[Forseti]

I've tried several alternate brands of ink on several different printers over the years and have to say that I was never 100% satisfied with the end results i.e. the quality of the finished prints.
Several months ago I too purchased an MP610 having read several test reports that it's successors (the 620/630) were not quite as good. Now whilst it's true what you say that the inks for this printer aren't exactly what one would call cheap I have to say that the quality of finished prints is, to my critical eye, nothing short of excellent. I can now happily print from applications such as Lightroom, Photoshop, QImage and yes, even the printers own software (Easy Photo Print) with consistent results. This peace of mind alone is well worth the extra spent on using the manufacturers own inks and papers as opposed to the previous hit and miss experiences.