Epson Ink Tank Printer: I've mentioned this before, but this is an update. I have an Epson ET-2760 ink tank printer. It came with four bottles of ink. I filled the tanks and put the...

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I've mentioned this before, but this is an update. I have an Epson ET-2760 ink tank printer. It came with four bottles of ink. I filled the tanks and put the remaining ink on the shelf. So far, it has printed 4,375 copies, and the ink tanks are around the halfway point. The ink bottles have about an inch of ink left. When I got the printer, I bought Epson replacement ink for $65. I wonder if I'll ever need it. If I get 10,000 pages from $65 worth of ink, that works out to about $0.0065 per page. The cost of ink is negligible.

Al Beatty Loc: Boise, Idaho

Hi Jerry,

I've got the Epson 4550 bulk tank and you are right. They a very inexpensive to operate compared to the cassette type of printers. Take care & ...

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Al Beatty wrote:

Hi Jerry,

I've got the Epson 4550 bulk tank and you are right. They a very inexpensive to operate compared to the cassette type of printers. Take care & ...

I hope Epson doesn't read these posts.

BigDaddy Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

jerryc41 wrote:

I've mentioned this before, but this is an update.... (show quote)

I have the previous model ET-2750. In years I used almost no ink printing, and I wasted a good bit trying to get good photo prints, but the main thing was cleaning the nozzle's. I had to do a deep cleaning of the nozzle's several times and you could watch the ink levels sink each time.

I've "already" bought new ink and filled the bottles. I say put "already" in quotes because ALL other printers I've had would have had expensive ink cartridge's replaced numerous times even w/o the deep cleaning. I think I paid $60 for all 4 cartridge's and I bought them from Epson. Ink is a non-issue with these printers, and I print more than ever because of that, just not pictures. Actually I bought Epson paper to see if that helps but haven't bothered to use it. I rarely print photo's anyway.

Red6

I have not owned an Epson printer for several years. I purchased one several years ago when it was the only one available to me at the time and was very disappointed. The quality was good but if you did not print on a regular basis the ink nozzles would plug up. Even going a week without printing, the nozzles would be plugged at first and require several test pages to clear.

Finally, after a period of several weeks that I did not print, the nozzles would not clear and I had to get rid of the printer. The cost of replacing the nozzles was more than the cost of a new printer. That was the last Epson I had.

In the cartridge models, the nozzles are replaced each time an ink cartridge is replaced. And for some reason, even after skipping several weeks on not printing the nozzles on these printers have never been plugged.

Are the newer Epsons better in this respect? The new Eco models are attractive from the standpoint of the ink costs but if nozzle plugging is still an issue then I am not interested.

John N Loc: HP14 3QF Stokenchurch, UK

I've got a 5 ink ET-7700. Came with a spare set of inks. More chance of them drying out than getting used!

chikid68 Loc: Tennesse USA

I have an Epson et 4700 and I have been using it for a couple years and have only refilled my tanks a few times.
My bottles are probably going to outlast the printer.

sgt hop Loc: baltimore md,now in salisbury md

jerryc41 wrote:

I've mentioned this before, but this is an update.... (show quote)

got the same printer...love it....so far.....

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

BigDaddy wrote:

I have the previous model ET-2750. In years I used... (show quote)

I know what you mean about the expensive ink cartridges. I cringe when I need cartridges, and I see the prices. I have had mixed results with aftermarket cartridges, so I don't want to take a chance on wasting money. Right now, the only cartridge printer I use is for printing on disks - Epson XP-970.

The XP-970 does a beautiful job of printing, but it is frustrating to use. Aside from the printing, all its operations take place in slow motion. I once watched it take five minutes to shut down.

StanMac Loc: Tennessee

jerryc41 wrote:

I've mentioned this before, but this is an update.... (show quote)

Makes me wonder why the ink cartridges are still so expensive. I’m sure the ink used in them is not that much more costly to produce (probably the same ink as in the bottles) and the cartridges themselves don’t appear to be an elaborate piece of machinery.

Stan

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

StanMac wrote:

Makes me wonder why the ink cartridges are still so expensive. I’m sure the ink used in them is not that much more costly to produce (probably the same ink as in the bottles) and the cartridges themselves don’t appear to be an elaborate piece of machinery.

Stan

Yeah, that's an international scandal, and it's been written about many times. It's one of the most expensive items on the planet. "A gallon of printer ink can cost you $12,000.

https://www.businessinsider.com/why-printer-ink-so-expensive-2019-8

StanMac Loc: Tennessee

jerryc41 wrote:

Yeah, that's an international scandal, and it's been written about many times. It's one of the most expensive items on the planet. "A gallon of printer ink can cost you $12,000.

https://www.businessinsider.com/why-printer-ink-so-expensive-2019-8

Don’t you just love that corporate speak reply by HP in the article? Such BS!

Stan

BigDaddy Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

jerryc41 wrote:

I know what you mean about the expensive ink cartr... (show quote)

Yeah, massive difference with the eco tank ink. I consider it free ink it's so cheap, at least when printing colored text files.
For disks, I use DVD labels and an old CD label contraption to stick the labels on the disks. I use to use SURETHING label maker but somewhere along the line it didn't make it through the WiN "upgrades" and now I use an old NERO label maker that is a bit of a challenge to use. At one time I had a printer that did disks but I think I only used it once, and went back to the stick on CD labels.

Red6

StanMac wrote:

Makes me wonder why the ink cartridges are still so expensive. I’m sure the ink used in them is not that much more costly to produce (probably the same ink as in the bottles) and the cartridges themselves don’t appear to be an elaborate piece of machinery.

Stan

I think that is the point that I made above. In the Epson printers, I think the ink-jet nozzles are built into the printer head and ink is fed to the nozzles from the ink tanks. Then if the nozzles clog the printer is either junk or it is expensive to clean or replace them.

In most of the cartridge models, the replaceable ink tank (cartridge) also contains the ink jet nozzles and the associated electronics and mechanism to push the ink out. Get a new cartridge/ink tank and you get brand new nozzles.

In both cases the ink is the minor cost. The real expense in the cartirdge models are the new nozzles and mechanisms surrounding the nozzles.

I have also read some articles some time ago that made the claim that in printers where the nozzles were not replaced on a regular basis that quality may suffer as the nozzles experienced wear and dried ink residue built up around and inside the nozzles. These nozzles are nearly microscopic so it would not take much residue to cause some type of issue.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

StanMac wrote:

Don’t you just love that corporate speak reply by HP in the article? Such BS!

Stan

Yeah, corporate speak is an artform.