Pigment ink in the Epson R200 series

[Fenrir Enterprises]

How many of you have had a good experience using pigment ink in Epson's R series of printers (R200/220/300/300M/320/340)? While many companies sell pigment 'Ultrachrome equivalent' inksets for these printers (actually, many of them don't even sell a dye set, only pigment), I haven't actually seen many people comment on how well it works. The few comments I've seen mention that 'it will work for awhile, but will eventually clog up'. I always take clogging problems with a grain of salt, as I think most people are simply unaware that you /have/ to keep a pigment printer running steadily or it will dry out.

How well does this work on photographic paper? The R800 and R1800 specifically have a gloss optimizer cartridge while you would be unable to add this to the R200 series. How does it affect the printer's CD printing abilities - will the pigment ink work on printable CDs, or is there a reason that Epson doesn't offer any printer with Durabrite ink with a CD print feature? Also, did you use color profiles for the specific inks you used, or did it just 'work' on its own. I can't imagine not having to use a specialized profile for this kind of modification.

I have an R340, and about four spare OEM inksets for it, but I'd like to change it to a pigment printer if it works well. If not, are there any aftermarket dye refill kits that have decent compatibility?

 

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How many of you have had a good experience using pigment ink in Epson's R series of printers (R200/220/300/300M/320/340)? While many companies sell pigment 'Ultrachrome equivalent' inksets for these printers (actually, many of them don't even sell a dye set, only pigment), I haven't actually seen many people comment on how well it works. The few comments I've seen mention that 'it will work for awhile, but will eventually clog up'. I always take clogging problems with a grain of salt, as I think most people are simply unaware that you /have/ to keep a pigment printer running steadily or it will dry out.

I've never tried to use Pigment ink in an R series printer purely because they weren't designed to work with that type of ink but that doesn't mean they won't.. I have seen a few people on forums reporting that they have gone that route but ended up getting about a month of use out of them before they clogged up... That said I couldn't find you the source now or give any further details on how/what action they took.

How does it affect the printer's CD printing abilities - will the pigment ink work on printable CDs, or is there a reason that Epson doesn't offer any printer with Durabrite ink with a CD print feature?

Well the R800 in the UK does have this feature and does use a form of pigment ink I believe although it is a different formulation to the C series printers.

I have an R340, and about four spare OEM inksets for it, but I'd like to change it to a pigment printer if it works well. If not, are there any aftermarket dye refill kits that have decent compatibility?

The MIS kit is an obvious choice but just as a tip, it's well worth buying in pint+ quantities as the costs are overly pricey for smaller units.