p.1 #1 · Pixma Pro-10 NOT compatible with Japanese ink cartridges (?) (plus refilling information inside)
Hello all,
Long time U&S lurker, rare poster with a piece of information, if niche, that may help a few people out (and should likely be catalogued on some kind of SEO thing). I picked up a camera+printer bundle with Canon including the Pixma Pro-10 as part of B&H's Black Friday deals, and then had it shipped over to Japan, where I currently reside.
Naturally, the Pixma has a mirror image printer version in Japan, the Pixus Pro-10. However, the print cartridges used for the Pixma and the Pixus are not compatible, according to a Canon Japan marketing staffer (despite looking identical both outside and inside!):
"I understand you wish to swap out your ink cartridges, but the PGI-73 series of ink cartridges sold in Japan cannot be used with the PIXMA PRO-10."
It is important, however, to note that PRO-10 models sold ANYWHERE in the world except for Japan take the exact same ink cartridges (basically Japan makes one thing for Japan and one thing for the rest of the world - I have found that this is not uncommon)
Here is some resource information for any future folks with this issue who may go digging through this forum:
At the time of this writing (8 Jan 2015), it appears that there MAY be a way to transplant the chips on a US/world-wide cartridge onto a JP cartridge, but this would almost certainly void the warranty and I imagine runs a risk of breaking yo' stuff. Additionally, for those of you who are just trying to save money by refilling, you can reset your chip and refill by itself for tons cheaper - this benefits both the money-savers and people like myself trapped in Japan without easy access to ink cartridges.
Please do note the below links I've aggregated about the topic.
I hope this is of use to someone out there, and if anyone has any magical solution to adapting Japan-sold PGI-73 cartridges to the US PIXMA, I would love to hear from you.
p.1 #2 · Pixma Pro-10 NOT compatible with Japanese ink cartridges (?) (plus refilling information inside)
Can you find a seller on Ebay.com with a high reliability rating from a lot of customers who is located outside the US? If so, ask whether, instead of shipping to the US, they will ship to Japan.
