Looking for a New Inkjet Printer?
Written by Dale R. Farrier,
President of InkMagic International Ltd
This article was first written in
December 2003. It has been updated several times
since. The latest update was April 2005.
It is beyond the scope of this
article to compare inkjet printers to laser printers for any
particular use.
The choices for inkjet printers these
days is just astonishing. Every manufacturer is
introducing at least a dozen new models every year. So,
how do you choose? It is very enticing to buy that $50.00
printer but unfortunately in most cases the less expensive the
printer, the more expensive the ink cartridges. Often the
replacement cartridges in the printer are only a few dollars
less than what you originally paid for the printer itself. Some LexMark & HP models are prime examples.
If you print photos, brochures
or even just a dozen pages a day, you will soon realize that the
cost of the consumables (ink cartridges) can add up very quickly.
In
the last quarter of 2003, Consumers Reports did a study on
inkjet printers. Their 'Best Buy' was the Canon i850.
We agreed then that the Canon printers offered exceptional value
and perhaps more important, the inkjet cartridges for the mid to high
end models are extremely inexpensive compared to the cartridges
for other brands. The 'i' series has been replaced with
the 'Pixma IP' series.
Currently there are two
midrange Canon Inkjet Printer models that I would recommend for
everyday home and small business use.
 Canon
Pixma iP 3000
While it is
certainly not the cheapest inkjet to purchase (about
$150.00 at Staples), it will be one of
the least expensive inkjet printers to operate. It uses individual 'ink
tanks' for each color. InkMagic has the BCI-3
& BCI-6
compatible cartridges are available on-line at $7.00
(Canadian $) each and even less if you purchase a 'bundle' of
cartridges. Now that is inexpensive printing. This
printer has a large BCI-3e black ink tank. This is twice
the size of the colour ink tanks. It also has the standard
Cyan, Magenta and Yellow ink BCI-6 tanks. While there are
no 'photo' colours in this printer, you can still expect very
good quality photos from this model and just about any inkjet
printer these days. The double sized BCI-3e black
cartridge in the iP3000 makes for very inexpensive text
printing. iP3000
printer details on Canon site here.
InkMagic
inkjet cartridges for the iP3000 are available here.
The next model up is an iP4000.
The only major difference between it and the iP3000 is an extra
BCI-6 black cartridge which is used when you print photos. The
larger BCI-3e black cartridge is used when printing text.
In all honesty, I don't see the point. I'd rather
spend the extra $30.00 or so for inkjet cartridges. iP4000
printer details on Canon site here.
InkMagic
inkjet cartridges for the iP4000 are available here.
 Canon
Pixma iP 6000D
As I mentioned earlier, all
inkjet printers will produce high quality photos, however, for
those who demand only the best in photo printing, I would highly
recommend the iP6000 inkjet printer. ($250.00
at Future Shop). In
addition to the usual black and standard three colours (cyan,
magenta & yellow), it also has BCI-6 photo cyan which is
lighter in colour than the standard cyan and a BCI-6 photo
magenta which is also lighter in colour than the standard
magenta. This is called a 6 colour system because it uses
6 colours instead of 4 colours as is the case in the previously
mentioned models. The extra 'photo' colours will give
smoother transition of subtle tonal changes in a
photograph. This is usually most noticeable in the facial
tones of portrait picture. iP6000D
printer details on Canon site here.
InkMagic
inkjet cartridges for the iP6000D are available here.
 Ah-ha! so you see Canon has
iP 1500 or iP2000 printer
models starting at only $80.00
at Future Shop.
The low end Canon inkjet and multifunction printers use the BCI-24 black
and BCI-24 tri-color cartridges. While they are not
overly expensive if you buy a compatible cartridge such as the
InkMagic brand, they are also one of the smallest cartridges
on the market today. This translates into high 'per page'
printing costs. It won't take
long to make up for the difference in price if you are doing any
amount of printing to speak of. On the other hand, if you
are printing only a few pages per week or only the odd
photograph now and then, well, these models could very well the
ideal for you.
Just to summarize, if you are
purchasing a Canon inkjet or multifunction printer, look for a model which uses either
the BCI-3, BCI-6 or a combination of these cartridges.
These are inexpensive cartridges with one for each colour.
When a colour runs out you replace only that colour. They will be one of the least expensive printers to keep
'fed'.
