Canon MX892 (and other) Printer PGI-225 and CLI-226 Ink, 5/set for $2.25 @Amazon

I bought a set of these generics for my MX882 a few months back and the printer wouldn't even acknowledge that they were installed. Turns out the chips on them were not compatible with the printer. To get around that issue, I swapped a chip from one of the empty OEMs to get it printing. Even after a few cleaning cycles and several test pages, I was getting lots of streaking. Major disappointment, and I had been using generics in an old Canon MP390 for years with good results until the paper feed mechanism broke. Maybe I just got a bad batch of carts, but it's a gamble every time you buy them. Sometimes you get lucky and they work fine, other times you get crap. I don't print often and have found I only use about 3 sets of carts per year, so have went back to using strictly OEM. Between the ink recycle programs at OM and Staples, it's actually pretty easy to get OEM ink for free or very cheap, assuming you don't burn through it too fast. The other alternative which many people have good results with is re-using OEM carts and filling with a good quality after market ink, but that involves some up front costs and a bit of research to figure out how to do it correctly.

Good luck to anyone taking the plunge but don't expect OEM quality results from $2 cartridges.

Where did you purchase your inks? probably time to switch to a different seller, there are a lot of different suppliers of these ink carts. It is a gamble until you find one that works in regards to ink quality.

I've bought from various sellers on ebay in the past, seen maybe 4-5 different types of carts designs never had issues with streaking or bleeding. I'm using a mg5320 mainly for over 1 year now, used over 50 sets of non oem ink. If you ever wanted to go back to non oem carts I recommend abacus on amazon [amazon.com]. recycle the extra gray cart if you don't need it.

I only buy from this seller now.

Actually, the set I got did come from Abacus. And I'm not putting them down as I've used them for years and had good results with other printers. And they did offer a full refund when I contacted them. I just figured Canon had done something with the latest printer models to make generics incompatible. Maybe I'll give it another try; I recycled the old set at OM and got my money back in store credit - was cheaper than shipping them back for a refund. My biggest disappointment was the streaking, but like I said, maybe just got a bad batch. I have noticed that, in general, the OEMs do require far less cleaning cycles than generics to remain streak free, but guess that's part of the trade-off. Still a lot cheaper in the long run than paying $13 or more per cart.

Whether lack of ink potentially damages your printheads--I cannot answer. But I will say that I have continued using the same printerheads without fail after many ink replacements. And I always wait until the carts are bled dry.