Criminal Ink Pricing

Joined
Mar 5, 2020
Messages
1
We all know the deal.
Buy your razor cheap. They get you on the replacement blades.
That's been the deal on printers forever too.

I have an Epson WF4720.
I print 99% black.
Recently my magenta cart apparently ran dry.
So what?
But the stinking computer in WF4720 won't even let me print in black.
Thanks a lot guys.

I went to order a new box of the colors.
Three skinny carts you could fill with spit, $61.
Add a black cart, $118.

Just criminal.
It's a $10 aspirin.

I studied reviews on alternative colored ink.
I ordered the FOUR ARTISANS pack for $30.
Still no deal for the tiny amount of ink, but half the price of Epson.
Reviews said it works fine. The machine will recognize it.

I installed the magenta. No go. The WF4720 refuses to recognize it.
OK Epson, you think you win.
You got us right? We have to pay your egregious price.
NOPE.

I threw it in the garbage and bought a straight black printer from another brand.
Maybe Epson OEMs to them. THAT... I can't worry about TODAY, as I have to
print documents.

Epson, you shouldn't be so greedy.
You insult us to ask $61 for three TINY carts of colored ink.
You insult us when you won't let your printer print in black.
Why should I have to buy the colors too?

I'll do all I can to avoid you ripping me off.
I suggest the rest of you do too.
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2020
Messages
11
AGreed, but I have a Canon Pro-1000 printer and it put 500 dollars of ink into the waste tank running nothing but 50 test prints during 3 months of occasional use just to get familiar with it before putting it into production commercially. So I have made not one cent off of this commercial grade printer and yet it now wants me to replace the waste tank and three of the cartridges for a total expense of $350, and the rest of the barage of cartridges are all on the verge of needing replacement. SO before I even get this $1400 investment into production it is going to be asking me for another 1000 dollars to input into the equation. People say I didn't print enough with it so it did cleaning cycles. 80ml of ink of cleaning cycles in 3 months? after only 50 prints? I could have manually run a nozzle check each day instead if it would let me shut off auto cleanings, but it won't, and the nozzle checks would have totally kept it from clogging just fine. Ridiculous. I want an explanation from Canon of what is wrong with either just my printer or the whole engineering of that printer…and I want some kind of repair or whatever to keep this from happenning.
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2020
Messages
11
Oh, and by the way, if you still have the Epson 4270 you can get cartridges cheap from ink owl that will work, or printronic on ebay.ca. Both of those are Canadian but you can take advantage of the low Canadian dollar right now. I tried the refillable cartridges from Ink Owl though, the clear plastic cartridges that are "easy refill" and they leaked so I don't reccomend them, but Ink Owl doesn't manufacture them, they just sell US made stuff, and the inks are great and refilled carts, but those refillables they admitted are actually CHinese because no US company makes them.
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2020
Messages
137
I've mentioned in other threads, Epson is aggressively targeting refillable cartridges with new firmwares right now. Even third party cartridges with auto reset chips that used to work are now being detected and rejected by newer firmwares. I have purchased cartridges from Inkowl (which is actually a US company, it's Inkpot.ca which is the Canadian version of it) but not for the WF-4720. I can't for sure say whether the current reset chips work for that printer, but for the 802XL cartridges it takes I don't think so. If you contact Inkowl, they are pretty professional and will let you know for sure. If reset chips don't work for the WF-4720 you may have some luck with a chipless firmware, which is still available for that printer. Since printers I can't use my own ink have exactly zero value to me, I have no issue flashing custom firmwares into them. There is always some risk, less nowadays with the nice tools that are out, but still some. Me, though, I'd personally rather take that risk than have a printer locked into manufacturer ink.

One think that inkowl doesn't tell you that is quite important when use refillable ink cartridges is that the first time you use one you need to use a syringe to pull the ink through and eliminate air bubbles. The plastic nub on the end of a syringe up the output port on the bottom and used to draw ink through (and re-inject it back into the cartridge) a couple times works well. If you can't get a normal syringe to work, then something like these work well - they fit on the end of a standard syringe and will reach up the output port on the cartridge to where the valve is allowing you to draw ink out and through. Several places sell them.
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2020
Messages
11
OK, well I was told that by ink owl, about the priming, which is the name of the procedure you described. So maybe they changed there instructions. Anyway, could you direct me how to get the chipless firmware. I would love it for several of my printers (I have like 25 printers, and all are old enough that hacks and firmware mods are available now if they are ever going to be).
 
