I'm now on my second printer, the first, an Epson packed up for good shortly
after coming out of the guarantee period. After using up the original ink
cartridges supplied with the printer, I switched over to compatible which
might have had a lot to do with my printer's early demise. Acting on advice,
I again chose Epson for my second printer, this time using genuine Epson
cartridges. Now my second printer is nearing the end of the guarantee year
in February, what should I do? Keep buying genuine ink cartridges until it
too packs up, or start saving money buying compatible cartridges in the hope
that it prints on for a further year or so?

MikeCT

MikeCT wrote:
: I'm now on my second printer, the first, an Epson packed up for good
: shortly after coming out of the guarantee period. After using up the
: original ink cartridges supplied with the printer, I switched over to
: compatible which might have had a lot to do with my printer's early
: demise. Acting on advice, I again chose Epson for my second printer,
: this time using genuine Epson cartridges. Now my second printer is
: nearing the end of the guarantee year in February, what should I do?
: Keep buying genuine ink cartridges until it too packs up, or start
: saving money buying compatible cartridges in the hope that it prints
: on for a further year or so?
:
: MikeCT

I ruined an earlier printer by not using the preferred ones so I would stick
to them. It's a rip off but not worth the hassle ... unless you aren't
hassled by it of course!

"MikeCT" wrote in message
...
I'm now on my second printer, the first, an Epson packed up for good
shortly after coming out of the guarantee period. After using up the
original ink cartridges supplied with the printer, I switched over to
compatible which might have had a lot to do with my printer's early
demise. Acting on advice, I again chose Epson for my second printer, this
time using genuine Epson cartridges. Now my second printer is nearing the
end of the guarantee year in February, what should I do? Keep buying
genuine ink cartridges until it too packs up, or start saving money buying
compatible cartridges in the hope that it prints on for a further year or
so?

MikeCT


Been there. Done that. Scrapped the printer.

STICK TO THE PROPER INK CARTRIDGES. Sorry for shouting but I cannot
emphasise it any stronger. I have a stack of genuine HP 29's because the HP
Printer died of mechanical failure. (email me if you can use them) I am
running an Epson C42 and have a supply of genuine ink cartridges and am
buying another printer tomorrow. What sort I don't know yet, but compatible
with the present computer and another computer I am picking up tomorrow, but
I ALWAYS use the genuine ink cartridge.

My 2d worth

Mike


--
.................................................. .........
Royal Naval Electrical Branch Association
www.rnshipmates.co.uk
www.nsrafa.com

"MikeCT" wrote in message
...
I'm now on my second printer, the first, an Epson packed up for good
shortly
after coming out of the guarantee period. After using up the original ink
cartridges supplied with the printer, I switched over to compatible which
might have had a lot to do with my printer's early demise. Acting on
advice,
I again chose Epson for my second printer, this time using genuine Epson
cartridges. Now my second printer is nearing the end of the guarantee year
in February, what should I do? Keep buying genuine ink cartridges until it
too packs up, or start saving money buying compatible cartridges in the
hope
that it prints on for a further year or so?

MikeCT

Within our local hardy plant group we print a monthly newsletter and the job
rotates (because its a pain in the neck job!) we pay for the correct
cartridges as the others cause printing problems but they have never
destroyed a printer! I use cheap tesco cartridges in my elderly Epson 640,
the black is fine but the colour is awful, I have a second Epson which is
newer and I use durabrite ink in that for photos etc but use it sparingly,
so my advice would be use cheap when it does not matter but have a decent
printer for important printing and stick to the branded cartridges.
--
Charlie, gardening in Cornwall.
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of National Plant Collections of Clematis viticella (cvs) and
Lapageria rosea

On Thu, 4 Jan 2007 16:24:54 +0000, MikeCT wrote
(in article ):

I'm now on my second printer, the first, an Epson packed up for good shortly
after coming out of the guarantee period. After using up the original ink
cartridges supplied with the printer, I switched over to compatible which
might have had a lot to do with my printer's early demise. Acting on advice,
I again chose Epson for my second printer, this time using genuine Epson
cartridges. Now my second printer is nearing the end of the guarantee year
in February, what should I do? Keep buying genuine ink cartridges until it
too packs up, or start saving money buying compatible cartridges in the hope
that it prints on for a further year or so?

