My Epson CX5400 multifunction ran out of black ink right in the middle of a resume session so i had to run to Staples immediately to get a new cartridge. I was startled to to have to pay 33 bucks incl tax for it. The ink utility says it’s good for 100 pages of full page text in draft mode. That’s 33 cents per page. What the ——? Where is the cheapest Epson ink site?
Learn how to rescue details, remove flyaways, add volume, and enhance the definition of hair in any photo. We break down every tool and technique in Photoshop to get picture-perfect hair, every time.
I didn’t want to hear that. I like the CX5400, but that’s a high price per page. I don’t do a lot of printing, but I need to find some cheaper ink than that. Staples has their own brand a few bucks cheaper, guaranteed compatible, but they were out of stock.
I only needed one at the time, and yes I would go to Kinko. The CX5400 IS a copier, but that’s a prohibitive price per page. It makes very good copies and it’s fine for just the occasional one or two copies, to save a trip.
Consumer Reports recently did a report on "cheap" inks and found that most were, in the long run, not particularly cheaper, and generally far poorer quality. In general, stick with the OEM.
And yes, like the marketing of laser printers, fax machines, razors, flashlights, and disposable cameras, the inkjet manufacturers will sell the basic mechanism at a relatively low price so they can make their profits on the disposables that run through them.
Not familiar with the CX5400, but I have an old Epson 740 that I’ve relegated to just printing text and the occasional test image. I’ve been using inks from the following in it for the last few years without any problems at all: <http://www.ink4art.com/index-epson.asp>
Yes; I routinely use third party inks on the Epson 740, on which I print only things like web pages and such, but I’d never use any ink other than Epson on the 2200.
It really depends on the manufacturer of the inks..
There are 3rd party inks that actually perform better than the OEM inks. BUT, without a lot of research you are unlikely to randomly end up with those..
The ink4art site has sixpacks for the CX5400, thanks, haven’t priced it yet. I will look at the other sites tomorrow. Very helpful , all of you, as usual.
I’ve been told that the Chinese pirates are producing well-packaged inks that are actually inferior in quality and might be harmful to your printer. They put the money into the packaging and some third party buyers are fooled into believing that it is the real thing, in spite of the price. If my pictures are any good, then i want them printed with the best ink on the market, so I spend a little more on ink by making sure that I get OEM ink, directly from either Canon or Epson. If your pictures are any good, then ink is cheap! It is the paper, frames, equipment and all of the other stuff that is expensive! Don’t ruin a good picture or printer with cheap ink – that is like buying a Mercedes 500 and using cheap gasoline.
Aug 27, 2004
Yep…3rd-party ink killed my Epson 740.
Never again.
And I’ll never again buy an inkjet that uses combo-color tanks. Separate cartridges from now on.
The point about counterfeited ink cartridges is well taken.
I have seen counterfeiters convicted in federal courts whose products would fool even a seasoned user of the product –from the outside. And it’s amazing how they manage to con even large distributors into moving their product.
====
Phosphor,
I happened to get the used Epson 740 thrown in for free in a swap, and it had some clogged nozzles that refused to clear up with the regular nozzle cleaning routine using genuine Epson cartridges. I was just about ready to throw it out, but the cheapo third-party ink cartridges cleared them up in a couple of passes. It’s a gamble.
darned if if the other printer, an Epson 440, didn’t run out of black ink right in the middle of printing email. This printer is hooked up to Compaq laptop Win XP Pro. In spite of all the printer dialogs and help features, XP doesn’t tell you that the printer is out of ink. This printer happens to be facing away from the keyboard so that you don’t see the red light next to the black ink symbol. A 440 wil not print at all if either cartridge is out. So I had to run over to Staples again. This time I bought their substitute cartridge 3 bucks cheaper than the Epson S020187. 21 bucks vs 24.. The 440 only cost me 70 bucks a few years ago but it has been trouble ever since. Things go wrong with it, and then it goes away. I’ts noisy and almost jumps off the table when the paper begins to feed. I need to get another cheapo printer for the laptop. Walmart seems to be cheapest, but maybe Staples has something.
