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#1: advice for a new user Author: ryansimms, Location: Brooklyn, NY

Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2006 4:48 am
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Hello, my current printer, an HP 5550, is nearing the end and I've decided that I would like to move into the world of continuous ink printing. If fact, today I went out to today to purchase one last ink cartridge to use until I move to a new system, but decided to put that $35 towards a new system.

So basically, I'm starting from scratch. I can buy any printer and any CIS. You guys seem to know more than anyone so I figured I'd just ask you.

I'm looking to spend under $250 USD for the printer and really have no idea what I should spend on a CIS. My wife and I are light users and will print out an average of about the equivelent of 2-3 8X10 photos a week, in addidtion to about 15-20 pages of text a week. Nearly all of our prints are for personal or casual use, but we do care about quality. I am fairly techically saavy, and don't think I'd mind having to DIY anything with the CISs. We have two Macs running OSX, and stay pretty far away from Windows.

So there you go. I'm open to anything! Thank you so much for your input.
-Ryan Simms

#2: HP K550 Author: HPuser,

Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2006 1:33 pm
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ryansimms

I am also relatively new CIS user.
I purchased the HP Officejet Pro K550. Without knowing anything about CIS, I just wanted to refill the original cartridge's. As it turned out the K550 is ideal for CIS, with separate printheads so the CIS ink lines and cartridges don't travel with the carriage. The cartridges are located on the left side of the printer, and at the proper CIS level... HP could not have designed a better printer for a CISS system....
This printer uses the #88 cartridge's.

If you still want to stay with HP, the K550 goes for $199.00 USD locally.

Good Luck

Last edited by HPuser on Mon Jun 26, 2006 1:01 am; edited 1 time in total

#3: Re: advice for a new user Author: Martin, Location: South Yorkshire, UK

Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2006 8:56 pm
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ryansimms wrote:
Hello, my current printer, an HP 5550, is nearing the end and I've decided that I would like to move into the world of continuous ink printing. If fact, today I went out to today to purchase one last ink cartridge to use until I move to a new system, but decided to put that $35 towards a new system.

So basically, I'm starting from scratch. I can buy any printer and any CIS. You guys seem to know more than anyone so I figured I'd just ask you.

I'm looking to spend under $250 USD for the printer and really have no idea what I should spend on a CIS. My wife and I are light users and will print out an average of about the equivelent of 2-3 8X10 photos a week, in addidtion to about 15-20 pages of text a week. Nearly all of our prints are for personal or casual use, but we do care about quality. I am fairly techically saavy, and don't think I'd mind having to DIY anything with the CISs. We have two Macs running OSX, and stay pretty far away from Windows.

Hi Ryan,

In truth I'd consider whether or not you really need to go with a CIS given your intended usage as it's pretty light to say the least. Of course you may decide that the benefits mean you can print a lot more often.

Anyways, price wise I'd consider the following..

1. The older Canon Pixma range are excellent value, albeit expensive right now due to everyone realising you can refill them over the newer chipped models. They're good for text, photos, have an excellent feature set and because you can refill, they offer good economy too.. They also don't hit the server required early like the Epson printers.

2. The HP K550 is something I've checked out myself recently and there's some good input on that and the older 1100i model here. Given your usage though, if you went with this model I wouldn't bother with a CIS unless you really did want to print a lot as it's almost an integral CIS installation.

3. Given your "tinkering" genes Wink

you could also save some money and gain some CIS experience by getting a reconditioned/refurbished Epson R200 and a cheap CIS kit from somewhere like JWsales (on ebay) or a slightly more expensive one from MIS or somewhere else mentioned on here.

4. The most "dangerous" option would be to consider a newer chipped iP4200 from Canon and get the parts and glue for converting the cartridges so you can use a CIS kit for the iP4000. Personally as you're new to this and it is an unknown at the moment I wouldn't recommend it.

All in all, I'd recommend option 3. or option 1. as the way(s) to go.. The Canon Pixma 4000 is a good printer, costs a bit to get hold of but once you have it you can go for either refilling cartridges (which to be honest is more cost effective given your usage) or if you go for longer, to install a CIS to..

The K550 is ok but given the reviews it's been getting it's not necessarily as good with images as the iP4000 or R200 printers, and apparently it's a bit like having a freight train drive through the room when you print.. Hardly ideal...

Hope that helps..
Smile

Martin

#4: HP K550 Author: Peter_G, Location: Hertfordshire, UK

Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2006 9:14 pm
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Dont want to spoil your day, but have you read the reviews at

http://computing.kelkoo.co.uk/b/a/pr_2/15548244/114901.html

These guys don't sound all that pleased with their purchases.

My personal feeling is that if you are going to use a CISS, then the bubble jet technology is rather fragile for continuous use, whearas the piezo technology seems aesthetically more pleasing to an engineer, and provided the dreaded nozzle blocking doesn't occur, seems to have a very reaonable life. The cheapness of the Epson R220 for example would allow you to buy a good quality CIS and still have change out of your $250 (the best price I have found for an R220 in the UK is £60, say $105 or thereabouts). The downside of Epson is of course their d****d chips, which can be overcome at a price.

I personally have no axe to grind in either direction, but have always had good service from Epson printers.

#5: Good Buys on eBay Author: Peter_G, Location: Hertfordshire, UK

Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2006 9:48 pm
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How about one of these !!

http://search.ebay.co.uk/search/search.dll?sofocus=so&sbrftog=1&from=R10&satitle=Epson+R220...

#6: Author: HPuser,

Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 12:44 am
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Quote:
HP K550
Dont want to spoil your day, but have you read the reviews at

http://computing.kelkoo.co.uk/b/a/pr_2/15548244/114901.html

These guys don't sound all that pleased with their purchases.

