to have to buy another batch of ink cartridges for my canon MP620. It gets very very occasional use but it seems that I get to print very little. It can be deceiving due to the infrequency of printing, that I think the cartridges are lasting long, but I imagine I'm getting very little use out of them.

Would a lazer printer be worth it in the long run? I don't have the space for something huge and I want the same features as the mp620 (scanner, copier and wireless).

rob316

Cormie, the MP620 takes the 520/521 ink tanks should be very cheap to run if your using compatibles and you really should be. One of my own printers takes similar and is very economical.

Colour laser multifunction is a bit of a jump in size and running costs. I'd only go for one if your planning on doing volume printing.

An example:
HP Laserjet Pro 100 M175nw Wireless would cost you about €330 and then a set of compatible toners would be about €100 and those toners would be small coming in about 1000 page yield per toner

cormie

Thanks a lot rob, here is a copy of my last order:

CLI-521CMY Original Canon CLI-521 Colour Value Pack 9ml 1 x C/M/Y 1 €30.52
CLI-521BK Original Canon CLI521 Black Ink Cartridge 1 €11.60
PGI-520BK Original Canon PGI520 Black Ink Cartridge 1 €13.39
Net Order Value €45.88
Total VAT €9.63
Total Order Value €55.51

The last time I ordered was March 2011, the time before that, Feb 2010. So the ink is only lasting about a year but I'm really printing very little within that time. I'd be surprised if I printed more than 100 sheets a year.

Do you use compatibles? Is there not an issue with the chips and quality of them that they might mess the printer up?

kopykat

Hi sorry piggyback this post but you guys seem to know your printers. I want to buy a basic printer, doesnt have to be a 3 in 1, not for photos but just reasonable colour. It has to be able to be either converted to using a Continuous Ink System or refillable cartridges. Are there any printers on the market at the moment that fill the bill?

Kevin!

rob316 wrote: »

I'd go for a Brother J525W,all in one its simple, wireless, does about 25ppm colour and 32 b/w. It takes the LC1240 so you'll be able to find those fairly cheap around the place

http://www.vikingdirect.ie/catalog/catalogSku.do?id=QD9-5744250&cm_cat=2000000371

is this the best price dya reccon? (it's ex-VAT)

thanks

rob316

Bit cheaper here Kevin,
https://www.inkmaestro.ie/Brother-DCP-J525W-Colour-Inkjet-MFC-with-WiFi-DCP-J525W-i15292-t12521.html

rob316

cormie wrote: »

Thanks a lot rob, here is a copy of my last order:



The last time I ordered was March 2011, the time before that, Feb 2010. So the ink is only lasting about a year but I'm really printing very little within that time. I'd be surprised if I printed more than 100 sheets a year.

Do you use compatibles? Is there not an issue with the chips and quality of them that they might mess the printer up?

I have an IP3600 that takes the same ink I use it for photos and I have never had any problems. Now I am speaking for my company cartridges I cant really comment on the quality of other compatibles saying that there is some ****e out there. You could pick up a set retail for €20/€25 and I'd imagine even cheaper on ebay or amazon.

PGI520Bk is a decent cartridge you should be getting alot more than 100 pages from it. I suspect the cartridges might be drying up from infrequent use and a bit of ink might be used when the printer does an automatic clean of the printhead.

An inkjet printer used regularly always performs the best and will give the best print yields.

rob316

kopykat wrote: »

Hi sorry piggyback this post but you guys seem to know your printers. I want to buy a basic printer, doesnt have to be a 3 in 1, not for photos but just reasonable colour. It has to be able to be either converted to using a Continuous Ink System or refillable cartridges. Are there any printers on the market at the moment that fill the bill?

I dont know a whole pile on CISS but I would go for a brother dcp-j315w, its the entry level wireless 3 in 1 from them. I have one also (I have alot of printers) does the job and is cheap to run.

Check out youtube for a video of the CISS system thats usually the best place to look. For the J315W your looking for a LC985 CISS

In terms of not wanting a 3 in 1 your options arent great. HP is printheaded, Canon is printheaded, epson isnt but the build quality of the bog standard printer is not good, so Brother is your best bet.

cormie

rob316 wrote: »

I have an IP3600 that takes the same ink I use it for photos and I have never had any problems. Now I am speaking for my company cartridges I cant really comment on the quality of other compatibles saying that there is some ****e out there. You could pick up a set retail for €20/€25 and I'd imagine even cheaper on ebay or amazon.

