Usually I research before making purchasing decisions and generally make a choice that I am confident is at least not a bad decision. I have to admit, while I am working at it, I am going through a phase where I am pretty stumped. I do enough printing with an artisan 837 to make either a refillable cart system or a CIS worthwhile. Most of the printing is document with color graphics then photos then some plain black and white text but not much.
For one thing the available systems in both categories seem to be all over the map even if you decide to eliminate systems coming from China out of hand.
So now, I thought I would try to go at this piecemeal. Maybe I will have more success parsing the data that way.
All of the refillable cart systems have some sort of damper carts. There is at least one system that allows the user to reset via a switch on a single card that services all of the ink position carts. Most if not all of the others have individual cards attached to the cart at each position that report the position as full once you have filled the cart at that position. They don't have a switch and the card on the cart will report what it sees. I am really not sure which is better as Epson has made life more difficult for the single card design in that the 837 does not allow the switch to report all positions as full with one switch cycle which is the way that system was originally intended to work. I don't know if there is an advantage one way or the other. Please feel free to comment if you have an opinion about the switch vs the card on cart (which is like the original OEM cart is).
If there is one thing that has really made this difficult for me anyway it is the hassle and mess, CISS vs refillable damper carts. The CISS forces you to do some cutting and trimming on your printer housing, you have to move the magnetic contact and you have to be careful about how you run the tubes from the tanks in order not to crimp them or damage them in some other way and you have to make sure not to damage the tube connections either at the tanks or at the carts. That is something the user will have to watch for every time he opens the printer. However it appears that the advantage for them over the refillable carts is that once you have the system set up you really don't have to touch anything inside the printer. Also it looks to me like the CISS carts inside the printer really sit on their own chassis. So there is some additional structure there holding everything together instead of just independent carts at each position. If I am wrong in that regard please let me know.
The refillable cart systems don't force you to cut and trim on your Epson Artisan 837 printer housing nor do they require you to move the magnetic switch but everything you do with that system after installation involves messing around inside the printer. You CAN refill carts right in their positions after the first fills when you have to prime them. Filling them inside the printer frankly looks a bit risky at least to me as now you are going to risk mess inside the printer itself. You can refill outside of the printer by removing the cart at each position for refilling but now you are moving a cart around that has a valve or at least an opening at the bottom with ink right at the opening. Not sure that does not entail some risk as well as far as mess is concerned.
So at one level my question is about the difference between refillable cart and CISS. Which system has worked out to be less messy and less "involved", CISS with its tanks and tubes but the ability to leave everything inside the printer alone once you are set up or refillable carts which don't require messing with the printer housing and magnetic switches and what-have-you but do force you to either refill carts inside the printer or outside the printer? One note that has really gotten me a bit concerned regarding the refillable cart systems is the note from one supplier that asks the user to tape down the carts using a strip of tape across all the top surfaces once they are installed in their positions inside the printer. That says to me that at least in that case the damper carts can pop up off their positions...probably not all the way but I am not sure I would like the result and I don't know what the ramifications are of the carts popping partially off.
At a second level for those using the refillable cart systems, has it been less messy, less risky, less involved to refill the carts inside the printer after first fills when you prime or has it been less messy etc etc removing a cart from a position to refill it?
One thing is that I wish there was a support base or something like that for one to use to hold the carts up when they are outside of the printer so that you would not have to just rely totally on your hands alone to both support the cart and fill it. Who knows, maybe there are print head parts that you could buy that would support the cart without encouraging ink out of the cart....just something to hold up the cart so that you have more free hand to do the work.
Anyway any comments or opinions regarding both the difference between CISS and refillable cart system and then within refillable cart whether it has been better to fill inside the printer or remove the carts and refill outside the printer past the first fill when the carts have to be primed would be really appreciated? So far there are just so many options I am having real difficulty making an informed choice. Thanks for any help. Please don't feel like you have to have experience with both systems or any experience at all to have an opinion that would matter to me.
For one thing the available systems in both categories seem to be all over the map even if you decide to eliminate systems coming from China out of hand.
So now, I thought I would try to go at this piecemeal. Maybe I will have more success parsing the data that way.
All of the refillable cart systems have some sort of damper carts. There is at least one system that allows the user to reset via a switch on a single card that services all of the ink position carts. Most if not all of the others have individual cards attached to the cart at each position that report the position as full once you have filled the cart at that position. They don't have a switch and the card on the cart will report what it sees. I am really not sure which is better as Epson has made life more difficult for the single card design in that the 837 does not allow the switch to report all positions as full with one switch cycle which is the way that system was originally intended to work. I don't know if there is an advantage one way or the other. Please feel free to comment if you have an opinion about the switch vs the card on cart (which is like the original OEM cart is).
If there is one thing that has really made this difficult for me anyway it is the hassle and mess, CISS vs refillable damper carts. The CISS forces you to do some cutting and trimming on your printer housing, you have to move the magnetic contact and you have to be careful about how you run the tubes from the tanks in order not to crimp them or damage them in some other way and you have to make sure not to damage the tube connections either at the tanks or at the carts. That is something the user will have to watch for every time he opens the printer. However it appears that the advantage for them over the refillable carts is that once you have the system set up you really don't have to touch anything inside the printer. Also it looks to me like the CISS carts inside the printer really sit on their own chassis. So there is some additional structure there holding everything together instead of just independent carts at each position. If I am wrong in that regard please let me know.
The refillable cart systems don't force you to cut and trim on your Epson Artisan 837 printer housing nor do they require you to move the magnetic switch but everything you do with that system after installation involves messing around inside the printer. You CAN refill carts right in their positions after the first fills when you have to prime them. Filling them inside the printer frankly looks a bit risky at least to me as now you are going to risk mess inside the printer itself. You can refill outside of the printer by removing the cart at each position for refilling but now you are moving a cart around that has a valve or at least an opening at the bottom with ink right at the opening. Not sure that does not entail some risk as well as far as mess is concerned.
So at one level my question is about the difference between refillable cart and CISS. Which system has worked out to be less messy and less "involved", CISS with its tanks and tubes but the ability to leave everything inside the printer alone once you are set up or refillable carts which don't require messing with the printer housing and magnetic switches and what-have-you but do force you to either refill carts inside the printer or outside the printer? One note that has really gotten me a bit concerned regarding the refillable cart systems is the note from one supplier that asks the user to tape down the carts using a strip of tape across all the top surfaces once they are installed in their positions inside the printer. That says to me that at least in that case the damper carts can pop up off their positions...probably not all the way but I am not sure I would like the result and I don't know what the ramifications are of the carts popping partially off.
At a second level for those using the refillable cart systems, has it been less messy, less risky, less involved to refill the carts inside the printer after first fills when you prime or has it been less messy etc etc removing a cart from a position to refill it?
One thing is that I wish there was a support base or something like that for one to use to hold the carts up when they are outside of the printer so that you would not have to just rely totally on your hands alone to both support the cart and fill it. Who knows, maybe there are print head parts that you could buy that would support the cart without encouraging ink out of the cart....just something to hold up the cart so that you have more free hand to do the work.
Anyway any comments or opinions regarding both the difference between CISS and refillable cart system and then within refillable cart whether it has been better to fill inside the printer or remove the carts and refill outside the printer past the first fill when the carts have to be primed would be really appreciated? So far there are just so many options I am having real difficulty making an informed choice. Thanks for any help. Please don't feel like you have to have experience with both systems or any experience at all to have an opinion that would matter to me.
