New Epson WorkForce_Very poor Draft quality

[phkhgh]

HI everyone,

Just bought an Epson WorkForce WF-3540 AIO to replace a dying HP C6280 Photosmart AIO. Concerned & surprised about very poor text quality when printing on Fast mode (Draft)- grayscale.

Did a printer alignment on the Epson (fairly tedious). Got it done. Print in Standard mode looks fine. The draft mode kind of reminds me of dot matrix or when use keybd characters to make pictures.

The HP on its "Fast Draft" mode AND w/ the "ink volume" amount it used, set at LOWEST possible level, had far better quality than this Epson's Draft mode. From my research, this Epson was suppose to be a pretty good printer.

In draft mode, slanted characters have a "stair step" appearance. At reading distance, it's blocky, ragged. Curved letters also ragged.

When you look closely at both printers' draft mode prints, it's obvious why Epson's looks ragged. Curved letters are missing spots - w/ no ink, not just slightly "fuzzy" edges. As said, slanted parts have definite stair step look.

In draft mode, the HP (& another HP C5180 Photosmart) show VERY little of that ragged look. Its letters are fully filled in; no stair step look. Curved parts are smooth. Only difference in HP Draft & Standard (Normal) modes is draft has some fuzziness on character edges (not much) & it's lighter - but still quite readable.

Epson full manual mentioned, "if printouts are "grainy, select a higher print quality setting AND turn off any high speed settings in your product software." That's all it says.
Don't know if that means you can adjust print speed - of Fast mode (not found anything on that), or just means, "don't use draft (faster) mode?" If the latter, equates to, "use more ink."

Any suggestions, comments, experiences?

Maybe there's another setting I'm missing?

Maybe I got the one bad unit of 100 - it happens?

Epson's draft print quality REALLY sucks compared to HP?

With HPs, 80 - 90% of printing we did was Fast draft & looked just fine.

 

[cls]

Hi phkhgh,
I dont quite understand your point of view, since draft mode its obviously a mode for "bad printing" at all...

Since I use in all my Printers refilling options and even the Printers of my customers are using either cheap 3rd party cartriges supplied by me or I am offering a full service incl. time-to-time visit and refilling the cartriges.

My customers using following printer: HP Officejet 8000 refillable cartriges, HP Officejet 8500 refillable cartriges, Epson Business Inkjet B-510DN high yield 500ml refillable cartriges, serveral Epson Workforce Pro with high yield refillable cartriges, Hp officejet 6000 with CISS.

I service and maintain the printers it self and also provide IT support regarding printer drivers, fax options and Workgroup-share.

I always save an all workstation the printers settings to "high quality" since due to the refilling options ink is at least 80% cheaper then its OEM godfather. Yes, i am aware of the fact that high quality drasticaly reduces the printing output... but all those printers above aren't a single printing solution. Most of them are heavly used for flyers, business documents and for printing trainingsfolders

 

[santer]

Maybe look at the font costs

http://www.inkfarm.com/What-the-Font

Switching from arial to dakota gives a 49% ink saving. French Script MT has a 67% ink saving.

If you print from the web, print friendly is worth a look

http://www.printfriendly.com/

You can either do it per page, or install the bookmarklet which adds a button to the toolbar.

 

[phkhgh]

CLS - draft mode doesn't mean "nothing you'd want to keep" for all printer brands / models. Not at all. At least, not in the past. Maybe for all Epsons - dunno. This is my 1st one.
Some mentioned that Epson always had pretty bad Draft print quality. Dunno.

Santer - thanks for that - interesting idea, esp. for just "avg stuff." I'll look at it. I don't find Dakota font in several word processors or Fx. French script is, well... script & not easy to read.

Good ideas - maybe quite useful, but doesn't answer my orig. ? Are most Epson's Draft mode really THAT much worse than HPs (or possibly others)?
This Epson has 5 quality levels (under Quality > "more settings"). Draft is L1; Standard = L3; HQ = L5.

You can create custom settings presets, choosing other quality levels (L2). L2 is darker than Draft's L1, but no less jagged. May be a bit easier to read than Draft L-1, solely on darkness. L2 still isn't as smooth or easy to read as (a 4 yr old) HP's Fast Draft mode. May not be true of new HPs.

My older 2 HPs both obviously use much less ink (just based on darkness) in their fastest "fast draft" than Epson's L-2 quality. Epson L2 quality uses more ink & gives poorer quality than older HPs fastest mode.
OR... maybe Epson's approach on Draft is, make the parts of characters it DOES print - darker. But, don't fill in entire characters - leaving it w/ rough - but readable text, that's somewhat darker than HP's lighter, but smoother (more filled in) characters. User's choice? Lighter, smoother text or darker, jagged?

