Robyn said:
My Canon IP1000 gave up the ghost last night. Its beyond repair this
time. I need to choose an inkjet that is easy to refill. I do alot of
printing, colour, black, photos, and buy bulk ink for refilling. The
Canon was pretty easy to refill? I am in Australia, and I need it
today.
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Robyn.
Robyn - Your ip1000 has a black and a tricolor cart. Step up a bit to the
ip4500 with four individual dye-based carts and a large black pigment-based
cart for text (plain paper printing.) Just as easy to refill as the
previous bci-6 carts, and easier than the tri-color cart you've been
refilling. You will lose your ink monitoring function and give up your
warranty, but the savings from refill inks is worth it. These are going for
$100 US, plus or minus, but I don't know what they cost in OZ. You might
find an ip 4200 or ip4300 and save some money, but I've read that the ip4500
is an improvement. For more information, go to the Nifty-stuff forum and
read some of the threads on these chipped cart printers. Because the
aftermarket prefilled carts require that you transfer the chip from the OEM
cart I would stay away from them. It is best to have a backup set of carts
that you have refilled and stored away. I just picked up some empty carts
for refilling at our local Staples store. They have a recycle program and
they discount ink purchases when people bring in certain brands of carts.
Canon carts are not on their list for the discount, but some customers still
bring in their empty Canon carts and leave them. The manager gave me a bag
of Canon empty carts that included lots of bci-6 carts and a dozen or so
cli-8 carts as well. You might be able to pick up your spare chipped empty
carts the same way and save the need to purchase the spare set.
On the Nifty Stuff Forum there is a technique for purging a cart that has
been refilled several times so you can then do several more refills.
Otherwise you end up with some dried ink in the sponge area that prevents
proper flow of the ink. I'll purge the chipped carts Ijust picked up and
store them away for the time when my unchipped Canon printers die and I have
to buy one of the newer chipped cart Canon printers.