PIXMA TS702 Canon Ink Cartridge Questions

[richardanderson]

What is the difference between Canon ink jet cartridges and compatible cartridges?  Do the compatible cartridges register how much ink is left?  Is the ink as good?  Does it dry differently?  Is there any market for used cartridges, like credit towards another purchase?  What does CLI, XL, and XXL mean?

[jrhoffman75]

1. compatible cartridges are manufactured by companies other than Canon. They can be of varying quality. 

2. Ink level registration I would assume varies by the printer model. For my Pro-100 the ink level is reported as "Estimated Ink levels" and is computed by the printer driver based on the items printed - I am guessing by the amount of actual image data sent to the printer. Cartridge empty is reported by a light source and a prism at the bottom of the cartridge. When the chamber is empty the light signal is different. 

3. You can find out a lot of info on inks and printing from jtoolman's YouTube channel. "Good" is a relative term, depending on what your use is. There are some very good inks that match the Canon colors well (usually with vendor supplied custom ICC profiles) but even the strongest advocates of some third party inks acknowledge that the longevity is no where near OEM. Some folks don't care about that; for others longevity3 is very important.

3. There is an eBay market for empty cartridges since people need extra cartridges if they are refilling with third party inks. In the US Staples will take empty cartridges and give a $2 credit if you belong to their loyalty program.

4. XL = extra large (more ink that standard), XXL = extra extra large (even more ink). CLI is a particular printer model number for the ink it uses.  For example, CLI-42 is ink for the Pro-100.

[richardanderson]

Thank you very much for your reply.  I have a cheap TS702 printer and it works quite well.  I did have some cartridges filled at Costco, and the printer said the cartridge was not recognizable, so that's why I'm asking.  Also, I did try to recycle some cartridges at Office Depot and they would give a credit ONLY if you purchased a certain amount of product each month, and in the month when you brought the cartridges in.  Does Canon have a sensor or something in their cartridges that a printer recognizes?  Because my printer won't recognize the same cartridge I bought from Canon but now has been refilled.

[jrhoffman75]

I only bought a third party cartridge once. It was recognized by the printer but didn’t print a proper nozzle check. 

I know for the Pro-100 people need to use a chip resetter when they refill the cartridges, so perhaps the printer writes something to the chip saying its empty. 

[richardanderson]

Thank you again.  I'll check with Staples and keep looking.

**bleep** Anderson