Peripherals forum: Brand compatable ink cartridges

I've used different brands in a Canon printer for over a couple of years now. Provided the inks in them aren't water based they seem to work for text printing on ordinary copy paper. When it comes to photo printing however, I find that only the original Canon cartridges give satisfactory results.

I recently had to have my print head on my Canon MFP50 replaced due to cloging. I was told that it was due to using cheap inks. I was also told that only Canon has ink that has the "alcohol?" in it and the others are all water based, which is what caused my problem. Are there any replacement inks that ARE compatible that contain the same ingredients as Canon's?

Thanks, also is it true that leaving the printer on constantly causes printer problems, etc? I have been leaving my Canon MPF50 on, as once I turn it off, I can't print automatically when I turn it back on. Once I turn off then back on when needed, I have to restart my computer to get the printer back on line. So I found it easier to leave on always. Does this cause problems? Thanks-patsy

Ive used tem on my old Lexmark and now on my canon
and I've had no problems with them in factI found they were every bit a good as the originals
AND COST A LOT LESS
postie

I must admit that I have never tried compatable cartridges, but I have been refilling my own for in excess of 12 months. I run 2 H.P printers, a 940c and a 7350. Most of my printing is A5 or A4 colour prints working with an inital file size of about 2.1Mb before editing. I use the 940c for printing most photos and I have compared the same print with a new Manufactures cartridge and a Manufactures original cartridge that had been refilled, provided you set up the alignment correctly I find it impossible to tell which photo has been printed with the refill. I would suggest that you try different inks as there is a difference in the print quality depending on which brand of refill you use. I normally discard the cartridge after 4 refills as there is a reduction in print quality after 5 or 6 refills. In the near future I plan to change to one of the Lexmark range that has seperate ink tanks because they are easier to refill.

I am a high volume user, over 11,000 prints a year. On my Canon i550 I refilled my cartridges at a fraction of the cost with no problems regarding printing quality at all and no damage to the printers. When I changed to the i560 and new i3000, I burned out 5 printers in two months. I did a viscosity test on the major (compatable ink) retail suppliers and two bulk ink suppliers and found them incompatable with the "6" series inks / printers from Canon. The "3" series is a 4 picolitre dot size ink and the "6" series is a 2 picolitre size. Inks from Korecto-type, Staples, Island Inkjet etc as well as the two bulk suppliers I use came in at an average of 3.7-4.02 picolitres in size. The compatables are too thick for the newer Canon printers. I spend over $300.00 a year testing inks and paper stocks trying to get the best quality vs price combination. This summer alone I had to spend an extra $3,000.00+ on ink and that is with a 35% discount from Staples.
NB: Canon will not sell me ink (directly) as I am not a retailer. I am a licensed manufacturer and no, I will not spend thousands on "professional" printing equipment as printer technology changes / improves too rapidly to be cost effective. I buy my printers from Future Shop (Best Buy in the US) because of the (all perils) replacement warranty.

Haven't tried overstock.com (got to see if they deliver North of the 49th). I'll check'em out now

I have bougnt two different compatable type ink cartridges for my Epson C84.
1) The colors where not true.
2) They did not last as long (About 33% of the life)
3) I was cleanig the jets once a week.
4) They did not really fit properly.
5) They dried up quickly

They where not worth the time or the money.
There was not name on either brand, all the ads said is they where 100% compatable.
This was a bad experience for me and I will not try this again.

I have had bad experiences with these. I have tried a few brands (sorry, i cant remember the names). The first couple of brands just gave bad printing quality, some worse tha others, but generally washed out colours and the heads needed cleaning after 10-15 pages.

The final brand i tried has put me off from ever using unbranded products. The first time i printed (in colour), only the cyan was printed. I then cleaned the head and tried again. This time i had what can only be described as a huge messy blob of orange ink. This clogged up the insides of my printer requiring quite a bit of cleaning, and rendered the cartrige useless.

I have had none of these problems with the branded cartriges.

Ok, where do I start, firstly InkJet Printers, there are two methods used for InkJet Printing,

Thermal inkjet printer, used by hp and Canon In a thermal inkjet printer, tiny resistors create heat, and this heat vaporizes ink to create a bubble. As the bubble expands, some of the ink is pushed out of a nozzle onto the paper. When the bubble "pops" (collapses), a vacuum is created. This pulls more ink into the print head from the cartridge.

