A4 Photo Printing Inkjet Compatible with Third Party Continuous Ink System? - Budget $500

Lairtime on 31/12/2020 - 10:41
Last edited 31/12/2020 - 11:08 by 1 other user

Looking for advice on the best inkjet printer for A4 photo printing available and supported in Australia which is .

Seems that a lot of the 'best' reviewed models available in the US don't make it out to Australia.

Not looking to print high volumes, perhaps 5 A4 images a week on average. The idea (hopefully a sound one) behind a continuous ink system is to save money on the consumable inks which cost $$$. 3rd party inks are cheaper and often comparable in quality. The tanks with large volumes of liquid also less likely to dry up. Is my thinking flawed here and such a system would be a bad choice with my expected print volumes?

I've got monochrome lasers for standard document work.

Hoping to find something around $500 if possible but willing to spend more if it makes sense.

Thanks for any suggestions or advice.

Computing

Comments

  • trex on 31/12/2020 - 11:22

    I get my ink from MIR-AUS. They sell CISS for Canon, Epson etc. With only 5 pages per week, why not consider refillable cartridge instead? I print more than 30 pages per week, only need to refill once every 3-4 weeks.

  • bargain huntress on 31/12/2020 - 11:28
    +2

    Email Rihac with a list of you requirements and ask them to recommend a printer.
    I've done this twice and have been very happy

    • airtime on 31/12/2020 - 15:14

      Thanks for this suggestion. I will contact them for their advice. Looks like they sell CIS and printer packages.

      • bargain huntress on 31/12/2020 - 15:23

        I havent ever bought a printer direct from them so far maybe that is new. I just buy what they recommend from Officeworks, use the included ink up, then buy the ciss from them.

  • AustriaBargain on 31/12/2020 - 14:07

    Why not go up to A3 or A3+? You can get loads of branded A3+ photo paper online fair cheap.

    • airtime on 31/12/2020 - 15:15

      All the A3 printers I saw with good photo print quality were way outside my budget. Can you suggest any in the $500-$800 mark?

      • AustriaBargain on 31/12/2020 - 15:23

        The Canon Pro100S is always popular. It's not continuous ink, you'll have to refill your own carts for cheap photo printing. And there's eight different colours so it can be a little tedious.

        • airtime on 31/12/2020 - 16:54

          This looks like a lovely printer but without CIS, running costs look very expensive. ~$150 to replace the ink cartridges. All the 3rd party replacements I've seen have very poor reviews. Haven't found a single 3rd party reasonable cost replacement that reviews well yet.

          • AustriaBargain on 31/12/2020 - 17:18

            @airtime: What about this one, I use it and the colors seem to match the genuine inks with PC's own profiles. I still use genuine inks for commercial work though because I'll feel pretty silly if my PC ink noticeably starts fading for a client 50 years from now.

            https://www.precisioncolors.com/PC42.html

            • airtime on 08/01/2021 - 12:22

              @AustriaBargain: Unfortunately I have found they won't ship internationally. I would have to look into US forwarding companies and that is getting more complicated than I would like.

              So back to searching for AU ink replacement options for the Canon Pro-100S.

              • AustriaBargain on 08/01/2021 - 12:31

                @airtime: They shipped to me. It was a while ago, I bought the big bottles so they are lasting me a long time.

        • airtime on 01/01/2021 - 11:20

          Very tempted by the Pixma Pro-100S. AustriaBargain - thank you for the suggestion. Just need to confirm whether precisioncolors.com ship to Australia. Looks like you need to get a second set of cartridges to use when refilling, problem with that is all the sources mentioned specifically don't ship to Australia. Perhaps have to shell out for genuine OEM second set of cartridges + the chip resetter + refill equipment + refill ink (which I haven't found the price for yet on the precisioncolor's website)

          Given what I want to do this may be the best option - seems to go well with my intended print volume and it gets great reviews for the photo print quality.

          Looks like the Pro-100S can be had for around the $650 + shipping mark.

  • kathmandu-jeff on 31/12/2020 - 14:13

    Why not get a first party CIS instead? I have the Epson ET-7700 and its brilliant. It's expensive though but I print a lot of documents and photos. Since you're only printing 5 photos a week, it might not make sense getting a CIS printer though.

    • airtime on 31/12/2020 - 15:14

      I had considered the ET-7700 but was put off my reviews that its photo print quality doesn't align with its high cost. How have you found the photo print quality yourself?

    • bargain huntress on 31/12/2020 - 15:24

      I was gonna get an ink tank printer but they are so expensive it doesn't add up compared to a ciss.

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join