i550
The Canon i550 is a desktop printer that keeps its ink in seven separate tanks, all from one family. The document tank is BCI-3E Black, rated at about 420 pages; the color row — BCI-3E Cyan, BCI-3E Magenta and BCI-3E Yellow — is rated at about 340 pages a tank, and three photo tanks (photo black, photo cyan and photo magenta) carry the same 340-page rating for image work. Because every tank swaps on its own, a color running dry never forces you to replace the ones still working.
The ratings explain the rhythm of owning one: black is the long-distance tank, while the six dye tanks drain closer together, and photo printing leans hardest on the three photo shades. There is a second career hidden in the black tank, too — it also serves later BCI-6 printers as their document black, so a spare bought for the i550 is not stranded if a newer Canon joins the desk. The colors enjoy no such freedom: they stay inside their own family and cannot be swapped across.
Ink Cartridges for i550
| Cartridge | Color | Page Yield |
|---|---|---|
| BCI-3E Black | Black | About 420 pages |
| BCI-3E Cyan | Cyan | About 340 pages |
| BCI-3E Magenta | Magenta | About 340 pages |
| BCI-3E Yellow | Yellow | About 340 pages |
| BCI-3E Photo Black | Photo Black | About 340 pages |
| BCI-3E Photo Cyan | Photo Cyan | About 340 pages |
| BCI-3E Photo Magenta | Photo Magenta | About 340 pages |
| BCI-3E Set of 5 | Assorted | See product page |
| BCI-3E Set of 10 | Assorted | See product page |
| BCI-3E Set of 15 | Assorted | See product page |
Which cartridge should you buy?
Buy for the tank that actually empties. For everyday letters and schoolwork that is usually black, and a single BCI-3E Black is the cheapest route back to printing. When several colors fade together — after a holiday-photo session, say — the Set of 5 rebuilds the document row with two blacks and one each of cyan, magenta and yellow, while the Set of 15 weights the restock toward black for text-heavy households. The Set of 10 is the broad cupboard refill. Photo tanks are stocked as singles on this shelf, so add a photo black, photo cyan or photo magenta when photo output starts to band or shift, and resist replacing a full row out of habit: the tank that looks low is often the only one that is.
Ink levels, chips and everyday use
There is no chip anywhere in this system to program, reset or fail. The i550 reads its ink from the tanks themselves, so a compatible tank is a mechanical fit rather than an electronic negotiation, and a low-ink warning is the printer's own estimate rather than a countdown expiring. Practical care is equally low-tech: change a tank when the printer flags it, keep the lid and vents free of dust, and print something — a photo, a test page — every few weeks so the print head stays wet between jobs. Sealed spare tanks wait patiently at room temperature, and every compatible tank here is covered by a 1-year warranty with 1-year returns.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which ink cartridges does the Canon i550 take?
Seven tanks from the BCI-3E family: black, cyan, magenta and yellow, plus photo black, photo cyan and photo magenta. Each is sold singly above, and the document colors also come in sets.
Why does the black tank outlast the colors?
It starts bigger: black is rated at about 420 pages against about 340 for each color and photo tank, and everyday documents draw on black for every line of text while colors are spent only where the page actually carries color.
Can I put BCI-6 cartridges in the i550?
No. The color tanks are family-specific, and BCI-6 colors will not serve here. The one crossover runs the other way: this black also works as the document black in later BCI-6 printers.
Are the page ratings guarantees?
No — they are estimates under standard test conditions. A month of full-page photos will empty a 340-page tank far sooner than a month of letters, which is why the ratings are best used to compare tanks against each other rather than to promise a date.
More printers that use the same cartridges
The i550 shares its ink shelf with a long roll of Canon desktops from the same years, and the same tanks move between all of them: from the i Series, i560, i850, i860, i865, i900D, i950, i960, i9900; the S Series, S400, S450, S500, S520, S530D, S600, S630, S750, S800, S820D, S830D, S900, S9000; the PIXMA range, PIXMA MP750, PIXMA MP760, PIXMA MP780, PIXMA iP3000, PIXMA iP4000, PIXMA iP4000R, PIXMA iP5000, PIXMA iP6000D, PIXMA iP8500; the MultiPASS all-in-ones, MultiPass F50, MultiPass F60, MultiPass F80, MultiPass MP700, MultiPass MP730, Multipass C755, Multipass F30; and the BJC line, BJC-3000, BJC-6000, BJC-6100, BJC-8200