Any good Epson inkjjet printer?

[satoshi]

I loved Epson color printers. They print beautiful pictures. I had been
using Epson printers for many years in the past. Because of frequent
cloggings, I switched to Canon inkjet printers (i950 and S520). But I am
not so happy with color on the prints with i950. Too much red on skin
color. But what I like about Canon printers is that they do not have
clogging problem.

I am wondering whether there is a good Epson printer(s) which does not clog
as the old model does. If so, please recommend me the model number. I
wish to go back to Epson printer. Craig

 

[neopia9]

Epson printers, while attractively priced and high-quality, cost you
hundreds of dollars in ink over the life of the printer. The extra
print quality is not worth the money. All inkjet printers tend to be
like this, but Epson is especially notorious for this practice.
If you don't have enough money for a color laser printer (don't worry,
neither do I), your best bet would be to go for one of the HP printers.
The DeskJet series printers are good for things such as color graphs,
but they do not produce digital photo prints very well. If you have the
money, you should get a higher-end printer--well worth it. Personally,
I've seen great results with the cp1700 model. Although I don't
technically own one, I use one a lot at work. They can print on paper
sizes up to 13x19 (sometimes marketed as size A3) and use individual
(cyan, magenta, and yellow) color cartridges, while expensive, last a
long time (depending on your printing habits, about a year, give or
take.) The printer itself starts at about $200. Weigh your options and
shop around (remember, not all dealers advertise on the web.)

 

[measekite]

I loved Epson color printers. They print beautiful pictures. I had been
using Epson printers for many years in the past. *Because of frequent
cloggings, I switched to Canon inkjet printers *(i950 and S520). But I am
not so happy with color on the prints with i950. Too much red on skin
color. *But what I like about Canon printers is that they do not have
clogging problem.*

They may if you do not use OEM ink.

I am wondering whether there is a good Epson printer(s) which does not clog
as the old model does. If so, please recommend me the model number. I
wish to go back to Epson printer. Craig

They all have some propensity to clog, especially with non OEM ink.
However, one has to be real careful with the R800/1800 because they use
pigmented inks. The advantage, according to many, is greater longevity
of the print.

Be prepared to have the gospel read to you by the Churchgoers of the
AfterMarket Church of Latter Day Inks.

 

[Fred McKenzie]

I am wondering whether there is a good Epson printer(s) which does not clog
as the old model does.

Craig-

Epson clogging seems to be a random function. Most do not have a problem,
but occasionally one does, and smears the reputation of the rest!

I suspect it has something to do with how the heads are parked when not
printing. If there is a good air seal, evaporation is slow and clogging
is rare. If you get one with a bad gasket, you have a problem.

I've had several Epson printers over the years, the last 4 being inkjets.
Of those, the model C-60 developed a clogging problem. I replaced it with
a C-86, and so far it seems to be holding up even though I only use it
about once a month.

Fred

 

[Kevin]

I have owned several Epson printers from the Stylus Color 400 to my current
printer, the Stylus Photo R200. But the best photo prints I have ever seen
were produced by old Stylus Photo 700. I brought samples of digital source
images and the CD I burned them to, printed on premium glossy photo paper,
at the highest resolution of my 700 into my local Circuit City store and
offered to buy any printer in the store that could top them. I walked out
with only my prints. No printer from HP, Canon or Lexmark could touch those
prints.

My R200 does a great job at printing photos and I would put it up against
anything from Canon or HP, at a similar price-point, anyday. But it still
is just short of the quality I had with my old 700.

 

[Frank]

satoshi wrote:

*But what I like about Canon printers is

They may if you do not use OEM ink.

More bullshit lies from that moron mesershit.
I use nothing but 3rd party inks in my top-of-the-line Canon i9900 wide
format printer.
It has never clogged!
Frank

 

[zakezuke]

If you get one with a bad gasket, you have a problem.

By gasket, do you mean that 1/2 folded piece of thin foam at the far
right of the printer, directly right of the waste ink system? That
gasket?

I'm trying to be fair, but from what i've observed, the head tends to
knock this out of place. It's not attached down in anyway except one
hook on the far right side. In my case the springs in the assembly
become strained and knocked it askew disconnecting the lower hose. I
only noticed it as I was printing with my lid open wondering why there
was a white thing dripping with ink being dragged across the paper. I
imagine my case is some what extreme, and could even be rare. But from
what i've seen in the demo models this gasket is almost always bunched
up in the corner not serving it's purpose. And old Epsons I find in
2nd hand stores, even the ones marked "dura ink", every one without
exception this piece 1/2 folded foam attached via one plastic hook on
one side is always missing.

If this is indeed the source of a problem, it strikes me as amazing
they haven't made the choice to go with something simple like double
stick tape to keep this thing in place, or two fold over clamps that
would keep this gasket taught on either side allowing the head to rest
in the middle assuring a positive seal.

 

[Jon O'Brien]

I suspect it has something to do with how the heads are parked when not
printing....

