Question re Canon iP1500

[Mary]

The best news of all is that you are still under warranty. I did buy three
i5000 printers a few months ago at two staples stores in our area. They
were unadvertised and just happened to be on a closeout for $100 US each.
Don't reject the separate color carts idea yet - if you can find an ip4000,
ip5000, or the mp printer I mentioned in a previous post, you can buy
prefilled aftermarket carts online for $3 US or less and they hold a lot
more ink than your present printer carts. I don't remember the exact
volume, but I think that your present cart only has something like 7 ml. of
ink per color and when one runs out you throw the whole thing away. The
bci-6 carts have 13 to 14 ml of ink each - about double, and the aftermarket
ones I'll mention below are less than $3 US each (plus shipping, of course.)
For Canadian sources of aftermarket inks or for info on which companies ship
to Canada, send an email to Taliesyn - you can find some of his posts on
this newsgroup.

Look at the following sites for more information:

http://www.nifty-stuff.com/forum/

http://www.neilslade.com/papers/badink.html

G&G and Procolor carts from Alotofthings.com were tested by Neil Slade and
his test photos are on his site. You will save considerably more money on
these inks with the five separate cart printers if you can find one
available. You might have your staples store check their warehouse facility
for a stray ip5000 if they don't have one in stock and you may just be able
to have them give it to you to satisfy the extended warranty. If
aftermarket carts were currently available I would then suggest the ip4200
or ip5200.

I'll have to see what printers are available here and go from there. We
are more limited for variety of printers you have. You have 10 times the
population we have, so you have more competition, which means cheaper
prices, and more variety. I have 4 Staples stores not too far away from
where I live, and notice that in different Staples they have some
different models that other stores don't have on display. I don't know
if they would have iP 5000 or not, but if iP 4000 is more than I want to
pay, iP 5000 would be even more money. From my experience with Epson, I
vowed never to get 4 different cartridges again. I really don't want to
buy carts online if I don't have to. I am not sure what I am going to
get yet and would have to look around. Staples in Canada have an online
site and have iP 4000 advertised there but its about twice the price I
paid for the one I have, so I would have to pay about $60.00 Can. plus
15% tax which is what we pay, so thats $80.00 Can. =$68.30 US. I can't
really afford that right now, and may have to stop printing photos at
home. The cartridges are too expensive, and I need to start using the
Kodak machines you get at Walmart and other places.

Mary

*** Free account sponsored by SecureIX.com ***
*** Encrypt your Internet usage with a free VPN account from http://www.SecureIX.com ***

 

[Gary Tait]

I don't print b&w photos. But I am using Kodak photo paper for my Canon
printer. I always used Kodak double sided semi-gloss photo paper with
Staples brand carts and photos printed were always ok.

That is part of it. Kodak paper requires magenta be cranked down a bit.

On my printer, color adjustment can be set in another area. Not under
colour management.
When I put a jpg on the screen and click on print then Properties, under
Main Tab there is a setting Automatic or Manual and you can set for
Manual and there are color adjustments you can make for magenta,blue and
yellow. I could try reducing magenta and see if that reduces the pinkish
cast on my colour photos.

Yes, do that. You can set that as a profile under the profile tabe when you
get that working.

I am not sure what you mean by greyscale. I only know greyscale is for
b&w photos.

Basically, greyscale is a mathematic sum of the component colors to produce
a level of grey or black. If one of the colors is off, you will get a
tinted black.or grey

I wonder if the printer has a problem, because of the message "waste ink
absorber is almost full, press Resume button". I've never seen that
message before. Also, I've used same Staples cart and Kodak photo paper
and my prints were always OK with no pinkish cast till now. I only
tried Canon cartridge to see if my photos still had the same pinkish
cast as they had with the Staples brand cart, which it did.
Thanks for your suggestions.

MaryW

It might have problems.

