Wingpilot Loc: Wasilla. Ak

I recently purchased an Epson ET-2650 printer. One of the selling points was that instead of ink cartridges, it has ink wells, 4 of them. Doing in, or dyes, as the case may be, is a lot cheaper than ink cartridges. But I'm a little disappointed in the printer. It seems to leave a grey background on white paper when printing documents, and it tends to smear or leave black ink streaks when printing prints or printing a document with color. Unfortunately, I didn't discover this issue until after the time allowed to simply return the printer to the store where I bought it. Can't say that this is a general problem with that model printer, but it is with mine. I even ran the cleaning cycle a few times, but it still does it. Otherwise, it works well.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

Time to replace it with that new one that has huge ink reservoirs so that they last almost as long as the printer - the way it should.

toxdoc42

thanks for the help, the website for Walmart shows the availability as well. So, I guess there really is no need to replace the printer, but it seems so odd to pay more for replacement cartridges then the cost of a new printer! I wish the manufacturers could figure out a way to sell cartridges a little cheaper! Now that you can go to your neighborhood Walgreens, CVS, Walmart and make inexpensive prints, they should see that they need to open up their market by making the replacement ink a bit less expensive!

Picture Taker Loc: Michigan Thumb

A question come to mind on reading about you printer problem. Do you want a cheep printer and cheep ink or a good photo printer?

The Watcher

You can get Epson 69 ink on Ebay at a reasonable price. This is where I buy most of the OEM ink for my four printers. I have a credit card linked to PayPal and they handle the payment.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1311.R1.TR11.TRC1.A0.H0.Xepson+69.TRS0&_nkw=epson+69+ink&_sacat=0

toxdoc42

How can you be sure they are really OEM? Some seem just too cheap.

whitewolfowner

If you do a lot of printing, get a better printer. The better printers have larger ink supplies in the cartridges and the cost goes way too. In the long run, a more expensive printer becomes cheaper because the ink cost is way less.

You can always buy your ink directly from Epson on their web site.

The Watcher

I only purchase those that say genuine Epson or Canon ink. Also where the seller offers returns. Many of these cartridges have expired which doesn't seem to be a problem if there are sealed. Last year I won an auction and picked up three sets of Epson ink (15 carts) for fifty dollars. The price included free two day shipping. Back in June I received a black ink in the right box, but wrong cartridge. I contacted the seller with a photograph showing the error and received a refund the same day. I didn't have to return the cartridge.

Picture Taker Loc: Michigan Thumb

I found over the years I purchased my ink directly from Epson. I had a reason to call Epson for a problem (the printer was well out of warranty) and Epson stepped up as if it was a warranty problem. I think they could see all my ink was Epson and not junk ink.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Epson makes phenomenal high-end photo printers. The larger P-series SureColor printers are built for heavy daily use, and thrive on it. But for $2000 to $7000, you expect perfect, archival photos.

They are definitely "in the ink business" at the low end, especially since they often sell multi-function printers for just a few dollars more than a set of inks. We've had many of their small office/home office printers. Where else can you get a document scanner, FAX, double-sided copier, and printer for under $100? The last one I bought, a WF-3640, was $99. The inks are $55/set for an XL black and regular CMY cartridges. It seldom bothers me to take a defective printer to the recycling center every few years and just get a new one... They always get better. I have never had to return a printer straight out of the box.

cooper2 Loc: Norman Oklahoma

Does anyone have ideas on the pros and cons of ink jet verses laser printers?

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Yes. Lasers are completely inappropriate for photos. They're office document printers. If you want photos to last, get a pigmented inkjet printer.

TonyBot

I am a big Canon fan, and absolutely love my Pro-10. It is a workhorse, with a great temperament. But, Epson is also a great brand - it's sort of the Canon/Nikon argument. I absolutely believe the pigment style printers are better and have more advantages (long-life, etc.), but some of the new formulas that Canon and Epson are using for dye printers are becoming much better. Yes, printers are generators for ink sales (and I personally prefer OEM products), but there are a lot of "third party" inks out there that can drive down the price of printing your own. (If your heart is set on a great photo-quality dye printer, there are many deals at reliable sellers on the Canon Pro-100. With rebates, I have seen as low as $80.) A source for info that seems to be pretty unbiased is Red River Paper. Great product, on its own. Check them out.
http://www.redrivercatalog.com

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

Inkjet printers use two different types of ink... dye-based ink and pigment-based ink (not "dye versus ink").

The majority of photo quality printers use dye based inks (6-colors or more). So you are probably already using those, in your current Epson.

Dye inks don't have the same life expectancy of pigment inks. Used to be, dye based inks were given a 25 year life expectancy. But on cheap, non-archival paper and exposed to strong, indirect sunlight, I've seen them fade badly in a year or two.

Today's dye-based inks are much better. For example, Canon rates the "Chromalife" inks used in their Pro 100 and Pro 10 wide format (13", 8-color) printers to 100+ years, so long as they're used with archival papers.

Pigment-based inks have even longer life expectancy... estimated to be 200 years on archival papers... and are preferred for collectable and museum quality, fine art prints. Canon's Pro 10 (13", 10-color) uses "Lucia" pigment-based inks.

Personally I like dye-based inks for glossy and semi-gloss papers.... and pigment-based inks for matte papers.

As to the cost... well, you aren't going to get much relief with any photo quality printer (six colors or more). The inks are still the most expensive part of the process. And the cartridges aren't very big. There are third party inks, but it's a bit of a roll of the dice if they will work as well and last as long as the OEM inks. Some people swear by them. Personally I don't use them. I just watch for occasional sales on the OEM inksets, stock up when I can.

I use a Canon Pro 100 which is currently selling for $130 after an instant rebate (13", 8 color, dye-based, $125 for a set of inks) and an older HP B9180 (13", 8 color, pigment-based) that's no longer available, about $260 for a set of inks, but cartridges are much larger and longer lasting than the Canon's.

A full set of 10 inks for Canon Pro 10 costs about $150 ($15 per cart.) and the printer costs about $700.

NOTE: There are also "dye sublimation" printers. Those use a heat process to transfer inks from a substrate to the paper and are much faster than inkjets. But the printers are much more expensive and very limited in sizes they can print. You also buy the paper and ink-subtrate in rolls, which gives more cost control, isn't exactly cheap, but is lower cost per print than inkjet.

Another solution might be to use a fairly low quality (4-color?), inexpensive printer or color laserjet for proofing and office work... then send out any high quality print work you need done. Costco, Staples, Walmart and others offer pretty affordable services. There are also high end "pro" labs with a wide variety of products.

SusanFromVermont Loc: Southwest corner of Vermont

It sounds like you have realized that printers with small capacity cartridges get rather expensive. A better printer will have larger capacity cartridges and will in the long run be less expensive. Of course they cost more to start with... There is a big difference between an 8mL and an 80mL cartridge. And newer printers can also make the ink go farther. My current printer has small dye ink cartridges, I am looking at a new printer with large pigment ink cartridges. You will probably still have to order them online, but just try to keep ahead of it and you won't have to wait until the new cartridges arrive!