....and/or low humidity levels, direct sunlight on printer, proximity of
printer to a radiator, dusty environment,...

If the OP has had clogging problems in the past, there's always a chance
that they will re-occur with other models unless the problem is addressed.

Jon.
[An Epson user who has been fortunate enough never to suffer a serious
clog]

 

[measekite]

*But what I like about Canon printers is



More bullshit lies from that moron mesershit.
I use nothing but 3rd party inks in my top-of-the-line Canon i9900
wide format printer.
It has never clogged!
Frank

That makes you a top of the line idiot.

 

[Ivor Floppy]

Epson printers, while attractively priced and high-quality, cost you
hundreds of dollars in ink over the life of the printer. The extra
print quality is not worth the money. All inkjet printers tend to be
like this, but Epson is especially notorious for this practice.
If you don't have enough money for a color laser printer (don't worry,
neither do I), your best bet would be to go for one of the HP printers.

....and spend hundreds of dollars more on ink *and* a throw away printhead.

 

[Ivor Floppy]

By gasket, do you mean that 1/2 folded piece of thin foam at the far
right of the printer, directly right of the waste ink system? That
gasket?

That's it. Its a rubber gasket with a foam pad inset. (Underneath the form
pad is a pipe that leads to a vacuum pump that operates during cleaning
cycles).

I'm trying to be fair, but from what i've observed, the head tends to
knock this out of place. It's not attached down in anyway except one
hook on the far right side.

That does happen once in a very blue moon, probably moreso on the cheaper
models. What tends to happen more often is that:

a) Ink gets dried either in or on the edge of the gasket and it allows air
to get in when the heads are parked. That causes the ink to dry in the
printheads and it blocks the nozzles.

or

b) The foam pad becomes either saturated or gets hard dried ink deposits
building up on it - causing wicking of the ink through the nozzles when
parked and drying the ink in the nozzles.

Both of those problems can be solved easily by applying a few drops of the
correct ink solvent to the pad/gasket.

Sometimes there's also a problem of air getting into the top of the
printhead through a badly sealed ink cartridge - but that's very rare and
I've only seen it happen when ink carts have been refilled dozens of times.

If this is indeed the source of a problem, it strikes me as amazing
they haven't made the choice to go with something simple like double
stick tape to keep this thing in place, or two fold over clamps that
would keep this gasket taught on either side allowing the head to rest
in the middle assuring a positive seal.

The R200's and R300's (and I assume most of the R-series) have what looks
like a thin metal X-shaped clamp over the top of the foam pad - presumably
to keep it flat and in place. They also have a printhead that moves up and
down and (from what I've seen of the way the printers park), they 'plonk'
the heads directly onto the gasket; rather than the older method of having
the gasket slide up and into place under the printhead. Time will tell if
that actually makes any difference to the reliability; but so far if my
experience and the experience of others is anything to go by, the R'series
are a lot less likely to clog than previous models.

 

[Frank]

That makes you a top of the line idiot.

Not hardly jackass.
Unlike you, that makes me a real user with real experience.
Frank

 

[measekite]

Not hardly .
Unlike you, that makes me a real jackass with real experience.
Frank

hahahaha

 

[zakezuke]

The R200's and R300's (and I assume most of the R-series) have what looks

like a thin metal X-shaped clamp over the top of the foam pad - presumably
to keep it flat and in place. They also have a printhead that moves up and
down and (from what I've seen of the way the printers park), they 'plonk'
the heads directly onto the gasket; rather than the older method of having
the gasket slide up and into place under the printhead. Time will tell if
that actually makes any difference to the reliability; but so far if my
experience and the experience of others is anything to go by, the R'series
are a lot less likely to clog than previous models.

As far as the R series goes.

The plonk action seems to only be used for CDs and the purge cycle, and
oddly enough for cartridge change. I've not noticed a plonk during
normal mode. Now this whole mechnism looks like it's designed to
operate on hinge and slide into place when the printhead parks. You
can see the printhead slide to the right quickly, switch to slow
motion, and slowly pushes the whole waste pan and gasket to the right
and it slides up. This unit is also designed to lock into place for
when printing on CDs. Every once and a while it desides to not do it
slowly and bashes into it, but that could have just been my printer.
What might be rare is the hose below the waste pad getting
disconnected.

As far as the gasket and the foam waste pad, the waste pad does have an
X-shaped clamp thing, but the foam gasket (I called this thing a wipe
in the past) seems to be the same old design held in place by just the
one hook. Unless something has changed in 6 months.

 

[Ivor Floppy]

As far as the R series goes.

The plonk action seems to only be used for CDs and the purge cycle, and
oddly enough for cartridge change. I've not noticed a plonk during
normal mode.

On mine, when I switch the printer on the heads lift up; move back and
forwards a bit and are then lowered back down. After printing, when
switching off, a similar processes is repeated - the last part being
moving the heads far to the left followed by lowering the heads.