When my 15 month old Epson C82 ran out of ink I bought some genuine Epson inks. After a dozen cleaning cycles, it still refused to print. So I called Epson who told me it would cost me as much as a new printer to get it fixed and there would be no guarantee it work properly. So I wasted £60 ($100) on new inks and it turns out there is a small tube inside that falls off, the ink dries up and it doesn’t matter how many cleaning cycles, it still won’t print!
So no more Epson printers for me, I’m going for an IP 3000 Canon PIXMA, see how that performs.
I’m not sure if they sell cartridges for your printer or not, but I buy geniune Epson Cartridges for my Epson 7600 and Epson R200 at Atlex.com…pretty good pricing and quick shipping….I’ve had good luck with them so far…
This is not a recommendation, but for what it’s worth… I have a cheap inkjet printer which I use only for my own purposes… no high end work that needs to be provided to customers. I get very serviceable prints by using (apologies in advance) cheap refill kits. Yes, I know they can ruin your printer. I believe I thrashed the print heads of my old Apple Color Stylewriter, probably by using cheap ink refills. My concept on the math is that a new printer of similar or better quality will cost me about $150 or less after incentives. Buying expensive manufacturer ink cartridges to preserve a $150 printer makes no sense to me. If I use refills just 4-5 times over the life of the printer it pays for the next printer I buy.
That’s my perspective as well. I can easily replace the old Epson 740 with what I would spend on two sets of genuine Epson ink cartridges, and I’d be getting a better, more OS X compatible printer (the 740 Epson utility does not work in OS X; I have to boot into 9.2.2 in order to change cartridges or run a nozzle check). Yet, the dirt cheap cartridges I use ($3.45 vs. $23) on that particular printer have kept it running flawlessly for over two years now. We’re talking one eighth of the price. I’ll continue to risk it.
I print photographs on the 2200 and b&w documents on a LW IIg. The Epson 740 is for printing web pages and such.
Sep 1, 2004
MY point is, I don’t want to be in the middle of printing out something important and have my printer go belly up because of cheap-ink clogs.
The only time I’ve had this happen I was using genuine Epson ink on the 740. Endless cleaning cycles would not clear it completely until I switched to the dirt-cheap 3rd party ink. For this type of menial application, the risk is more than warranted.
Sep 1, 2004
I can’t think of a more appropriate occasion for the liberal use of "YMMV" (your mileage may vary)!
These experience stories in this thread are pretty interesting. I wonder if the 740 technology is greatly different from the newer models. Epson seems to tell you a lot about their printer tech, but they really don’t, if you read their stuff it carefully conceals how they do it.
Go to www.itsupplies.com They have all the Epson manufacturers inks for less than half of wha you’d pay at Staples. Most of the inks are $12.99 per cartridge
My Epson CX5400 multifunction ran out of black ink right in the middle of a resume session so i had to run to Staples immediately to get a new cartridge. I was startled to to have to pay 33 bucks incl tax for it. The ink utility says it’s good for 100 pages of full page text in draft mode. That’s 33 cents per page. What the ——? Where is the cheapest Epson ink site?
I have two printers.. my Epson 1280 for Photo printing ONLY and a HP 1300 Laserjet for everything else. Yes, it was 199.00 bucks but it prints fast, and the toner cartridge is original and still going (2700 pages at last count). A cartridge is 90 dollars, The cartrdge is rated for 2500 pages. But, its still going. At 2700 pages that is only .03 cents a page. A $100 inkjet vs. $200 laser. I only need to print 300 inket pages of text at 33 cents a page to pay for the difference (the same 300 pages on the laser, 9 dollars) . Every page after that is money in the bank. Nice thing about toners? they don’t clog up from lack of use.
I too would never use cheaper inks in Inkjet. If I ever quit my day job and do massive photo printing, I would convert to some bulk ink system like Generations. — Jim <
Learn how to rescue details, remove flyaways, add volume, and enhance the definition of hair in any photo. We break down every tool and technique in Photoshop to get picture-perfect hair, every time.
Related Discussion Topics
Nice and short text about related topics in discussion sections
