Impressions of Q-INK/Island

[ramrod]

Hello.....
I have been doing LOTS of reading on ink alternatives for my new EPSON R300 and have come up with few questions.

1. Has anyone had any exp. with Q-Ink?
I have read Neil Shades great reviews and will probab use G&G but one supplier who I get blank CD/DVDs from carries the OEM and Q-Ink brand only.
Note that I am looking for canadian suppliers to save on shipping.

2. Anyone have any comments on Island Ink-Jet?
This would be for refills of the EPSON cartridge......I have read that the R300 is peculiar in the way it can be filled/refilled.

3. Given my printer (R300), is it better to get the Epsons refilled OR should I go with the NON OEM inks? In Canada G&G seem to be easy to get

Thanks for any help .

 

[Pistos]

Hi ramrod,

Given that I sold Q-Ink for several years I have some experience with the brand going up to early 2003. One of the reasons for us switching to G & G was the color matching on the Canon bci-6 cartridges was not as close with the Q-ink. Having said that, we did not have any customer complains with the Q-Ink and the pricing was certainly reasonable. We were not unhappy with Q-Ink, we were just happier with G & G.

Having tried several compatible brands I would have to say my preference is G & G - if I had to fall back to another brand it would be Q-Ink.

- Jeff from 'Scotia

 

[ramrod]

Thanks so much Pistos..I can get G&G in close to home (Ottawa)...the Q-Ink I would have to wait/pay shipping so it works out well given your rating. Soon may be able to get MIS ink from TO
I am still torn between Compat NON OEM inks vs refills for the R300.

 

[Fenrir Enterprises]

For an Epson, you should really get empty refillable cartridges rather than trying to refill the OEM cartridges. You need to make sure you get good ones, otherwise they will not seal well around the pin in the printhead that pushes the cartridge valve open to receive ink. I recently bought some for my C88 from MIS that work quite well, though the Magenta cartridge is a little 'tight' in the slot. I had bought cheaper ones off of eBay, but they leaked into the printer. They came with auto-reset chips for less than 1/3 the price of MIS' autoreset chips (which I find a bad idea to use, since you can accidentally run the printhead dry) which are convenient to have around in case you wreck your Epson OEM chips. You can always buy resettable regular chips from MIS as well. I'm still buying ink from the eBay seller since I am only printing text (newsletters, brochures) and no photos with this printer, for my Epson R340, I'm still using OEM tanks.

If you are doing non-critical printing, you may be better off finding dyebased ink from an alternative source than MIS, they are rather expensive (though not as much as WeInk is). However, if you are planning on doing lots of photographs with it, I would get dyebased ink from MIS, unless you are absolutely sure that another source is using Image Specialists ink. I would not get pigment inks unless you are willing to deal with the possibility of wrecking the printer right from the start. For some people it works, for some it doesn't, I don't know if it has to do with the model, differences within the same model series, or what.

 

[ramrod]

Thanks for the help Fenrir...in fact, I thought that the orig EPSON cartridges were recommended for refills. I don't understand why it is better NOT to use them esp since it sounds like you still have to reset the chip regardless.
And dye based it is....wouldn't think of pigemnt for the R300.
Thanks again.

 

[mikling]

Again I riterate, once you find out how to refill the originals
(http://atlascopy.com/instructions/ep80c5bk.pdf)
there is no reason to go to the aftermarket. The Bfill adapter requires too big a hole and can cause spills. Drill a hole that is 1/16" or smaller. Or use a heated paper clip to make the hole. To fill thru the hole I have created my own adapter

that can fill a hole down to 1/64" with the gradual taper and some pressure while refilling no spill is ever generated. Why the small hole?, once you inject the ink in, the ink does not want to come back out due to surface tension and meniscus effects. With this setup, you hardly have any chances of spilling ink. Place a spot of tissue over the vent hole so that you don't squirt ink striaght out. when you're full. You don't need any vacuums or whatever. With the small hole, you reseal it with waterproof tape. I use spots of aluminum tape. I suspect blue tack might work as well. Once the ink level drops a bit, the hole is above the ink level.

1. The best quality fit is original and this is by far a longshot. You NEVER ever get a tight fitting one or a loose fitting one. This cannot be said of the aftermarket, even MIS's have variations in fit. That should tell you something of the tolerances accepted by the mfr.

2. The best SEAL. The Epson system requires a perfect seal to ensure no bubbles thus no streaks skips or G..D forbid leaks. Who wants leaks? Especially if you use pigments. How many people have had leaking aftermarkets? Who has ever heard of the Epson originals leaking? I haven't, have you?

3. The damper system that Epson put there is for a reason. It ensures a consistent pressure/flow regardless of the level of the cartridge. There is quite a bit of engineering in there. If the sponge was adequate, why would they go to the complicated tunnels? Don't tell me to prohibit refilling because if they wanted that they could have made a flimsy plastic bag shell that would accomplish that. This same damper and tunnel system totally ELIMINATES ISSUES ABOUT BUBBLES during refill.

4. Aftermarkets have the potential of sponges breaking down over time. All foams eventually wear out and break down. I certainly don't want a clogged head to inform me that the foam is beginning to disintegrate. Do you? Some aftermarkets have spongeless systems. Now the Epson original system is also spongeless. Ever looked at how complicated their system is compared to the aftermarket. I don't think they work just like the Epsons or Epson would have made it simpler as well. BTW, Epson's system is patented so that is why aftermarkets cannot copy Epson's.

5. The Epson chip is calibrated to provide a proven margin of error to protect the printhead from failures from running empty. Now some would argue, that they leave too much ink in there so they're no good. However, if you're refilling, does that matter? You're not discarding the ink anyways. I have never heard of an Epson chip that fails. However, I have gone through some aftermarket chips that have failed and replaced them and believe me, the fit is not that great. Now just think if a chip failed in a mode that always indicated full and you ran empty and clogged a head. I wouldn't be pleased would you?

6. Refilling the originals causes less environmental damage.

7. It's cheaper to refill the originals.

Now you said you wanted to use aftermarkets?????

www.precisioncolors.com will have these adapters available in the very near future.

 

[Fenrir Enterprises]

I would reccomend always using a heated paperclip or the wrong end of a drill bit and not the drill that they show in those instructions. While drilling into sponge cartridges probably won't hurt anything because the sponge will catch any contamination on the top, drilling into a spongeless cartridge will get those plastic bits into the ink. They make heating tools you can attatch to a soldering iron specifically to avoid doing this to laser carts. I suspect you could just clamp a paperclip or cheap drill bit into a soldering iron and do the same thing for the ink cartridge.

This is about the fifth different type of refill instruction I've seen for these kinds of cartridges. I may try it after half a year or so of using the MIS tanks, before the sponges start to break down (there's still a tiny sponge to regulate air flow which works better than the fully spongeless carts which seem to leak more often), but right now, they're working great.

 

[ramrod]

mikling wrote:
"Now you said you wanted to use aftermarkets?????"
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erm...no, I was the one who said "I thought that the orig EPSON cartridges were recommended"

 

[mikling]

That was just a hypocritical statement in jest to those thinking of using aftermarkets; not directed at you ramrod.