 

[zakezuke]

I'll have to see what printers are available here and go from there. We
are more limited for variety of printers you have. You have 10 times the
population we have, so you have more competition, which means cheaper
prices, and more variety. I have 4 Staples stores not too far away from
where I live, and notice that in different Staples they have some
different models that other stores don't have on display. I don't know
if they would have iP 5000 or not, but if iP 4000 is more than I want to
pay, iP 5000 would be even more money. From my experience with Epson, I
vowed never to get 4 different cartridges again. I really don't want to
buy carts online if I don't have to. I am not sure what I am going to
get yet and would have to look around. Staples in Canada have an online
site and have iP 4000 advertised there but its about twice the price I
paid for the one I have, so I would have to pay about $60.00 Can. plus
15% tax which is what we pay, so thats $80.00 Can. =$68.30 US. I can't
really afford that right now, and may have to stop printing photos at
home. The cartridges are too expensive, and I need to start using the
Kodak machines you get at Walmart and other places.

Walmart is a good solid solution for photos, but I must submit in the
case of Canon, and usually in the case of Epson, the 4 or 5 cartridge
makes the best ecconomic sence. The ip1500 and even the old bj-2100
offered thimble sized cartridges which increase your cost per page.
Last time I did the math it was about double the cost.

$80 canadian for the ip4000 is a dang good deal, likely to be a limited
time deal as this model has been replaced by the ip4200 which is as I
said in another responce not so easy to refill.

To really lower costs, consider refilling your self. I'm not up on
Canadian companies, but hobbicolors on e-bay has the best price, and
enough people have used it to sugest it's good. You might ask if they
are willing to ship via US post declairing it as "stationary supplies
Gift $20.00". That's what it costs, it's the truth, well except the
gift part.
http://hobbicolors.com/page5.html

For the moment i'll assume US$30, UK would be $12 to ship and canada
should be similar. So CDN$35, or let's say CDN$40 just to be safe.
This represents about 4 refills of color, and 4 refills of pigmented
black. Slightly over, but i'm lazy. CDN$2.50 each.

Assuming an average price of CDN$16.75 per color and dye black, and CDN
$18 for the big pigmented black, this works out to be CDN $340 plus 15%
tax CDN$391. Even the Staple compatables are at best CDN$13.46 each, a
good deal more than CDN $2.50 each. When taking paper into account,
this would likely undercut Walmart printing.

This is not to say one can't easily refill a ip-1500, just simply the
cartridges are smaller and there isn't the level of aftermarket support
for it, esp that tri-color tank. I "imagine" the ip1600 could be, but
this is a tad more touchy as they are tanks with cartridges onboard,
much more difficult than a transparent tank with a wod of foam on the
inside.

But as burt says it's up to you. The ip4000 at that price, and manual
refilling makes buckets of economic sense, even if you go for
compatables. Checkout nifty regarding Canadian solutions.

 

[Mary]

First, pay no attention to measekite. He harasses anyone who makes the
choice to use non-oem ink.

He seems to harrass people for other reasons as well, though maybe he
specializes in "non-oem inks"

I know nothing about staples ink, never

used it personaly.

I've used it for a year and its been OK.

Secondly, Burt's advice is sound. I have the mp760 which is rather
like the mp780. Good printer and infact sold for close to $300 just
last month. $150 plus the vast supply of aftermarket ink might be a
wise investment. The ip4200 seems to fetch as little as $90ish. The
ip5200 I just ordered for $120. This is less than the mp780 for higher
resolution, but there are not any easy aftermarket cartridges for them
yet.

Since I am in Canada, some of the models you get will not be available
here and many are higher priced. I see the ip4200 on Staples Canada site
and its $160..00 Can.$ with tax which is my layout. ( $136.00 US.) (You
mention above a figure of $90.00 US so its a lot more here). Your
population is much higher than ours so means more competition, which
means better prices and more variety. We don't have these same benefits,
even though our dollar is much higher than it used to be when compared
to the US dollar. I really don't want to pay $160.00 so I might have to
just print my photos at a photo machine for 29 cents each. A lot cheaper
than buying carts all the time.

Do as Burt sugests, do a nozzle check and make sure the issue is the
nozzles. There is a technique using windex, toilet paper, and pushing
on nifty forums, assuming your warranty has expired. If not, don't
muck about, call canon and get that printhead replaced for free.

The ip1500 is not their best egg. My niece has an older generation BJ
that is similar in many ways, perfectly acceptable for her needs but
not the sort of printer i'd invest money in parts on. I say this
because the replacement printhead costs $50ish QY6-054-000 if i'm not
mistaken, shared with the i450 i470 iP1500 MP390. Keep in mind that
these printheads do have a limited life, and it's very likely it's
simply burnt out, esp since you've reached a full inkpad.

