New Epson Printers, refillable tanks, no cartridges? Anybody have the skinny on this world changing news? At first I pictured my self making nice prints on my 1430 printer without...

georgevedwards Loc: Essex, Maryland.

Anybody have the skinny on this world changing news? At first I pictured my self making nice prints on my 1430 printer without having to spend $120 every other week on new cartridges; hey, God does listen! Then I googled and saw a selection of what looks like letter size document printers. Are these a flash in the pan gimmick or will it be meaningfull to us photographers?

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

georgevedwards wrote:

Anybody have the skinny on this world changing news? At first I pictured my self making nice prints on my 1430 printer without having to spend $120 every other week on new cartridges; hey, God does listen! Then I googled and saw a selection of what looks like letter size document printers. Are these a flash in the pan gimmick or will it be meaningfull to us photographers?

Epsons Pro photo and graphics printers have always used separate ink tanks and printheads, it makes the inks a WHOLE lot cheaper. But the ink tanks are typically fairly large and not conducive for use in smaller consumer grade desktop printers where the compact ink cartridge/printheads fit better.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

Continuous Ink Supply, CIS, are excellent.. just be sure to use once week for some printing... keeps the juices flowering.

http://www.cisinks.com/

BboH Loc: s of 2/21, Ellicott City, MD

The tech writer, Wilson Rothman, in yesterday's Wall Street Journal seemed ecstatic in his review of the product.
the title of his article is "The End of Ink Cartridge For Printers, At Last". Epson has introduce 2 - the ET-2550 @$400 and the ET-4550 @$500. He states that the ink will last about 2 years (his test - the equivalent of 35 b%w pages and 60 color pages per week) A replacement set of 4 ink canisters costs $52. Maybe my Canon 9550 will be going quickly!

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

georgevedwards wrote:

Anybody have the skinny on this world changing news? At first I pictured my self making nice prints on my 1430 printer without having to spend $120 every other week on new cartridges; hey, God does listen! Then I googled and saw a selection of what looks like letter size document printers. Are these a flash in the pan gimmick or will it be meaningfull to us photographers?

I read about that last night. It will cost about $13 to replace a bottle of ink.

http://www.slashgear.com/epson-ecotank-printer-changes-everything-ditches-ink-cartridges-04395609/

foathog Loc: Greensboro, NC

How is print quality??

Indi Loc: L. I., NY, Palm Beach Cty when it's cold.

georgevedwards wrote:

Anybody have the skinny on this world changing news? At first I pictured my self making nice prints on my 1430 printer without having to spend $120 every other week on new cartridges; hey, God does listen! Then I googled and saw a selection of what looks like letter size document printers. Are these a flash in the pan gimmick or will it be meaningfull to us photographers?

I read about this printer the other day. The ink typically last 2 years, and a refill package (not per color-cartridge) is $52. If I didn't already have my Pixma, I'd strongly consider this Epson.

Robertski Loc: So California

I saw the announcement yesterday and the retail prices from $400-$1200. I would want to compare specs with non-SuperTankers. My guess is you will be paying a huge premium. I have owned a dozen Epson printers and added CIS bulk tanks to most. As stated by others, you must use weekly and more often in hot weather. Epson electronics are also very finicky about recognizing "Official" cartridges. I had one printer on a CIS that was working fine until it stopped because of Epson's built-in max duty cycles. It reminds me of buying a Prius. Does it make sense to pay $10,000 more for a car to save gas if you only drive a few miles each year?

gsmith051 Loc: Fairfield Glade, TN

George - Thanks for the heads up. That's a game changer. Checked Epson website and the Epson Expression ET-2550 EcoTank is listed for 399.99. Four ink bottles are included. Considering I'm using ink up every two weeks, $400 looks like a deal. :thumbup:

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

Robertski wrote:

I saw the announcement yesterday and the retail pr... (show quote)

Almost every "cartridge" type printer on the market is sold at a loo, sometimes a BIG loss, in order for the manufacturer to make up the profits with the exorbitantly priced ink cartridges. Thats exactly why my two Canon Pro 100 printers are sitting in a closet, even though they were free to obtain, the ink cost is rediculous!
The Epson Eco Tank printers are literally a printer with Epsons own CIS (Continuous Ink Supply) system incorporated into them. Because the bulk ink is so inexpensive Epson is selling this line of printers at a fair profit margin as their ink profits are minimal compared to tiny cartridges.
As for quality, they are all 4 ink systems with only one black cartridge. Typically these style of printers make very acceptable color photo printers, but fall woefully short in image quality when printing B&W images.

gsmith051 Loc: Fairfield Glade, TN

Thanks MT Shooter.

richandtd Loc: Virginia

I got a ET 4750 about a month ago and when using photo grade paper and the photo settings on the printer it does a nice job printing I’ve made some 8 1/2 by 11 ‘s and for being a refillable printer they don’t look too bad.

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

georgevedwards wrote:

Anybody have the skinny on this world changing news? At first I pictured my self making nice prints on my 1430 printer without having to spend $120 every other week on new cartridges; hey, God does listen! Then I googled and saw a selection of what looks like letter size document printers. Are these a flash in the pan gimmick or will it be meaningfull to us photographers?

It looks like those aren't meant to be photo printers. They only have four colors.