printer inks

[Hugh Spencer]

I have become frustrated with trying to use compatible inks for my Epson printer, so much so that I have been looking around for a good buy for the originals. Today Amazon were selling a multipack of originals (4) for £23.33 from 'modern ape'. A few days ago Amazon were selling for £23.59 from 'cartridge king'. In both instances they were including p&p. From Epson they are £36.66.

[BOAC]

Yes - they are consistently competitive on the 800 series inks too and always get my business.

[mixture]

HS,

Out of interest, which printer model ?

[Hugh Spencer]

Epson Stylus SX 200 and SX 415

[mixture]

£23's not a bad price at all for part T0715. They'll be working on very tight margins with that one !

However have you tried Google's shopping search ? I did a quick part number search on there and a site called PriceLover.com came up with £17.

[P.Pilcher]

I am sorry to learn that you are having trouble with compatible inks in your Epsons. The ridiculous mark up that printer manufacturers apply to their cartridges, and then the extent they go to to prevent compatible cartridges to be used in their printers annoys me intensely, and is a challenge!
About 8 years ago, when digital photography was coming into vogue, I bought a Epson stylus photo 925. It worked faithfully for the nearly 8 years I used it as my sole printer and I only scrapped it earlier this year when I got to fed up with it continusly swallowing sheets of paper for each page to be printed - just due to wear. It never had more than one original set of Epson cartridges in it - the ones it was supplied with when new and although in the early days I experimented with refilling cartridges, the price of compatibles came down so much that attempting to refill them became a waste of time and effort. I NEVER had any trouble with compatible cartridges but appreciate that when a manufacturer brings out a new printer, he will invariably use a new way of ensuring that only his expensive cartridges can be used - until the compatible manufacturers work out how to beat his system!
Recently, I replaced my trusty Epson 925 with a Canon Pixma iP4700. Instead of using the 5 colours plus black that my old Epson did, the usual three colours plus black is used. The colour prints it produces are stunning and there are many more bells and whistles on it than my old 925 had - representing 8 years of development. Of course, Mr. Canon wants to make money so the ink cartridges only contain about 10ccs of ink and naturally cost an arm and a leg to replace. However, I have obtained a system for my printer which consists of specially designed refillable cartridges using chips which automatically re-set to full when the printer is switched off. (Damned clever - these Chineese) Thus, using bulk ink which carries all the necessary certification with regards to accuracy of colour, a refil of each cartridge costs about 50p!
Such cartridges and inks are available from Epson compatible refillable [auto-reset] ink cartridges (http://laserdesigns.co.uk/epson_arc_cartridges.htm) with whom I have absolutely no connection but can vouch for their after sales service. I note that such cartridges are available for your Epsons as well and seem to work the same way my Canon ones do. Unfortunately I cannot confirm that they definitely DO work in your type of Epson, but, as I have said earlier. my Epson printer received nothing but compatible type ink all its life and by always using such inks I have saved a fortune from the greedy printer manufacturers!

P.P.

[opfixclear]

I have been using SVP and Bigpockets for ink and other consumables for around 5 years. Really good prices and next day delivery.
I pay 75p per cartridge for my Epson Photo R220. Not bad considering the RRP is £50 for a set of 6. They also last just as long as the originals and the prints are stunning.
Never had any compatability problems either.

[NRU74]

I usually use Stinkyink
CT0715 multipack shown as £11-99 inc vat+delivery UK

[Hugh Spencer]

Original T0712 Epson cartridges from Price Lover are £7.26, one cartridge.