mikling said:
How can a conclusion be drawn that Epson is making it more difficult when they provide an internal waste tank MODULE /cup/tray that can be changed out?
Pretty much all covered in my previous response above...
Going from one screw and a catch, to 6 screws, 3 catches and having to lever the waste tray out? There's absolutely no need to do it unless you want to further discourage nervous end-users from doing anything themselves. Ditto the use of a plastic moulding to act as the outlet port when the cheaper models
(XP200 for example) just poke the waste tube through a hole
(with minimal excess).
One key reason I stopped working on the idea of an external waste kit for the Canon printers was that you had to go through numerous catches and screw releases before you could access the waste ink tubes. With every additional step you put off another percentage of your willing users and Epson are leveraging that exact same issue with this.
Now, granted if you're of the mindset that the printer is already a paperweight and you don't want to spend quarter to near the full cost of your printer, getting it serviced
(which is an absolute rip off!) there are some who would figure, "
what the hey" and rip into it, but that's not many folk anymore. The older generations, who grew up with devices designed to last, might well give it a shot
(in fact they make up a significant proportion of my customer base) but most are convenience customers who just toss it and start over.. and that's changing too.
And as for your earlier edited out comments... I'll respond to these as there's plenty of validity in the questions and I need to answer them.
mikling said:
I don't see external tanks for 3800s, 3880, and wide format machines because these are easily serviced via a tray/cup. This is the proper way and more expensive to manufacture and this machine joins that club. It is likely driven by customers wanting reasonable service costs for these machines and service centers should be able to service these printers very easily and here they can. I do not subscribe to the Epson conspiracy theory.
While you may dismiss this as a conspiracy it's not exactly rocket science that the service centres were set-up to service the higher value wide format printers so service centres really don't make any money on desktop machines.
Given that
this "easy serviceability" has been around now for the last four years you would expect that to mean that customers would be happier. They're not. That's evidenced by the sheer number of reports I get from customers and site visitors who have taken their printer to a service centre or contacted the manufacturer support and been told it'll cost them anywhere from 20
(if they are really lucky) to as much as 150 or more to have the printer "serviced". In a lot of cases that "service" has been nothing more than a quick trip to the AdjProg reset and nothing further. In others the lead time to get the replacement pads, was 6 to 8 weeks. Those are hard figures based on European suppliers but I doubt there's much difference in North America. Finally the service centres are encouraged to nudge customers to "upgrade" and "trade-in" programs spouting the usual nonsense about non-user serviceable parts, etc...
So, it may not be a conspiracy in the "
Oooh the CIA done it", sense, but the manufacturers are certainly not facilitating the revival or retention of these printers. Looking at any printer manufacturers business model and constant battle with third party consumables, this feet dragging approach makes plenty of business sense even if there's a moral and environmental dimension to the decision. Old printers do not encourage OEM consumables use, quite the opposite, so moving people on to the latest/greatest model is more likely to create profit for the OEM.
As for the 3800 and 3880's and more recently the Workforce 3000 and 4000 series
(to name but a few) these have all benefited from the fact that Epson have brought the maintenance box concept down into the designs for these printers. The downside is that instead of a cost of around 5 for the pad holder + pads (as per the SX430W), the end user is being charged 15 or more and the tank has a single use chip on it. Cost aside, the ease of access and replacement is a huge factor in favour of keeping things as they are. I judged that there was little point in creating external waste tanks, not because of lack of profit
(not a primary consideration I've ever had) but because the OEM design provides a simple solution that meets one of my key criteria
(ie: that the printer can be serviced, not just tossed). Still, that hasn't stopped people requesting external waste kits anyway.
.. and to bring this all full circle back to the XP-600's again
mikling said:
It IS harder to install an external waste ink tank on these Premium machine BUT it is much simpler to service it the WAY it is MEANT to be serviced
Yes and no, yes
(compared to the Artisan/PX/TX models) it's more involved to remove the screws, panels, etc... to get to the waste tube but for the XP600 et al' it's actually a bit more work again, to get to the waste ink pads
(by a couple of screws and lever to release) compared to installing the waste ink kit. That and the fact that the waste ink kit is a one time installation whereas the waste pads require you to repeat the process each time the pads are full. Yes, the average user might not need to do it more than once every year or two, but if the printer is easier and cheaper to use they print more, they waste more, they hit the problem more. And getting waste ink all over your kitchen table, hands, etc... gets rather old fast.
To put this all to bed.. I get that we disagree on the viability of external waste ink kits, I also get that in North America the situation on servicing may be marginally different but can I make the very specific point that I'm basing my opinion on practical experience, customer feedback and the research I have done within this specific arena for a number of years. I know you don't think it works, or that it's worthwhile. I have over 10,000 customers who disagree with you, so perhaps we need to agree to disagree... and I'm going to take my own advice on this. I'm done.
bahh dont get me moaning on that one again.... 
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