generic ink cartridges?

[Sniper82]

Are they worth a crap? I can get 5pk(3 black/2 color) for roughly $18 shipped for my Epson CX3200.

I'd hate to pay full price for Epson ink cartridges. Is there any cheaper(but good) alternatives? BTW how long does it take for a ink cartridge to dry out?

 

[MrBond]

Personally, I've had fine luck with them. I bought an el-cheap-o Epson printer when I was in college because it was a huge PITA to try and print stuff off on the communal dorm printers. I've used generic ink in it as long as I've had the printer. I've bought it all from megatoners.

Sometimes it leaves little "clumps" of ink on whatever I print. This printer is nothing fancy at all, I use it for quick printing if I need something in a hurry or I want to save a bank statement or something. The cartridges occasionally stop working (and dry out I assume), so I just swap in a new one (black carts are like $1.50 each or less).

There is another vendor that sells generic ink, saw a post in Hot Deals about them. I've never tried them personally, as I'm sitting on a stockpile of generic cartridges for my printer now.

Here's the thread about SwiftInk:

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=40&threadid=1514424

 

[imported_Stew]

You can probably buy ink refill kits at your local department store, or dollar store. Those might work for you.

 

[Zepper]

Be wary of 3rd party carts for Epson - those things clog at the least provocation. And be very quick about swapping carts as that quick drying ink will start a nice clog almost immediately. I sometimes think a tag-team is necessary with Epson printers - one person to pull the old cart and one person ready to pull the tape and pop in the new one. I can say that http://www.swiftink.com (though not the cheapest) has very good carts for Canon and his Epson are supposed to be among the best. Besides, the guy that runs the place is an ATForums denizen.

.bh.