Now this whole mechnism looks like it's designed to
operate on hinge and slide into place when the printhead parks. You
can see the printhead slide to the right quickly, switch to slow
motion, and slowly pushes the whole waste pan and gasket to the right
and it slides up.

Indeed - thats part of the process. That's how previous models all (?)
worked - the cap/gasket the slides up and along on a cheap and nasty
plastic-to-plastic slide.

This unit is also designed to lock into place for
when printing on CDs. Every once and a while it desides to not do it
slowly and bashes into it, but that could have just been my printer.
What might be rare is the hose below the waste pad getting
disconnected.

As far as the gasket and the foam waste pad, the waste pad does have an
X-shaped clamp thing, but the foam gasket (I called this thing a wipe
in the past) seems to be the same old design held in place by just the
one hook. Unless something has changed in 6 months.

If your refering to the rubber squeege head wiper; (to the right of the head
cap, just right of the gears for the paper feed etc.) then yes - its just a
slice of rubber clamped on at the base. I've never known any problems with
that design though - similar designs in various forms by most manufacturers.

There's a foam soak to the right of the cap/gasket waste pad too - just, as
you say, held in place with one hook. To be honest, I don't know quite why
that is there - I doubt the whole of the head would be able to be wiped by
that (it doesn't look big enough - but then I've not seen the underneath of
a Rseries(s) head to know where the nozzles are exactly). My guess is its
just an excess spray area rather than a 'wipe' as such.

 

[zakezuke]

If your refering to the rubber squeege head wiper; (to the right of the head

cap, just right of the gears for the paper feed etc.) then yes - its just a
slice of rubber clamped on at the base. I've never known any problems with
that design though - similar designs in various forms by most manufacturers.

There's a foam soak to the right of the cap/gasket waste pad too - just, as
you say, held in place with one hook. To be honest, I don't know quite why
that is there - I doubt the whole of the head would be able to be wiped by
that (it doesn't look big enough - but then I've not seen the underneath of
a Rseries(s) head to know where the nozzles are exactly). My guess is its
just an excess spray area rather than a 'wipe' as such.

I called the gasket a wipe in the past simply because I didn't know
it's fuction was to serve as a gasket. I called it a wipe because I
naturally assume it wiped when my head draged this ink soaked gasket
cross the paper from time to time. I guess it wanted to experiment
with a different form of impressionism. The rubber blade took me
longer to notice as you can't see it clearly without a flashlight.

The foam soak in the R series is attached to a tube, most of the time,
which in turn is attached to a pump driven by the pladen when it goes
in reverse. This can be very amusing if you happen to decide to purge
after you print, and the paper gets sucked back into the printer. It
was less amusing when it started to suck a roll of paper towels into
the printer.

There is an additional foam soak located to the far left. Now in my
case these two wells operated in tandom to provide the head with large
drops of slightly different black inks and either drop it at random
points along the page, or splatter it around the inside of my printer,
again more experiments in impressionism.

 

[SLLD]

You can get good ink from other places.
I use www.printpal.com
No relation
I have been using Epson for about 6 years with cheap ink.
(about 1/3 the cost of Hp or cannun.

 

[Tony]

Epson printers, while attractively priced and high-quality, cost you
hundreds of dollars in ink over the life of the printer. The extra
print quality is not worth the money. All inkjet printers tend to be
like this, but Epson is especially notorious for this practice.
If you don't have enough money for a color laser printer (don't worry,
neither do I), your best bet would be to go for one of the HP printers.

You are FULL of CRAP HP printers are very dear to run, read he article on Toms
Hardware.

Canon and Epson are the cheapest.

 

[zakezuke]

I have been using Epson for about 6 years with cheap ink.

(about 1/3 the cost of Hp or cannun.

What I find odd is saying you buy 3rd party ink for x printer and then
saying it's cheaper than other brand printers. Why not compare apples
to apples?

Looks like to me their T048x20 is $8 black, $7 color, where the
BCI-3ebk is $5 and the BCI-6 are $5.00 each for cmyk. I haven't found
referbed HP carts on the site you listed. But the $16 for the jet
mailer looks like a decent deal for the #95, #96, #97. But needless to
say I know the "cannun" carts are larger, therefor cheeper from the
same website. The Epson T048x20s are much more complex then the canon,
and if i'm not mistaken require to be filled via creating a vacuum from
a port next to the main outlet port and having the ink sucked back in,
then resealed. The canon BCI-3 and 6 can be poked with needle and
sealed with a hotglue gun. Assuming the cost of ink isn't the issue
there is a good reason the epsons are more spendy to by referbs from
the same place.

 

[Arthur Entlich]

The newer Ultrachrome ink printers have a slower drying ink that is less
likely to clog, but the color gamut is a bit different so you may wish
to ask for a sample from Epson before deciding. These are used in the
R800 and R1800, and a different formula set in the 2200,

In the dye colorant printers, some of the newer ones are less likely to
clog, but all have that potential. the best thing is to know how to
unclog them when it happens to keep the clogging issue to a minimim.

If you wish more information regarding the process, email me, no charge
for the information.

Art