External Ink Kits

[Phil Conners]

Several shops in Tukcom South Pattaya are selling external ink kits for inkjet printers. Prices vary from 800 to 3000 baht per kit. Has anyone bought these kits? What, if any, is the difference between these kits - at first sight they don't look much different. Of course the shop selling the more expensive kits claim their kit and ink is better but that's to be expected. I'd be curious to hear of first hand experiences.

[Dave the Dude]

Several shops in Tukcom South Pattaya are selling external ink kits for inkjet printers. Prices vary from 800 to 3000 baht per kit. Has anyone bought these kits? What, if any, is the difference between these kits - at first sight they don't look much different. Of course the shop selling the more expensive kits claim their kit and ink is better but that's to be expected. I'd be curious to hear of first hand experiences.

Hi Phil

Although I cannot comment on pattaya, I had one of the ink reservior kits fitted to my Epson printer and other than sometime clicking to confirm OK to run non genuine Ink cartridges, I have had no problems and the print quality is very good. I think I paid around 1500b last year for the kit&ink. If you need specific names to go for & the ones to avoid, let me know and I will call my mate who owns the PC shop here in Surin.

Other than greed, I dont know why they are not available back in the UK.

Dave

[Phil Conners]

The 3000 baht kit was from "Inkman" which I believe is a franchise so of course that will automatically make it more expensive. The 800 baht kit was sold from another shop without name. The quality of both kits seemed about the same to me, didn't see any obvious reason why one should be more expensive than the other. OTOH it is easily possible to buy too cheap in Thailand so if the cheap kit is indeed crap I wouldn't mind paying 3000 for less headache.

[JustAnotherFarang]

I would be interested in buying a printer which used one of these refilling tanks but where I live in the south, there are no vendors locally offering this service. Is it possible to order one of these kits and some more consumables like extra ink, online and have them delivered ??

Thanks in anticipation

JAF

[ozsamurai]

I would be careful using ink that is not correct. I bought a dodgy batch from Pantip, unknowingly and managed to clog and wreck two printers. I have now gone to the more expensive but safer inks, colormax or freejet. The ink tanks themselves are 750bht for my brother printer inks are from 120-290 a 100ml, yes there are cheaper, but not worth it I feel.

Bear in mind an interesting little factoid I found out lately. Printers these days have already built in a factory set amount of cleaning cycles, lets say for agruement 300. Once the printer has gone through this amount of head cleaning, the waste ink tank is determined to be FULL, and the printer will not function anyway. They are going to get you in the end, as by the time you run through that cycle, they will have changed the shape or number of cartridges for the new models.....sneaky.

Everyone in business will be claiming a superior product, I would look for large displays, showing reputable largish companies in many stores, then choose from amongst them.

Oz

[Murgatroyd]

Are these external kits available for Dell printers? My photo 926 printer is costing me a small fortune in ink cartriges... I'm sure that the system registers the cartrige empty long before it's actually run out of ink... can you refill a Dell ink cartridge?

[ozsamurai]

I have never seen any commercial quantity inks for Dell. Espon, Brother, HP, Canon are the easily accessible ones. You would need to give an ink cartridge model number for anyone to check this. eg my brother is a LC57 type

Oz

[sweetchariot]

I have never seen any commercial quantity inks for Dell. Espon, Brother, HP, Canon are the easily accessible ones. You would need to give an ink cartridge model number for anyone to check this. eg my brother is a LC57 type

Oz

What???

An external ink kit is a Thai way to save money - it is not endorsed by any of the printer manufacturers, and therefore will only use 'copy' ink. Jees - ink is ink isn't it?

You can get a kit installed for any inkjet, but I don't reckon you can do it online as it is illegal.

BTW Phil, I was thinking of getting one myself - do you need to take your printer in to have it installed, or is it an easy home installation?

[Murgatroyd]

The black dell cartridge is "Series 9. MK992" and the colour one is "Series 9 MK993"

[ozsamurai]

oils aint oils and inks aint inks!! couldn't resist!!

the colour setting for each printer manufacturer are different, just for a moment imagine how many shades of magenta you could have.... get the point! So if you use the wrong shade/colour, it may print but the colors would be all off, ng if you are printing photos for eg, probably OK for graphics. Ink consistency also plays a part in this, its viscosity is also different from maker to maker, and thus can clog printers

Anyone that goes down the refill road knows or should know that your warranty is null and void as soon as the ink lines are full with non-genuine inks. Its is not illegal, I don't know where this came from... it WILL void your warranty thats it.

There are 3 ways to do the conversion.

1) You buy the printer already converted from a seller, they buy them convert them and re-sell.

2) You take your printer in and they will do it for you 1000-2000Bht at Pantip

3) You buy the inks and empty plastic cartridges and do it yourself**.

** Some models are as simple as plugging in the cartridge, however some require a replumbing, it really depends on the actual printer. I chose the plug'n'play option 750bht DIY.

Oz

Edited August 16, 2008 by ozsamurai

[sweetchariot]

Counterfeighting IS illegal in Thailand (allegedly).

[ozsamurai]

What has been counterfeited??? This is a comparable ink, it does not state it is genuine, it just says it will work in XX printers.... the cartridges are clear plastic, do not even vaguely resemble the originals.

[Phil Conners]

FWIW, I brought in my printer to have it retrofittet with one of those external ink tanks but none of them could do it. They couldn't explain why, just "mai dai". I suspect it is because it is a two-cartridge printer, i.e. one black and one with 3 colors. I could of course buy a new printer, they're not that expensive, but it has served me well and is one of those all-in-one types (print, scan, copy).

[thaiflyer1]

I got my Epson R230 fitted with the outside tanks a year or so ago in Pattaya Tukcom............6 ink printer cost 2500 baht including first lot of inks.

Last time i bought some bottles they were 150 baht each for 100ml...........approx 4 months ago.

Never had any problems with them.

[cathyy]

Murgatroyd, Dell doesn't make their own printers. Last I knew, they were selling Lexmark or Canon printers rebranded. I do not recall which, sorry. It might be worth a casual perusal of the Lexmark and Canon websites to spot your printer. This doesn't mean that Lexmark or Canon cartridges will work, but it will let you tell the shop doing the retrofit what printer it's just like, as if they couldn't tell you by looking if they do a number of these conversions!

[ozsamurai]

I just happened to be looking around the inks today and soory they have never even heard of Dell printers, so looks like you are out of luck..

Oz

[Murgatroyd]

Well, Thanks for looking for me, much appreciated... I'll just have to be careful with my color cartridge usage...

The cartridges are made in the philippines...I guess there must be a way of sourcing them locally...

Murg