i started getting into photo printing with my canon pixma mp495 but my ink ran out
what's the best/cheapest place to get replacement ink (i need color cl-211)

officemax seems the cheapest at $21.
but what about those refill places like rapid refill and cartridge world?

are they the same quality and cheaper?

thanks

12/19/2010 4:16:57 AM

never trust refill or reman ink for photo work.

staples is good because you can turn in empty cartridges for $2-3 each to offset the cost. Gets my HP inks down to ~$8 each.

12/19/2010 10:53:27 AM

throw away your inkjet and buy a laser.

12/19/2010 4:32:57 PM

best quality: new cartridges and doing ^^
otherwise, the refilling place on Hillsborough street seemed to be the cheapest to me

12/19/2010 5:08:48 PM

^^The cheapest inkjet will print better photos (what the OP said she's doing) than most laser printers. I wouldn't give my laser up for anything but when I need to print photos, I use a cheap inkjet at work.

That said, a better option would be to send the photos to Walgreens/Walmart/whatever. You're probably paying $0.20+ per print with the printer and you should be able to print them online for 1/2 of that (or less). Otherwise, definitely stay away from refills on a photo printer. Canon's seem to be the worst also. Their "don't use any cartridge but ours" chips seem to be a lot harder to match than others.

[Edited on December 19, 2010 at 5:10 PM. Reason : .]

12/19/2010 5:10:11 PM

inkjet ink is roughly $6000/gallon when bought in cartridge amounts. wrap your head around that.

12/19/2010 7:19:57 PM

thanks guys i called all the refill places (even office max offers refills) but none of them refill this cartridge, i am assuming maybe the cartridge is not even refillable

so i ended up getting it from best buy for about $20....office max, walmart, etc all wanted $27.

i would have printed from one of those photo places like cvs/walgreens but i'm printing 8x10s and these costs like $3 each at those places

thanks again

12/20/2010 12:18:11 AM

dang girl, you know you want to go dye sublimation

12/20/2010 1:41:30 AM

I almost bought an Alps dyesub when I was doing less than legal teslin printing in college. I just buy my ink from china via ebay or meritline.

12/21/2010 1:03:05 AM