New Epson user in need of tips for quality vs. economy printing

[Electrojim]

Hello, a new member here with a first post, and counting on the experience among Epson users for guidance. First some background; skip to paragraph 5 for my actual question.

I've been a longtime HP printer advocate, but am not impressed with their current offerings. After my 10-year-old HP All-In-One blew its power supply, my need was for a simple printer with duplex printing capability and a sheet-feeder for scanning-in multi-page legal and other documents.

I first purchased what looked to be the ideal Canon printer from Amazon, but the build quality was marginal and it refused to find, acknowledge and connect to my Wi-Fi. So back it went. Then I went to Best Buy for a hands-on, look-see experience. What did impress me was the Epson WF-2960, a cut above others in the same $100 price range as far as build quality went. So I bought one, not at Best Buy, where the sales people couldn't be bothered, but at Staples, actually for a couple of dollars less.

The printer was a snap to set up and seems to fill the bill in all regards, except that I have been using it in "quiet mode" as speed is secondary to a peaceful household. Admittedly, I have limited experience with the printer so far, but it looks like a keeper. Oh, those un-refillable, chip-protected ink cartridges are a pain, but that seems to be common among all manufacturers now. So as long as there are "compatible" cartridges with favorable reviews available at sub-Epson prices I won't complain too loudly.

Here's my question. I've gotten used to using HP's Draft Mode for most printing, as it's quite readable and saves ink. But I find Epson's Draft/Fast Mode barely readable, it's so faint. In fact, what Epson calls Standard seems equivalent to HP's Draft, and is the mode I'll probably make the default unless I choose Vivid for critical printing. I've already seen a thread in this forum dealing with Epson's Print Density settings, but the users in that discussion know what they're doing with regard to the ratios between the black and color settings, and those settings aren't explained clearly in the Epson documentation. Ideally the Draft/Fast quality mode would have an adjustment for 'percent density' or something like that. I wonder if other users have come up with an adjustable means of dealing with ink depletion vs. readability. Thanks in advance!

 

[JustCharlie]

If I were to take a stab in the dark, I'd look at resetting the printer to factory defaults, first.
There could be some unseen settings coming into play that affect the print quality. Obviously
Epson (or any manufacturer) wouldn't offer a print mode that wasn't readable, so something
is affecting the printing. I've plugged in new printers that gave me almost ghost-like images
and after resetting to default the images came out more normal. I've also found values
changed in my network settings (don't ask me how!) but if you find the IP address for your
printer you can check there. And since things aren't always explained to us lowly users, some
settings can offset each other and we'd never know. I'd turn off all color management, to start.
No profiles till you can sort it out.
The first thing I'd do is verify the mechanical.. anything blocking the printhead? Is the nozzle
check normal etc. One thing I do with a new printer is print a purge sheet so I can see that each
color is printing correctly. It gets rid of any air in the lines or dampers (Initial charge will do this, too)
If those are not completely saturated color, somethin ain't right..

 

[Smile]

Make a simple test, reset printer to default, then place document of scanner make a copy with same settings like you use for printing, draft/normal etc. If the printer works fine but when connected to PC does not, the problem is not the printer but the computer.