Epson EcoTank ET-8550: Pigment instead of Dye inks

[marshalleq]

Sorry to bump this but the title got me...

If you are interested mainly in the longevity then I'd recommend nothing but OEM pigment inks in a pigment printer, ie Canon Lucia or Epson Ultrachrome. If you're set on the ET-8550 it would be my personal assumption that the OEM Epson Claria dye inkset would have better longevity than any unproven third-party/"compatible" inkset, even if said inkset was pigment based. The PrecisionColors pigment inks have a good reputation (or perhaps just louder-than-average shills...), and yet performed atrociously when Aardenberg tested it with the Epson P600. If PC performs that terribly I'd personally assume all third party inks do, unless proven otherwise.

As per Wilhelm the Claria ET inks actually have pretty respectable permanence for what they are, albeit considerably lower than Ultrachrome: http://www.wilhelm-research.com/eps...o_ET-8500_and_ET-8550_Printers_2025-02-01.pdf

Ultrachrome HD: http://www.wilhelm-research.com/epson/WIR_Epson_SureColor_P600_Printer_2019-02-15.pdf

Here is Aardenberg's test of Precision Colors Signature Edition pigment ink in the P600 (Aardenberg use different units than Wilhelm but their results correspond to failure in less than 1 year on display!): https://www.aardenburg-imaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/AaI_20160912_SN002LfDs.pdf

And here is Aardenberg's test with Ultrachrome HD in the same P600 for comparison (the OEM ink had over 70x the longevity as the third party ink did on the same paper...): https://www.aardenburg-imaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/AaI_20160924_SN001LfDs.pdf

There is (for me at least) an overarching reasonableness that comes with being only interested in longevity. That reasonableness comes with (again for me at least), being unable to accept the high cost of tiny ink canisters that suck the ink out of all others after replacing even only one, which puts you in a perpetual cycle of sucking ink and sucking money from your bank account. So while longevity matters at the -should last longer than 18-24 months end of things, I am personally prepared to trade off at the other end of things - i.e. the 100 year lifespan if I must in order to avoid that cost. That cost in untenable, at least in NZ where we are accosted for every dollar (much higher cost than e.g. in the US) and that is double whammed with much lower wages. This makes the real equivalent cost 4-6x that of in America for example. Sometimes though, we do get good deals due to parallel imports and such. The multiple clips of the ticket significantly add up.