Your niece might have the older one I have and still have around
somewhere. Its the BJC 2100 and it was a great printer and the reason I
stopped using it was the printhead was something around $50.00 US. It
also can be used with a black only bigger type cartridge but its around
$35.00 US. so I don't use that printer any more. But it was a much
better quality printer than the ip1500 and it was cheap to buy too.

So we have worst case of $50 to fix, assuming your issue is the
printhead, not to speak of the diaper. The ip1600 costs $29.00 on
amazon.com using their slugish super saver shipping. Not that i'd
reccomend the ip1600 as unlike your ip1500 it doesn't use a seperate
head, but rather heads on the cartridge adding to the cost per refill.
I'd have to check to see if it's onpar with the cost of the old

ip1500.

Its around $60.00 US (price with tax for me) so about the same price as
I paid for the ip1500. plus our 15% killer tax I call it..

But it sounds like you print enough to justify something above and
beyond a $50 model.

I'm surprised the ip1600 changed to a cart where you need to buy the
printhead each time. That would be expensive. I don't want to pay more
than $70.00 US..

Given that your waste ink pad is "almost full" after 1 year of use, I
would reccomend you at least consider upgrading to a model more geared
tward your use, either that or stick with $50 models and make sure to
use it so much that your waste ink full warnings come before the
warranty expires.

I bought an extended warranty which won't be up for another year. I
don't print photos very often, but when I do, I print quite a few and
looks like the printer has had it. So I might have to get a $60.00 or
$70.00 model and print less photos. Either that, or as you say, pay more
and get a printer more geared to printing photos. The ip1500 was good in
a way as it was more of an all purpose printer. It was fine till I got
my digital camera and started to print photos.

-older generation- Cheap easy aftermarket tanks
*-ip3000 Base model, $100 range on e-bay
-ip4000 Same thing but with an extra black for photos.
**-mp780 Same as above, but a beast of a multifuction, bargin at $150
-ip5000 HIgher resolution, same as the new models but take the old
cartridges

-current generation- Not so easy to refill
-ip4200 Good entry level printer $90ish to $120
***-ip5200 Heavier, faster, more nozzles, more money. $120ish to
$150ish

* I own
** I have something damn close
*** I'm waiting for

I picked the ip5200 because I print a heck of alot of CDs. While my
ip3000 is just peachy, I wanted something with higher resolution and
the price was right.

Do checkout nifty regarding cleaning, and alternative cartridges for
your printer that are cheaper than the store brand you bought.

First thing I have to do is look around some Staples stores. Toronto has
a large population and there are 4 Staples stores not far from me, so I
need to see which printer models and prices they have , then I check the
prices of cartridges for the various models I am interested in and go
from there.
Thanks for all your good information.

Mary

 

[Mary]

Mary - you are new to this newsgroup and feel compelled to try to reason
with our troll. Don't waste the keystrokes! You'll just get more of the
same back from him. Killfile him in your newsgroup reader.

OK, I will kill file him.

Mary

 

[Mary]

Mary - The printer companies sell their lower end printers at a low price to
assure themselves of a customer who will spend a great deal over the life of
the printer on their high priced ink.

Yes, I know that.

If you can find the printers I

mentioned and spend a bit more on one of them than the ip1500 or the ip1600
you will reap the benefit of REALLY cheap ink instead of the very modest
savings you had with the Staples carts.

So far I haven't seen the ip1500 in STaples and I have to deal with them
to get a new printer undr my extended warranty. I really don't want to
pay a lot for a printer.

Also, if you have a Costco store

where you live you can buy excellent glossy photo paper, either 4x6 (about
five cents US a sheet) or 8.5x11 (125 sheets for $19 US), and cut the price
of your printing down so much that you will enjoy your digital camera even
more. If you really want to save money you can learn to refill your
cartridges with bulk inks especially formulated for your printer at a cost
of about $1 US per refill. At that rate it is almost free! With the money
you will save you can buy another printer and not even worry about the old
one failing.

