Want to buy an Epson AIO and refill

[ghwellsjr]

I stopped in at a local Staples to see the WP-4530 and was surprised to see that the cartridges do not ride on the print head carriage. They install along the left side of the printer and tubes feed the print head. Unfortunately, there were no cartridges installed so I could not confirm if the cartridges are transparent. The issue of whether the cartridges that come with the printer are full of ink or not should be easily determined if the cartridges are transparent and someone actually has one of these printers and has purchase additional cartridges.

 

[ghwellsjr]

I just called Epson's corporate number, 800-333-3330, and was told that the Epson WP-4530 does not come with starter cartridges that are 1/3 full like many other Epson printers, it comes with standard full cartridges and they only sell the "extra large" cartridges for this printer. It is on sale this week and next week at Staples for $189.99 plus they will give you $50 trade in on any printer. I don't think I'm going to be able to resist. In fact, a set of cartridges costs $114, I just might buy a bunch of these printers. I've got lots of dead printers.

 

[bill buttermore]

Thanks for the replies. But, now I'm afraid I am confused. Is the Epson wp 4530 a better choice than the Artisan 837 as an AIO printer whose cartridges I intend to refill? We have a Staples here in town and I have an old HP ink jet I could trade in.

 

[santer]

The 4530 uses four inks and has a scanner with 2400 optical resolution

For photos the 837 is better because it uses 6 inks and its optical resolution for scanning is 4800

The 837 has a better feature list IMO

PC-Free Printing:

Auto Photo Correction
Select and print photos
Crop, rotate and enlarge
View and print-by-date
Print your own picture packages
Print passport and photo ID
Select multiple photos to print on a single page
Print your own college-ruled, wideruled and graph paper
Make personalized notepaper using your own photos
Photo index sheet
Photo greeting cards
Coloring book pages

CD / DVD Printing: Ink jet printable CDs / DVDs

Layouts:

Borderless
Classic borders
Picture packages
Photo ID
2-up, 4-up, 8-up, 20-up
Index sheet
Jewel case index
Jewel case upper 1/2, lower 1/2
CD layouts (single, quarter, variety)

Info here

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/jsp/Product.do?sku=C11CB33201

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/jsp/Product.do?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&sku=C11CB20201

 

[mikling]

As for Epson dye printers, the 837 and siblings produce the best photo quality. The 4530 is aimed at the office market and is out of place as a photo printer though it will print photos but not the same quality as the Artisan 837. Just take a look at the nozzle check pattern and it will reveal a lot of information. Though the 1430 and 50 are called Artisans, both use the same engine and this engine is different from the Artisan 7xx and 8xx family which is newer and have much higher nozzle density. They are fast.
The Artisan family is a photo printer first and office printer second. The 4530 role is reversed.... so priorities are different.

 

[ghwellsjr]

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/jsp/Product.do?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&sku=C11CB20201

Thanks for all the info. However, Epson is out of the Artisan 837 and it's going for double their price where I can find it in stock.

 

[ghwellsjr]

Though the 1430 and 50 are called Artisans, both use the same engine and this engine is different from the Artisan 7xx and 8xx family which is newer and have much higher nozzle density.

How can find out how many nozzle an Epson printer has? They don't brag like Canon does.

Also, how can you find out how much ink comes in an OEM cartridge?

 

[santer]

Seems odd they don't have similar information

Artisans form the PX Range in the UK so here is the link for the PX830FWD

http://www.epson.co.uk/gb/en/viewcon/corporatesite/products/mainunits/specs/10948

Nozzle Configuration 180 Nozzles black, 180 Nozzles per colour
Minimum Droplet Size 1.5 pl
Ink Technology Epson Claria Photographic

Cartridge capacities here

http://www.epson.co.uk/gb/en/viewcon/corporatesite/products/mainunits/consumables/10948

Closest in the UK I saw was this

Epson WorkForce Pro WP-4535 DWF

http://www.epson.co.uk/gb/en/viewcon/corporatesite/products/mainunits/specs/10831