Joined
Oct 26, 2020
Messages
26
FWIW, I have never bought a OEM cart in the 21 years of owning a inkjet printer.
Epson was my first, HP was my 2nd, Canon was my 3rd and Canon is my 4th. I have always refilled thou I have bought some new empty carts for backups. ;)

My current model was the 1st Canon series that had a 'chip' in each cart which I wasen't happy about, but it can be reset with a simple chip re-setter.
 
Joined
Feb 1, 2021
Messages
4
FWIW, I have never bought a OEM cart in the 21 years of owning a inkjet printer.
Epson was my first, HP was my 2nd, Canon was my 3rd and Canon is my 4th. I have always refilled thou I have bought some new empty carts for backups. ;)

My current model was the 1st Canon series that had a 'chip' in each cart which I wasen't happy about, but it can be reset with a simple chip re-setter.
VideoBruce,

Just out of curiosity, what specific Cannon printers do you run. I'm about ready to pitch my wonderful HP. Works fine with original HP carts, but at $100 a set, I'll be damned if I'm going to keep that machine no matter how nice it is.

Thanks!
GT
 
Joined
Oct 26, 2020
Messages
26
This is my 4th printer model.
The 3rd I had either 1 maybe 2 replacements.
The 4th (current) I had 2 replacements, this time due to fried printheads and/or PCB system boards. What I now know is a known problem due to one ot the other somehow 'shoring out' and taking out the other. At least that is what I have read about it. I don't recall if it is just Canon that has had this problem. I'd bet that is why HP makes you replace the printhead with the ink.

Before you or anyone asks, I choose Canon for their user replaceable printhead (unlike Epson which is the worse) and ink tanks that are just that, 'tanks'. No printhead like HP (or at least was that way).

To answer the question. ip4300 that replaced a i560 which I really likes, but it became a driver problem (or lack of) with newer O/S's (either XP or Win7) that was a nightmare with the i560 since M$ screwed up with one of their SP's removing a 'helper application/file that that model needed and was not available (easily).

(And no, I'm not making any of that up!)

But, what I hate about this and all their newer models is the unnecessary (AFAIC) 2nd 'photo' black color. All that does is add cost to the PH and bulk ink. :mad:

lastly, this series (I believe there are around 4 or 5 other models in this series) was Canon's first with the 'chip' in each 'tank' that was quickly solved by a 'chip re-setter' designed by a German. :) That is opposed to replacing the chipo in each cart with a modified chip with the next generation models.

What Canon is using today I have no idea, I have a couple of spares of this model and spare printheads. I will admit models with larger 'tanks' are a long overdue welcome.
 
Joined
Oct 26, 2020
Messages
26
I have 2 sets of 'tanks' (carts). One in the printer and the other ready to go. All I do is swap the empty cart with a filled one, close the printer lid and it's ready to print. I then reset the cart, refill it, cap it off and put it back in storage.
I have bottles of bulk ink, syringes, plugs and extra bottom caps for the carts and the 'plugs' for the top access hole (that had to be drilled out).

In my early days before I bought a laser printer there were years I printed over 10k copies. But, that was then.
 
Joined
Feb 1, 2021
Messages
4
I have 2 sets of 'tanks' (carts). One in the printer and the other ready to go. All I do is swap the empty cart with a filled one, close the printer lid and it's ready to print. I then reset the cart, refill it, cap it off and put it back in storage.
I have bottles of bulk ink, syringes, plugs and extra bottom caps for the carts and the 'plugs' for the top access hole (that had to be drilled out).

In my early days before I bought a laser printer there were years I printed over 10k copies. But, that was then.
I just ordered a Cannon Maxify MB5120, and will order refills from Tom at inkproducts.com out of Frostproof Florida who has always come through for me with his American-based ink products.

Thanks!
 
Joined
Feb 15, 2021
Messages
9
It sounds like Printer Ink Wars are heating up again. Maybe I'll stick with my "02" HPs:

FYI, I have 8 HP printers that run 02 cartridges - I've been using them for about 20 years. Amazing printhead - it is nothing for one to sit for years and you fire it up and everything is fine. Only problem is that the nylon gears begin to creep rupture whether you use the printers or not. I've got 6 w/broken bears and 2 that may be just clogged print heads. There is a guy in UK making gears for these printers so there must be some demand for them.

I've disassembled one of these down to the bottom panel and it looks like that will be necessary to repair the gears. I'm also going to look into replacing them with brass if I can find something from a gear supplier.
 

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