ALPS MD-5000 printer supplies

[JohnE.]

I've recently got an opportunity to buy a used ALPS MD-5000P thermal wax color printer for $100.00 Canadian. As far as I can tell, they retailed for about $1,000.00 Canadian new. Has anyone had experience with this printer and getting replacement cartridges for it? The printer and cartridges have been out of production for at least two years now.

So far I've found three places that sell the cartridges and ship to Canada:

Micro Parts & Supplies, Inc. (link from the ALPS Homepage)

FJAproducts

Timelink Systems

Wondering if anyone has ordered from any of these sites and what the results were and if there are other reputable sources I may have missed. Amazon.com used to carry them but are currently not stocking supplies. Also, does any other company manufacture compatible Micro Dry replacement cartridges? Is this even a good purchase considering cartridges are seemingly in short supply?

[JohnE.]

^^Bump^^

Also, I found this through a ResellerRatings search for "Micro Dry":


Citizen KE37902-0 Cyan Ribbon Cartridge

Cartridge: KE379020
Product Type: OEM
Availability: This item normally ships within 1 - 2 business days.
Description: Citizen KE37902-0 Cyan Ribbon Cartridge. Compatible with Alps 106005-00 Black Ribbon Cartridge. Compatible with Alps 106020-00 Cyan Ribbon Cartridge.
US $ 10.95


It seems certain Citizen cartridges are compatible with the ALPS Micro Dry printers but haven't found anything through a search for "Citizen KE37902-0" that confirms this, yet...