Epson Claria Standard Ink 502

[Ink stained Fingers]

There are a few more criteria to judge the performance of inks and compare them by these criteria - the overall gamut on a particular paper and the black level, I haven't measured these and not used for any ranking of the ink performance, every ink/paper combination needs to be measured separately , and general statements or recommendations in respect of these parameters are not possible although some trends are apparent.

 

[websnail]

I just don't know but would not consider differing safety requirements as a reason, Claria inks are available in cartridges in Europe so why not in 102 ink bottles ? I rather think it is a competitive reason...

I had a thought... It might actually be that in the US, the laws regarding use of an OEM ink as part of a remanufactured product may be more problematic for remanufacturers than in say the EU. OEM's like to throw out the issue of "counterfeits" and may be able to block any such efforts better in the US than they might in the EU...

Only spit balling here but it's another thought... (See Ma' it does actually happen sometimes)

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Well, yes, it's all assumptions, I see reoccuring reports how actively Epson and HP, Canon as well (?) are trying to
block import of claimed counterfeit material - cartridges and toners , this as well in cooperation with Amazon.

I don't know if that applies as well to bottled inks: the Epson 502 Claria Home ink is shipping with the ET-2700 or ET-2850 amongst others, the weak Epson 522 ink is shipping with the ET-2720 or ET2800 in the U.S. - which sense does this make ?

You can remove/unscrew the bottle heads of Epson ink bottles with a little bit of force and you can easily do refill this way, there yould not be the need to buy new 3rd party ink bottles potentially blocked by above actions.

You cannot easily remove the bottle head of Canon ink bottles but you can easily refill them with a syringe and a needle, there are no further complications, no ink counter needs to be deactivated, no need for a resetter etc. So it is quite easy overall for the user to use that ink he considers usable for his print jobs - Claria - Chromalife - InkTec - Hongsam - whatever .

 

[vanix]

A recent posting triggered me to look for the bottled inks for Epson Ecotank printers in the U.S., the ET-2850 uses the Epson 502 inks which are named as 'Claria Standard Inks'.

https://epson.com/i/C11CJ63201

This inkset consists of 3 CMY dye ink bottles and a pigment black ink

Claria inks in Epson nomenclature are inks with a very good level of longevity , but is is not visible to the user that a rather wide range of Ecotank printers uses this ink , if you look up the product description of an ET-2850 - or similar - the use of these Claria inks is not even mentioned in the printer product description - Epson is hiding this info for some reason to the U.S. user.
Claria ink sets come in different combinations - this Claria Standard ink set CMY + pigment black - or the Claria ET Premium ink set for the ET-8550 with gray and pigment and dye black - or the Claria Photo HD inkset for the XP1500 with gray and red (in cartridges).


https://epson.com/For-Work/Printers/Inkjet/EcoTank-ET-2850-Wireless-Color-All-in-One-Cartridge-Free-Supertank-Printer-with-Scan,-Copy-and-Auto-2-sided-Printing/p/C11CJ63201

Other quite similar Ecotank printers like the ET-2720 or ET-2800 or ET-4700 and more are using a different type of ink - Epson 522, most likely are the bottles keyed differently.

I cannot find any information anywhere if and how these 502 and 522 inks differ - in regard to the longevity, and it is not clear why very similar Ecotank printers get different inks. The inks of the previous generation of inktankprinters - L300, L350 and similar - came with the Epson 664 inkset which showed a very poor longevity performance in a Wilhelm Research test.
The same Ecotank printer models in Europe come with the 102 or 104 inks - but those are not specified by Epson as Claria inks - European customers don't get the benefit of these Claria inks.
These Epson 502 or 522 inks are not sold in Europe so it is difficult for me at this time to run a fading test with these inks to confirm the performance of this 'Claria Standard Ink' .

Dear IS Fingers! I'm a creative artist, testing several pics in print, but trying to keep the costs low. After printing the tests would be great to sell the test prints, but I don't want to sell just for a year or two. It would be great to have 20-40 years before fading. And if somebody wants longer light reistance, let them pay for pigment-basedresistance print. I'm thinking to buy an Epson L1800 and fill with Epson 106 Claria inks as you suggested somewhere. Is it OK, and when these inks will start fading? Do you have any information or better idea? Thank you for your publications, they help a lot!

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Is it OK, and when these inks will start fading?

The fading is a continuous process which starts at the time the print finishes and leaves your printer. There is a threshold of visibility, you don't see small color shifts/saturation changes in the beginning, the overall brightness plays a role, the mode how you/your customers post the prints - under glass - living room atmospere with other agents like smoke etc. There are that many variables , it's not just the ink - the paper you are printing on plays an important role as well. The Epson 106 inks are among the best dye inks - including inks like Canon Chromalife inks, but they still fade. If you are thriving for longer term stability you rather may look to a printer with pigment inks like the P700 or the P900 as an A2 printer.
You may have a look here, and check as well the WIR test reports, the published values apply exactly to the ink/paper combinations as posted, other papers - but as well other inks - refill - may give you very different results - in lots of cases much lower results.

https://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/do-pigment-inks-fade-slower-than-dye-inks.15466/post-134803

 

[vanix]

Thank you a lot! Yes I know, dye-inks are fading faster. But I read your tests earlier and started to think about the dye inks because they have a time-limit, and that's OK, so I can sell them cheaper, and if somebody wants to collect my artwork, they should pay more for expensive ink and extended time. Am I right according to your opinion?

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I think you have all information available to make a decision for your business - mainly in light of the parameters - performance- fading in this case and cost - dye vs. pigment inks- and again - the paper type impacts the performance of both types of inks.

 

[vanix]

Thank you. And that's ok to use the L1800 with other inks in my understanding. Just may I ask the last question. How to handle the light magenta and light cyan. Is it better to use the original inks coming with the printer or dilute them? And if so, which is the best dilutant in your opinion?

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

since the dyes of the 106/114 inks are more stable I would prefer to dilute these inks over the genuine 673 inks; I don't know where you are living - you may look for something like 'Clear Ink' at the refill ink dealers , these clear inks are sometimes sold in connection with B/W ink sets or special inks for silk screening.

 

[vanix]

since the dyes of the 106/114 inks are more stable I would prefer to dilute these inks over the genuine 673 inks; I don't know where you are living - you may look for something like 'Clear Ink' at the refill ink dealers , these clear inks are sometimes sold in connection with B/W ink sets or special inks for silk screening.

I'm from Budapest, Hungary. But I regularly order from the EU, so I will try to find it. So simple water or alcohol is not a solution, right?

Thank you so much for your help.
Peter