My personal feeling is that if you are going to use a CISS, then the bubble jet technology is rather fragile for continuous use, whearas the piezo technology seems aesthetically more pleasing to an engineer, and provided the dreaded nozzle blocking doesn't occur, seems to have a very reaonable life. The cheapness of the Epson R220 for example would allow you to buy a good quality CIS and still have change out of your $250 (the best price I have found for an R220 in the UK is £60, say $105 or thereabouts). The downside of Epson is of course their d****d chips, which can be overcome at a price.

I personally have no axe to grind in either direction, but have always had good service from Epson printers.

Don't worry my day can never be spoiled.

I will have to shrug at most of the reviews on the K550 though, I have not experience not one of the issues mentioned in the reviews.
For myself, I never let any reviewer persuade my purchase decisions, for 90% of the reviewers are table pounding, buy my brand
types that don't care for good honest competition.

Martin made an excellent point:

Quote:
The K550 is ok but given the reviews it's been getting it's not necessarily as good with images as the iP4000 or R200 printers

The K550 is a four color Officejet printer that performs black print, charts and images very well, as a business printer should, a great 4 color photo printer it is not.... Not a bad one, but not great...

Does Epson or Cannon make a printer with separate printheads? They seem very popular with CIS users ...

Ha... Ha...

Quote:
it's a bit like having a freight train drive through the room when you print.. Hardly ideal...

Where did you read that one... Wink

Have a good day.

#7: Re: advice for a new user Author: ryansimms, Location: Brooklyn, NY

Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 7:11 am
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Martin wrote:
In truth I'd consider whether or not you really need to go with a CIS given your intended usage as it's pretty light to say the least. Of course you may decide that the benefits mean you can print a lot more often.

Actually, I would end up printing much more often if I wasn't worried about how much it was going to cost in ink for a decent size printout. Plus, out of sheer principle, I like the idea of not paying ridiculously inflated prices for ink cartridges from the OEM.

Martin wrote:
4. The most "dangerous" option would be to consider a newer chipped iP4200 from Canon and get the parts and glue for converting the cartridges so you can use a CIS kit for the iP4000. Personally as you're new to this and it is an unknown at the moment I wouldn't recommend it.

All in all, I'd recommend option 3. or option 1. as the way(s) to go.. The Canon Pixma 4000 is a good printer, costs a bit to get hold of but once you have it you can go for either refilling cartridges (which to be honest is more cost effective given your usage) or if you go for longer, to install a CIS to..

The K550 is ok but given the reviews it's been getting it's not necessarily as good with images as the iP4000 or R200 printers, and apparently it's a bit like having a freight train drive through the room when you print.. Hardly ideal...

Here's where my main issue of confusion is. I understand that newer printers use cartridges that contain chips that make it difficult to refill or use third party cartridges. But I've found CIS kits specifically for newer printers like the Canon IP4200 or the Epson 220 or 340. All of the following sites sell kits for the newest printers, and the first has a kit specifically for the Canon 4200:
www.echostore.com
www.printonadime.com
www.inksupply.com
www.inkrepublic.com
www.mediastreet.com
www.inkjetfly.com

Can these stores be trusted? I've read review on Ink Republic and MIS that makes me think that they're legit, but some of the others have seemingly better (at least looking) products for a third of the price.

I've also seen in some forum posts on this site that people have had to buy seperate reset chips. Does this mean that if you buy a kit for a newer printer without a reset chip then it won't work? For example, all of the kits available at echostore.com are stated as "This system does not require chips reset nor remove them from printer to get the chips reset."

I would rather get a newer model printer since they seem to have better features and will not be outdated as quickly, but I don't quite understand what I need to look out for as far as the reset chips is concerned.

Thank you som much for the help.
-Ryan

#8: Author: Martin, Location: South Yorkshire, UK

Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 3:45 pm
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For the newer Epsons you're getting a few extra bells and whistles but not a heck of a lot else that's actually relevant to printer unless you particularly want an LCD preview screen for PICTbridge direct printing.

As for the newer Canons.. the problem there is that there are NO, repeat, NO! good options for using these printers with anything other than the Canon OEM/Original cartridges. The issue is that there are too many unknowns involved in the way the printers, chips and firmware interact with each other. Until that's all known I'd steer clear.

When it comes to Canon, the older line of Pixma printers are definitely better in terms of cost effectiveness and the quality is virtually indistinguishable unless you are a photography professional.

As for the K550, I've never used one but in terms of my information please check the link I provided to nifty-stuff forums as a few owners have posted on there and noted a few of the potential or known problems (not many).

Hope that helps

#9: Author: ryansimms, Location: Brooklyn, NY

Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 7:30 pm
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Well, my situation has changed a bit. I work from home, and have recently inherited, as part of my job, a duty which involves alot of color printing. It'll probably involve printing a thousand or so CD jackets a month. On the upside, my employer has offered to buy a printer so long as it works well for the job. I'm leaning now towards the HP K550 because it does seem quite suitable for continuous ink and it is also very fast. I have read a number of very bad reviews of this printer, but it still seems like it may be the best option for me. The only CIS for the K550 I could find is from www.echostore.com. HPUser, can I ask where you got yours? I've heard that MIS seems to be the best quality ink, do you guys think that I should buy an empty CIS and buy the ink separately from MIS? Also, do you guys think that the K550 is the best choice, as I'd like to also use the printer for the same personal uses that I've listed before.
Thanks again,
-Ryan

ContinuousInk.info -> CIS systems

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