Any Pixma iP4000 users?

  • Thread starter Thread starter KnumbKnuts
  • Start date Start date
Burt said:
I have had excellent results with MIS bulk ink refilling OEM carts. Others
report excellent results buying formulabs inks and also prefilled carts
(Arrow brand, not Rainbow) from Alotofthings. Although Meesekite has not
used any of these products, he had posted vitriolic comments about
Alotofthings because, in his view, their web site isn't professional, an
answer to an email was not to his liking, and they only sell thorugh their
ebay store.
Click to expand...

You do have an alternative. Goto 88inkjets.com and you can buy
Formulabs carts. See their website. See the information there. See
how you are encouraged to call their TOLL FREE number. You be the judge.
Read the comments of people who have actually done business
with these companies and can tell you from their own experience. Another
excellent source is Neil Slade's web site. The link is
http://www.neilslade.com/papers/inkjetstuff.html . Read his very long,
run-on info for excellent hands-on information and advice. I followed it
and am very happy. Meesekite is very bright and knowledgeable in many areas,
but he sometimes gives what appears to be informative advice without having
the specific experience to do so. Case in point - third party and refill
inks.
Click to expand...

It is difficult to tell the difference between a FEW good 3rd party inks
and the host of bad ones. It is also difficult to foresee consistency
due to the fact that most carry only a reseller's name and these small
companies usually buy from the lowest bidder; but not all. One thing I
do know is that many people on this site post problems they have with
clogged print heads. And the majority of these people are usually using
3rd party ink. If more of the 3rd party suppliers sold BRANDED 3rd
party ink, for example Formulabs, then you could trace the problems down
to poor brands. I did not use MIS as an example of a BRANDED ink
because I do not know if they are a mfg/formulator or a name given by
inksupply. the Dealer. Burt says that MIS has not been a problem for
you and I believe him; however because of the volume Burt prints,
marginal inks may not pose a problem. I certainly would like to know
if MIS is a mfg/formulator. I would also like to know why inksupply
does NOT sell MIS in their prefilled carts. They sell a noname ink from
China.

Be that as it may, if my Printing volume increases I may be tempted to
buy Formulabs prefilled carts from 88inkjets.com. Currently, they do
not sell bulk ink for Canon and Epson, only for HP. I am not sure that
I would want to go through the work of doing that anyway unless by
volume would justify it. 88inkjets.com can save around 60% to 70% of
OEM depending on where you buy OEM and the quality you buy.
 
And Alotofthings carts are a few cents more than $2 each in sets for your
individual printer. I spoke to Joe, the owner, prior to my purchase of
these carts and he told me that the Arrow carts on his ebay store are filled
with Formulabs inks. They are also refillable and his site sells Formulabs
inks in bulk. I have not yet used the Formulabs inks, but there are a few
people posting to this newsgroup that have used them very successfully. I
have had excellent experience with the MIS inks. I have not purchased their
prefilled carts (not filled with MIS inks) but they had assured me that the
ink in the prefilled carts was as good as the MIS ink. Since I have not
personally used their prefilled carts I can not comment on them. I am
looking forward to using the Alotofthings Arrow carts as I have read
excellent reports on the Formulabs inks that they contain. Look through the
posts on this NG for Ron Cohen and Taliesyn for their comments on the
Formulabs inks and Arrow prefilled carts from Alotofthings. (Taliesyn would
prefer to buy from Alotofthings but they will not ship to Canada.) They
have used these products and can report accurately on the products and the
company from which they were purchased. My purchase from Alotofthings
through ebay went smoothly and the delivery was in just a few days. One of
Meesekite's complaints is that this firm only sells through ebay and he
doesn't want to use the ebay Paypal system. So far, that has not been a
problem for me with several Paypal/ebay purchases. My best advice, however,
is to look at the posts of people who have used the products and also check
out Neil Slade's info. In conclusion, I would add that many of the posts
about head clogs are from people using OEM Canon inks! Infrequent use and
inadequate cleaning or printing of "purge" pages accounts for most of the
clogs. Also, as carts are repeatedly refilled they may not work as well and
must be discarded. I have read of techniques for reviving some of these
marginally functional carts, but I have not yet tried them. Probably best
to occasionally buy new OEM carts and start the refill cycle over for any
color cart that starts to malfunction.
 
measekite said:
The one thing I will agree with you on regarding digital files is that
they are like any other group of digital files. Home users have a
strong tendency of not backing up their work. One worm, bad hard disk
or some other problem, it is GoodBye Files.

Even if they had good backup software like Dantz Retrospect (the best)
that can be put on an automatic schedule at the night and backed up
to a second hard disk and then off loaded from there, most users
would not use it on a regular basis.

So this problem is even worse than lost negatives. With negatives the
user just has to store them someplace reasonable.

On the other side of the coin, negatives do fade but digital files do
not. They are always the same.