Piezoelectric, used by Epson and Lexmark an electric charge is applied to a crystal located behind each nozzle this vibrates, which forces a small amount of ink to be expelled.

Why is this relevant? The Piezoelectric method has a flaw, because it doesnt use the bubble effect air is drawn back into the ink chamber when the electric charge is removed. The only way the printer has to expel this air is to empty all the ink cells and refill them from the cartridge, this is why when you first turn on a Epson or Lexmark printer you will hear it printing but not on paper, they are emptying the ink cells onto a foam mat in the bed of the printer, this has the effect of reducing the lifespan of the cartridges.

Replacement InkJet cartridges / refills
Firstly, around 70% of the technology behind your printer sits in the ink cartridge / toner cartridge, you have to ask yourself was it worth buying this expensive printer just to put in third party consumerables, if you are using a more basic machine then this isnt a concern.
Secondly these dont invalidate your warranty unless their use damages the printer. If the refills dont leak and if the replacement is truly compatible then there is no cause for concern. If you are using a cheap personal inkjet printer, currently available for ~ 35 (~$45) then there really is nothing to lose, however I would have grave concerns about using refills in a more expensive machine, business InkJet or LaserJet.
Refilling Toner Cartridges. There is another point to make here, if you are thinking of refilling your expired toner cartridge you have to understand how toner works. Toner particles are so small they cant be contained within the plastic of the cartridge without the assistance of opposing charge; the container is charged opposite to the toner this has the magnetic bottle effect that keeps the toner inside the cartridge. Furthermore the incredibly small size of the toner particles has an inherent danger, the particles are so small they can pass through pours in the skin giving toner its carcinogenic effect.

Conclusions:
Refills / Compatibles, if you are using a cheap machine, especially if it is outside its warranty why not give them a try, there really is nothing to loose. If you are using a more expensive machine then you will have bought it for the features contained within the print cartridge and it would be a false economy to use third party alternatives. Laser technology is the same, if you are using a cheap machine, especially if it is outside its warranty you could give the compatibles a try but I would not advise drilling and refilling toner cartridges.
If you want to print cheaply with manufactures consumerable then Canon is you best bet, if you are looking for a business inkjet to push the cost down then you have to go to hp. Because of the wasteful technology behind the Epson and Lexmark printers I am unable to recommend these machines.

Could you please tell me who you have used and would recommend? I have tried a refill kit before and had a lot of problems, but would to save money if there was a relaible company. Thanks!

Plenty of success. Just remember to refill well before ink run completely out, and take precausions,(fill very slowly, don't overfill, use newspapers and also paper towel for wiping print heads).

I have been using an EPSON Stylus Color 600 for X years and had listened to the warning about it messes up your printer using compatable cartridges.
Admittedly I am not fussy, but have found no discernable difference using compatable cartridges which cost me a qtr. of the Epson price. Anyway they are practically giving you a printer nowadays for little and ripping you off on the price of the cartridges.

I have been buying ink cartridges on EBay for a number of printers (as I upgrade) and have never had a problem with any. I can't vouch for the capacity of them as I don't make any comparison, but it's not noticable.

I also have bought on EBay the lazer cartridge powder that you install in your existing cartridge. It also lasted satisfactorily at $10 vs $80. The filling may seem daunting at first but if you follow the directions it works and I am not the best fixer in the world.

I have never taken on the cartridge ink fillers for the ink jet printers.

Having bought in one purchase two black and one color cartridges for my HP DeskJet 870 Cxi printer, I've found that one of the black and the color cartridge were completely unusable--no print whatsoever, as if empty. The vendor, PrintPal, of Medford, OR has refused to make a refund, since my complaint came beyond the 180-day limit to their warranty. Referral to the Better Business Bureau in that community has not brought a modification of PrintPal's refusal to stand behind their product. Based on this experience, I'd strongly advise everyone to avoid purchase of anything from PrintPal. Incidentally, a recent article in Consumer Reports publication indicates that in general these off-brand substitutes do not perform as well as the standard brand replacements.