Epson Claria Standard Ink 502

[The Hat]

This new test should be very interesting..

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I have here the first numbers to show from the latest - most recent - very last - still going test after the first week with the U.S. Epson inks 502 - Claria Standard - and the Epson 522 inks, it's the DeltaE(76) averages of my 96 patch sheet:

6.66 ___ Epson 106 used in the Epson ET7750
9.70 ____Epson 502 used in a variety of Ecotank printers in the U.S. market
9.49 ____Hongsam HLF inks from China
18.15 ___Epson 522 used in some more Ecotank printers in the U.S. market
17.54 ___Inktec E0010 - a 4 color dye ink set for a wide range of Epson printers incl. Ecotanks

It is interesting to see that the Epson 502 Claria ink performs very close to the Hongsam HLF ink, whereas the 522 ink runs even worse than the Inktec inks on a Glossy 300 PE paper. This shows that Epson is delivering pretty weak inks for a range of Ecotank printers - similar to the practice of Canon doing the same with their Megatank customers. These genuine Epson or Canon inks are just overpriced and can be replaced by similar performing lower cost 3rd party inks - by InkTec or other suppliers as they are available locally. These inks cause a visible color shift after a short while to the dissatiscation of the user. A recent posting is just exemplary for this situation

https://www.printerknowledge.com/th...0-turn-green-after-a-month.15515/#post-135329

There is one difference between the 502 and the Hongsam inks - the fading speed of the C and M inks is different:

Epson 502 - C=12.25 M= 13.08 - C/M=0.93
Hongsam - C=7.19 M=12.36 - C/M=0.58

When inks mixed with C or M fade with very different speed you'll get a color cast after a while - the M of the Hongsam inks fades faster - relatively - than C colors - cyan remains stronger causing such color cast shifting to blueish tones. The question is whether that is relevant at the end for a user. It is nevertheless interesting to see that this Hongsam HLF inks are the first inks I see after years of fading tests which perform that good compared to the Epson Claria standard inks. These Hongsam inks could be a good substitute for the Epson 502 inks, even more for the weak 522 inks, it's all a matter of pricing and availability.

 

[The Hat]

I have here the first numbers to show from the latest - most recent

This ink test has turned up some interesting findings, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Hongsam inks don’t became a lot more popular in the future, it preforms very well up against the Epson 502 inks, I wonder how it compare to price..

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I wonder how it compare to price..

Hongsam is currently not represented in the western EU, I got my order shipped from a Polish distributor, 100ml are charged with 6€ incl VAT, the Epson 106 ink runs at 9€ for a 70ml Epson bottle in Germany which would make it 12,80€ for 100ml.
That's a good deal even for this small volume, you get a pretty well performing ink for half the price - but you need to add slightly higher shipping cost - 6€ for a domestic shipment vs. 15€ for a similar shipment from Poland to Germany.

Or you need a higher ink volume and buy directly from Hongsam in China and align your order with their pricing - a minimum order volume is listed as 2 l . You may contact their sales dept. for info and coordination, a smaller shipment may be possible as a 'sample order'

https://www.alibaba.com/product-det...?spm=a2700.shop_plser.41413.26.67a15d51N4DDxw

I tested as well a 'GSC Archival Ink' some months ago, delivered from Poland at the same time, it is charged for 6,88€ but it performs as weak as many other 3rd party inks - I cannot recommend those GSC inks at all.

 

[The Hat]

Thanks Ink stained Fingers…

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

@glasseye - could I ask you to open a separate new thread and just move your inquiry there, it is not related to the main subject of this thread - the fading performance of the U.S. 502 Epson ink for some Ecotank printers. You are addressing B/W printing issues and the ET8550.

