Posted by Larry Lynch on November 1, 2008 at 9:21 PM
As expensive as replacements for inkjet cartridges are now and will continue to rise, I wonder if anyone on here has a recommendation for third party companies that offer the same quality and longevity for printed images. Thanks. Larry
Posted by Kent Staubus on November 1, 2008 at 10:28 PM
I just bought a Kodak photo printer from Walmart for ninety bucks. It does a good job and the ink is abou ten bucks for black and fifteen bucks for color. If I need a bigger print than 8x10 I have them done somewhere.
Kent in SD
Posted by Robert Fisher on November 2, 2008 at 8:44 AM
Don't do it. If you spent the money to buy the printer, it should have been done with the acceptance that inks are going to cost a pretty penny.
I've tried a couple different third party inks in a couple old Epson 1280s and after several fatal head clogs, I don't recommend using third party inks. The prints the inks produced were wonderful but in the end, the cost was more than if I'd just used OEM inks.
Posted by Bob Ampula on November 2, 2008 at 9:08 AM
I agree with Robert Fisher. Tried 3rd party inks on both Canon and Epson printers in the past and the ink dried in the heads if the printer was not used for a couple of days (like a weekend). The amount of ink apparently used in the head cleaning process cost more than was saved.
Posted by Larry Lynch on November 2, 2008 at 9:45 AM
Thanks for your response. I was a bit nervous concerning third party ink cartridges and apparently justly so. I do appreciate your input and have just placed an order to purchase the same brand as my printer from their company store and even got free shipping. You are correct in your recommendation that in order to protect my investment in my printer (expense) I should follow through to assume the cost of the ink. Again thanks. Larry
Posted by Robert Fisher on November 2, 2008 at 10:27 AM
There's another aspect of using third party inks that increases the cost as well. You need to have custom profiles made for any papers you want to use. With my Epson printer, Epson provides profiles for its papers and the other major paper suppliers (Hahnemuhle, Ilford, Harman, Moab, etc) also provide profiles free of charge for their papers for a variety of printers but only with OEM inks.
MediaStreet will make profiles for free for any paper you want to use with their inks but they're an exception.
Custom profiles can cost anywhere from about $40 to over $100 so if you use a variety of papers that cost can add up quickly. The consistency of third party inks may not be as good from batch to batch either which would mean you may have to update or have the profile redone when you replace inks which further adds to the cost.
Discussion
5 repliesKent in SD
I've tried a couple different third party inks in a couple old Epson 1280s and after several fatal head clogs, I don't recommend using third party inks. The prints the inks produced were wonderful but in the end, the cost was more than if I'd just used OEM inks.
MediaStreet will make profiles for free for any paper you want to use with their inks but they're an exception.
Custom profiles can cost anywhere from about $40 to over $100 so if you use a variety of papers that cost can add up quickly. The consistency of third party inks may not be as good from batch to batch either which would mean you may have to update or have the profile redone when you replace inks which further adds to the cost.