Mike Chaney's Tech Corner

I have epson and I have been buying their non-epson replacement cartridges for a lot cheaper! I don't buy the original epson ink cartridges anymore because they cost so much. I've been using the replacement cartridges for awhile now and I don't think I have had any problems except my printing quality has declined but I'm not sure is it because of the replacement ink or just because my printer is old.

First of all...is there any difference between real genuine printing ink and the no brand replacement cartridges? Do they damange your printer or are they exactly the same?

Second of all...do printing quality delcine after you have had the printer for many years? Thanks!

Probably the ink.  Your key word is cheaper.  There are equal but less expensive inks.  There are cheaper inks, especially in the dye side, that are diluted more than OEM.


Some are pretty identical.  I have used MIS in one printer from the day I opened it, but used Epson drivers for two years.  I just profiled it to newer ICCs with very little difference.
Some cause head clogs.  It all depends on brand.


Not really, unless the heads are clogging or not firing.  Heads (Epson) either fire or they don't.  There is no decline.  Clogging or non-firing parts are immediately noticeable as either banding or an extreme color shift.

 Canon, HP and others use different ways of dropping ink.  You didn't say which printer you have.

Well, in my opinion, I usually stay with the manufacturers inks, and here is why.  I have tried the lower cost inks and my main issue with them is color consistency.  You can however use the very high quality inks that are available, but they require custom profiling and a complicated feed system, so these are only cost saving in large production situations.

With that said, here is the consistency thing.  The manufacturer packages pretty good ICC print profiles with their printers based on the type of paper type loaded into the printer, and the profiles are based on their inks.

When using other than the manufacturers inks, you must use the same inks and paper all the time and have a custom profile built for that particular combination of ink and paper or your colors can drift and your quality decline even with an excellent color management software like Qimage.

So, I can save time and money by wasting less paper and ink and getting a more consistent printer output when I use the manufacurers ink and paper...and of course, using good color management software helps out a great deal too.

Hope this helps.

I agree that most with the lower end printers should stay with that.  But "pretty good profiles" are just that.  In the case of Epson's mid to upper level stuff, Colorbase can be used to linearize the printer and ensure it is close to the profile.


The problem, for those looking for the best of the best, is that the manufacturer's papers need to be vacated.  There.  fore custom profiles jump back into the mix.  Since some of the major after market companies will supply profiles (custom--free!!), it is not a big issue.  (Hawk Mountain Papers, for one, will do so.)

Absolutly!!!!! The aftermarket inks usually have a different color and often also differ in viscosity from the OEM. The dyes have differing spectral characteristics and pigment if they are pigment inks is usually not held to the same quality standards. If your printer uses chipped cartridges the chips on aftermarket cartridges may or may not work. I have personally seen aftermarket cartridges missing the seal where the ink is drawn from the cartridges. Some inks have small tabs on the cartridge to tell the printer when they are empty. Some aftermarket manufacturers leave them off or install them incorrectly, the printer tries to print with NO ink and requires re-priming to get it working again. THERE IS A REASON THEY ARE CHEAPER.

In addition if you use aftermarket inks in your printer and they cause damage (Clogged print heads, deteriated seals, damaged ink tubes) the manufacturer of your printer will NOT honor your warranty. Try asking some unknown ink manufacturer to repair your clogged printer. Good luck with that.

Don't get me wrong, if you think the savings are worth it go for it! However I think the "savings" are not worth the aggrivation.

I couldn't agree with you more.
It's the same as buying a super quality audio amp, and wiring it to old car radio speakers. That's not the place to save.

Fred

That Staples/Office Depot stuff I have to agree.  However, the MIS inks for the R2400 (and others) are an exact duplicate of the Epson inks.  In fact, if you start with Epson and switch to those you do not have to flush the Epson inks.  There is one exception in that: the MIS Eboni black is blacker and more stable than the Epson matte black.  The only profiles I really have had to make are for the Hawk Mountain and Red River papers.  Hawk Mountain, though, gives you the chart to print out and mail to them and they make the profile totally free (on their papers only).

The R2400 does balk at the MIS chips and tells you they are not genuine but let's you go on.  Swapping to Epson chips on the carts is easy enough though.  Now MIS has come up with an inexpensive kit to reload the original Epson carts and the nagging also goes away.

Epson has been taken to task before and will not (read that--cannot) void your warranty merely for the inks unless they can prove it caused a problem.  On the other hand, they have designed some none resettable chips.  Generally, in the lower end printers, they sell them cheap and make the money on the carts.

Has anyone used Atlex.  I have ordered ink from them for years.  They are a LOT cheaper than Staples, if you can find what you need.  Staples doesn't usually have ink for my Epson R1900.

I used replacement inks until they clogged up a print head and I had to throw out a printer (after wasting hours trying to clean the heads in various ways and get it working again).  To me the hours wasted and lost printer were not worth the savings in ink costs, and I moved back to using ink cartridges from the manufacturer.  Another consideration is print longevity: if you care about that, you're not sure you're getting the same longevity with replacement inks.