Generic Brand Ink for Epson C82

[jp10558]

Does anyone have any experiance with various online stores generic cartridges and the C82? My experiance is limited to Genuine epson(which works great - big suprise - lol) and some CHEAP cartriges I tried from www.catalog800.com that totally blocked up my printhead and forced me to do an exchange with Epson on the printer. I have used on earlier epson models ink from http://www.tecwrks.com/ with good success, but after a while they also started to clog up the printhead. I'm worried that with the C82 and it's exceptionally fine dpi printhead it could clog up much faster than my earlier Stylus Color 400 and 440. I have seen numerous sites selling generic ink, and I do believe that epson's prices are a little high. Has anyone ever used http://www.monsterinkjets.com/ for ink? They say they are 100% gaurentee, but I doubt they would replace a printer that their ink hoplessly clogged the printhead on. They also claim to use the same ink that epson does - I don't believe this, at least with catalogue 800 there was a noticible difference in the black color... being much more gray than epsons excellent black. I've had http://www.acsmsupplies.com/ recommended also(I have not tried it yet) and experiances? The only problem for me would be buying 3 cartridges at once - that would suck. I'm mostly looking for recommendations for generic or 3rd party ink that people have used in an epson C80/82(AFAIK they are virtually the same printer) that gave good results... the black can even look somewhat faded compared to epsons. Mainly I just don't want to worry about hopelessly clogging the printhead again. If there are no good alternatives to epson brand ink - does anyone know where I could get it online at some discount at all?

Thanks

jp10558

 

[Doh!]

Originally posted by: jp10558
Mainly I just don't want to worry about hopelessly clogging the printhead again.

Sorry to disappoint you but whatever you get, the printhead will be clogged again. Epson makes great printers, except the clogging printhead.

 

[EeyoreX]

Sorry to disappoint you but whatever you get, the printhead will be clogged again. Epson makes great printers, except the clogging printhead.

Funny, I've had about 4 Epson printers over my PC using lifetime. I've never had a problem. So, I hate to disappoint you, but don't make sweeping and general statements based on your experience.

I have a C82 currently. The only "3rd party" print cartridges I trust are the ones sold at my local Best Buy. The brand is Basix. I went intothe local Best Buy to buy some ink for my C82 and had to ask someone where the ink had moved (recent redesign). It turned out it was the Epson rep I asked (I didn't pay attention to his polo at forst). The rep showed me Epson's ink, but actually recommended the Basix brand because it was cheaper. The printer is great, that particular rep, at least, was great, and my experience with Epson was certainly helped by this. Oh, and the inks have not been a problem. I have not had to use color ink replacements yet, but have gone through 3 black. Ohter brands I can neither recommend or warn. I haven't tried any others.

\Dan

 

[Doh!]

Originally posted by: EeyoreX
Funny, I've had about 4 Epson printers over my PC using lifetime. I've never had a problem. So, I hate to disappoint you, but don't make sweeping and general statements based on your experience.
\Dan

speaking of making sweeping and general statements based on one's experience, you've only had 4 epson printers. they all worked ok. good for you. however, there were hundreds of epson printers that my company serviced/returned due to clogged printheads. we don't use epson ink jet printers anymore. only canon's.

 

[Mem]

I use Jet -tec carts in my C70 Epson for over 2 years now( uses same carts as C80) and they are excellent probably the best third party carts available IMHO.


Link .

 

[EeyoreX]

Okay, I apologize for my, admittedly, sweeping generalization. However, I stand by my point. There are also hunreds of thousands of people with Epson printers that have had no problems. I really suppose neither of us is wrong, and there are and will be problems with any companies product. Even with your companies experience, I still have not heard of a "sweeping problem" with Epson printers any more than I have with any others.

\Dan

 

[tomcas1]

I believe part of the problem with the Pre-chipped Epson models was a result of people not following directions. For what ever reason, they would remove and then replace a partially empty cartridge which would reset the ink level to full. Then later on, they would end up running them dry. If they sat like this for a while the ink would dry in the nozzles and plug up. Also a air trap was created which was tough to clear even if a new tank was imediately installed. Basically, if they followed the instructions and never turned off the power by a power strip they would have had much fewer problems. BTW, I've been using generic tanks from Voltexx for over 3 years without any problems on two older 740s.
A good part of all of these problem is one of the reasons I think Epson went to chipped cartridges, besides the obvious attempt to stop generic refills from eating up profits.

 

[Doh!]

tomcas1, you made a very interesting point since the users of these printers at my company were staff consultants who treated these printers as if they're worth a dollar (if it breaks, they just order a new one and the expense ultimately gets absorbed by the billing to the client). Even when I was a staff consultant, I never cared about the proper maintenance of the printer since my hourly billing rate exceeded the printer cost and the job of fixing broken printers belong to another department ("helpdesk" we call it...). But ever since switching to canon's & some Hp's, we've had much less cases of "sorry boss, I can't give you the report right now because the printer broke" excuses at a client site (at certain client sites, we're prohibited to use client's printers if the job is extremely confidential in nature, such as a M&A transaction in which a large percentage of employees will be laid off. If one of the employees sees the report when using his printer, we would be in trouble).