Replacement ink for Epson R200

[Boris Tahmasian]

After wresteling with my 2 year old Canon i960s and aweful color reproduction. I decided to give the Epson a try. I purchased and Epson R200

I am happy to report that the prints coming off the R200 are the best we have in our studio. We have the following printers: Canon i960, Epson Stylus EX, 1200 and 1280)

Everyone in the studio is blaming me for switching to non Canon inks and "messing up" the i960s. After much research and feedback from this forum, I came to the conclusion that the mother boards on the i960s are shot.

Here is my question. What is the best non OEM ink for the R200. I used tylermartin.com (TM) inks for the Canons and my Epson 1200. Canons gave me a lot of trouble but I had no issues with the TM inks on the Epson 1200.

Obviously the color matching is going to be an issue. What replacement inks (non Epson) work best on the Epson R200?

Thanks
Boris

 

[hpnetserver]

You should credit Epson's driver for producing the colors that make you think they are great. I have seen Epson R200 and R300 at work. The color stauration of the prints produced by these printers seemed boosted through the roof. They do look very nice but to me the colors are just not natural. I have never seen any HP or Canon photo printer did that. If you like it that's fine. But beyond that you will soon realize these printers are ink guzzlers. They will empty your ink tanks so quick that you will be unprepared to run into empty tank warnings. The printer will clean out more than half of the ink leaving probably less than half for actual printing. Refilling is nearly impossible. 3rd party virgin tanks don't work on them. The waste ink tank become full in one month or two. You will like for only a month or two. After that you will want a Canon instead.

 

[websnail]

I suspect that hpnetserver is talking about a major usage and rather than tell you you've made a mistake getting the R200/300 here's some info that might help answer your questions and deal with the waste issue anticipated in the 2nd post.

1. Bulk ink for the R200/300 is available from MIS associates (www.inksupply.com) and is of the dyebase variety. It works fine in my CIS system and is of the same type as you'd get in a refill kit (also avaiable from MIS).

2. Avoiding the whole waste pad service required message you'd be advised to check the following guide:
http://www.allthefaqs.net/forum/links.php?func=show&id=74
... and get this utility to reset the waste ink counter...
http://www.allthefaqs.net/forum/links.php?func=show&id=75
... when the service required message comes up.

Epson R series printers do seem to waste a fair amount of ink in cleaning and head charging but with the info above you'll save yourself a headache.

... and frankly if you're really printing all that much then I'd take a look at CIS (continuous ink supply) systems... The forum on this site for CIS's (here) has some useful tips and I have a couple of reviews:
InkRepublic
MIS Associated
... that might help.

I'd recommend you avoid the CIS kits on ebay as they seem to be a classic case of "pay peanuts, get monkeys"

Hope that helps...

Martin


Note: to mod... I've linked to the reviews and links direct as it saves me repeating myself and also I keep the links updated. Not trying to advertise (nothing to sell).. Just trying to help..

 

[Steve2868]

I also have a R200 CIS system for sale, prefilled w/ 600ml of inks gurantee to be better than any competitor. Since this is a discuss forum, I don't like to advertise here! All I want to say is my kit is cheaper & better, all inks are made in USA believe to be from the same source as our competitors, my system is a "plug N print" system... only questionable systems need to "pump the ink" in order for their system to work. People think? Think different?

 

[Boris Tahmasian]

Hi all,

Thank you for all the responses. You have raised issues that are all educational for me.

hpnetserver: I agree with you. The colors are exagerated. The replacement inks I got from www.bulkinkjetcarts.com (BIJ) brought me back to reality. The colors are much more muted and not as accurate. The skin tones are lacking. I have not had a complete ink switch to the new inks. Some are still the original Epsons. I am gonna do a complete change to the new inks and then do an eval at that time.

The color cast I am getting with the new inks is much more predictable than what I got with my Canon i960 replacement inks. The BIJ inks are at least consistently off and close enough to be corrected manually in Photoshop. Or that is at least what I hope.

Again the combo I am using is the COSTCO glossy photo paper and the BIJ cartridges.

The ink usage with the original Epson cartridges seemd to me to be lower than with the Canon. I m not sure how the replacements for the Epson are going to play out.

My colume is not such that I need to go to CIS and the associated challenges. I am happy with replacment carts. I just need to know who makes replacements that are the closest to Epson's color gamet. I do not mind the somewhat oversaturated Epson look.

Thank you all for responding.

Boris