Printing Method On-demand inkjet (Piezo electric)
Nozzle Configuration 152 Nozzles black, 152 Nozzles per colour
Minimum Droplet Size 3 pl
Ink Technology Epson DURABrite Ultra

http://www.epson.co.uk/gb/en/viewcon/corporatesite/products/mainunits/consumables/10831

 

[mikling]

Take a look at the nozzle check patterns and this is indicative of the number of nozzles. After all it is "checking" the condition of each. Now unlike Canon, each jet can fire a variable size drop. The matrix of each pixel that it shoots out is actually higher than a Canon. i,e. Native resolution. That is how it accomplishes what it does with a fraction of the nozzles that Canon uses.
They don't publish the number anymore in NA because if they did, relative to a Canon, it would be laughed out of the store. Nozzle comparison across brands do not compare because the printing strategy is very different. Folks who use this comparison do not understand and simply do not know. Like comaring the number of woofers and tweeters in a sound system.

The bad side to these printers with stationary tanks are that if something goes wrong, the user serviceability aspect is difficult. As long as everything works fine, it is good.

Epson OEM cartridges contain a REAL ink sensor. If it detects there is no ink left in the cartridge it will stop. Aftermarket chips simulate this sensor. So if someone who is not aware of this relies on the monitor and miscoordinates the eletronic versus physical ink level and runs the printer lines dry, they'll have a steep price to pay.

You see, if this happens and if it is not noticed, you end up with potentially having a clog INSIDE the printhead..not outside as in the normal thinking. Head cleanings will not clear it because it is buffered by trapped air on one side. External soaking ( which is difficult on the Artisan because the head sealing station is electronically lowered by a micro motor) is also difficult. Even if you soaked, the ability of the liquid to creep internally to the clog is very limited and some luck again will be required.

With the OEM carts, the potential of "misuse" is low. OEM carts as you can see cost you more than the printer very quickly. If you use aftermarket carts on these, then you have to understand that saving money requires some more care to keep the printer running smoothly.

Oh, in case you're wondering. Epson has engineered these Artsians to create electronic hell for the aftermarket. On the 730 and likely 837 as well. I am aware of three firmware iterations of these printers. Each iteration was done so that existing aftermarket products would not work properly. The chips are not simply an ID of color anymore. The printer firmware checks the relation of all chips on board now.

On the Canon, I am also aware of 2 versions of 225/226 OEM chips. Why the difference? I don't know. It might possibly be related to how the ARC chips work on the Canon and how the printer relates to the chip on the cartridge.

The grass always looks greener on the other side of the bridge.

So does more ink equal more printing, yes. Until you get to a lot of stops and starts. Epsons will consume more ink when it is subjected to print in spurts. It is the nature of the design of the printhead and cannot be avoided. Canons use a lot less in similar conditions. When printing lots of documents in a stretch though, the ink consumption gap closes for obvious reasons.

On a comparative basis, the older Epsons had consumed even more ink in stop start printing than the newer ones. This related back to the printhead design which has evolved significantly over the recent years.

Right now, I am back to using an OLD Epson R200 for my workhorse printer. This thing is possibly over ten years old, gone through possibly multiple owners, has an external waste ink tank attached as well as a CISS. It's not the fastest thing around but it gets the job done and is totally problem free, except for the odd electronic lockup on reset which then requires an electronic reset through a freely available SSC program which can also reset the waste ink pads counter. That unit is for bulk printing, load the rear tray press print and go do something else.

If you want a full page output NOW, then forget these older models.

 

[santer]

The quantity of unused ink ranged from about 8 percent in an Epson-brand cartridge to a whopping 45 percent in an aftermarket cartridge for a Canon printer.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/152953/printer_ink_costs.html

As much as 60 percent of the ink contained in a typical inkjet cartridge is wasted, when printers ask users to throw away half-full cartridges, according to research commissioned by Epson.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/132969/article.html