I guess it's a 'pay me now or
pay me later' buying decision.
What about other printer
brands?
HP and LexMark Inkjet
Printers
Both companies offer a very
wide choice of inkjet printers. You will find that
most, not all, of the cartridges used in HP and LexMark printers
have printheads as part of the cartridge. This makes the
cartridge much more expensive to produce compared to the Canon
cartridges which are just a plastic box of ink. In
addition, these companies have patents on the printheads which
means you will not find inexpensive 'compatible' cartridges
produced by other companies. The only alternative is to
purchase cartridges which are remanufactured. Even
remanufactured are expensive because of the labour required to
rejuvenate empty cartridges. In the case of HP, it seems
that each new cartridge introduced has less ink than the predecessor.
Perhaps I will write an article detailing this evolution.
An inexpensive alternative is to refill these cartridges
yourself. HP
inkjet cartridges and inkjet refill kits here.
LexMark
inkjet cartridges and inkjet refill kits here.
Epson Inkjet Printers
Epson inkjet printers use
cartridges which are similar to those of Canon
cartridges. There are no printheads attached to the
cartridge so you can get inexpensive 'compatible' cartridges
produced by companies other than Epson. Epson has a permanent
printhead built into the printer. Unfortunately you cannot
remove them to be cleaned as you can with the Canon
printhead. This means that if you get a clogged nozzle it
is very difficult to fix this problem. I have written an
article on how
to unclog Epson printhead nozzles.
This article receives more 'hits' on any given day than all the
other pages on our website combined. InkMagic
International Ltd. ceased producing inkjet refill kits for Epson
printer models following the Epson Color Stylus 777 of several
years ago because of the inherent problems with a built-in
printhead which cannot be removed for cleaning. In my
opinion, Epson printers have become just too finicky to
purchase. Epson
inkjet cartridges and inkjet refill kits here.
Brother and Xerox Inkjet
Printers
Brother and most, but not all,
Xerox cartridges are similar to the Canon cartridges in that
they are just a box of ink. A few cartridges used in Xerox
printers a couple years ago where actually LexMark cartridges
(with printheads). The only difference was the top and the
label. For those cartridges without printheads, the cost
of the 'compatible' cartridges is quite inexpensive. While
I have not personally used either Brother or Xerox brand inkjet
printers, the cost of printing should be similar to that of the
Canon printers recommended above. I have seen a steady
increase in the sale of Brother compatible cartridges in
particular over the past few years. Brother
inkjet cartridges here.
Xerox
inkjet cartridges here.
Dell Inkjet Printers
Dell inkjet printers use
LexMark cartridges with different tops. The difference in
the tops means you cannot use a LexMark cartridge in a Dell
printer, although you could if you were to swap
tops.
Check for cartridge prices
and availability BEFORE you buy an inkjet printer.
I highly recommend a person
not only compare features and cost of the inkjet printers they
are considering, but take a look at the cost of the cartridges
BEFORE you make you final decision. If the inkjet
cartridges used by the printer your considering has a printhead
built-in, then it will normally be much more expensive to
operate than those that use cartridges with no printhead.
If you don't know the difference, ask a sales representative to
explain it to you. If he/she can't explain the difference,
then maybe look elsewhere for your printer.
Check to see if there are
compatible cartridges available immediately. It usually
takes 6 - 12 months for a compatible cartridge manufacturer to
produce a new model of cartridge. If a compatible
cartridge is not available for six months, then this means you
will be forced to purchase the much more expensive original
(OEM) cartridge that the printer manufacturer produces.
At the level of printer
technology today, there is very little difference from one model
to the next or from one manufacture to the next as far as print
quality. For this reason I would be tempted to purchase
last years' discontinued model at reduced prices if you can find
it. Chances are, compatible cartridges are available for
the discontinued model, again reducing printing costs.
I hope you have found this article
informative. Please feel free to express your opinion to
the writer at: dfarrier@inkmagic.com
Written by Dale R. Farrier,
President of InkMagic International Ltd.
Feel free to place a link to this
article BUT this article may not be reproduced,
or published in any manner without written permission from the author.
This article is copy write material. All rights reserved.
All opinions expressed are solely those
of the writer. All brand names and trade marks are the property of
the respective companies.
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