Today we have a fantastic review from Lynn who has one of our CISS systems. If you'd like to be entered in our monthly prize draw, and receive a discount on all dye and pigment ink purchases, send your review to reviews@cityinkexpress.co.uk.

You have supplied me most recently with a new replacement CISS system with ink for my Brother MFC-J6720DW. The old one, which has become a bit messy, has worked perfectly for two years or so, giving excellent print quality with vibrant colours, noticeably better than the standard or own brand replacement ink cartridges and at vastly cheaper prices. So much so that my newer Epson WF-7710 is now fitted with this system and I look forward to many years good service from that too.

In fact, I so much like this system of ink supply that I have bought a replacement printer for my girlfriend in Ghana, Africa - an Epson ET-2600 - which has this kind of system built in, and she too is now full of enthusiasm over it. Keep up the good work. I will be back for more inks in due course for all these machines.

Thank you so much.

Today we have a fantastic review from Phil who has one of our CISS systems. If you'd like to be entered in our monthly prize draw, and receive a discount on all dye and pigment ink purchases, send your review to reviews@cityinkexpress.co.uk.

Having thought long and hard before buying a CISS system, I have to say that the last 3 years have changed my mind completely. The simplicity of the CISS system from Cityink Express and the the staggering sums of money saved make this a must have for parents (since so much can wasted by kids) and business alike. Once setup, you simply pull out the cartridge and re-seat it, (I usually wait 4-5 secs) to make it be recognised once more.

Think of it this way, the cost of the entire CISS system is less than 2 original ink sets from EPSON!

Quality - The prints that I have produced are excellent and have been used in friends official wedding photo albums the print outs are that good. Could a skilled artist or expert designer tell the difference between inks? Not sure, however they normally use colour laser-jets, which are far too expensive for us. Assuming you use the correct photo quality paper, then the ink dries immediately, everytime! Also works fine on normal paper, if it stays wet, it is the fault of the paper, not the inks, I can assure you.

Refilling - With the CISS system this is almost never required, however the first fill up is straightforward and links to YouTube videos can be found including some from Cityinks.

TIP: Make sure the cables are not too tight, or do not bend too much or it can restrict ink flow.

Today we have a fantastic review from Colin who has one of our CISS systems. If you'd like to be entered in our monthly prize draw, and receive a discount on all dye and pigment ink purchases, send your review to reviews@cityinkexpress.co.uk.

Having already fitted a CISS system to my Epson XP-202 and achieved excellent results.

When my God Daughter in Russia asked for a new printer for her birthday, I got her a new Epsom XP-342 and it went without saying City Ink Express's CISS system for the new printer.

Easy to set up with video help, she now doesn't worry about how many pictures she prints off because of the cost of cartridges.

Both her and my printers working great.

Thanks City Ink Express.

Today we have a fantastic review from Karl who has one of our CISS systems. If you'd like to be entered in our monthly prize draw, and receive a discount on all dye and pigment ink purchases, send your review to reviews@cityinkexpress.co.uk.

I was delighted at how easy it was to install this CISS. I work in IT support and over the years I’ve learned to dread the moment when I power up a printer and then get it to recognise CISS ink cartridges. The printer usually rejects all of the cartridges in the unit and I spend hours trying everything I know to get the printer working. Not so in this case.

I installed the unit while the printer was switched off, powered it up and got the usual ink cartridge not recognised message. I merely lifted the ink cartridge unit back out of the cradle slightly, clicked it back into position and Eureka the printer happily accepted it. I was printing off reams within in a minute or two.

Great unit at a very reasonable price and so, so easy to fit.

Excellent..!!

Today we have a fantastic review from Alain who has used many of our products. If you'd like to be entered in our monthly prize draw, and receive a discount on all dye and pigment ink purchases, send your review to reviews@cityinkexpress.co.uk.

Cityink offers a lot of great products. I used these on all my printers (Canon, Epson, Brother) without ever having problems.

They are very professional and correct with the customers. Follow-ups and technical advice are always excellent.

I highly recommend these products that save us a lot of money while maintaining print quality.

Today we have a fantastic review from Alistair for his CISS. If you'd like to be entered in our monthly prize draw, and receive a discount on all dye and pigment ink purchases, send your review to reviews@cityinkexpress.co.uk

3 Reasons Why CityInkExpress Is AMAZING!!

1. I hate long reading documents on screens: The CISS has given me a painfully cost effective and cheap way to print PDF documents, manuals, comic books, emails and study materials without the worry of having to ration ink!
2. I print photos in bulk: All those pictures I’ve taken for Facebook and Instagram are now backed up in hard copy on photographic photo paper, even those blurry ones that never got posted online (because I’m a sentimental fool) and I did it on the cheap!
3. In 2018 I’ve ordered ink for the first time since 2016 (and I still have a lot of the previous ink left): I print en masse and still can’t believe what an amazing investment this has been. The dye ink I use is cheap and what ink is still left in the system has NOT discoloured, dried-out and prints to a high quality without issue. This is after 2 years of [the ink] sitting in the system!

I want to thank Zac and Shane from the City Ink team personally for their prompt, helpful, concise and friendly replies to several queries I had about my current order. Cheers, guys.

Everyone needs to print from time to time. Even if you're not a professional photographer or a contract lawyer, there will still be the occasional errand that cannot be completed without some assistance from a printer.

When such errands arise, it's nice to have a printer of your own to rely on. The alternative is going to the library and paying for each sheet...or using the office printer while your boss isn't looking...or just hoping that one of your friends will let you use theirs.