Moved here:
https://www.printerknowledge.com/th...ormance-as-a-photo-printer.15531/#post-135529

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I have an update here for the fading test of the 502 ink set after 2 weeks of outside exposure

9.88 ___ Epson 106 used in the Epson ET7750
14.83 ___Epson 502 used in a variety of Ecotank printers in the U.S. market
13.68____Hongsam HLF inks from China
24.90 ___Epson 522 used in some more Ecotank printers in the U.S. market
24.05 ___Inktec E0010 - a 4 color dye ink set for a wide range of Epson printers incl. Ecotanks

The overall ranking has not changed - the Epson 106 ink ranks on top, and the Hongsam and Epson 502 Claria Home inks run very close, the Epson 522 and the InkTec inks both are pretty weak and belong into another category - there is no reason to pay a premium price for such a weak performing ink - if longevity does not matter users can just go for lower cost 3rd party alternatives like InkTec inks.

 

[ClarenceL]

I have an update here for the fading test of the 502 ink set after 2 weeks of outside exposure

9.88 ___ Epson 106 used in the Epson ET7750
14.83 ___Epson 502 used in a variety of Ecotank printers in the U.S. market
13.68____Hongsam HLF inks from China
24.90 ___Epson 522 used in some more Ecotank printers in the U.S. market
24.05 ___Inktec E0010 - a 4 color dye ink set for a wide range of Epson printers incl. Ecotanks

The overall ranking has not changed - the Epson 106 ink ranks on top, and the Hongsam and Epson 502 Claria Home inks run very close, the Epson 522 and the InkTec inks both are pretty weak and belong into another category - there is no reason to pay a premium price for such a weak performing ink - if longevity does not matter users can just go for lower cost 3rd party alternatives like InkTec inks.

What printer media type selected in driver for the above test?
Is it the glossy type without any K ink usage?

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I'm using the WF2010W with all tests, with refill cartridges, and with the matte paper setting quality normal/standard, this utilizes the black ink channel.
The 502 ink does not come with a dye black, I substituted the pigment black in this case with the 106 dye black assuming that the 502 ink performs somewhat similar to the 106 ink.
The Hongsam dye ink comes with a black dye ink
The 522 ink does not use a dye black, it only has a pigment black, I used the InkTec dye black as a substitute since I know that the Inktec dye black is about as weak as the Epson 664 inks - which has a dye black.
The patch sheet has 96 patches, and black is just one of them, the contribution of one patch is thus pretty small to the average of all patches. There are several gray level patches, but these are printed as a mix of CMY, the black ink only prints for 90% to 100% black values.

 

[ClarenceL]

I'm using the WF2010W with all tests, with refill cartridges, and with the matte paper setting quality normal/standard, this utilizes the black ink channel.
The 502 ink does not come with a dye black, I substituted the pigment black in this case with the 106 dye black assuming that the 502 ink performs somewhat similar to the 106 ink.
The Hongsam dye ink comes with a black dye ink
The 522 ink does not use a dye black, it only has a pigment black, I used the InkTec dye black as a substitute since I know that the Inktec dye black is about as weak as the Epson 664 inks - which has a dye black.
The patch sheet has 96 patches, and black is just one of them, the contribution of one patch is thus pretty small to the average of all patches. There are several gray level patches, but these are printed as a mix of CMY, the black ink only prints for 90% to 100% black values.

The T522 black should be dye, but it might as weak as T664 black.
Based on the SDS compared exactly the same as below:

T202 cartridge(XP-5100 WF-2860) = T502 bottle(CMY+pigment K) ref #2 (They are all PrecisionCore printers!)
Title as Claria 202 Inks on official website

T212 cartridge(XP-41xx WF-2830 WF-2850) =T522 bottle (only CMY inks) ref #4
Title as EPSON 212 Inks (but the official website seems the same description as 202 & mention about "Claria")

From my observation, T522 always seem on 5760x1440dpi printhead (Not PrecisionCore).
But the T502 usually seem on PrecisionCore models, but I saw some exception like L4260=ET-285x it's 5760x1440 printhead.