The use ink from series L8xx to L3xx/L4xx.

[KMen]

Hi.
Inks T673x (used in eg L850, 6 inks series) have better opinion than T664x (used eg L386 , 4 inks series ).
How do you think about use ink T673x with Epson L386 ?
I just bought the printer, so the tanks are empty.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I'm not really clear about your question - which printer did you buy - L386 or L850 ? The printer is coming with the tanks empty, and the bottled inks are separate. Do you want to load one printer with the inks of the other model ?

 

[KMen]

I have bought L386 and thinking about loading it with T673x ink.

Why the same amount of ink for L850 is more expensive then ink for L386?
What is the difference between eg yellow or black?
I read that the ink for the L850 is more durable.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

yes, the L8xx inks have a better fading performance than the L3xx inks, it depends what you need in this respect. The genuine Epson Claria inks as used in the photo printers like the 1400/1500 etc and some XP models are the best overall but not available in bottles. No 3rd party refill ink can match the performance of the Claria dye inks. So what are your requirements ? And please be aware that the paper, photo paper as well has a significant impact onto the fading performance of a given ink.

 

[KMen]

Thank you for your answer.
I know that this is not a real "photo" printer but i like to get maximum quality and durability(fading performance) on color and black and white photos.
I will use the 'EPSON Premium Glossy Photo' paper.

I understand that the use of L800 inks is completely safe for the printhead. Am I right ?

Are there any other differences between these inks besides the fading performacne ?

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

You'll be safe with Epson papers, but other papers may as well suit your needs at a lower price, you need to get photo papers of the PE type, papers which are sandwiched with PE film on both sides, and the then coated for inkjet printing. You cannot print onto the back side of such papers, you'll get ink puddles on the PE film. I have tested a few of such papers here in this thread https://www.printerknowledge.com/th...nks-and-alternatives.11841/page-5#post-102559.
An even better ink than the L800 inks are the Fujifilm DL inks as mentioned there and at other places in this forum.
As soon as I run another ink type in another printer with another paper I create an icm-color profile, I wouldn't know the color differences betweent he L300 and L800 inks. Give it a try and use the color adjustments in the driver to correct deviations if neccessary and possible first.
The L300 is actually not bad, even pretty good as a photo printer, but - it is not giving you borderless printing and prints very slow at the highest quality setting.
Getting the printer to use the smallest droplet size for the smoothest rendering of lighter colors you need to set the driver to the paper 'Premium Glossy' and the quality to 'other settings' to the highest quality. You can see the improvement over the other settings under a loupe, and it is as good as with a L800, but it prints slow, very slow.

 

[KMen]

I am after some tests of L386 printer.
I did the prints on the paperwork "Epson Premium Glossy" and I am satisfied with the results. I used original ink.
The printer has borderless printing and yes , it is slow.
I have also Canon MG7150 (6 ink, CMYK + Gray + pigment black) and the results are very similar. Canon is better at black-and-white photography.
I'm surprised the poor set of options/settings in the Epson properties of driver , compared to Canon.
Epson driver installed only one ICM profile ? Why are there no profiles for different Epson papers ? For Canon, I have profiles for various papers.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

yes, these L38x models now offer borderless printing, an improvement over lots of the previous models, but this still does not mean that they are real photo printers, so the choice of papers in the driver ist pretty limited and the profiles which go with it. But I wouldn't assume that you would run genuine and expensive Epson photo papers in this printer in the future but other 3rd party papers more budget friendly. As soon I run a printer with refill ink and 3rd party photo paper I create my own profiles regardless, and only profiles would allow you to compare printers, the color saturation and the black point . I have not seen significant differences between recent Canon printers I tested and Epson printers in this respect.

 

[Yianni]

I am after some tests of L386 printer.
I did the prints on the paperwork "Epson Premium Glossy" and I am satisfied with the results. I used original ink.

3xx series 4 inks are pigment. 8xx series 6 inks are dye. The strange think is that the pigment 3xx inks are more durable. Epson claims for the durability of the dye 8xx inks in specific photo papers. But generally speaking the pigments are more durable than the dyes.

Dye inks print a little brighter, that's why epson offers these inks for printing photos.

Other than that, not much difference between pigment and dye inks. Of course you can use the 8xx dye inks in the 3xx printers. Notice, there is little possibility the 8xx inks to be incompatible with the 3xx inks. If you used them when the printer was empty there wasn't a problem. But there is about 5% possibility to be incompatible.
Also using the 8xx inks in a 3xx printer you will get a little more saturated prints (because the dye inks are more brighter than the pigments).

Please if you try the 8xx inks drop a note here.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I think there is a misconception - the L300 etc inks are all dye inks including the black, the L300 inks have a pretty poor longevity performance as I have tested them several times. The L800... dye inks perform visibly better in this respect but do not reach the performance of the Claria ink in the photo printers. The L3xx and other ET ecotank models are based on similar workforce models like the WF2010W printer - same printhead - but all these printers use the 4 color Durabrite pigment ink set.