Even if you do have a point, I think the Canon IP4000 dye base printer
is better than the Epson. And the i9900 is better than the R800 for
producing the most stunning results. Since the engine of the R1800 is
the same as the R800, I would also include that.
Click to expand...

Isn't it funny...all owners of Epson printers always tend to switch
conversation on fading...i guess it's because they know that life is ONLY
good thinf on Epson printers, so they stick to it like a man in the water
sticks to a piece of wood in order not to drown...
They just can't understand that times has changed over last 50 years...

regarding those who don't keep backups...same users don't keep
negatives...so here is not any difference really...
here is not really any matter if print fades in 2 years or 20 years...result
is exactly the same: you end up without a photo. This is really stupid to
claim, as this could be claiming for each thing, like if you don't keep a
second key, you will sooner or later end up without it.
 
SleeperMan said:
measekite wrote:



Isn't it funny...all owners of Epson printers always tend to switch
conversation on fading...i guess it's because they know that life is ONLY
good thinf on Epson printers, so they stick to it like a man in the water
sticks to a piece of wood in order not to drown...
They just can't understand that times has changed over last 50 years...

regarding those who don't keep backups...same users don't keep
negatives...so here is not any difference really...
Click to expand...


This is where I disagree with you. Users need some degree of
sophistication and computer understanding to properly keep backups and
insure the safety of their work. Keeping negatives does not require any
expertise. Right now I prefer Canon because it is faster, produces
better results, and does NOT have permenant print heads. The PIXMAs
also have duplexing and twin paper feeds and the ink costs far less. (OEM)

However, if they fade (so far mine have not) I may change. In the
future discussions like these may have no significance as technology
will mute the outcry.
 
measekite said:
SleeperMan wrote:



This is where I disagree with you. Users need some degree of
sophistication and computer understanding to properly keep backups and
insure the safety of their work. Keeping negatives does not require
any expertise.
Click to expand...

well, it is desired to keep negatives in some dry, dark place etc...
Also putting blank CDR into the drive and hit copy is pretty simple, in
fact, 6 year old sister's son these days teaches her how to do it...
It's like that - who doesn't know how to do it, he/she has nothing to do
with digital camera.

Or alternative - It's same as in old days some didn't even know how to
insert a film, so they went to a photo shop to put it in and to get it out
later. Same here...you can go to a shop, they will remove your card, make a
copy to CDR (or two, 3 of them), erase card and put it back into camera.

better results, and does NOT have permenant print heads. The PIXMAs
also have duplexing and twin paper feeds and the ink costs far less. (OEM)
However, if they fade (so far mine have not) I may change.
Click to expand...


If they do fade, i'll make another one. As simple as that. I NEVER look
anything regarding fading, only quality vs. price (and this includes printer
price). Period.
 
SleeperMan said:
measekite wrote:



well, it is desired to keep negatives in some dry, dark place etc...
Also putting blank CDR into the drive and hit copy is pretty simple, in
fact, 6 year old sister's son these days teaches her how to do it...
It's like that - who doesn't know how to do it, he/she has nothing to do
with digital camera.

Or alternative - It's same as in old days some didn't even know how to
insert a film, so they went to a photo shop to put it in and to get it out
later. Same here...you can go to a shop, they will remove your card, make a
copy to CDR (or two, 3 of them), erase card and put it back into camera.






If they do fade, i'll make another one. As simple as that. I NEVER look
anything regarding fading, only quality vs. price (and this includes printer
price). Period.
Click to expand...
 
Depending on the brand of the CDR, the media has a finite life. Every 5
to 10 years they will have to be recopied to insure the digital backup.
 
measekite said:
Depending on the brand of the CDR, the media has a finite life. Every 5 to
10 years they will have to be recopied to insure the
digital backup.
Click to expand...

True. That is downside of CDR, once advertising as "infinite lasting"...
But, smart ones makes two or more copies, and also in a period of 5-10 years
CDR's will become obsolete and thus requiring to copy all existing photos on
CDR's on some different media, like bluray, (maybe) DVD, or even some
currently unknown. Same happened with floppies.
But look in this way: if you do re-copy every 5-10 years, then after , say,
50 years you still have a perfect original, while negatives after 50
years... oh, mamma mia... it's hard to copy negatives, impossible without
quality loss.
 
AGREED :-)
measekite wrote:



True. That is downside of CDR, once advertising as "infinite lasting"...
But, smart ones makes two or more copies, and also in a period of 5-10 years
CDR's will become obsolete and thus requiring to copy all existing photos on
CDR's on some different media, like bluray, (maybe) DVD, or even some
currently unknown. Same happened with floppies.
But look in this way: if you do re-copy every 5-10 years, then after , say,
50 years you still have a perfect original, while negatives after 50
years... oh, mamma mia... it's hard to copy negatives, impossible without
quality loss.
Click to expand...
 
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