Epson 106 vs. 114 ink fading performance

[Ink stained Fingers]

Epson has announced the ET-8500/8550 tank system printers recently - for Europe - I'm not familiar with the situation in Epson's other business regions - a printer with 6 colors - the 5 colors like in the ET-7750 - C M Y + photo and matte blacks, and with a gray ink on top. The ink set got a different number - 114 vs. 106 , so it's apparently not the 106 inks + a 106 gray. I posted some gamut variances already here in this thread

https://www.printerknowledge.com/th...-106-ink-fading-performance.14434/post-127140

The 114 and 106 inks appear to be different inks in this plot which triggered me to start a fading test a few days ago - the 114 and the 106 inks run under the same conditions to see which of these inks last longer - or are equivalent at the end - who would know if they could last 100+ years in an album...............the weather and the sun will do most of the job.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I'm doing the first readings on the color patches for the fading test - Epson 106 vs. 114 inks, this now after 3 weeks of exposure. I'm a kind of irritated that the 114 ink perform slightly weaker than the 106 ink at this time, not by much but numbers are out of noise fluctuations. The test will continue for a while for a more stable result.

 

[The Hat]

I'm a kind of irritated that the 114 ink perform slightly weaker than the 106 ink at this time,

I hate when that happens..

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I hate when that happens.

It's not that bad yet - I think both inks will hit the 100+ year threshold - and I'll check by then and report it here..................

 

[The Hat]

by then and report it here..................

I Can’t wait, because I’ll probably still be in lock down and it’s something to look forward too..

 

[websnail]

It's not that bad yet - I think both inks will hit the 100+ year threshold - and I'll check by then and report it here..................

*wonders idly if we should be calling @Ink stained Fingers "The Doctor" and ask for his report when he gets back from 2120*

 

[The Hat]

You do mean 2220..

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

2220 only with pigment inks..................

 

[The Hat]

2220 only with pigment inks..................

Ops.. sorry..

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Another week is gone - patches are exposed now since 4 weeks - and the trend continues - the Epson 114 inks of the ET-8550 are weaker than the 106 inks of the ET-7750 - differences are becoming visible, the 106 inks faded by a value of 19 in 4 weeks - the 114 inks did the same lightness change in only 3 weeks - this is a kind of disappointing - the 114 inks are called 'Claria ET' implying you get the best available Epson dye ink which is apparently not the case, the 114 inks give you a slightly larger gamut as shown above but not that much that I would trade the larger gamut for a weaker fading performance. (The 114 ink will make the 100+ years in an album - in sleeves - nevertheless. )

I don't know why but I'm having the feeling that I'm running more than one fading test already - Epson inks - still searching for the best HP ink - waiting for the new Canon GI-53 inks and else - I'm going to change my measuring method - to simplify it even further - I'll describe it when I have some results.