MikeCT



I've given up on using Ink-jet printers because of the cost. However, there
are many suppliers of generic type ink-jet cartridge manufacturers. Most of
them are quite reputable, and the one I used would guarantee that if Epson
ever rejected a warranty claim because of the non-Epson cartridges they would
replace the printer free of charge.
Have a look at:
www.aktivdirect.co.uk
I hasten to add that I have no connection with the company other than as a
satisfied user.
The Epson insistence of using only their own cartridges is of course a total
rip-off.
May I recommend a course of action that I took, and I have never looked back.
Sell the ink-jet printer and buy a small cheap laser printer. Cost about
£80 to £100, and have your photographs printed by the local print shop. You
can still manipulate and improve your photos using Photo-plus or similar.
The cost of printing using a laser is miniscule in comparison with an
ink-jet. And it's fast and trouble free. I have been running a cheap
brother laser printer for a year now, and it's still on it's original toner
cartridge. If you have to do colour printing there are lots of print shops
around who will do it for you, and cheaper than you can do it yourself.

On Thu, 04 Jan 2007 16:24:54 GMT, "MikeCT"
wrote:

I'm now on my second printer, the first, an Epson packed up for good shortly
after coming out of the guarantee period. After using up the original ink
cartridges supplied with the printer, I switched over to compatible which
might have had a lot to do with my printer's early demise. Acting on advice,
I again chose Epson for my second printer, this time using genuine Epson
cartridges. Now my second printer is nearing the end of the guarantee year
in February, what should I do? Keep buying genuine ink cartridges until it
too packs up, or start saving money buying compatible cartridges in the hope
that it prints on for a further year or so?

MikeCT

I had an Epson printer that I used cheap replacement cartridges with,
after the guarantee ran out, like yourself. The jets blocked two or
three times but removing the print head and giving it a good clean
revived it a couple of times, but not the last, which meant the whole
printer was u/s. (Got the instructions off the net, but can't remember
where. Try Googling for Epson printer ink jet cleaning, or similar
words. Messy business, though, head cleaning).

I now have an HP. The ink cartridges are eye-wateringly expensive, but
do include the jets, so if they block you don't lose the whole
printer. But I refill them from cheap syringe-like refills I got from
Lidl, although I've only ever seen them there once, but I'm sure
similar refills are available elsewhere. It may be less than top
quality ink, but I've done three refills of my black ink cartridge for
about GBP 1.50 which can't be bad, and if the jets do eventually block
I'm no worse off than I was when it ran out the first time.


--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net

MikeCT wrote:
I'm now on my second printer, the first, an Epson packed up for good
shortly after coming out of the guarantee period. After using up the
original ink cartridges supplied with the printer, I switched over to
compatible which might have had a lot to do with my printer's early
demise. Acting on advice, I again chose Epson for my second printer,
this time using genuine Epson cartridges. Now my second printer is
nearing the end of the guarantee year in February, what should I do?
Keep buying genuine ink cartridges until it too packs up, or start
saving money buying compatible cartridges in the hope that it prints
on for a further year or so?
MikeCT

My Epson 580 is 5 years old and has never seen an Epson cartridge and it
still works as good as it did when new - I printed passport photographs with
it only last month and the passport office are reknowned for being picky,
the passport arrived two weeks ago.

YMMV etc

and BTW, often Epson printers give up the ghost when the reservoir which
collects scrap ink has become flooded, usually after a year or two, this is
easily bypassed (it's a tiny chip within the printer which is connected to a
sensor in the lump of 'carpet' blotter in the bottom, when it's full, it
gives an onscreen message about sending the printer back to Epson) there's a
small application which disables this error message, then you take out the
blotter, wash it, dry it and replace, hey presto - new printer!

In message , Phil L
wrote
MikeCT wrote:
I'm now on my second printer, the first, an Epson packed up for good
shortly after coming out of the guarantee period. After using up the
original ink cartridges supplied with the printer, I switched over to
compatible which might have had a lot to do with my printer's early
demise. Acting on advice, I again chose Epson for my second printer,
this time using genuine Epson cartridges. Now my second printer is
nearing the end of the guarantee year in February, what should I do?
Keep buying genuine ink cartridges until it too packs up, or start
saving money buying compatible cartridges in the hope that it prints
on for a further year or so?
MikeCT

My Epson 580 is 5 years old and has never seen an Epson cartridge and it
still works as good as it did when new - I printed passport photographs with
it only last month and the passport office are reknowned for being picky,
the passport arrived two weeks ago.


My Epson has been running with clone cartridges, costing between £1 and
£2 per cartridge, for many years without problems.