You might think that paying for a printer (and, subsequently, the ink or toner necessary to keep it running) is a waste of money, but it's actually a very sound investment in the long run. Here are three reasons to take the plunge and get your very own printer:

Tickets and Boarding Passes

If you've travelled by air in the last couple of years, you'll know about all the bits of paper that you have to print out just to board the darn plane. It’s not just air travel, either; between the e-tickets for that concert on Friday and the proof of purchase that you need to present when you pick up your goods at a shop, there’s always something that needs printing, and having your own printer makes life much easier.

You'll Instantly Become More Popular

You know how we mentioned the friends that you rely on for printing purposes at present? Once you’ve got a printer of your own, you’ll become that friend. True, you may get tired of everybody making demands on your poor little printer, but think of all the favours that they’ll owe you!

Printers Aren't Just Printers Anymore

Multi-function printers (MFPs) are an increasingly large part of the market, and there are very few people nowadays who just want a printer. By investing in an MFP, you’ll also be getting a scanner, a photocopier, and goodness knows what else.

Convinced? Click here to see our printer bundles - these printers come with CISS systems, which means that you'll save money on ink right off the bat!

For some reason, printer manufacturers have never put a lot of effort into naming their machines. It would be refreshing to see someone like Brother or HP roll out a new model called 'The Inkredible' or 'Colourama', but no - it's always DCP this and 3800DN that. How boring.

But have you ever wondered what those names might mean? A quick browse through our toner cartridge range will throw up a mind-boggling variety of acronyms and suffixes, but unless you're already a printing expert, it's probably all greek to you. What, for example, is the difference between an HP LaserJet 3500 and an HP LaserJet 3500n? 

In today's blog, we're going to explain what some of those letters stand for. Note that different manufacturers use different nomenclature, so this information will vary between brands; still, most of these are reasonably universal:

• D is for Duplexing: This printer is capable of double-sided printing.
  
  
• L is...a tricky one. It can denote a low-speed printer (although this is more commonly written as LS); bizarrely, HP have also been known to use it to denote a stapler function (see S).
  
  
• M means that this printer has PostScript capabilities. Not to be confused with...
  
  
• MFP is for Multi-Fucntion Printer: This printer also functions as a scanner, photocopier, etc.
  
  
• N is for Network: This printer is network-ready, meaning that multiple printers can connect to it at once. Non-network printers must be plugged into the computer you're printing from.
  
  
• S is for Stapler or Stacker: This printer has a built-in stapling function...or a paper stacker for large jobs. Not to be confused with...
  
  
• SE is for Special Edition: This printer was marketed as a 'special' version of a previous model. Note that this doesn't refer to any specific features or functions.
  
  
• Si is used by Hewlett-Packard to denote high-volume printers.
  
  
• T is for Tray: This printer has an additional paper tray.
  
  
• W is for Wireless: Printer can connect to the network wirelessly (as opposed to N printers, which have to be physically connected to the network).
  
  
• X is used to denote that this printer has several different features - it looks a bit cleaner than DTNSL, after all!
  
  

Did we miss any? If you're still not sure what that model name means, why not get in touch?

If you thought that printing was kind of a boring topic, think again. We at City Ink Express have been in this business for a long time, and we've learned that printing - and printers in particular - can inspire a wider range of emotions than all the world's poetry and music and art put together. Emotions like...

Cynicism!

More frustration!

Bafflement!

Yet more frustration!

And finally - if, by some black magic, you actually manage to print your document - overwhelming pride!

More of this sort of thing on our Printing Memes board.

There are many, many printer companies in the market – Wikipedia lists more than 100 – and so you might think that providing a truly comprehensive range of ink and toner solutions would be a near-impossible task.

But while staying on top of the ever-expanding range of available models is certainly a challenge, we have found that certain brands are mentioned far more frequently than others. There may be 100+ manufacturers in Wikipedia’s list, but the five or six biggest names on that list account for the vast majority of our sales.

With that in mind, here’s our countdown of the 5 Biggest Printer Companies in the World:

5. Samsung

Founded: 1938

Home Country: South Korea

 Samsung is a huge name across dozens of different industries – aside from printers, they also manufacture smartphones, televisions, cameras, kitchen appliances, and goodness knows what else. Why are they only #5? Because, unlike most of the other companies on this list, printers aren’t really Samsung’s main export; they’re just a single string in the company’s bow!

Browse Samsung toner cartridges >

4. Epson

Founded: 1942

Home Country: Japan

Epson is part of the Seiko Group, but while the Seiko brand is synonymous with watches and clocks, Epson have carved out a huge name for themselves in the printing game. As of Autumn 2012, their market share was more than 15%, and they’ve continued to flourish in spite of controversies regarding their ink cartridges.

Purchase toner for Epson laser printers >

3. Canon

Founded: 1937

Home Country: Japan

 One might argue that Canon are better known for their cameras than for their printers, but let’s not split hairs – printing and photography go hand-in-hand anyway, and Canon are international leaders in both markets. They’re also the only company on this list without a blue-and-white logo, so more power to them for bucking the trend!

Buy Canon toner >

2. Brother

Founded: 1908

Home Country: Japan

Brother are by far the oldest company on this list (they were founded almost three decades before Canon, although admittedly they were called the Yasui Sewing Machine Company throughout a large chunk of their early history).  While companies like Canon and Samsung have complemented their printing products with successful forays into other markets, Brother have mainly been all about the printers for some time now. And it’s paid off – their machines are some of the very best available.

Buy Brother toner cartridges >

1. Hewlett-Packard

Founded: 1939

Home Country: USA

You thought Japan were going to run away with this list, didn't you? 'Fraid not - America, as usual, are at the top of the tree, and even though printers are only a part of HP's massive hardware and software range, Hewlett-Packard printers still appear to be the most popular worldwide.

Buy toner for HP printers >