Workforce 1100 - complete waste of money

[Fenrir Enterprises]

Just looked at reviews on Amazon. Not kind: Work Farce; The Yugo of Printers. Ouch. Very polarized opinions.

Thanks for letting the forum know your experiences. It may help someone to make a better decision one day.

The problem with reviews is that people tend to expect too much (buy a $40 printer for a 5,000 print per month office), don't understand what they're buying (getting a Durabrite printer and then wonder why it clogs when they only use it once a month) or aren't aware of issues that need to be taken into account (high ink usage, which is true of any Epson printer which is why they pretty much need to be used with refillable or aftermarket cartridges ). None of the negative reviews mention anything about dull, lifeless colors. Meanwhile on a t-shirt printing forum the 1100 gets rave reviews for being so easy to modify with a CIS and for how rugged it is, that "for t-shirts you won't even notice the difference in print quality", where they're talking about the resolution of the print, not the color gamut. The example print shown on the box must be insanely color enhanced or not even printed on a Workforce at all! If anyone out there has used theirs with OEM inks, let us know if it could possibly be an ink mismatch problem. But I really really doubt that it is, and I'm not willing to lose more money (opening the cartridges) and then spend more (buy another CIS) to find out.

 

[stratman]

Why would you need to buy another CISS to try a different brand of ink? Can you not empty the old ink and put in new ink?

None of the negative reviews mention anything about dull, lifeless colors.

Actually, there are complaints of poor output by Amazon customers. Maybe the paucity of complaints is due to the fact most if not all the commentators are using OEM ink. Maybe the OEM does a decent job and your third party ink isn't what you were lead to believe for this particular printer.

Concerning you're not using the OEM inks initially: sounded like a good idea but you were taking a risk. I like to try a cooking recipe the way it is written the first time and then improvise the next time if desired. Maybe the 1100 is unremarkable with its OEM inks. You would then be chasing after bad if you opened up the unused OEM cartridges. Not a good feeling. It could be the Workforce 1100 is a dog. At this point I understand you are hesitant to invest a penny more in the printer. Probably for the best. Get rid of it.

 

[slocumeddie]

Why not talk with your supplier about the problem.......or did I miss a post...... ?


He might have a solution for you......profiles, driver settings, paper stocks to avoid, whatever.

Don't throw in the towel yet......

 

[Fenrir Enterprises]

Why would you need to buy another CISS to try a different brand of ink? Can you not empty the old ink and put in new ink?

How do you clean out a CIS? I would think once you've got the ink in it there's no turning back. How would you rinse it out so you know the new ink isn't mixed up with the old? What if ink from a different company reacts with the original ink and clogs it all up? I have heard from outside sources that my supplier sells Image Specialists ink.

Why not talk with your supplier about the problem.......or did I miss a post...... ?
He might have a solution for you......profiles, driver settings, paper stocks to avoid, whatever.
Don't throw in the towel yet......

I'm a little annoyed at my supplier right now because he's another one of the Workforce 1100 enthusiasts. I've asked multiple times about using pigment inks in a Claria printer and he's flat out said you don't want to do it, it will clog up and cause headaches, get a Durabrite printer (and then specifically the Workforce 1100 when I asked about running the 1400 with pigments) or use dye in the Clarias, that before the Workforce 1100 came out people used the 1400 with pigments only with a lot of work and profiling, etc. The whole point was that using a native pigment printer wouldn't require profiles, driver settings, or be unable to print a halfway decent print on plain paper. I don't expect a print on plain paper to look that great, but it shouldn't look like utter BLEEP either. But it's not his fault that the printer is a piece of junk. I should have stuck with my instincts and never gone near the Workforce. I've asked what parts, if any, can be sent back in for a credit towards a 1400 CIS.

 

[Tin Ho]

I had an Epson multifunction that uses Durabrite inks. I let it sit for about 6 months and it clogged up solid. After losing more than half of the ink in cleaning cycles and still got nowhere I gave up. Epson printers need to be used at least once every few days or it is heading landfill. Don't know about your Workforce 1100. If you refill it with pigment inks you are asking for troubles. But maybe it will reward you with better photos if it works.

 

[OutOFtheinkwell]

Fenrar wrote! "don't understand what they're buying (getting a Durabrite printer and then wonder why it clogs when they only use it once a month)".

I sure agree with that statement from Fenrar concerning Epson printers. We have had an Epson 1400 for going on three years with no head clogs at all but we print almost daily and full color 8x11 prints at that!
I think I've done a couple of head cleanings in that time but they were not really
neccessary.
The fewer head cleanings I do the better in my experience! And from what I've read on head cleanings, too many can actually cause problems. If I see a problem with one color I just print full test pages in that color and first check the printer for free flow of all inks!
As for using pigment inks in a dye based printer, I actually did try it once on a Pigment based printer and I switched to dye based inks and it did a fair job with no problems. Personally though I won't be making a habit of that. I hope this information and my experience is of some help to you! Happy Printing....Outoftheinkwell!

 

[stratman]

The fewer head cleanings I do the better in my experience! And from what I've read on head cleanings, too many can actually cause problems.

What have you read that about head cleanings causing problems?

 

[Fenrir Enterprises]

Just an update: I printed out of GimPhoto using an ICC profile from a different vendor (which I feel guilty about but they're just too expensive for me to actually buy from them). The colors came out much more vibrant than before. Now I'm confused as to how ICC actually works, since I thought it just made the colors more accurate. It's weird to me that it would also increase the color density. For instance, a swatch chart of varying levels of Cyan. I would think that the darker colors on the chart would be similar to the lighter colors printed with ICC if saturation was the problem. Instead it's like the difference between printing in draft and photo mode. Weird.

Unfortunately it still can't do bright turquoise and sapphire blues so I guess I'm out of luck. :/ The color gamut is just too low, but at least with the ICC profile it doesn't look like complete BLEEP. If I can't sell the printer (t-shirt printers love to tear these apart and build a direct-to-garment printer out of them) I guess I'll just use up all the ink then save the CIS parts for a 1400 CIS.

 

[turbguy]

Did you every apply inks to paper STRAIGHT OUT OF THE BOTTLE??? Are they as vibrant as you wish?