How to reduce the cost of printing each DVD cover / photo?

[Inigo_Montoya1]

Currently have a Canon MP210 - happy with the quality of the prints but the cost of each print seems prohibitive

If my calculations are correct you get at best about a dozen or so A4 sized prints per colour cartridge and each cartridge costs circa £15 (27 dollars)

The printheads come inbuilt into the ink cartridges so its not cheap to replace them even with "compatible" cartridges which are not much cheaper than originals

I have been told that with printers such as the Canon IP4000 the printheads are not built into the cartridges & so do not have to be replaced meaing a compatible refill is MUCH cheaper (circa £1 / 1.8 dollars) i.e. all you are buying is some ink in a plastic tank

As such does anybody have any recommendations with regards to a new printer where the cost of repacement ink is really cheap ike with the Canon IP4000

[UTR]

I use cartridges (BCI-6) in my Canon printers (iP4000, i960, MP780 & S520) that cost $1.59 each. Using quality third party inks is the only way you are going to print economically with ANY ink jet printer. Search on ebay and buy a decent Canon ink jet printer that uses BCI-6 cartridges. These cartridges don’t have chips and can be bought cheap from third party ink sellers and if you refill at home (very easy to do) the cost is under $1 per cartridge.

The Canon printers using CLI-8 cartridges can also be easily refilled for less than $1 per cartridge and you can still buy new printers that use them for very good prices. You can also get a chip resetter for the CLI-8 cartridges if you want to maintain ink level monitoring capability. Either way you can still refill and run these printers.

[Inigo_Montoya1]

thanks for the info

does anybody have any recommendations of specific printer models ?

As an alternative to buying a new printer I could try a continuous ink system i.e.
http://cityinkexpress.co.uk/MP_210-Continuous_ink_system_for_Canon_MP210.html

Quite expensive at £50 (90 dollars) coonsidering I only paid £15 for my printer

Does anybody have any opinion / advice as to whether I should buy a new printer or opt for the CISS ?

[jubjubbird]

Look for an Epson R285, can be found for around £60, with compatible carts about £1.35 each, or a Canon ip4500 also for around £60, with carts about £1.25.

There are CISS systems for the epsons for about £25ish.

It probably depends how much you are going to use it. I use my Epson (R220 - old model with carts about 75p) a fair amount, but still use carts as I don’t have any space suitable to run a CISS system

Have a look at svp.co.uk for carts and CISS systems.

If you do buy a new printer, consider selling the original carts that come with the printer on ebay, and just use the compatible ones from the start, you’d probably get a third of the costs of the printer back straight away.

[CDan]

[QUOTE=Inigo_Montoya;2146660]thanks for the info

does anybody have any recommendations of specific printer models ?

As an alternative to buying a new printer I could try a continuous ink system i.e.
http://cityinkexpress.co.uk/MP_210-Continuous_ink_system_for_Canon_MP210.html

Quite expensive at £50 (90 dollars) coonsidering I only paid £15 for my printer

Does anybody have any opinion / advice as to whether I should buy a new printer or opt for the CISS ?[/QUOTE]

New printer will save you money in the long run, over using what you have. If you want to stay with a multi-function, the MP600, MP610 and MP620 are the best value-vs-features models. If you want just a printer, the IP4000, IP4300, IP4500 or IP4600 are all pretty much the same machine. Compatible tanks are available for all except the IP4600 and MP620. The IP3000, IP3500 and IP3600 are a lesser quality printer, but still quite acceptable for many folks.

Any of the above choices will cut your ink costs in half.