Anyone tried 3rd party ink for Epson printers?

philipus

philipus

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123inkt.nl here in NL sell Epson's own cartridges but also their own "home brand" Epson-compatible cartridges. See here for the ink for the R1900 which is the printer I own.

The home brand cartridges are 4ml larger than the Epson originals and cost roughly 50% of the latter.

I realise it's all (or almost all) about the ink and how that corresponds to printer profiles and the like. Bearing that in mind does anyone know how these 3rd party cartridges are - a waste of money or a good deal?

Thanks in advance
Philip
 
When I was working, I ruined a Canan 9000 series ink-jet photo printer by loading some third-party inks. Couldn't find anyone to repair the printer and had to replace it. Things may have changed in the five years since that happened.
 
I have an Epson 2400 - I use third party refill ink from "Farbenwerk" Germany for some years. They are a lot cheaper than the original ones (100ml about 26Euros) but you have to fill them yourself. I Haven't had a Problem, but I wouldn't use unknown brands. In Germany the two reputable refill sellers are "Farbenwerk" and "Winkler" (check their homepages). There are lot of others, which I myself would't trust. But you have to know, that refill cartridges are built much more simple than the original ones. It's likely that - after a longer period of not printing - you have to push the "cleaning" button twice until the print is flawless. But still - for me, who is printing only once in a while - its much cheaper. -
 
Are you printing invoices and general paperwork, or photographs? Why would you risk using an unknown brand of ink to print something you don't want to fade?
Saving a few dollars in the short term will probably not be worth it in the long run.
 
I found that Epson's nozzles clogged irrepairably, even using Epson original ink. I went over to HP printers for that reason years ago; at least the HP cartridges come with fresh nozzles built in. The Epson cleaning procedures didn't work for long. I don't know whether their more recent models are better.
 
bob338 said:
Are you printing invoices and general paperwork, or photographs? Why would you risk using an unknown brand of ink to print something you don't want to fade?
Saving a few dollars in the short term will probably not be worth it in the long run.
Click to expand...
"Third party" and "unknown" are not synonymous.

Cheers,

R.
 
My wife was using third party ink on two of our ink jets.. They both eventually ad weird head clogging issues that I was never able to clear. Now we stopped using them.

On a different note.. Somewhere I read it was a good idea to periodically run a test print thru your printer. Since I have an Epson, I recently started doing this once a week.

Gary
 
I haven't used any 3rd party ink with my larger inkjets but I do have a little Epson Picturemate (4"x6" prints) that I use quite a bit and have used 3rd party ink sets with mixed success. Some have not worked very well but the current set is made by LD Products and works pretty well. Even when the others did not work very well I was able to successfully clean the ink out of the heads and move on. It is certainly much less expensive if it works.

My Canon Pro 100 is brand new but as soon as my ink runs out I will probably look for alternatives because the cost of OEM ink cartridges is pretty expensive.
 
Skrew cheap replacement ink. IF you go with 3rd party, get high quality ink like what Marrutt/Lyson provide.

I use a Marrutt CIS with my Epson 1400 and not only is the quality superb, I never had any problems with head clogs in years, and I do not print more than once or twice a month, if at all.
 
The first quality A4 Epson printer I ever purchased ($800) was irreparably damaged by third-party inks (can't remember brand, they were made in USA and "guaranteed Epson compatible" and sold in a shop that sold Epson printers).

I replaced it with an HP B9180 with replaceable heads. That printer was a disaster for HP. Mine died after 12mths, they sent me a free replacement, and it died 12mths later.

I now print with an Epson 3880 and I'm not prepared to risk third-party inks. Once bitten, twice shy. However, I believe there are some CIS suppliers who have a good reputation - it's just not something I'd want to do.
 
It saves enourmous amounts if you print A3+ size often.
My first R800 was damaged by a faulty Lyson cartdrige. They offered me a full refund on the printer or a VERY generous voucher for their online shop. I took the latter, and now I have paper supplies for the next century I guess, as well as a CIS and lots of ink.

I was surprised to see Lyson/Marrutt offer such a generous compensation. I didn't expect that.
 
kanzlr said:
It saves enourmous amounts if you print A3+ size often.
My first R800 was damaged by a faulty Lyson cartdrige. They offered me a full refund on the printer or a VERY generous voucher for their online shop. I took the latter, and now I have paper supplies for the next century I guess, as well as a CIS and lots of ink.

I was surprised to see Lyson/Marrutt offer such a generous compensation. I didn't expect that.
Click to expand...

Bernhard, what's the difference between the Lyson and Marrutt inks?
 
This is like buying a Maserati (or your favorite car name here) and then putting on retreads in the hopes of saving money.

I think Epson printer heads clog much too easily.
 
Mike, thats if you think that all third party inks are inferior, which is simply not the case.
My 1400 never clogged since I switched to said 3rd party inks. I remember reading that they contain more solvent and thus also need to dry for a longer period, but I am not 100% sure about that. There is really no difference in print quality between Epson inks and those I use now. Even profiled anew and there was no difference to my eye. These are not your run of the mill 24/7 ink refill crap inks.

Philipus, as far as I know Lyson was bought by Marrutt, its all the same.
 
3rd Party Inks

3rd Party Inks

I've used Lyson inks in an Epson 1160 but only use it now for letters etc.
Far too many of them (that I have seen since printing) have faded despite Lyson's claims to fame. These are on prints that I had sold so obviously I had to replace them. Won't be using Lyson for photographs anymore!!
Now printing with an Epson 3880 with Epson inks.
You pays your money........

Ian
 
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