[digitalfailure]

Hi

I've got round to installing my printer again on my main PC......it's only taken a year

Last time I used it, the status screens were telling me that one of the ink carts was almost empty, so in true lazy **** fashion I decided to look at that another day

Well, the installation was a breeze, but as you'd expect from a printer thats stood lifeless for so long, the nozzles were choked. I cleaned them as best I could and then headed down to my local pc world for replacement carts (2 black, cyan and a yellow) i'll install the blacks and cyan when they run out....about 1/4 left in them

I almost hit the floor at the cost!

£45 later I have a printer which will be fine after it's knocked off a few letters (black is a little smudgey still)

Still awake?

I noticed a small device that will reset the chip on Epson branded carts and allow refilling of them, but does anyone know what the quality of the aftermarket inks are like?

I used compatable cartridges years ago on another epson and the results were awful, the ink took much longer to dry on the paper and the feed rollers took great pleasure is letting you know about it.

I've also seen adverts for continuous inkingsystems, where by small bottles of ink are retro fitted outside the printer and plumbed into the print head. example

So after a lot of waffle...........

have you used or know anyone who's refilled epson cartridges?
Have you found a decent compat that works well with epson photo glossy paper and epson printers?

what about experiences with the CIS ?

i'm really hoping to print ore images this year instead of archiving them to disk all the time......but at almost 11 quid ago for carts it's a little off puting.

BTW, it's an Epson photo stylus 950, which has 6 carts.
in it's day it was a great printer too

[GfK]

Third-party inks are a bit hit-and-miss, in my opinion.

I've had some good re-filled cartridges in the past and never had too many problems, until the latest one. Its about 90% full still, yet anything I print in black comes out all stripy, and no amount of cleaning has helped.

Think I'll go with genuine HP ones in future and save myself the hassle.

Oh, and you might find that using third-part ink will void your warranty.

[Matty]

ive had similar issues, third party inks are not as good as they could be, especially the really cheap ones, its like someones rinsed out the sponges and filled them with that

Not used refils though

[digitalfailure]

No worries about warranty, the 950 was discontinued about 2 years ago

I know all about the hit and mis side to compats, my previous epson had to find a new home in the skip because every print it made with those compats came out looking like one of Arkady's tanks had driven over it.

And the greens it produced

That was almost 4 years ago......surely the main players in the compat world (jet tec seem to be the big player) have raised their game

[GfK]

I've never really worked out why the damn things are so expensive in the first place, if I'm being really honest about it.

[digitalfailure]

your not the only one m8!

17ml of ink must cost a couple of pence max
the chip on them is nothing special.....heck everything has a chip now doesn't it!

and the plastic used to make the cartridge body is made from recycled materials...so i've probably already paid for it's production once

it's getting to the point where it's cheaper to buy a new printer each time you replace all the carts.....but you won't do that because they never run out togther, it's always 1 or 2 at a time

[MyPix]

i get my ink from a place onlin called MX2.org ,
they do OEM and compat inks, both of which are great value, i have an epson R300, but b4 that an Epson photo 890 and an Epson photo 700 , both of which worked great on the compats

the children have now inherited those machines

MyPix

[minimeeze]

Glad you got it working again..... my printer went into storage when I moved down here. I had to buy a new print head for it because no manner of cleaning/purging would unclog the nozzles

[Matt]

If your using your printer for photos, the only ink you should be using is Epson Ink.

The cheap alternatives fade very quickly, and after seeing a test on manufacturers inks, the only ones that didn't fade, were the Epson Durabrite inks.

You pay your money, you make your choice.

[digitalfailure]

'm not so sure that my inks are the durabrite ones, again I think they are only used on the current printers.

Interested to hear about the test prints you've seen Matt

[Dave]

When my Canon Photo printer ran dry & I saw the £60 replacement cost for ink, I made a decision that day it's probably cheaper to get my photo's printed elsewhere

[Matt]

The tests were done on 'The gadget show'.

They used four Photo printers, one from the following of each of these manufacturers: Lexmark, Canon, HP, Epson.

Each printer used printed off the same set of images.
The Pictures were then covered with a mask to cover part of the image, and then they were placed in a window for a couple of weeks to catch the rays from the sun.

When the test images were viewed after the masks were removed, the parts that weren't covered by the masks had faded (apart from the Epson Prints).

Lexmark came of worse, with Canon and HP being nearly identical.
The bleaching was very noticeable.

[digitalfailure]

I was thinking that myself.

For the last year, any letters i've needed to send, or stuff i've needed to print, i've sent it to my work PC......colour laser printers are sooooo much better when they're free

But I'm missing not having anything at home I can print a picture on, in all the time I had a 300D, i don't think I have 1 print from it and the same is true from this 20d at the moment.

I also have a family wedding coming up this year, so I want to be able to control and print the images myself.......just to see if I can do it

[digitalfailure]

Matt

i've just had a look at Epson's site, it would appear that only 4 printers in their range use it at the moment....must be new technology.

Can't see them using that ink in an old printer

[evilowl]

Always buy original ink if you want the quality - for photo printers it's a must IMHO, but for printing unimportant stuff then refills are ok

[MyPix]

tho the colour fast thing is important , dont forget, that once faded you can always print of another when needed,

thats the advantage to digital images, the printed picture is almost temporary compared to the electronically stored image

i use epson inks for some pics i print, but use compats for every day docs etc, and cuz the carts have chips on, there is always a way to know how much ink is left, and also easy to store in small airtight ziplok food bags

MyPix

[Matt]

I'm not sure which printers were used for the test. I'll try to find out and feed back.

I've used 3rd party inks before, and on a certain picture I've printed of my daughter, the paper is now nearly white again.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by MyPix

tho the colour fast thing is important , dont forget, that once faded you can always print of another when needed,

But what if your planning on selling the images as fine art?
Your client wouldn't be very happy if after a few weeks, the print had lost is vibrance.

[MyPix]