Planetarion Forums

meglamaniac · 13 Jan 2003, 19:02

Which printer, in your lot's opinions, uses the least ink?
I just got an Epson C42+ because the only other printer in my price range (ie. as little as humanly possible) was a Cannon and if you think I'm paying that much for ink cartridges you can think again.

However, this little Epson seems to drink its black ink at an alarming rate. This is alright for me, as I know a bloke who knows a bloke who can get me 3 black + 2 colour cartridges for it for £25 (not Epson brand, but wtf - 3 Epson blacks at retail cost more than that alone).
Are all Epsons like this? Do they "make up for" thier cheaper cartridges by supplying less ink in them?

Intervention · 13 Jan 2003, 19:19

It's a marketing ploy known as 'complimentary goods'

They make comparitavely less on their printers than they do on the cartridges. It's the reason why old models of printers are so cheap when new ones come out.

This is the case for many goods in many markets.

Structural Integrity · 13 Jan 2003, 19:31

Epson is the spawn of the devil...
I have an Epson stylus 640 here and it's so shiet that it sometimes dislocates it's entire printing head thingy (where the cartridges are placed in), resulting in a constant bonking against the side while printing the page, and another page for in the trashcan. An the entire desk shakes when it's printing.

But the cartridge are empty quite quick. I have such cheap cartridges too. Dunno for sure if it's the fault of the printer or the cartridges though, but with the shietness of the printer itself I know where I'd put my money on.

Pineapple · 13 Jan 2003, 19:54

just a point, but dont they only half fill the cartridges you get with your printer when you buy them?

meglamaniac · 13 Jan 2003, 19:58

Dunno - sounds about right to me, that'd be a pretty typical marketing ploy.

Except it kind of backfires when people go "omfg it only lasts for five pages, lets go get some cheap clones".
Considering they make a loss on the printers (well, the cheap ones anyway) and hope to make the money from the cartridges, it's pretty much a case of shooting themselves in the foot if that is the case.

Atamur · 13 Jan 2003, 21:07

Quote:

Originally posted by meglamaniac
Which printer, in your lot's opinions, uses the least ink?
I just got an Epson C42+ because the only other printer in my price range (ie. as little as humanly possible) was a Cannon and if you think I'm paying that much for ink cartridges you can think again.

However, this little Epson seems to drink its black ink at an alarming rate. This is alright for me, as I know a bloke who knows a bloke who can get me 3 black + 2 colour cartridges for it for £25 (not Epson brand, but wtf - 3 Epson blacks at retail cost more than that alone).
Are all Epsons like this? Do they "make up for" thier cheaper cartridges by supplying less ink in them?

Every epson printer I ever dealt with chugged ink like a drunken sailor. For those who are looking to buy a new printer, Tom's hardware did a printer review in december (http://www.tomshardware.com/consumer...223/index.html). one of the things it looked at was cost per page.

meglamaniac · 13 Jan 2003, 21:35

Just made another killing - 5 x 500 sheets of high quality lazer/inkjet paper for £2.49 each. Perhaps all this dodgy dealing will offset the fact that it consumes ink like an alcoholic...

JetLinus · 13 Jan 2003, 23:23

Aren't there little "unlicensed" pc stores around, that can do ink refills for your catridges, for a fraction of the orignal price? We got some of those... Just ask.

14 Jan 2003, 00:11

I'm actually quite fond of Epsons---I have a Stylus 880 and I've never had any problems with it (or any other Epson printer).

djbass · 14 Jan 2003, 16:15

Admittingly I'm a little biased towards Canon printers because I service them. However, you get what you pay for I suppose.

It's true, that a lot of their low-end printers are what they consider 'disposable'. Where for the price of a new cartridge you could virtually get a new printer.

However as far as ink economy, they handle very well, especially for just black printing only. HP have a simular performance as well.

If you invest just that little bit extra and get a printer with a seperate ink tank / print-head system it will save you in the long run.

On the topic of refilled & third party inks... BEWARE!

It's a very hit and miss thing to use non-genuine inks. Often these manufacturers will leave out certain chemicals that lubricate and protect your printer's nozzles, the result of which is poor print quality (most common symptons are white streaks or bleeding). One such supplier was even found to have been using edible food dyes for the refilling process which is beyond what the dye was manufactered for. If you must, then I would suggest using third party clones rather than refills, as what people do not realises is that the print-head (which contains the nozzles used to squirt the ink onto the page) only has a limited life of its own and will need to be replaced every 2-3 cartridge changes.

You may choose not to believe me, but all I can say is that refilling facilities have added an extra 20% to our business as a large proportion of our reported faults have been due to refilled cartridges.

=[DJ Bass]=