I don't think I am ambitious enough to do refilling with bulk inks. Its
not something I have any desire to do to tell you the truth. I think I
can do ok just getting a printer I can afford, and the ones suggested by
most people here are quite a lot more money here than in the US.
There is a Cosco store near me, but membership is $40.00 or $50.00 or
something and I can't justify it as I used to go there but found that I
didn't get my money out of it and preferred to shop other places.
Besides, there is no guarantee that the same things you can buy in the
US can be bought here as well. When buying products you have a lot more
choices than we do and lower prices. There is often a lot of good sales
here though, so usually I wait for them and with my camera, I bought it
on sale at a cheaper price than most camera stores in the US listed them
as. Its very challenging to live here in regards to prices. You have to
be a good bargain hunter or can pay through the nose. I have to watch my
money Burt.

Mary

 

[measekite]

That is part of it. Kodak paper requires magenta be cranked down a bit.




Yes, do that. You can set that as a profile under the profile tabe when you
get that working.





Basically, greyscale is a mathematic sum of the component colors to produce
a level of grey or black. If one of the colors is off, you will get a
tinted black.or grey




It might have problems.

TATER TOT HAS PROBLEMS

 

[measekite]

OK, I will kill file him.

Mary

I KILLFILED BURTIE FURTIE

 

[measekite]

He seems to harrass people for other reasons as well, though maybe he
specializes in "non-oem inks"

MY GOD ITS MARY MARY QUITE CONTRARY

 

[measekite]

You had to quote the whole message just to say 4 words?

If you had read what I said below this paragraph I am typing you would
have noticed that I said that I had ALWAYS used Staples compatibles. I
have never used Canon brand name cartridges since I got the computer a
year ago. When I said my printer worked fine since I got the printer
tilll I got a new Staples compatible, I meant to emphasize the word
"NEW" meaning it was a new cartridge.

IF YOU KEEP TOUCHING THE STOVE YOU WILL EVENTUALLY GET BURNT

 

[Mary]

Walmart is a good solid solution for photos, but I must submit in the
case of Canon, and usually in the case of Epson, the 4 or 5 cartridge
makes the best ecconomic sence.

Maybe, but going back and forth every week or two is not my idea of fun.
I would rather put up with the three in one colors and print less
photos. I have an allergy to buying printer cartridges.
Must be my Scotch blood. Seems like everybody complains about the prices
charged. Yes, they have to make their money from cartridges, but I think
I would rather pay more for the printer and a LOT less for cartridges.
Just bugs me no end.

The ip1500 and even the old bj-2100

offered thimble sized cartridges which increase your cost per page.
Last time I did the math it was about double the cost.

I wasn't printing many photos then, so those printers were fine for me
and I might go back to not printing many photos again. Its getting too
expensive.

$80 canadian for the ip4000 is a dang good deal, likely to be a limited
time deal as this model has been replaced by the ip4200 which is as I
said in another responce not so easy to refill.

I meant I would have to pay $80.00 Can. for the difference between
handing in my old printer and getting a new one. The ip4000 is $150.00
Can. if I were to go to the store and buy it without considering I am
giving back my ip1500. On the other hand, I could take my printer back
and pay nothing or maybe another $20.00 to get something a little
better, but I wasn't thinking of paying $80.00 more. And I don't want a
printer that is not three colors in one cartridge.

To really lower costs, consider refilling your self. I'm not up on
Canadian companies, but hobbicolors on e-bay has the best price, and
enough people have used it to sugest it's good. You might ask if they
are willing to ship via US post declairing it as "stationary supplies
Gift $20.00". That's what it costs, it's the truth, well except the
gift part.
http://hobbicolors.com/page5.html

Usually if its a company, they won't undervalue their declaration. With
individuals you can do almost all the time, but companies are different
and are more cautious. I've never looked into buying ink online, but I
know thee are some Canadian sites sell it. I don't think I would want to
do refills. seems like a pain to me.

For the moment i'll assume US$30, UK would be $12 to ship and canada
should be similar. So CDN$35, or let's say CDN$40 just to be safe.
This represents about 4 refills of color, and 4 refills of pigmented
black. Slightly over, but i'm lazy. CDN$2.50 each.

Where do you get UK from on your top line?

Assuming an average price of CDN$16.75 per color and dye black, and CDN
$18 for the big pigmented black, this works out to be CDN $340 plus 15%
tax CDN$391. Even the Staple compatables are at best CDN$13.46 each, a
good deal more than CDN $2.50 each. When taking paper into account,
this would likely undercut Walmart printing.

