Cheap Ink for Epson 2400

Has anyone tested the non Epson Inks for Color and Fadeing???? $15 a Cartridges Sucks
Thank You

Suck it up, it's not like you have a $99 printer. I think it's general forum consciousness that off brand ink sucks, and you'll be wasting more time and money on paper trying to get it right.

Moranton wrote in post #2348117
Has anyone tested the non Epson Inks for Color and Fadeing???? $15 a Cartridges Sucks
Thank You

The K3 Ultrachrome inks are one of the newest things to come out of epson's r&d labs. I doubt very much if you are going to find any type of generic ink that even comes close. Besides, it's a high-end printer and you paid extra bucks for it. Use what was engineered for it and maximize the quality you paid for. /Dan

what's the point of buying a great printer, only to use cheap ink? the epson inks are part of what makes that printer so good.

My neighbor has tried different generic inks and they fade in about a year. Rather pitiful I must say and a big waste.

JohnnyG wrote in post #2350650
My neighbor has tried different generic inks and they fade in about a year.

exactly. they may look just as good at first but you don't what's going to happen to them over a short amount of time. with epson's ink, you know you're guaranteed the prints will last about 100 years. $15 seems pretty reasonable for prints that will outlive me.

Check out http://www.atlex.com …s-photo-R2400-printer.htm

I buy my ink and paper from there--$11.20 for genuine epson carts.

Moranton wrote in post #2348117
Has anyone tested the non Epson Inks for Color and Fadeing???? $15 a Cartridges Sucks
Thank You

I have.

I am using the Mediastreet Generations inks and have been very happy with them. I use them in a CIS and would not go back.

They have been tested for longevity at more than 50 years by Wilhelm. I am currently testing them in my west facing window and after 4 months of sustained UV sunlight there is no discernible fading by either the Wilhelm or the Epson inks.

You will need to profile your papers for the inks you choose although some mfgs like Mediastreet supply profiles for papers and will even do them for you if asked.

My printing results are better than the OEM inks, but I did not do custom profiles for the OEM inks on my printer. I presume that they would benefit from this as well.

The costs savings (mind that I am using a CIS) is substantial. 8 cartridge sets costs about $800 or so from Atlex. The same amount of ink costs $159 from Mediastreet. The cost savings are huge.

I've been using 3rd party inks for photo printing for 7 years in several printers - all of which are running today just fine. If you select a good supplier then you will get results that are as good as the manufacturer's inks and you will save a lot of money in the process.

I have had no air bubble or clogging issues that I didn't have with the OEM inks - normal ink jet sorts of things.

A lot of people won't touch 3rd party inks. That's ok for them and for me because the ink is the profit margin for the printer mfg. They use this to subsidize the cost of the printer - a benefit to me.

I'll probably get flamed for this and be told I'm way wrong and all the terrible consequences of doing what I am doing etc..... Fact of the matter is that the printer mfgs invest millions in FUD advertising (fear, uncertainty and doubt) to keep you using their inks - without which their profits would shrink dramatically (or be non-exsistent). In the process they have managed to price inks among the most expensive liquids on the planet. I think, doing the calculation (someone else did this, not me) the number comes to something like $2500/gallong.

On the other hand, if you don't pick a good supplier there can be problems. There are some horror stories out there of knock off cartridges that fade in a week, clog your printer etc.... These are not from good suppliers and you should steer clear of them. It is fairly obvious who the good guys are and how the bad ones are. If you do a little research, you will be just fine.

J.

upgrade to a 4000 or 4800. it will save you money in the end.

3rd party and CIs are a nightmare. You definetly get what you pay for.

i haven't had any problems at all with my CIS in the 6 months I've owned it and probably about 16-20 cartridge sets of use.

The new version of CIS systems are much improved over the old ones.

On ink, you don't get what you pay for with the OEM inks. You also are paying for your printer. Personally, I'd rather just pay for the ink when I buy ink.

JohnJ80 wrote in post #2353009
i haven't had any problems at all with my CIS in the 6 months I've owned it and probably about 16-20 cartridge sets of use.

The new version of CIS systems are much improved over the old ones.

On ink, you don't get what you pay for with the OEM inks. You also are paying for your printer. Personally, I'd rather just pay for the ink when I buy ink.

i don't buy it at all. theres a reason why they keep improving on inks. If you are happy with yours, thats fine. But the rest of us really care about perfection, archivalness and color gamut, not to mention reliabilty and warranty.

I second Atlex. Good prices and dependable place. Shipping isn't the cheapest, so it is best if you don't buy just one or two at a time.

If you want to take the chance of 3rd party inks on your head be it

A CIS solution is slightly different. They are usually pretty well built although questionable whether the inks are better than branded ones.

A number of the cheaper inks have poorly built cartridges susceptible to leaking in the printer so beware.......

I stick to the Epson branded prints.

Last time I ordered from Atlex, they seemed slow to process and ship the order. I just ordered a set a few hours ago from wholesaletoners.com. They are 30 cents more on each cart (for the 2400), but their shipping is lower, so the final cost is about 40 more than atlex. they seemed to talk a good game and I could find no bad reports on the net about them, so I thought I would give them a try. /Dan

Thank You all So Much!!!!
I now have enough information to do a little research and fine the best ink for me.