6 ms·

Not sure about the laser side, but for inkjets, the Epson EcoTank line is the best at not fucking you - it uses ink bottle refills, no cartridges in sight.

charlieyu1 4y ago
I had one, looks good at first, but a few months on, the inkjet is just stuck with ink
- serf 4y ago
  I have an ecotank monochrome epson, it's been fine for a few years now. that said, they don't seem to like to sit. if I go for awhile without printing I need to do a cleaning more so than conventional inkjets, but i'm okay with that tradeoff, it's nice just refilling with ink. also the software/driver package on Windows sucks, but unless you're doing firmware upgrades then why bother installing it, anyway.
  - b112 4y ago
    A separate bottle with pure h20 would be perfect for a post print clean. Far cheaper, and better for the environment, than using ink for cleaning.
alias_neo 4y ago
I bought one a few months ago, about £200, because of exactly this sort of crap going on here. I didn't want to go the compatibles route, and the cartridges are so small in capacity anyway. It's been good so far, and I've been printing roughly once a week so it has been ok. I have kids so I've been photocopying pages from their colouring books etc for them to colour in and keep the books themselves clean, which means it gets fairly regular use. I'm tempted to set up something in my home automation to print a "test" page every week or two, just to make sure it doesn't get clogged. Given the couple of feet of tubing between the tanks and the head, I suspect once that gets dried/gunked/blocked, it's game over.
- mrjin 4y ago
  Are you sure it's really "small in capacity"? I was curious so I opened one of the cartridges my printer reported as empty. There was still plenty of ink in it...
  - alias_neo 4y ago
    The cartridge Epson's I've had were listed as 5ml cartridges, compared to the 100ml tanks my EcoTank has, that's the comparison I'm making.
    - mrjin 4y ago
      I got it. I should put ONLY there. It doesn't matter how much the capacity was, the fact was when I opened it after the printer reported cartridge exhausted, the foams inside were still soaked with ink.
      - alias_neo 4y ago
        Oh, yeah, I'm sure the manufacturer excuse is that they need a bit extra to ensure print quality; whether or not that's true, ink cartridges of this kind are just a racket. I'm soooo glad consumer 3d printing has avoided it this far and hopefully the momentum keeps up even as the technology advances.
- meragrin_ 4y ago
  I take it you have not heard about the waste ink pad counter? Once that is up, you either have to buy a new printer or take it to a service center. https://epson.com/Support/wa00369 https://epson.com/Support/wa00369
  - JTbane 4y ago
    Would be really nice if someone reverse-engineered the maintenance program and allowed a reset of this idiot-light.

charlieyu1 4y ago

I had one, looks good at first, but a few months on, the inkjet is just stuck with ink

serf 4y ago
I have an ecotank monochrome epson, it's been fine for a few years now. that said, they don't seem to like to sit. if I go for awhile without printing I need to do a cleaning more so than conventional inkjets, but i'm okay with that tradeoff, it's nice just refilling with ink. also the software/driver package on Windows sucks, but unless you're doing firmware upgrades then why bother installing it, anyway.
- b112 4y ago
  A separate bottle with pure h20 would be perfect for a post print clean. Far cheaper, and better for the environment, than using ink for cleaning.

alias_neo 4y ago

I bought one a few months ago, about £200, because of exactly this sort of crap going on here. I didn't want to go the compatibles route, and the cartridges are so small in capacity anyway. It's been good so far, and I've been printing roughly once a week so it has been ok. I have kids so I've been photocopying pages from their colouring books etc for them to colour in and keep the books themselves clean, which means it gets fairly regular use. I'm tempted to set up something in my home automation to print a "test" page every week or two, just to make sure it doesn't get clogged. Given the couple of feet of tubing between the tanks and the head, I suspect once that gets dried/gunked/blocked, it's game over.

mrjin 4y ago
Are you sure it's really "small in capacity"? I was curious so I opened one of the cartridges my printer reported as empty. There was still plenty of ink in it...
- alias_neo 4y ago
  The cartridge Epson's I've had were listed as 5ml cartridges, compared to the 100ml tanks my EcoTank has, that's the comparison I'm making.
  - mrjin 4y ago
    I got it. I should put ONLY there. It doesn't matter how much the capacity was, the fact was when I opened it after the printer reported cartridge exhausted, the foams inside were still soaked with ink.
    - alias_neo 4y ago
      Oh, yeah, I'm sure the manufacturer excuse is that they need a bit extra to ensure print quality; whether or not that's true, ink cartridges of this kind are just a racket. I'm soooo glad consumer 3d printing has avoided it this far and hopefully the momentum keeps up even as the technology advances.
meragrin_ 4y ago
I take it you have not heard about the waste ink pad counter? Once that is up, you either have to buy a new printer or take it to a service center. https://epson.com/Support/wa00369 https://epson.com/Support/wa00369
- JTbane 4y ago
  Would be really nice if someone reverse-engineered the maintenance program and allowed a reset of this idiot-light.