You mean I would pay $391.00? I could buy a lot of printers for that.
I'm sure you don't mean that.

This is not to say one can't easily refill a ip-1500, just simply the
cartridges are smaller and there isn't the level of aftermarket support
for it, esp that tri-color tank. I "imagine" the ip1600 could be, but
this is a tad more touchy as they are tanks with cartridges onboard,
much more difficult than a transparent tank with a wod of foam on the
inside.

I haven't looked into one of the ink refillers here. When I had the
Epson after a while, I got the tanks refilled at an ink refilling place
in a mall not too far from me. But I don't want to do separate color
cartridges again. I got very put off and seemed to always be getting
them refilled. Epson charged a lot for their carts.

But as burt says it's up to you. The ip4000 at that price, and manual
refilling makes buckets of economic sense, even if you go for
compatables. Checkout nifty regarding Canadian solutions.

The Ip4000 is $150.00 Can. to buy. If I take back the ip5000, I would
have to pay $80.00 to make the price up to $150.00 and the ip4000 has
separate cartridges which I don't want. I would rather print less photos
and use the tri color carts.

Mry

 

[Mary]

Of course, this is your decision to make. I just answered a previous post
by you and it is also the best answer to this one. If that ip4000 is new
and not a refurbished unit that is an absolutely great price!

Because I was calculating various figures above, I meant that the Ip4000
I saw on Staples website is $130.00 Can. plus 15% tax =$150.00
Can.=$128.00 US. When I hand back my ip1500, I would only get $70.00
Can. ($60.00 US credit for it, and have to pay an extra $60.00
Can.=$50.00 US.). I don't think I want to pay that much more when I can
get another printer by either paying nothing, or a little more, but not
$60.00 more. There are some cheaper than that, maybe not as good, but
more in line with my budget.

Believe me
when I tell you that you will save a ton of money with that printer and
aftermarket inks that I mentioned. I've purchased a lot of things on the
internet and have never had a problem. Alotofthings is an extremely
reliable vendor. Not to worry. I just don't know if they ship to Canada.
There was a time when they didn't. I think that Hobbicolors does ship to
Canada, but that would be for bulk ink and empty cartridges for you to
refill yourself. Simple once you get the hang of it.

Well, to be honest filling empty cartridges with ink really doesn't
appeal to me.And I rarely buy products from the US as most times I can
get something suitable here. There is 15% tax to pay on the value of
products from the US, plus the currency conversion, and there can be a
problem if you need to return something, and for items with a warranty,
they are most times no good in Canada. The only thing I buy occasionally
from the US is movie DVD's from Amazon.com. The same movies are usually
available at Amazon Canada site, but very occasionally, they are not
available here. I have not had to pay tax as the value was usually not
high enough, or Canada Customs let it go through. We have very skimpy
exemptiions compared to you with your high exemptions.We only get up to
$18.00 US tax free, then pay 15% tax. Or a value of $50.00 is tax free
if a gift. You guys don't have to consider things like that, but we do.

Mary

 

[Gary Tait]

I thought my iP 1500 was a previous generation?

It is. The lower end of the Canon lines use tri-color carts, rather than
individual carts. The only change in the bottom of the new line (the 1600),
is that they have switched to Head-ON-Carts, which means no aftermarket
(for now), and even more costly carts, since you are buying a printhead
each time.

Doing the math, it would cost you nearly thrice per cart set for a 1600 vs
a 3200, so you would be even better off to go for the 3200 (or 4200).

But since you have that 4000 apparently available, scoop that up and you
will be golden.

 

[Frank]

OK, I will kill file him.

Mary

Very good idea Mary as he is nothing but a know nothing drunken sod.
Frank

 

[Mary]

It is. The lower end of the Canon lines use tri-color carts, rather than
individual carts. The only change in the bottom of the new line (the 1600),
is that they have switched to Head-ON-Carts, which means no aftermarket
(for now), and even more costly carts, since you are buying a printhead
each time.

Yes, it would cost more - thats no good. I wonder why they did that when
the ip1500 has tri color carts. Don't some other manufacturers such as
Lexmark have mainly or only head on carts? Just wondered - is Canon the
best printer to get? or are there other brands just as good? High on my
requirements is a printer that takes carts that are not too expensive,
though all of them are, but the least or close to it and one that has
available compatibles.

