Printer cartridges

"Steve" wrote in message
...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/31569.html

Printer manufacturers are ripping off consumers by overcharging for
printer cartridges, according to a study by the Consumer Association's
Which? magazine. Worse still, many printer cartridges give premature
warnings that they are running out of ink.

Epson cartridges contain a chip that stop them working when ink runs
low. But after bypassing this system a Which? researcher was able to
print many more pages at accepted quality before the ink ran dry. In
one instance the researcher printed 38 per cent more pages during the
tests. The least amount of extra pages he was able to print of on an
Epson printer was 17 per cent.


How do you bypass this system. I use a 915 and a 895 mainly for photos so I
get though a lot of ink, being able to bypass the system would save me a
fortune.

Bryan

Use an Epson chip resetter. www.mrinkbee.com sells them and they can be
found on ebay.

"Zoab" wrote in message
news

"Steve" wrote in message
...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/31569.html

Printer manufacturers are ripping off consumers by overcharging for
printer cartridges, according to a study by the Consumer Association's
Which? magazine. Worse still, many printer cartridges give premature
warnings that they are running out of ink.

Epson cartridges contain a chip that stop them working when ink runs
low. But after bypassing this system a Which? researcher was able to
print many more pages at accepted quality before the ink ran dry. In
one instance the researcher printed 38 per cent more pages during the
tests. The least amount of extra pages he was able to print of on an
Epson printer was 17 per cent.


How do you bypass this system. I use a 915 and a 895 mainly for photos so
I
get though a lot of ink, being able to bypass the system would save me a
fortune.

Bryan

Except for Canon, that now uses a prism/light system that shines a light
through each ink tank, what your saying is true. Since the other printers
are only guessing how much ink is left it is difficult to know when you are
out of ink, or very close to it. The one thing you don't want to do is run
the print head without any ink. Even though I agree ink prices are way too
high, consider the cost of replacing the print head. They all need to go to
the Canon light system.





Epson cartridges contain a chip that stop them working when ink runs
low. But after bypassing this system a Which? researcher was able to
print many more pages at accepted quality before the ink ran dry. In
one instance the researcher printed 38 per cent more pages during the
tests. The least amount of extra pages he was able to print of on an
Epson printer was 17 per cent.

BF wrote:
Except for Canon, that now uses a prism/light system that shines a light
through each ink tank, what your saying is true. Since the other printers
are only guessing how much ink is left it is difficult to know when you are
out of ink, or very close to it. The one thing you don't want to do is run
the print head without any ink. Even though I agree ink prices are way too
high, consider the cost of replacing the print head. They all need to go to
the Canon light system.


The prism in Canon's cartridges indicates that about 20% ink remains.
It is a low ink reminder. The next message you will get is an "Out Of
Ink" warning. Though there is still some ink in the cartridge, it is
NOT suggested you run the printer any longer lest you risk damaging
your print head.

If you home refill, do it at the low ink warning and not at the out
of ink warning. I had difficulty getting the ink flowing again. But
at the low warning they work like a charm.

-Taliesyn

On Tue, 08 Jul 2003 10:05:05 -0400 (EDT), "Wolf Kirchmeir"
wrote:

On Tue, 08 Jul 2003 13:09:28 GMT, BF wrote:

=Except for Canon, that now uses a prism/light system that shines a light
=through each ink tank, what your saying is true. Since the other printers
=are only guessing how much ink is left it is difficult to know when you are
=out of ink, or very close to it. The one thing you don't want to do is run
=the print head without any ink. Even though I agree ink prices are way too
=high, consider the cost of replacing the print head. They all need to go to
=the Canon light system.

The underlying problem is that inkjet printing technology is inherently not
very good, but it has become very cheap to make. Most people look at the
purchase price of a an appliance, not the operating cost. Result: low
acquisition cost, high operating cost. Even if printer cartridges were
reduced in price to better reflect their cost, inkjets would still have a
higher lifetime operating cost than lasers. Lasers print cheaper, and they
last longer - a lot longer. But lasers are "expensive,' that is, they cost
several times as much as inkjets. So home users and small businesses balk at
buying them. So there isn't enough of a market to encourage efficiencies in
manufacture and design. So we have another example of a crappy technology
(inkjets) outselling a better one (lasers.) It's happened before, and will
happen again - all because people don't do the math.

Bah.

I have one comment to your post: Bull.

People buy inkjets because of their superior capability for color
printing. I have a perfectly fine HP Laserjet that I use for text, but
it sucks for photographs, even if I were willing to only print black &
white. So I bought a Canon i850 "only" for printing color photographs
and color graphics, and I'm quite happy with it.
--
Charlie Hoffpauir
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~charlieh/
If you really want to reply via email, my valid
address is available on my web site.

