Epson L800 - Cheap Oem Ink, Damaged Printhead?

[Smile]

Hello, EPSON has not so new but a Printer with built in OEM CIS System, and 70ml ink bottles as refill.

The printer was sold first in eastern countries the last one was russia before selling in europe.
The printer is expensive at 320$ as it;s only A4 dedicated DYE 6 ink photo printer

As you know the L800 is built on same base as P50/T50 printer and uses same printhead.
There is an article about this printer in russian you can use google translate.

The refill bottles look like this (cost 15 or 20$):

But the inks are third party, you can see written EPSON on the bottles, but the ink is not claria ink you would think it is.

Claria inks stabilization graph:

The graph shows that in 2 days the colors are stable.

Now taka look like L800 OEM inks:

The inks are not stable even after 5 days !!!

The following test shows diluted (500ml water with 1ml ink) black ink from L800. The test shows that the OEM ink sold with EPSON brand name is bad quality:

As you can see claria ink is neutral when all others have a tin to them. The worst seem to be
the praised INKTEC, OCP, and obviously L800 OEM EPSON ink.

You can read the russian review here:
http://www.dctec.ru/dir.php?id=78
Also I'll post some problems from another forum where multiple users had same problem with banding printing photos in photo mode, even best photo mode with RPM did not solve this. If you use glossy paper the banding can be seen no matter what. The uses had printer serviced in local service centers, hoewer the problems were not fixed. The service centers said there is no problem.

 

[Smile]

http://www.druckerchannel.de/forum....pson_p50_mit_epson_ciss_tanksystem_epson_l800

Reply from druckerchannel is strange:

"This series is only available in countries where the rate of reproduction of original cartridges or even counterfeit cartridges is very high.

Poland is in fact "there" and for many also within easy reach. From time to time there are also German importers. A test is not currently planned.

Regards,

Ronny Budzinske
www.druckerchannel.de"

I would specualte that it is available in those countries because the market reponse is being tested. And you can no doubt use some refurbished parts in theese too. The service centers in Russia in fact mostly belong to the same company is importer so they will show you the door instead if repairing the printer. Corrupt country, just read some forums. I for one can get this L800 with 1year warranty not 6months like in Russia, but in EU the warranty should be 2 years.

 

[martin0reg]

Thank you for the info, very interesting!
Because I was almost ordering this "claria" in bottles from poland...

I did not understand fully the graphs (average sigma percentages...?) but the tested epson ink for the L800 seems to be no good here.

See also the testing of lightfastness on epson paper and on cheaper paper. Claria on epson and on cheaper paper is good, DcTEC is okay, L800 ink on epson paper also, but very bad on cheaper paper.

Have you found what ink is the "DcTEC" ink?

 

[Smile]

I tested a HP 10 cart that has 69ml of ink and it has a yellow cast, same as OCP pigment ink for LC1100 carts used in brother MFC-5895CW printer. This ink is pigment black. So the epson inks are really neutral. However the yellow cast is very low and visible in very high dilution rate.

With DYE ink the dilution rate is moderate (I still need to get a micro syringe as it impacts the dilution rate and I cant compare the intensity of color cast). I tested the octopus office epson ink and inktec CLI-8 black both have magenta cast like in photos. So the test above done by russians should not be lie. However I have no original EPSON L800 inks, or claria to test.

If there would be somebody who uses EPSON Claria and willing to take a small 1ml syringe to do the test that would be awesome. You can use even less ink than 1ml, just dilute in less water.

500ml water 1ml ink
250ml water 0.5ml ink
125ml water 0.25ml ink
62.5ml water 0.125mk ink (you could use 0.01ml syringe for this).

So the test would not be expensive for the one who decides to make it, just get a micro syringe from ebay.

If you go to http://l800.ru/ you will find the "DcTEC" ink is made in china and the manufacturer is named HONGSAM.

 

[Smile]

I should note that the test done above is by russian ink seller for HONGSAM inks named dcTEC in russia. Therefore you should understand until somebody validates the results by doing the test it should be read with caution that there is possibility for results to be not fair.

 

[martin0reg]

I am not sure about the practical consequences of the diluted black ink, as I see this test here for the first time.
In practice you are printing with non diluted ink .. will it produce color shift?? .. perhaps it produces color shift after time in the sun, because it will fade to color not to grey...

I am using ink mainly from IS, my prints are good so far.

The original claria ink should be one of the best dye ink, specially regarding fading. Sadly these bottles seems to be not real claria.
But the printer itself is interesting enough because of its OEM epson ciss.

 

[Smile]

In practice you are printing with non diluted ink .. will it produce color shift?? .. perhaps it produces color shift after time in the sun, because it will fade to color not to grey..

You can't get GRAY shades if you print with magenta or cyan/blue like ink. While on lighter tones the printer profile compensates the color cast by adjuting ink channels this doesn't work on darker shades because ink density of black channel is so high that adding CMY inks will not correct the color cast. There is other way more complex way to explain this by talking about printer linearization "light and dark ink transitions" etc.

The original claria ink should be one of the best dye ink, specially regarding
fading.

Agreed.

Regarding the L800 ink

L800 ink on epson paper also, but very bad on cheaper paper.

Any ink on compatible paper will require custom built ICC profile. And a good ICC profile should pass certification not just be good because it seems so.

Even L800 inks on epson paper paper needs a profile, many users complain that L800 prints seem to have cyan or blue color cast. Is it a coincidence that Black ink has blue cast too? Or perhaps ICC Profiles for EPSON L800 ink is too synthetic.

I say so because I compared the L800 EPSON profiles that are installed with printer driver just for fun. I See that while curves are very linear and OK (gamut size about 700.000 for glossy papers you will not reach this using Inktec or OCP inks), the gamut size is identical with every profile for photos. I could check profile names if you interested. That tells me the ICC profiles are very synthetic or general they are not made to very precise.

Also for example you can take a canon printer with original inks or not doesn't matter. Then choose canon paper or not doesn't matter. Make profile.
Then use another printhead in same printer - you will get color shift enough that grayscale photo is no longer grayscale. That said every printer needs custom profile.

I myself will try to get extended warranty on this L800 up to 3 years so total is 4 years, if I will be successful I'll buy and see for myself. The warranty has some requirements obviously you have to use genuine EPSON ink, but that's OK ink is not so expensive. I'm afraid EPSON puts B class printheads to this printer so to say it will last more than a year is very optimistic. Also EPSON warranty mentioned number of prints "3,000 prints warranty coverage" so I have no idea how this relates to extended warranty I can get and also I think that this is not legal to have limitations on warranty by specifying prints. At least in my country.

 

[The Hat]

You can't get GRAY shades if you print with magenta or cyan/blue like ink. While on lighter tones the printer profile compensates the color cast by adjuting ink channels this doesn't work on darker shades because ink density of black channel is so high that adding CMY inks will not correct the color cast. There is other way more complex way to explain this by talking about printer linearization "light and dark ink transitions" etc.

You may not be able to get good grey tones and colours while using the CMY cartridges
but I can, it very easy just allow the printer to manage the colours.

 

[Smile]

Where did I say about Gray tones with CMY inks? I said that to get good gray shades you need that black ink would be neutral at lighter shades.

 

[thanhhuy123]

Hi,

I see that L800 use a different ink code than other L series printer. Is the ink for L800 different from ink for other L?

I suppose that al 4 ink for L800 is Clara dye ink and designed for photo printing because L800 is announced as photo printer.