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#1
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Canon i860 and ink cartridges
Anyone here own a Canon i860 inkjet printer? The print quality is very
good, but the damn thing seems to need a new ink cartridge once a month. This despite the fact I don't use the printer that much. On average, about 4 pages a week. Is this common with this type of model? It has 5 ink cartridges, which was touted as being a money saving feature. Hah! |
#2
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Sure, History Fan, I still have a Canon i860 cranking out all sorts of
stuff, but I get a heckuva better cartridge use than you do if you have to add a new cartridge once a month when averaging only about 16 pages a month. Maybe if you're running all 8x10 color prints those 16 pages a month, but otherwise, no--your cartridge use is excessive for what you do. Don't know why that would be; maybe others can suggest a reason. I have no where near that cartridge use. When I print 100 copies of an 8-page class newsletter (that's 800 pages, both full text and 2 or 3 B&W and color pictures per page), I have to change maybe 4, perhaps 5 cartridges depending on the size of the pictures.. If you're using original Canon (expensive) cartridges, I'd heartily suggest that you try replacement cartridges from Alotofthings.com. Their cartridges for the i860, using almost universally approved Formulabs ink, are only about $3.25 each at: http://www.alotofthings.com/catalog/...raug-sept.html Buy their Arrowjet line, which uses Formulabs ink. The ink is made in the USA, but the cartridges are loaded in China, then imported back to California. I've been using only these cartridges for a couple of years now and have had perfect satisfaction with them: their color is almost right on with the Canon originals & I've had no clotting. And the dealer's service is fast and efficient. Their cartridges can also be bought on their Ebay site at: http://stores.ebay.com/ALOT-OF-THING...2QQsclZ0QQtZkm I'd recommend you be sure you're buying the Arrowjet line of cartidges there. My only criticism is that their photo black isn't quite as black as the Canon original, but it sure is good enough for my class newsletter and most other stuff, especially at their price. If I have to print some photos that I want to take special care with, I substitute a Canon photo black cartridge for the Alotofthings cartridge. But when finished, I put the Alotofthings photo black back in because it's fine for most stuff and it costs 1/4 of the cost of Canon original cartridges. Over a year ago I did a test of the Alotofthings.com cartridge he http://groups.yahoo.com/group/-print...nonessage/4095 It's over a year old now, but I think it's still relevant. I'd suggest you try the Alotofthings.com 18-pack for the i860 for $58.50 (that's $3.25 per cartridge), especially at the rate you're using up cartridges. Wouldn't you rather be spending $3.25 for those cartridges than $12+? I hope somebody else can solve your excessive cartridge use. Bill Pease |
#3
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Whoops, that last yahoo.com URL doesn't seem to connect. Here's a copy
of my cartridge review message of July 2004: I've just completed a simple experiment to compare photo prints from my Canon i860 printer using (first) OEM original Canon inks, then Inkgrabber.com inks and then Alotofthings.com inks in the same printer. I wanted to find out how these two 3rdparty inks compared with the OEM Canon inks. I thought readers of this forum might be interested in the results of this experiment. As the test print I chose a standard test image whose origin I failed to note when I saved it from some printer forum on the web several months ago. Sorry about that. It's the one with the gorgeous girl's eyes in the center, the church and sunset pictures at the top, the baby's face on the right and the color samples at the bottom. Perhaps you recognize it from that description. It's a great test print. First I printed this test image on my i860 Canon printer with the original Canon inks in it. The result on letter-size Canon Photo Paper Plus Glossy was gorgeous-perhaps just a trifle over-saturated for best taste, but nevertheless, gorgeous enough to melt your insides. Then I pulled the OEM Canon ink cartridges from the printer and substituted Inkgrabber.com ink cartridges. I printed a full color purge print to get all the residual Canon ink out of the printhead and then printed the same test image as before using the Inkgrabber.com inks. The result was lovely on the same paper, but it differed from the OEM Canon print in the following ways: 1. the grey clock face on the OEM print had taken on a slight greenish hue 2. the rust-colored bricks of the church on the OEM print had turned to a dull brown 3. the blue cast of the ocean in the sundown OEM print had turned to a greenish hue 4. the greyish-blue eyes of the gorgeous girl in the OEM print had turned to greenish-blue, her skin had turned very pale, and her eyebrows had turned from brown to greenish-grey 5. the grey-to-black picture of the man in the OEM print had turned to green-to-black. In conclusion, the print produced using the Inkgrabber.com ink cartridges differed considerably from the print produced using the OEM Canon ink cartridges. Nevertheless, the Inkgrabber.com cartridges produced a lovely print that might please some even though it did not duplicate exactly the colors of the OEM Canon print. The Inkgrabber.com ink cartridges for the Canon i860 printer cost about $2.00 each. Then I pulled the Inkgrabber.com cartridges from my printer and substituted Alotofthings.com cartridges. Again I printed a full color purge print to get all the residual Inkgrabber ink out of the printhead and then printed the same test image as before using the Alotofthings.com inks. The result was gorgeous on the same paper, ALMOST identical to the OEM Canon print. It differed, ever so slightly, in the following ways: 1. the grey clock face in the OEM print was just slightly tan 2. the grey parallel lines in the OEM print were just slightly tan 3. the gorgeous girl's skin tone in the OEM print was just slightly lighter 4. the grey-to-black picture of the man in the OEM print was just slightly a little tan. I would emphasize the word "slightly" here; you had to look REAL hard at the print done using Alotofthings.com cartridges to discern any difference from the print done using OEM Canon cartridges. And the OEM Canon cartridges cost about $11-$12 each. The Alotofthings.com cartridges cost me $2.40 each (including postage) when I bought an i860 combo package that included 18 cartridges of the 5 different ones for the i860. I'm not a photo purist (or a pro) who would quibble about the VERY slight differences between the OEM Canon print and the Alotofthings.com print, but I am a retired realist who can appreciate the fact that the Alotofthings.com cartridges cost one-fifth of what the OEM Canon cartridges cost while producing gorgeous prints that are ALMOST identical to the OEM Canon prints. Alotofthings.com is going to get my cartridge business from now on. I'm going to all my photos and a couple of family history books with them. By the way, Alotofthings.com also sells bulk ink and paraphernalia for refillers too. With superb cartridges for just $2.40 each, though, I can't see much sense to go through the trouble of refilling cartridges with all its hassle. Others may want to. And I am in no way connected with anybody or anything at Alotofthings.com except as a happy and very satisfied customer. Here are the relevant web addresses: http://www.inkgrabber.com/index.htm http://www.alotofthings.com/index.html Happy printing, Bill Pease |
#5
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Sorry, History Fan, I seem to have waylaid your post and I didn't mean
to. Can anyone help History Fan with his problem of his Canon i860 inkjet printer using an excessive number of cartridges with very little printing per month? Is he, or she, printing so little that the printer is using up a lot of ink in the start-ups? It wouldn't be that much, though, would it? Anybody got any ideas to help History? Bill Pease |
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