Doing the math, it would cost you nearly thrice per cart set for a 1600 vs
a 3200, so you would be even better off to go for the 3200 (or 4200).

seems like it. I've never seen the 3200 so far here, but saw 4200
advertised on STaples Canada but its a little more money than the 4000
and unless it has much better features than the 4000, its not worth
paying more.

But since you have that 4000 apparently available, scoop that up and you
will be golden.

The 4000 is not really cheap. There are lots cheaper, and I would have
to pay $80.00 to get it, instead of nothing or $20.00 more after I hand
in my old printer. It might be worth it, though I would have to think
about it. By the way, is the 4000 tri color carts? Not separate colors
is it?
The thing I liked about the ip1500 it has a printhead you could take out
if needing cleaned, and just had to buy carts and also the carts were
cheaper than most other printers. And it printed photos good enough for
me. It was cheap to buy but I found it satisfactory for my purposes.
Other people may like to get really good printers but I am happy with a
cheaper printer as long as it works fine for me.

Mary

 

[measekite]

Yes, it would cost more - thats no good. I wonder why they did that when
the ip1500 has tri color carts. Don't some other manufacturers such as
Lexmark

LEXMARK DOES NOT MAKE INJET PRINTERS. THEY DO MAKE INK DISPENSERS

 

[measekite]

It is. The lower end of the Canon lines use tri-color carts, rather than
individual carts. The only change in the bottom of the new line (the 1600),
is that they have switched to Head-ON-Carts, which means no aftermarket
(for now), and even more costly carts, since you are buying a printhead
each time.

Doing the math, it would cost you nearly thrice per cart set for a 1600 vs
a 3200, so you would be even better off to go for the 3200 (or 4200).

But since you have that 4000 apparently available, scoop that up and you
will be golden.

THIS IS THE PRINTER FOR DUMMIES. IT COSTS A PITENCE LESS THAN THE
CHEAPEST DECENT PRINTER CANON SELLS WHICH IS THE IP4200 FOR ABOUT $80.00
STREET PRICE AT MOST PLACES MOST OF THE TIME. ANYTHING LESS IS TOTAL
UNADULTERATED CRAP.

 

[measekite]

want to


Epson, I



Maybe, but going back and forth every week or two is not my idea of fun.
I would rather put up with the three in one colors and print less
photos. I have an allergy to buying printer cartridges.
Must be my Scotch blood.

MAYBE IF U DRANK SOME SCOTCH YOU COULD MAKE BETTER DECISIONS.

Seems like everybody complains about the prices
charged. Yes, they have to make their money from cartridges, but I think
I would rather pay more for the printer and a LOT less for cartridges.
Just bugs me no end.

I DO NOT WANT TO PAY MORE FOR THE PRINTER BUT I DO WANT TO PAY LESS FOR
THE CARTS AND THERE IS ENOUGH PROFIT FOR BOTH

The ip1500 and even the old bj-2100



I wasn't printing many photos then, so those printers were fine for me
and I might go back to not printing many photos again. Its getting too
expensive.

NOW YOU ARE TALKIN AND USE OEM INK TOO

 

[Burt]

Yes, it would cost more - thats no good. I wonder why they did that when
the ip1500 has tri color carts. Don't some other manufacturers such as
Lexmark have mainly or only head on carts? Just wondered - is Canon the
best printer to get? or are there other brands just as good? High on my
requirements is a printer that takes carts that are not too expensive,
though all of them are, but the least or close to it and one that has
available compatibles.


seems like it. I've never seen the 3200 so far here, but saw 4200
advertised on STaples Canada but its a little more money than the 4000
and unless it has much better features than the 4000, its not worth
paying more.


The 4000 is not really cheap. There are lots cheaper, and I would have
to pay $80.00 to get it, instead of nothing or $20.00 more after I hand
in my old printer. It might be worth it, though I would have to think
about it. By the way, is the 4000 tri color carts? Not separate colors
is it?
The thing I liked about the ip1500 it has a printhead you could take out
if needing cleaned, and just had to buy carts and also the carts were
cheaper than most other printers. And it printed photos good enough for
me. It was cheap to buy but I found it satisfactory for my purposes.
Other people may like to get really good printers but I am happy with a
cheaper printer as long as it works fine for me.

