Fed up

[jagans]

Hello, and thanks to all of you in advance for your help. I have been using Epson 785EPX and Epson 825 Printers for several years now. I have read all there is to read on them, I can take one apart in about 1.5 minutes and have valiantly fought the dried out printhead problem ad nauseum. I found that clearing the printhead with a hot ammonia and distilled water solution worked well to clear the printhead, followed by about 4-5 cleaning cycles. I want through my usual procedure the other day on a 785EPX and An 825, and put in two new aftermarket carts from Inkkeepers .com. I have been using their carts for a while and have had good luck with them. I kept our carts in the refrigerator, as I figured that would make them more stable.

Long story short, I am getting nothing from either the 785 or the 825, even after installing a second set of carts in one of the printers. When I say nothing, I mean nothing. zip, oogats, nada. This never happened before now, so I am rightfully confused and very frustrated.

Do I need to reset something? Have I burned out the printheads? Can you burn out the heads? (Yes I know the principle of operation, vibrating crystals)

I am ready to throw all my epsons into a dumpster, and go to Canon, or HP, but can they produce the same photo quality which I have learned to expect from Epson? (When they are working)?

I want to have reliable inkjet printers that can print photo quality as good as the epsons, have visible ink tanks that can be refilled, and dont require 6,789,000 cleaning cycles after changing the carts.

Is this asking too much?

Am I cheap? No I dont think so, but I despise being ripped off. The cost of OEM cartridges should be considered illegal, just like the price of RAM in the early 90's should have been. The carts must cost all of about .22 cents for the MFR to make. (yes, I know I missed the g)

I just recently read where HP covered all of their losses in other areas with the revenue gained from selling carts. Nice if you can get away with it.

Im looking hard at the Canon ip5500R but I suspect that a printer with photo cyan and magenta are needed to get the quality I want. Am I wrong about this?

Thank You all for your valuable time.

PS. Dont even mention Le........rk

 

[rconn2]

Hi jagans. Doesn't seem to be much traffic here, so I'll jump in. I'm wondering the same as you whether other printers can match the photo quality of epsons. I have an r220 and am wowed by the quality (though I've nothing to compare it). I've been reading a lot of reviews, and they typically say this printer has excellent or very good photo quality, but then don't rate it highly because of slow printing and not so great text and graphics. For me, quality is foremost, so I don't agree with the reviews -- it depends on what one is looking for. I'd rather have slow than fast and not as good anyday.

Anyway, though I've just had for a few weeks, I've done about 50 photo 8 x 10's (with full coverage) and the same number of dvd's w/ no problems. And, I bought a cart resetter (it works) and 3rd party ink and have already refilled 4 of the 6 carts w/ no problems either. It is outrageous the cart cost, but there is a viable refill alternative... a little trouble getting the stuff and doing initially, but then inexpensive printing thereafter.

The r220 may be too low end for you... but I dunno... seems excellent to me... and for $99, I wouldn't waste much time fussing w/ a printer -- it's basically a throw-away if it becomes problematic. On epson premium glossy or heavy matter (which is great and a bargain), I find it hard to see how any printer could do better.

What I'd really like to see is some comparison of PHOTO quality among the various printers.

 

[alexandereci]

Hello jagans and welcome to the forums.

Most people here seems to run on Canon's iP4000 and higher, or the 900-series --- or at least have good reviews on those types of printers. I'll admit that I have no experience printing photos through printers, but I bought a Canon iP1000 (lowest of the low-end printers) and the picture is pretty decent. I've never used Epson, but my iP1000 print is better than my old HP printout. I'm not really a "discerning" customer in terms of color, but I can say that my colors are bright and vibrant --- add that to the fact of affordable inks and trouble-free maintenance makes printing a very enjoyable experience.

I want to have reliable inkjet printers that can print photo quality as good as the epsons, have visible ink tanks that can be refilled, and dont require 6,789,000 cleaning cycles after changing the carts.

The iP4000 and any other printer that uses BCI-3/6 tanks may be your options, since those tanks are see-through and a lot of sellers offers products compatible with these printer/ink tanks. Look up Hobbicolors to see a set of virgin cartridges. I can't vouch for how these prints will match up with your Epson, but there are probably a few guys here who use both printer types, maybe they'll hop in later.

Hope that helps you some.

 

[Osage]

I just fail to see why a prior Epson user who has been already burned by the curse of clogged printheads and excess cleaning cycles would even consider getting another Epson. In every forum I have ever visited, that common complaint is there from various Epson users.

Admittedly, Epson has some selling points, in my opinion the chips are a giant step backward for Canon, but when I researched the printer market I decided to go Canon. I now have two canon printers that were fairly cheap to buy, have been absolutely trouble free, and have been equally adept at using dirt cheap prefilled cartridges and support refilling my own cartridges easily.

Lots of non-chipped Canons still out there. For me its just a no brainer from a cost and trouble free standpoint-------get a non-chipped Canon. You won't go wrong.

When I press print I know two things-----it will print and my wallet won't get a big empty spot.

 

[jagans]

Thanks a lot to all of you,

Now, which canons do not have the dreaded chip, can be easily refilled, and print photo quality?

Thanks Again,

JA

 

[fotofreek]

Regarding the chip and refilling, a flip answer would be - the ones that just became unavailable! The kinder, gentler answer is that there may be a few left in the pipeline. The top-end larger format i9900 is still available for between $400 and $500, but it is being replaced by a new model that uses different inks. There may be a few ip8500's available. These are 8 color printers that are very highly rated for photos. At the lower end, but very good photo printers are the ip4000 and ip5000. These are four color plus pigmented black for text-only printing. I did see some ip4000 printers for sale new on ebay a month or so ago, but they are probably gone now. They are selling at a premium as the supply is short. The newest pixma line has the chipped carts. There is one vendor, from what I've read, that makes ink for refilling these carts. The chip doesn't prevent using a cart that has been refilled, but the ink monitoring system that the chips work with stops working (with a warning message) and you would have to visually monitor the ink levels to protect the print head. No big deal as the carts are clear. There have also been some posts that indicate that the ink for the unchipped carts also works, but I don't know if the newer color profiles work well with it. Hopefully, the aftermarket vendors will come up with chip resetters and aftermarket carts and inks soon.