Wolf Kirchmeir wrote:
On Tue, 08 Jul 2003 13:09:28 GMT, BF wrote:

=Except for Canon, that now uses a prism/light system that shines a light
=through each ink tank, what your saying is true. Since the other printers
=are only guessing how much ink is left it is difficult to know when you are
=out of ink, or very close to it. The one thing you don't want to do is run
=the print head without any ink. Even though I agree ink prices are way too
=high, consider the cost of replacing the print head. They all need to go to
=the Canon light system.

The underlying problem is that inkjet printing technology is inherently not
very good, but it has become very cheap to make. Most people look at the
purchase price of a an appliance, not the operating cost. Result: low
acquisition cost, high operating cost. Even if printer cartridges were
reduced in price to better reflect their cost, inkjets would still have a
higher lifetime operating cost than lasers. Lasers print cheaper, and they
last longer - a lot longer. But lasers are "expensive,' that is, they cost
several times as much as inkjets. So home users and small businesses balk at
buying them. So there isn't enough of a market to encourage efficiencies in
manufacture and design. So we have another example of a crappy technology
(inkjets) outselling a better one (lasers.) It's happened before, and will
happen again - all because people don't do the math.


However, inkjets easily surpass laser printers in the ability to print
realistic photos. And if you refill like I do, a complete set of
cartridges can be filled for less than $5 with quality ink. Seems you
failed to tell it like it is.
comparison with a laser.

-Taliesyn

And a report from Holland:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/31623.html



"Steve" wrote in message
...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/31569.html

Printer manufacturers are ripping off consumers by overcharging for
printer cartridges, according to a study by the Consumer Association's
Which? magazine. Worse still, many printer cartridges give premature
warnings that they are running out of ink.

Epson cartridges contain a chip that stop them working when ink runs
low. But after bypassing this system a Which? researcher was able to
print many more pages at accepted quality before the ink ran dry. In
one instance the researcher printed 38 per cent more pages during the
tests. The least amount of extra pages he was able to print of on an
Epson printer was 17 per cent.

From everything I have read there is not a color laser printer that can come
close to the prints on a good inkjet. I'm not sure where you are coming from
but you must not do much reading.



The underlying problem is that inkjet printing technology is inherently
not
very good, but it has become very cheap to make. Most people look at the
purchase price of a an appliance, not the operating cost. Result: low
acquisition cost, high operating cost. Even if printer cartridges were
reduced in price to better reflect their cost, inkjets would still have a
higher lifetime operating cost than lasers. Lasers print cheaper, and they
last longer - a lot longer. But lasers are "expensive,' that is, they cost
several times as much as inkjets. So home users and small businesses balk
at
buying them. So there isn't enough of a market to encourage efficiencies
in
manufacture and design. So we have another example of a crappy technology
(inkjets) outselling a better one (lasers.) It's happened before, and will
happen again - all because people don't do the math.

Bah.

--
Wolf Kirchmeir

If you didn't want to go to Chicago, why did you get on the train?
(Garrison Keillor)

In article , Taliesyn4
@netscape.net says...
BF wrote:
Except for Canon, that now uses a prism/light system that shines a light
through each ink tank, what your saying is true. Since the other printers
are only guessing how much ink is left it is difficult to know when you are
out of ink, or very close to it. The one thing you don't want to do is run
the print head without any ink. Even though I agree ink prices are way too
high, consider the cost of replacing the print head. They all need to go to
the Canon light system.


The prism in Canon's cartridges indicates that about 20% ink remains.
It is a low ink reminder. The next message you will get is an "Out Of
Ink" warning. Though there is still some ink in the cartridge, it is
NOT suggested you run the printer any longer lest you risk damaging
your print head.

If you home refill, do it at the low ink warning and not at the out
of ink warning. I had difficulty getting the ink flowing again. But
at the low warning they work like a charm.

-Taliesyn


Another good precaution is to have two sets of carts
around, so if you DO run one dry (or low), you can
immediately replace it with a full cart thats had time
for the sponge to soak up a good supply of ink. I've
been refilling Canons that way for a while and it by
passes the occasional "head cleaning" I used to need to
do after changing carts.



--
Larry Lynch
Mystic, Ct.

On Tue, 08 Jul 2003 10:05:05 -0400 (EDT), "Wolf Kirchmeir"
wrote:
The underlying problem is that inkjet printing technology is inherently not
very good, but it has become very cheap to make.

Piffle.

The total cost of ownership for me and other home-users of the inkjets
is comparable to a laser even if you stick to monochrome, and if you
do just a little web page printout in color, which is about as far as
I usually go, the color capability of the inkjets is worth a little
extra just for the fun of it!

As long as the companies don't go all greedhead on the cartridge
costs, or if you're willing to bother with doing the refills yourself.

We are SO spoiled by these great, cheap printers ... maybe there is a
market slot for some industrial strength ink-jets with much lower cost
of operation esp for heavy photo users. I don't think lasers could be
much cheaper in any case, they're down to the $200-$300 range already
(for mono).

J.