Which Pigment Ink for Epson 1500W?

[websnail]

We're not doing it as we haven't got our 1500W de-clogged and working yet, but from what I can tell so far, the L1800 is the Photo 1500W with CIS mouldings and kit built in. The inks are definitely different in quality but if you are using Photoshop or something that can set ICC profiles then it would follow that you could simply source and select the L1800 stock profiles to print.. or is that too simplistic?

@Ink stained Fingers, would you concur?

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

the L1800 is more like the previous 1400 with a CISS attached, it does not have the WLAN capability of the 1500W, technically there is probably not a difference with the print mechanism I would guess. The 1500W is running the Claria inks , the L1800 uses a different ink, the same as the L800, I don't know whether they differ in more than the UV stability, using those profiles is definitely worth a test. But with a word of caution - those profiles are made for the genuine Epson papers, but lots of people use 3rd party papers even if they use original inks, and another paper may let colors appear differently - different black level - differnent gamut.

 

[carlosantoniolopez]

I too have recently purchased a 1500W, though I have yet to fire it up!

Having read through the excellent advice and information posted on these forums, my intention is, once I have exhausted the supplied Claria cartridges (and, given their size, that probably won't be very long ), I will switch to L800/L1800 inks and refillable cartridges. My understanding is that, while they are not as cheap as 3rd party inks nor as stable as OEM Claria, they are less prone to fading than 3rd party inks and, of course, are much less expensive than Claria!

All of which seems a reasonable compromise to me - but I could be wrong, and it would be very interesting to hear of any real-life experiences...

Whilst researching the 1500W, I found that City Ink Express seemed to have the best price for L800/L1800 ink, though there don't appear to be many suppliers in the UK. They told me that, without a custom profile, L800/L1800 ink is about an 80% match for Claria, but that could be increased to 95% with one (which they could supply, and which, presumably, would be for Epson paper). Obviously, I don't know if they've actually tested the ink and created their own profiles, or if they just send L1800 profiles and hope for the best

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

with the 1500W you have quite a wide range of choices for your inks - genuine Claria inks in cartridges, L800 genuine Epson inks in 70ml bottles, 3rd party L800 compatible inks, and other 3rd party inks. It's all a matter of price and your intentions and what you expect from your printouts. Judging the acheivable gamut with all these inks I made the experience that some 3rd party inks don't differ much from original inks with their gamut if you create your own profiles. They differ in their longevity. And please be aware that photo papers as well have a visible impact onto the color reproduction, so it's not just the inks when evaluating and comparing printouts.

 

[websnail]

The L800/L1800 inks aren't officially available in Western Europe as yet because the printers aren't really supposed to be available here either (something we've resolved for those who haven't noticed).

So, you'll find the prices vary somewhat but City Ink have been doing a lot with the OEM Epson inks and offer their CIS systems with them as an option so they've obviously found a good distributor that can offer them a reasonable price.

As for profiling I do know when I last spoke to City Ink they mentioned that they had the kit for custom profiling now so I'm pretty sure they will be providing the real deal if you want it.

We'll be doing the same thing come April/May but with other inks.. Either way the L series are going to be getting a lot of attention soon.

 

[The Hat]

@carlosantoniolope, When you first unpack your new machine, it would make great sense to fit a waste ink Potty to it before you even think about starting up the printer, waste ink is something that can trip you later if you haven’t make provisions for it...

http://www.printerpotty.com/

 

[carlosantoniolopez]

A Potty is definitely on the 'to-do' list... but I was thinking to wait until the warranty has expired before fitting it, even though it might be a bit messier to do it then!

 

[websnail]

A Potty is definitely on the 'to-do' list... but I was thinking to wait until the warranty has expired before fitting it, even though it might be a bit messier to do it then!

Actually, much as I really love the recommendation, can I just note that your intended approach of waiting is the better one.

The Printer Potty is a great product and all (moi? biased?) but it really isn't intended as a pre-emptive "must have". More a "needs must". If in doubt it is always best to wait until the printer is out of warranty or at bare minimum, when the printer has been working for a few months and you're about to hack a CIS into it anyway.

The only exception I would made to this is with the new Ecotank systems where the process for installation is complicated when there's ink in the tanks. Even then I wouldn't do anything that's going to be permanent just in case you need to revert to standard setup.

 

[The Hat]

If in doubt it is always best to wait until the printer is out of warranty

@websnail, you know me, I don’t like to let the ink dry, and just jump straight in, think afterwards..

 

[Ionlab]

I would appreciate it immensely if someone that has this printer and manages to create/get an icc profile for epson papers and l800 inks if they could pm me....