PGI520Bk is a decent cartridge you should be getting alot more than 100 pages from it. I suspect the cartridges might be drying up from infrequent use and a bit of ink might be used when the printer does an automatic clean of the printhead.

An inkjet printer used regularly always performs the best and will give the best print yields.

Thanks again Rob, yeah I read before that infrequent use and the automatic printhead clean is what's using up the ink. I'm sure if I was frequently using it, I'd be getting a lot more pages than when it's spread out over the year.

Are you saying that you have a company that specialise in compatibles? If so, could you PM me a price and order information for the full set as I need to order soon and would like to give them a shot. If they are the same quality with the chips etc then I'd be likely to keep buying from you over the next few years, although not much as you know

kopykat

rob316 wrote: »

I dont know a whole pile on CISS but I would go for a brother dcp-j315w, its the entry level wireless 3 in 1 from them. I have one also (I have alot of printers) does the job and is cheap to run.

Check out youtube for a video of the CISS system thats usually the best place to look. For the J315W your looking for a LC985 CISS

In terms of not wanting a 3 in 1 your options arent great. HP is printheaded, Canon is printheaded, epson isnt but the build quality of the bog standard printer is not good, so Brother is your best bet.

Thanks Rob, I have an old Epson R220 and had a CISS for a good few years (very economical) then it stopped and I got empty refillable cartridges instead that I refill myself which are still economical but not as practical. The Printer is probably coming to end of life so I need to look out for a replacement. One thing I forgot to mention is the Epson can print on cd/dvd discs which is very usefull, would you know anything about best options available on that front?

rob316

kopykat wrote: »

Thanks Rob, I have an old Epson R220 and had a CISS for a good few years (very economical) then it stopped and I got empty refillable cartridges instead that I refill myself which are still economical but not as practical. The Printer is probably coming to end of life so I need to look out for a replacement. One thing I forgot to mention is the Epson can print on cd/dvd discs which is very usefull, would you know anything about best options available on that front?

Kopykat, if you want direct to disc print you can get an epson, I don't want to seem harsh on Epson but they just arent built like they used to be. The R220 is a monster of a printer if I can remember correctly, a fine example of Epson's previous build quality.

I sell this one for €129 its a Canon MG5350 but they seem to have a decent price here @ €88 http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/10668608/art/canon/mg5350-wireless-pixma-ink.html

You can get the CISS system from here http://www.cityinkexpress.co.uk/ciss/canon/mg5350/mg-series/empty

Canon cant be touched on print quality, I love Brother for economy and simplicity but Canon is the best in my book for print quality.

Blade

rob316 wrote: »

I sell this one for €129 its a Canon MG5350 but they seem to have a decent price here @ €88 http://www.pixmania.ie/ie/uk/10668608/art/canon/mg5350-wireless-pixma-ink.html

You can get the CISS system from here http://www.cityinkexpress.co.uk/ciss/canon/mg5350/mg-series/empty

That's the one I have and I can highly recommend it. Does the direct disc printing too that someone was asking about. High res on the printing. I checked reviews before buying it and it always got top marks. The only thing I will say is that it's shiny surface smudges and attracts dust very quickly, so I bought a cover for mine.

It's a 5 ink system which is great as you just replace the ones that run out, so it's more economical and the inks are cheaper than the single colour cartridges. Not sure I'd bother with the CISS system, I got dirt cheap chipped compatibles for it that work perfectly. You can get it from Amazon for around the same price with free delivery:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Canon-MG5350-Colour-Printer-Duplex/dp/B005I9JQRG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348921850&sr=8-1

kopykat

Thanks Rob316 & Blade, that very helpful.

alamo

Hi, has anyone heard of the company Direct 121, uk pased company that sells ink for printers. I ordered ink from them. they gave me the impression that it was HP approved ink cartrage. Turned out not to be the case. When I emailed them that I was returning it I got very abusive phone calls.