Good day all,
I was wondering about some opinions that folks have (none would be totally right or wrong) about printer consumables.
I adhere to the Epson printer uses Epson inks principle, and have been lucky with print quality being top notch all the time, as well as almost zero clogged nozzles.

I was thinking of an analogy that might make my point.
Your cherished automobile. We, usually love our cars... we wash them, vacuum them, change the oil when scheduled, rotate tires, etc.
... and we generally put in the proper grade of gasoline to maintain performance and keep a level of internal 'clean'.
If you bought the wonderful Caddy 8 cyl engine and it calls for top grade, you put in top grade fuel.
Many have Lexus, Infinity, BMW, etc. and they put in the top grade fuel. The top grade fuel not only suggests top performance, but fuel cools, and cleans engine valves.
Why to we want to shortcut our printers?
The whole story isn't just comparing prints with off brand inks, but in the cleaning properties of the REAL inks.

Last point!   We have expensive cameras, tripods, lenses, and flash modules. Why would I dilute my results by using inks from XXX brand?

Hope to hear many opinions.
Fred

I used to refill my Canon cartridges for my old i960 printer with bottled inks.  You could get cartridge "blanks" and just refill them with a little syringe when they went empty.  The allure was there: it actually felt good to get a freshly filled cartridge for less than a dollar each time.  Sure, the rainbow colored fingers and a bit of spilled ink were a cost, but I'm a "hacker" at heart and love to work on things anyway.  No big deal.  Well, after using the refills for a few months, their true "colors" started shining through.  The viscosity of the inks was a little off, because the cartridges actually dripped if you didn't get them in the printer fast enough.  Taking an original Canon cartridge and drilling a hole in that to use instead of the third party blanks helped a little, but even then, the ink delivery wasn't what it should have been because if you printed something with a large patch of saturated magenta, the magenta ink cartridge couldn't keep up and streaks would appear.  This is something you don't notice when you first start using it.  Then I started getting more clogs than usual, some that would require a physical alcohol cleaning to fix.  In the long run, I just got tired of the problems.  It wasn't worth it and I didn't know whether the third party inks would even hold up as well over time so I quit using them.

I'm sure now, years later, there may be better products and I'm sure there are some that people swear by.  If there were third party inks that got rave reviews from both a quality and ease of use standpoint, I might eventually try again but for now, it's just not worth it.  I'll stick with the manufacturer's ink.  I do find it a bit odd that in a good number of cases, replacement (manufacturer) ink costs more than the printer!  And most of the time, they include real ink cartridges with the printer: not starter inks.

Mike

This thread made me finally register  

I have been using third party inks for several years now in my various Canon printers (ip4500, ip4200, ip4000 and ip6000D). The inks have been from Hobbicolors and more recently Image Specialists. I have had totally no clogs due to these inks. I print quite a few pictures - mainly lighthouses and covered bridges. I could/would not be able to print the number of pictures (mostly 8.0" X 10.5") I do if I didn't refill. I do only use Canon OEM cartridges for refilling. Have a chip resetter for the new CLI-8 cartridges. Also I purge (clean) my cartridges after several refills. I don't find refilling or purging to be a particularly messy job. At times my printers sit idle for several weeks between uses. They print perfectly when called for. Perfect nozzle checks.
Of course using third party inks and non Canon paper (mostly Costco Kirkland Glossy Photo) requires printer profiles. That is why I have Profile Prism. I have run non-scientific fading tests with prints in full sunlight. Canon OEM ink fades a little less but they do fade
The cost of OEM ink cartridges is much too high considering the small amount of ink provided. Canon OEMs cost between $13 to $15. I can refill for between a buck or two per refill.
Just my two cents worth.

Steve W.

Very interesting!

One of my concerns would be who to complain to if problems come up. Would anyone be interested in helping? Back to the automobile comparison. I have always gone with the dealer service on my vehicles and been treated like a king. Of course I am paying more, but the dependability and quality of service has been increasingly better over the years as the dealer realized the extent of my loyalty. I think this is also true with the photography equipment and printers I have bought over the years. I don't print huge volumes, quality and help when I need it is most important to me. I think sticking with the manufactures recommended consumables is the way to go. At least for me.

Regards,

Keith