May not be a quick answer to Draft ink usage - Epson vs HP. Would require counting pages in Draft, on both machines to check difference in ink used. I've never seen printer reviews show pages / cartridge or cost / pg, for Draft mode. I DO know, if want smooth text from this Epson, must print in Standard (nice, dark, smooth) - which has to use much more ink than HP Fast Draft.

Epson Standard mode looks fine. HP Standard or Normal on good paper was suitable for resumes. I think it's possible some friends may've raved about Epson (new owners) & bashed HP, because they bought < $99 HPs at Walmart - comparing apples to oranges. Sure, all printers have more features than 4 - 6 yrs ago. So far, don't see anything outstanding about Epson over HPs (I used in past). For one, the paper drawers could not sound more "toy like" - opening / closing. All kinds of rattling, tinkling. VERY cheap feeling plastic - though it may be durable enough?? Maybe all new printers are cheapening their construction.

I'll try to print some Draft & other mode samples at the store for a few Epson, Canon, HPs.

 

[santer]

Dakota and others are here

http://www.fontpalace.com/font-details/Dakota+Regular/

I was thinking that if you can reduce the ink cost by 50% then you can increase the quality and run out around even but with something you can use.

 

[cls]

for text print and ink cost estimated based on a refilling option is not really worth the math... Its cheap as SH%T.

Two of my customers use HP Officejet 8500 Machines for Textprints with very low graphical content (they print anual reports and stuff related to an tax accauntants office).
The estimate a calculated life time for an HP 940 Back/Yellow Printhead (both colors share one printhead) is 42.000 Pages, a new printhead retails at 45. They had to change the black printhead twice at 120.000 pages (pages not sheets). So 90 fix costs for 120k page also the use plain paper 90gr DIN A4 Sheets 2.500 for 26,50 (0,0106 per Sheets)
OEM Black XL Cartriges Yield 2.200 pages with 69ml,
my customer use a refilling option with CISS lets say we consume 70ml ink for 1750pages,
Octopus Office 940xl black ink H940BKP retails at 25 per litre 1000ml
(1000ml/70ml)*1750pages = 25000 pages with One litre black ink
afaik they order a total of 6 Litre black ink and 3 litre yellow, cyan and magenta.... still have enough on stock
5 Litre Black Ink = 125
3 Litre yellow = 75
3 Litre cyan = 75
3 Litre magenta = 75
120.000 pages/sheets of DIN A4 Paper * 0,0106 = 1272
Fix cost for the black/yellow printhead = 90

estimated cost per page including the PAPER!! 1,42 -Cents

they always print on HIGH quality

Calculation with OEM Inks
to purchase 5 Litre black ink with retail 940XL black cartriges = (5000/69)*19 = 1376
to purchase 3 Litre Yellow, magenta and cyan (each cartriges holds 28ml) (9000/28)*15 = 4821
120.000 pages/sheets of DIN A4 Paper * 0,0106 = 1272
Fix cost for the black/yellow printhead = 90

6,3 -Cent per Page

Refill option saved 77% or even more of the total costs

 

[phkhgh]

cls, That's some fancy cipherin' (calculating). You are correct in many respects - no argument on some of it. Quite interesting. I do appreciate your input.
Couple of differences. No way I'd get ink that cheap, because ink would likely go bad before used a liter, or even 1/2 liter. Obviously, there are smaller bottles.

If assume any 2 models / brands carts can be refilled, or buy refillable ones & bulk ink & chip resetter?, if one uses more ink than another (at the quality setting, for EACH unit, that gives a user satisfactory results), if one use more ink, it uses more. How MUCH difference it is, in real dollars (for me, not an office), is another matter.

I'm not sure we print enough to invest in CISS & use up ink bottles before go bad (it has a shelf life). Good ink, not $1 / 250 ml on Ebay.
I DO know how often we replaced HP compatible carts (double OEM volume), in the past. I know ~ how much it cost / yr, for 2 prtrs.

I do know if I print in HP fastest draft mode, at lowest ink vol. setting, it'll use a LOT less ink than Epson Standard mode. Now, if refilling these Epson 127 carts (or refillable ones), buying sm. bottles of quality ink, is so cheap, even using Standard mode, that it costs $15 more / yr than a comparable HP on Draft - it's no big deal. I suspect it'd be more than that. Because, if calculating costs based on refilling, must do it for both printer brands. Refilling costs - both brands - would be ~ same per given ink vol. used?? If Epson on Standard mode uses 2x ink of HP on Fast Draft - it uses 2x. Pretty simple.

