Review: Epson Kills the Printer Ink Cartridge

[websnail]

The waste ink pads in the Ecotank models will last definitely longer than in the comparable cartridge based models. Cleaning cycles consuming ink are either triggered by the user, or by firmware - before or after bigger print jobs, and everytime you replace a cartridge, and that's a lot of cartridges - and ink you don't need to replace anymore with those small 8-15ml cartridges ...

...So there is a benefit beyond those numbers how many pages you can print per cartridge.

You're absolutely right... I'd completely forgotten about that aspect of things. It's still an omission of sorts but yes, the removal of normal cartridge replacement/priming routines will indeed increase the longevity of the waste pads.

There is one definite disadvantage with these L and ET-models - none of them - except the L1800 and 800 - offer borderless printing at all, other than the comparable cartridge based models.

In truth those lower cost models aren't all that great given the printer designs they're based on. I'd only bother with an L800 or above myself but I guess I'm not the average user

 

[The Hat]

Epson have taught about that one too, when a colour in the machine is declared empty, you can’t print anymore till you refill that colour first.

But the sting in the tail is, you now have to put in the barcode on the new OEM refill bottle first for the machine to continue to print.

A workaround would be to establish a thread for EcoTank printer users so they could swap their all ready use barcode for another used one and then fill with 3rd party inks..

 

[CakeHole]

Epson have taught about that one too, when a colour in the machine is declared empty, you can’t print anymore till you refill that colour first.

But the sting in the tail is, you now have to put in the barcode on the new OEM refill bottle first for the machine to continue to print.

A workaround would be to establish a thread for EcoTank printer users so they could swap their all ready use barcode for another used one and then fill with 3rd party inks..

Hehe clever idea @The Hat would that work though? I would not be shocked if Epson have been even more devious and within the printer have a calculator that phones home for how much ink you have used from a specific barcode. It would not shock me to find out (as an example) if a cart held 20ml of ink and the ink bottle is 100ml that the barcode can only be used 5 times before it is no longer valid (IE 20ml x 5 = 100ml bottle volume).

 

[websnail]

Pretty sure the barcode side of things was dropped but I could be wrong... I know it was prevalent with the early models but I think Epson may have realised it was a hinderance rather than a positive.

 

[CakeHole]

It would be interesting, i wonder if they would confirm or deny it if contacted and asked

 

[Inkboy]

I've been told there is software available that allows users to bypass the barcode.

 

[The Hat]

It would be interesting, i wonder if they would confirm or deny it if contacted and asked

@CakeHole, No chance, I reckon Hell would freeze over first..

I've been told there is software available that allows users to bypass the barcode.

@Inkboy, Could you supply a link please.. ?

 

[CakeHole]

@CakeHole, No chance, I reckon Hell would freeze over first..

@Inkboy, Could you supply a link please.. ?

LOL @The Hat you are probably right, just for a laugh i might try emaling them to see what type of reply it gets.
@Inkboy That sounds slightly dodgy though would be interesting if it is a legit solution, i can picture some dodgy keygen which would do it but legit software im not so sure.

 

[carlosantoniolopez]

Having looked at the manual for the L1800 (which is more easily available than the printer itself!), there's no mention of barcodes when refilling the ink tanks.

But I wonder how L1800 ink compares with Epson Claria, or any of the third-party inks, particularly in terms of longevity?

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

You don't need barcodes, you need bottle codes for the L800/1800, but they can be re-used apparently, the driver is not verifying multiple use of the same code

http://www.inkresets.com/

When it comes the the longevity/lightfastness of dye inks - I wouldn't like to rehearse all details of other threads like this one

http://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/which-pigment-ink-for-epson-1500w.9323/page-8#post-82336

There are only a few sources available for reliable data in that respect - Aardenburg organisation and the Wilhlem research institute WRI

- 3rd party dye ink - about any - is very weak in terms of lightfastness - bad to very bad - you almost can see some fading by just watching

- very good inks are the OEM inks from Epson - Claria - Canon or HP as tested by WRI, and you can consider those Fujifilm Drylab inks as well as OEM inks

- Epson L300 inks are somewhat better than 3rd party inks
Epson L800 inks are somewhat better than L300 inks - tested by WRI, but not as good as the
original Claria inks

- Fujilfim inks are somewhat close to Claria inks - it all depends not just on the ink but as well
on the paper used, driver settings etc - Fujiflim DL inks were tested by Aardenburg.

- forget any inks from China in this respect even if they promise 'good UV stability' , just forget it.

. There is one China supplier via Aliexpress offering Epson Surelab compatible inks - only in liter or gallon bottles, at prices which are close to the original DL inks - 3-5 times higher than even
pigment inks from there. It must be the dye which makes the difference. So if you really look for UV stable dye prints you don't have much choice , there are various offers at Ebay U.S. with packages of discounted DL cartridges shipping about everywhere worldwide

- You may as well consider some protection for your prints - glass prolongs the stable period, but not forever, you may use some coating, sprays etc or lamination, but like glass it will not keep your prints pristine forever, it may extend the time period until you recognize some fading by a factor of 1.5 or 2

-or you use pigment inks..........the 1500W runs with pigment inks without problem, so the L1800 should perform alike