An interesting review about........er......I NK! (Canon BCI 3E black)

Name: hillcrestsan

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Product:	Canon BCI 3E black
Date:	05/01/08 (41 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good colour - long - lasting

Disadvantages: They cover idiots in ink

Hey ho. How surreal to be reviewing ink. Does anyone else do this? Why am I sitting here at 10 o\'clock at night reviewing an ink cartridge? Do I love it? No. Err.......have I had an unusual and vaguely witty experience with this cartridge? Not really. Was I bored and thought I\'d go do a review about the first thing I found that I owned and hey look........2 pound signs!!! Woo! That\'ll be it.

To be fair, I use a lot of these things here and at work (see scintillating review of canon i550) so I suppose I\'m as qualified as anyone.
It\'s good ink - of course it is. Canon would not be popular if their branded ink was pants. It has super coverage and definatly stands proud where you compare it to the compatibles. This is especially true of photo-printing on photo paper. Am I sure? Yep. In the main corridor in school we have got the kids class photo\'s, school made, on the wall. Using identical Kodak paper some were printed at work using the genuine canon ink and a couple I did at home using compatibles. Thus, there are a couple of pictures that now look as though you are looking through fog. Guess which ones they are - you got it!- the compatibles sort of vanish in about 6 months. It is a lesser known fact that if you were to cover your naked body in compatible inks and were to lie on a sunbed for 30 minutes, you would be rendered completely invisible and could escape without paying. The Canon inks don\'t actually look any different from the day they were printed.

So why just the good rating. These sound fantastic!
Well, you get covered in ink. This isnt good especially. You see, to get the cartridge into the printer requires some understanding of advanced engineering. Remove plastic packet (after finding the tab to get it going), remove clingy plastic coating (after finding even smaller tab), pull orange strip and then you get to the tricky bit. The ink outlet hole is covered by an orange plastic clip thing. I think its meant to sort of twist off. I think. It reminds me of the pin on a WW2 hand-grenade.

Anyway, I\'m pretty sure this has been thoroughly tested by many to be an efficient mechanism that protects the cartridge and allows easy installation. However in the hands of a complete arse it is a complete disaster. As soon as I flick the orange thingy off my hands instantly transform into a Jackson Pollock painting. As does my keyboard and whichever small child was standing the closest. I must just not have the knack.
Never mind the warning that failing to use Canon cartridges will invalidate your warranty and lessen performance. What about my hands mate!

Second quibble is about price. These things cost about £9-£10 even in Tesco and don\'t contain more ink. Compatible price - about £3 tops. Well, it is better I suppose, but not that much better for day-to-day printing.
Overall - well done canon for making good but explosive and expensive ink cartridges. You get what you pay for.

Originally posted on Ciao by myself - dhillcrest

Summary: er.. great?

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