So, the $64,000 question is, for OUR pages / yr (I don't know that #) - NOT for an office buying liters of ink, what would double the ink for an Epson vs HP, plus differences (if any) in equipment investment, cost?
I don't expect you to come up w/ a close estimate for that. I think Epson using 2x the ink on Standard vs HP on Fast Draft is in the ball park. I know how FAST HPs use ink on Standard vs Fast Draft. Huge difference.

I haven't looked into $ of refillable carts & quality ink ( relatively sm. bottles) for Epson. Or, how much hassle it is for these #127 carts. If they sometimes start leaking after using or refilling for so long; if resetting chips repeatedly, sometimes has problems, etc. Very few things are EVER as simple as advertised.

 

[cls]

to fully over a DIN A4 Page with ink it consumes up to 1,0 ~ 1,5ml ink.
this is a calculation based on 100% coverage on a sheet of paper, for plain offices uses and "colorfull prints" i would say calculate with a geneours rate at 15% coverrage
so 1,5ml / 4 = 0,225 ml per Page
1000ml would cover 4444 pages...

Even if you pay 100 (~130USD) for one litre ink regardless which printer are you using it.

100 / 4444 Pages ~2,2 -Cent per Page (~3cents $ per Page) pure ink cost

Canon, HP, Brother and Epson all ink consuptions per full bleed A4 sheet afaik are identical.

where are you from? I can speak for very GOOD inks from Inktec and Octopus aka OCP

 

[phkhgh]

cls, I'm in the U.S.
I don't know if mfg's (& many larger ink sellers') estimates of avg pgs / given cartridge are realistic or fantasy. They state the way they calculate avg # pages / cart. Doesn't mean it's accurate - or isn't.

But, I believe most calculate based on the printer's "Standard" quality. Many I've seen quote far less than $0.03 / pg. Based on mfg's estimated # of pages, at given coverage, per cart.
Like this one @ 1.57 cents / pg (for ink), I think most sellers just use mfg's pages / cart values. http://www.ldproducts.com/Epson/Rem...a-HY-Pigment-Black/T127120/12897-Product.html

Color, for some reason, is said to be less / pg (used to be the opposite):
http://www.ldproducts.com/Epson/Rem...ra-HY-Pigment-Cyan/T127220/12898-Product.html

No idea of accuracy, but here - they estimate 3.26 cents / pg for OEM carts. Something doesn't jive w/ your 3 cents estimate (unless for a printer w/ WAY > expensive ink).
http://www.ldproducts.com/Epson/OEM/Ink-Cartridge/Extra-HY-Black/T127120/5816-Product.html

Not considering refill kits for moment, assuming mfg's page estimates are at Standard mode & assuming very modest 200 pgs / mo, using 1/2 the ink in an HP (on draft) vs Epson on Standard (because that's what you must use to get past very ragged text), it would easily cost > $50 / yr for the Epson (a very conservative estimate). Not incl. tax or shipping. Likely would be double that.

That's nothing, you say? To most, no. But I haven't gone into our other very large medical expenses & insurance (for instance), that are absolute necessities. Printing in dark, Standard mode is way down the list. There are dozens of things we do to save $50 here, $200 there, that add up to 1000's / yr. I've done the math.

?!? Another thought on using refillable carts & good, bulk ink. Most re-manufacturers (say) they completely clean out carts before refilling. Makes sense. What about refillable carts, used over & over? Some ink is left, every time. It's diluted w/ new ink, but eventually there's more & more old ink. In the cart or in a bottle, it has limited shelf life. Over a few yrs (or less), the older ink in carts starts to break down or "go bad."

Just because it's mixed w/ new ink each time, doesn't magically "rejuvenate" the remaining old ink. It doesn't work that way - chemically or from common sense. So what happens when the old ink starts to break down? It depends on what the results of decomposition are. If it's just ink that fades quicker, that's one thing. If it forms sediment, gummy residue or any # of possibilities, it's quite another thing to printers / print heads. (I don't know the full chemical composition or decomposition results of inkjet ink).

 

[cls]

about the refillable cartriges and cleaning them I formely used plain windex to do so and then rinsing the cartriges with distilled water. after 48 on the heater even the slightes bit of water vaporsizes

since 3 month i am cleaning my cartriges with pharmasits neat solution and its cheap like hell
the formula is as follows:
-3 ml propylene glycol (or 2 % glycerol)
-20 ml isopropylalcohol
-distilled water up to 100 ml
20-25 drops of concentrated ammonia to each 100 ml of cleaning solution.

I have 15 litre of solution here and even dyed them with chepo epson dye inks.
For diffent epson models i have a refillable cartrige pack on stock filled with the solution
and i can even print actuall nozzel checks. since the cleaning solutions is dyed i can see how to progress is

"repaired" over 20 printers with this nasty stuff that i picked up for free..