Third-party printer ink-jet cartridges - recommendations? pros? cons?

Philtre

I have a Canon Pixma IP-7250 printer which needs some new ink cartridges but I'm not prepared to pay Canon's crazy prices. There are plenty of cheaper options on Amazon and eBay but I'm wondering if folks have any experience and recommendations? I use my printer for decals that go on home made pedals.

hywelg

Unfortunately it's hit and miss with third party cartridges. Some of the inks are not light fast. If you find some that are please let me know as I too will not pay Canon prices for my ip7200.

vasselmeyer

Honestly, if you want the decals to stay UV-proof and not fade, you need to use original ink and media.  Printers, the ink and the media are designed as a system and if you replace one, the others react unpredictably.

midlifecrisis

i have a pixma 3600 and i always find cheaper ones on ebay, usually about 10% of the canon prices. Ive used hundreds and never had any problem. I also used to run epson printers and the same applies. i Dont believe these stories that it will ruin your printer, the ink will fade etc.  Never use any of these refill your old cartridge places. they are hardly any cheaper than the full price ones and are total crap.

Philtre

The cheapest I can find for genuine Canon cartridges is to get the "XL" range. Each cartridge has 11ml of ink vs 7ml in the standard cartridge. At £13 for a single colour x 4 = £52.

Philtre

@Adam_MD I think you said you use third-party cartridges. What's the longevity of the ink like? I'd hate for the colours to fade once they've been covered with Envirotex.

Adam_MD

I have the same printer as you Phil.

I first bought these in July 2016 so every pedal I’ve finished since then has been printed with this ink and none of them have faded yet.  

Edit - I forgot the link

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00K2XU6FE/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

uncledick

Buy an office spec HP printer and use genuine XL cartridges.  Very reliable and cheap.

hywelg

uncledick said:

Buy an office spec HP printer and use genuine XL cartridges.  Very reliable and cheap.

But the resolution is nowhere near the Canon. I have both an HP officejet 8100 and an ip7200 and they serve very different roles.

ThePrettyDamned

I have a hp photo printer and pay £2 per month for up to 50 pages  they send ink when needed.

It's a photo printer and I can print an a4 portrait at max settings to gloss paper and it only costs 1 page. It's not a top end photo printer, but I order from professionals for truly professional prints.