Replacement Claria ink

[jnug]

I have an Epson 837. I have looked at a number of posts and done a few searches here trying to gain an understanding for the dye based inks for this printer.

I know that Claria ink is the branded Epson ink so it is only available in Epson cartridges.

There are many threads that focus on CISS for these printers and some on refillable cartridges. I am trying to understand which of the replacement Claria inks seem to be the best just focusing on the ink itself. I am not sure anybody can speak to the longevity of these Claria replacement inks and I am not even sure we can speak with authority on the longevity of the genuine Epson Claria ink. Maybe folks could comment on the quality of the output, how true the colors are for some of these inks that would be more like what I am after and then maybe include longevity into the discussion if one dye based ink or another stood out as being poor or very good with regard to longevity.

Is the OCP dye based ink (not even sure of the SKU for the OCP Claria equivalent) considered the current best replacement for quality of output? Is the Claris dye based replacement from InkJetCart considered the current best replacement? I know ljhent.com is very well thought of and their dye based Claria replacement is I guess from Germany or Japan. Is there ink the current best Claria replacement?

I am trying to separate the delivery system from the ink itself in an effort to understand the ink itself in an effort to try to understand the best ink to use as a means of reducing the cost of uing genuine Epson cartridges.

For clarification, most of the printing done on this printer is professional documents with color graphics, then photos and then occasionally just black text printing.

Thanks in advance to those who respond.

 

[The Hat]

jnug

You seem to have covered most of the answers yourself regarding your new ink choice.
OCP and Image Specialists inks are what most guys on this forum usually recommend to use in their printers.

Now it doesnt matter which supplier you choose whether its inkjetcarts.us precisioncolors.com or ljhent.com,
each of these guy only supply good quality inks so it entirely up to you.

Whichever one you purchase from your ink costs will drop by at least 70% and as far as longevity is concerned,
the paper you choose to print on has as much to do with fading as the ink you use
whether its good quality third party or OEM inks the results can be the same, so its not a real worry at all..

 

[Fenrir Enterprises]

I don't care what kind of "scientific" mumbo jumbo printer companies put out there about anti-UV dyebased inks, there's no way I would believe that any dyebased ink would hold up in strong UV light in any kind of long-term use.

However, most people put photos in albums, frames, or scrapbooks, a lot of which now boast anti-UV glass and anti-UV plastics. Also, photos in albums and scrapbooks are not being constantly exposed to light. Now that aftermarket inks are also anti-UV (screen printers even use it to make films for burning silkscreens since the AUV properties are strong enough to use it as a film positive) I have no problems with using them for professional photo printing (there was a moderate period of time when Claria/Artisan aftermarket inks weren't AUV). It's not that I don't believe that they're better than they used to be, I just don't buy that they're magically never going to fade no matter what. Even pigment inks will fade over time under constant direct sunlight.

 

[OutOFtheinkwell]

I haven't seen fading in the over 12 years I have been using Claria,( Type) ink. I don't say that to defend anything because I don't have any reason to do that!
I like to make up bound books of photographs for friends and family and I have 10 or so of these at the moment that sit on a table near a window in a fairly sun lit area. I keep expecting some fading but so far have not seen it in the 3 years they have been sitting there. "We keep then around to share photo's with friends."
I have no idea if this is usual or if anyone else has had this experience, I'm just saying that for me, so far so good! My prints are not covered. at least not the front pages. In addition to that I have one wall in my computer room covered with mostly dye based pictures of family and friends and again, no noticeable fading in the 12 years we have been here. I do doubt some of the claims I read about pictures not fading for a hundred years, etc. Who's going to know? I'm just happy with the result I have seen so far and counting! For the record I have one little black and white photo that is at least 50 years old but that was done old school on a Brownie Box camera and developed at the drug store. I guess old methods worked too! I still have that old Kodak Brownie and even my old Argus C3. I love photo's, I think of them as a "time machine"!
Outoftheinkwell!