--


Alan
news2006 {at} amac {dot} f2s {dot} com

Mike
I seem to have gone through a lot a printers, first HP so went back to
Epson.
My last but one purchase was an all in one that failed after 14 months.
SO replaced it with another all in one FX6600; purchased from PCworld
with exteded warranty. If went down after 11 months - took it to the
local Epson service center who fixed it whilst I waited. Turned out
that when the cartridge ran out - had to go and buy another one, came
back and it fouled up. Had used Genuine products - after having lost a
printer to a campatible.
Then, another 3 months later it failes again - so took it back to PC
world - repair or exchange - had a look at the equivalents but the
equivalent specs were way above the price of my old printer, so did not
swap - took it back to the Epson place who fixed it again for £25.
They said that would be the last time they could do it. Why? The ink
apparently discharges into a pad when you turn the printer off and
floods the pad which is not a replaceable item. So how do you avoid
the problem in the first place "Don't turn it off".

Lost my faith in Epson after that. Seems that all printers these days
are disposable and not to last, yet my Epson LX800 dot matrix printer
bought in 1989 is still working great. So much for product
advancement!

Now I just feel the whole printer usage is a con.

The cartrages are all different, each model uses its own one. Bought a
Samsung ML2510 laser from Staples and it is a nighmare to get hold of
replacement toners (unless you want to pay £80 for a 3000 print toner
- cheaper to print injet in colour). All madness

All just a con

Clifford
Bawtry, Doncaster, South Yorkshire

On Thu, 04 Jan 2007 19:24:07 +0000, Chris Hogg wrote:

But I refill them from cheap syringe-like refills I got from
Lidl, although I've only ever seen them there once,

I've seen them on a current Lidl leaflet. Could even be today's new
lot of goodies.

Pam in Bristol

Hi,
Depending on model of epson printer there is a continuous ink system for
most epson printers available, these are larger containers which feed
through to special cartridges these on ebay are not too expensive
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CISS-Continuou...QQcmdZViewItem

others are suitable for other models.
Most epson printers have built in life span, there is a chip inside which
remembers how much ink has been used, you can get software which resets this
chip quite easily heres a link to one place, again on ebay.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/EPSON-PRINTER-...QQcmdZViewItem

However if you search google or ebay you will find other places which sell
it.
Also there is a reservoir which holds waste ink, when this full your
printers says (no more) this needs cleaning out, not too dificult a job,
(but a little messy)
Hope this helps
regards
Cineman


"MikeCT" wrote in message
...
I'm now on my second printer, the first, an Epson packed up for good
shortly after coming out of the guarantee period. After using up the
original ink cartridges supplied with the printer, I switched over to
compatible which might have had a lot to do with my printer's early
demise. Acting on advice, I again chose Epson for my second printer, this
time using genuine Epson cartridges. Now my second printer is nearing the
end of the guarantee year in February, what should I do? Keep buying
genuine ink cartridges until it too packs up, or start saving money buying
compatible cartridges in the hope that it prints on for a further year or
so?

MikeCT

cineman wrote:
Hi,
Depending on model of epson printer there is a continuous ink system
for most epson printers available, these are larger containers which
feed through to special cartridges these on ebay are not too expensive
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CISS-Continuou...QQcmdZViewItem

others are suitable for other models.

I was wondering why i was reading a thread about printers in UK
Gardening... now i know! I just found this for my Canon ip3000 ) )

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Continuous-Ink...QQcmdZViewItem

If i hadn't been idly surfing and absorbing i would never have known about
such things!

Nice one Cineman (if that didn't start out life as a UK CB Handle i'll eat
my Tilley hat!)

Bugger! I love the internet...

Les


--
Remove Frontal Lobes to reply direct.


"The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character
in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving
control-freak ; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a
misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal , genocidal , filicidal
, pestilential , megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously
malevolent bully" (Richard Dawkins)

http://armsofmorpheus.blogspot.com/

http://www.richarddawkins.net/index.php


Les Hemmings a.a #2251 SA

"MikeCT" wrote:
snip
Now my second printer is nearing the end of the guarantee year in
February, what should I do? Keep buying genuine ink cartridges until it
too packs up, or start saving money buying compatible cartridges in the
hope that it prints on for a further year or so?

MikeCT
---
Thanks for all your replies. It appears that when or if I take my printer in
to the local Epson agents for repair and they find that I'm using compatible
instead of genuine Epson ink cartridges, they'll refuse to do any repairs.
Therefore I will just have to carry on using genuine, thank goodness my
cartridges don't cost a bomb as some do and I don't do my own colour
printing.

MikeCT