Mary

Although the cost of the ip1500 carts may appear cheap to you, they are
really expensive when you figure how little ink is in them (just repeating
what Zakezuke said). The rule of thumb is - the cheaper the printer, the
more expensive the ink. With the purchase of G&G or Procolor aftermarket
carts online from Alotofthings the extra cost of the ip4000 would come back
to you many times over. I'm sorry to see that you've made up your mind
about the separate cart issue. I can also tell you that, with a little
advanced preparation, refilling isn't any harder or more messy than most of
the cooking I've done! Do you know anyone who belongs to costco and would
buy you some of the Kirkland glossy photo paper? With that paper and cheap
aftermarket ink you will beat any of the retail photo costs. With refilling
and Costco paper My 4x6 prints probably don't cost more than seven or eight
cents US. 8x10 or 8.5x11 prints probably cost me about twenty-five or
thirty cents. That's for paper (Costco) and ink (MIS bulk ink for refills)
together.

The bottom line, however, is that you have to be comfortable doing things
the way you want to. No matter what your decision, I think it's great that
you have put together the whole digital camera/computer/printer process and
are enjoying it!

 

[zakezuke]

Maybe, but going back and forth every week or two is not my idea of fun.

I would rather put up with the three in one colors and print less
photos. I have an allergy to buying printer cartridges.

The only way in canon to get a tri-color cartridge is to get one with a
head on the cartridge type. The printer in your class is not made
anymore though some might still be in stores. If it makes you feel
better they offer the OEM ink in tripacks.

ip-1600
12ml Black PG-40 - CDN $29.96 $2.50/ml
9ml Color CL-41 - CDN $35 $3.88/ml

ip-1500
9.5ml black bci-24bk $9.46 $1.00/ml
16.5ml color BCI-24c $27.96 $1.69/ml
pair = $30.96


IP-4000
25ml OEM big black CDN $16.98 $0.68/ml
50ml Staples Big Black 2 pack $24.22 $0.42/ml

14ml OEM color and small black CDN $17.96 $1.20/ml
14ml Staples color and small black CDN$13.46 $0.96/ml

OEM Multi pack (cyan magenta yellow) CDN $49.96 1.18/ml

-note-
Dollar per ml isn't always a good indicator of milage For example HP
seems to get much higher page per ml than canon or Epson. However in
this case, as we are dealing with Canon it should be a decent indicator
of value.

Usually if its a company, they won't undervalue their declaration. With
individuals you can do almost all the time, but companies are different
and are more cautious. I've never looked into buying ink online, but I
know thee are some Canadian sites sell it. I don't think I would want to
do refills. seems like a pain to me.

$20 is the value of the gent's product for 2oz (about 60mls) of each
color, and 4oz of black. about 11cent/ml assumong CDN$40 covers the
ink and the shipping... it should. Companies must be careful, I agree,
the trick seems to be "stationary supplies" as far as the customs
delcaration, and finding US companies willing to ship via the US postal
service and not UPS which ends up in a brokerage house and might slap
on odd ball fees. The gent's kit offers refillable cartridges with
thumbscrew tops.

You mean I would pay $391.00? I could buy a lot of printers for that.
I'm sure you don't mean that.

1 refill kit. About Canadian $40. Including shipping I believe.
Equilivent in OEM ink clost to CDN$400. Savings is about 90%. I.e. OEM
ink costs about 10 times that of bulk ink. That Staples ink is rather
spendy as well.

Where do you get UK from on your top line?

Canada wasn't listed, so I picked UK. I approximated the shipping at
$12bucks.

The Ip4000 is $150.00 Can. to buy. If I take back the ip5000, I would
have to pay $80.00 to make the price up to $150.00 and the ip4000 has
separate cartridges which I don't want. I would rather print less photos
and use the tri color carts.

Sorry about the confusion, for a time the ip4000 was being sold for
close to $100ish. $150 canadian is what I would estimate as average
street price, where it's $130 on the staples website, or could be your
talking about $130 plus 15% tax.

Well good luck, near as i'm aware canon only offers tri color
cartridges on their head on the cartridge models. The BCI-24 so far as
i'm aware is the last thimble sized tank offered by canon, everything
else is seperate 25/26ml and 14ml tanks. Epson doesn't offer a tri
color tank anymore so far as i'm aware.