epson inks for printers. please explain?

Question

epson have taken this 'ink separate cartridges' but dont u think they finish faster than the ones that ar ecombined, i mean every other wk i'm replacing each of them and it jsut seems waste of money. i bet the ink would last longer if they were like other ink jet printers like HP etc. my mates use it just as much as i do and still their ink doiesnt run out as fast as mine and i do use the economy setting where possible. any one explain pls. do you think epson thought it was a good idea but do u? i knw u only replace the one which finishes quicker but what do you think? what is more effecient? combined or separate? let m e knw. thanks.

Answer 1

Epson are a bunch of crooks, see www.epsonsettlement.com and also look up "epson" under the subheading "consumables" on wikipedia.com.



Epson cartridges are specifically designed to never empty completely of ink. Whenever you throw away an Epson cartridge, there will always be around 2mL of ink left in the cartridge (a full Epson cartridge holds around 13 mL of ink so your wastage is at least %15 of your ink). Epson printers print nice photos, but they are a complete rip off. Cost per photo with an Epson is at least 55 cents, with exception to their Picturemate printers which cost 29 cents per photo.



Individual ink cartridges are a good idea, Epson just isn't going about it right. With the older cartridges (the ones that had the yellow, magenta, and cyan all in one cartridge) if you ran out of one color you had to replace the entire cartridge. With individual cartridges you only have to replace the color that runs out. So ideally, individual cartridges are a great idea.



Some of HP's latest printers use an individual ink cartridge system. Unlike Epson, however, HP's uses a vacuum ink system that sucks out every last drop of ink from the cartridges. When it says you are out of ink, you are definately out of ink. Each color cartridge costs $10 and the larger black cartridge costs $18. If you need to purchase several cartridges at once, you can buy all 6 cartridges along with 150 4x6 sheets of photo paper in a combo pack for $36. I bought an HP printer, copier, scanner that uses this ink system and its great.



So in a nutshell, Epson printers are very expensive to operate. I recommend looking into a more friendly HP 6-cartridge ink system. I own the HP Photosmart C5180 if you would like to print, copy, and scan and the D7160 if you just want a printer.

Answer 2

I know how you feel - we bought an epson printer this summer, and it is crazy how fast it goes through ink. We make sure to print "unimportant" stuff on the economy setting, too, but I would hate to think how much faster ink would disappear, too if we didn't. I'm in Canada, and a black cartridge is almost $30, and rarely on sale, unlike other brands.

I just think I should have researched more about the ink before I bought the printer. I know the printer is good, because of consumer research, but the ink thing is gross. We have a places here that do ink refills, does anyone know too if that is trustable? We did it for another brand of printer, and it was fine.

I guess I'm unhappy, too, because the printer was a bargain, with a discount and a rebate, but if I would have known about how fast it uses ink, I may have bought a more expensive model if it used ink better.

Answer 3

I have owned a Epson R200 for the last two years which uses 6 colours. I find if you use the compatible inks at about £1 each or £5 the set of 6, I can buy 4 full sets for the price of 1 Black H.P ink cartridge. Oh and the inks I buy don't clog the heads.

Answer 4

I have an epson printer that uses 6 ink cartridges as well as an HP printer that uses 2 printer cartridges (color and black). I prefer the multiple cartridge model.



With the multiple cartridge model, I've had some of the colors cartidges empty before the others ones. With fewer cartridges, as soon as one color empties, you have to replace the whole cartridge. That's in theory and in practice (at least on my printer), that's exactly how it has worked.



However, if you're having to replace them every other week, either you're printing a lot of stuff or something is wrong.

Answer 5

I have an EPSON 320. My "cartridge full" of ink costs FORTY pence. The kit cost me £45.00, but included 600ml (45 carts) of ink, replacement ink on its own £20.00 for 600ml.

http://www.inkexpress.co.uk/index.php?p=ecom&dowhat=showmodelsis&department=Ink%20Systems&brand=Continuous%20Ink%20Systems

Great system, almost embarrasingly cheap. I leave you to calculate the savings, massive.

Answer 6

Try Tesco own make they do HP at about half the price... have a look if they do Epson too...look on their website, it's worth it.