It's very hard these days to find Epson compatible inkjet cartridges, since Epson were threating to file a suit against many companies who used to sell Epson compatible inkjet cartridges since the beginning of the year.
I'd rather look for Epson remanufactured inkjet cartridges. Take a look at...
The cleaning usually is very ink consuming process, but you have to be aware that some compatible (remanufactured) ink tanks / inkjet cartridges contain much less ink than the OEM ones.
Would a nice printhead clean help if done before installing the compatible inkjet cartridges? I guess if there is no ink on in the printhead the 3d party ink wouldn't have anything to react with. Any truth in that statement?