Epson reliability

[Macnerd]

I'm in the market for a new printer. I currently have a Brother. I used non-Brother ink & now I'm paying the price. The printer won't recognize 2 of the ink cartridges even though they both have ink.

I've had Lexmark, Canon, Xerox & now Brother.

I've read online that thermal printheads are more likely to fail than piezo printheads. I didn't know that Brother printers have piezo printheads but they do. A Brother employee confirmed that to me in an e-mail.

I'd rather have a piezo printhead than a thermal printhead. That means either a Brother or an Epson printer.

I've read online that Epson printers have a reputation for clogged printheads. Consumer Reports recently removed recommendations for Epson printers due to a lot of complaints about reliability. Yet I've also read good reviews of Epson printers. That's confusing to the consumer - me!

I wonder if the complaints at Consumer Reports about clogged printheads refer to the non-Ecotank printers. The non-Ecotank printers don't have cartridges with sponges inside. The ink level in the cartridge gets low; the sponge dries out; air gets into the cartridge & the printhead clogs. The bottles have only ink; no sponges, no low-ink sensors. So, an Ecotank printhead should be less likely to clog since the cartridges have no sponges.

I read about the Precision Core printheads. Their nozzles are even smaller than the nozzles on "standard" Epson printers. I wonder if Precision Core printheads are more likely to clog than "standard" Epson printheads.

So, what is your personal experience of clogged printheads on Epson printers?

 

[VA1DER]

I can't speak to Consumer Reports, just my own experience. I have an Epson WF-7720 with a Precision Core head. My experience has been very positive with it. I have never had any issue with clogged heads on it that wasn't either due to a long period of disuse (and also minor with one or two nozzles plugged that clear after one clean) or due to issues using a refillable cartridge (ie the return air port clogged and didn't let ink through).

Epson tends to use dye inks with their Ecotank printers. For example, the ET-16500 is, except for its bolted in continuous-ink system, completely identical to the WF-7620, the predecessor to my printer. The same print heads, the exact same engine, the same body. But Epson ships pigment ink cartridges for the 7620 and dye ink bottles for the 16500. This is likely because they want to be extra careful with their Ecotank printers when they are charging five times the price for them than the equivalent cartridge printer.

As I mentioned, I use refillable ink cartridges with my WF-7720, with good third party pigment inks. The cartridges require a little fussing at times, especially on first use, but I have had no problems with them or with clogs. I do a whole lot of printing, but only in bursts and then it can sit for months.

Be careful too, that Epson is actively and hard-core-seriously working to extinguish the use of third party inks and cartridges. They somewhat tolerated the practice for a long time, but they are now serious about eliminating it. When you buy a new Epson they come with disclaimers that firmware updates can and will affect the usability of third party cartridges. This is because they actively manage the Ecotank price point and also manage what features their Ecotank printers have in order to not detract from sales of other printers and more expensive inks. For example, the ET-16500 has the ability to print borderless removed from its firmware. The WF-7620 and my WF-7720 are both very capable of that feature. This is simply because Epson doesn't want you to be able to print nice 13x19 borderless posters for almost free, if you want to churn out posters they want you to pay for an upscale printer or pay hard for the inks. So the use of dye vs pigment in their Ecotanks could also be them managing features too. Pigment inks have, for the most part, a much higher longevity and are more attractive to people printing keeper photos.

So if you do get an Epson, and are thinking about third party inks, be a little careful. They don't necessarily jump up and down and draw attention to some of the features they rip out of the Ecotank versions, and they don't draw attention to the fact that in many cases the inks are different. If you intend to use refillable cartridges, look to make sure that they are available for the model you are going to buy and that Epson hasn't updated the firmware to preclude them. You can also get a chipless firmware for many models, but make sure, again, it's available for yours.

I do not have any problems with the longevity or reliability of my Epson. I do have some issues with Epson's business model. They want the benefits of offering EcoTank printers without the drawbacks. But if you are careful about the model you get, you can end up with some great features, a reliable engine, and affordable inks all in one package.

BTW, as a rule, HP and Canon, which both use thermal inkjet technology, have way more clogging problems. So much so that for all their low end printers they mostly still have print cartridges with the print heads built right in. Their solution to impossibly clogged jets - buy a new cartridge. HP, at least, used to offer replaceable print heads on their better printers, but that has gone away too. i wrote an article on why I'll never use an other HP.

 

[Macnerd]

You've had good experience with 3rd-party inks. I used 3rd-party, Cartridge World to be precise, inks & the current printer, Brother MFC-J885DW, won't recognize two of the ink cartridges even though both of them have ink in them. So, I'll never use 3rd-party inks again.

You have had good results with your Epson printer. It's confusing to the consumer - me! Consumer Reports removed their recommendations for Epson printers. Based on what I've read on the internet, Epson printers are unreliable & have a reputation for clogged printheads. But I have read good reviews of Epson printers online.

I've never had an Epson printer. Nowadays, it costs more to fix a printer than to buy a new one! There are 2 Brother authorized service centers in my home town. The nearest Epson service center is about 100 miles from my apartment.

I don't want a HP "supertank" printer. The cheapest one costs $400 & has a dinky 2-line LCD display & no ADF. In order to get ADF, I'd have to pay $450 to get the next step up supertank printer . Besides I don't want to subscribe to their ink service.

The Canon supertank printers also have a dinky 2-line LCD display.

The Precision Core printers are more expensive than the "regular" Epson printers. I think that Epson uses the Precision Core printers in its pro printers.

 

[VA1DER]

Don't let one bad experience with third party ink ruin your whole outlook. It is likely not the ink but the cartridge. Both Brother and Epson are aggressively targeting the reset chips in their firmware updates.

 

[P.williams]

Be very carefull in the event of Epson offering a 'Free extended warrenty' offer
this involves completing another, difficult-to-find form, in another section of the website. And if successful, print out and keep a copy of the agreement. despite (so i thought) claiming this extention, when i had a printer fault and tried to claim, Epson denied that i had ever applied for this warrenty extention.

 

[pknowq]

I have a ET-7750 and its been a terrible experience. The first few months were great. Since then I pretty much have to clean the print heads every time I use it. I get lines on my prints, sometimes I get black flakes of ink left on the paper. I've tried different papers, I've tried head cleaning, power cleaning, youtube cleaning videos. It works for a day or two, and then I have to do it again. Testing it right now as I type this.. tried a colour print of a passport, it has big yellow lines through it. I've just ran the print head cleaning 4 times, the big yellow lines are now dark blue lines. Just ran it twice more and the thick blue lines and thin blue lines... given up now!! Searching the forums, my experience seems to be quite common.

I want to replace it, but don't know what to replace it with. At this price I expected the ET-7750 to be brilliant, and it is when it works. Need something that does A3 colour prints, and decent photos, general office documents.

 

[turnpaper]

I'm in the market for a new printer. I currently have a Brother. I used non-Brother ink & now I'm paying the price. The printer won't recognize 2 of the ink cartridges even though they both have ink.

I've had Lexmark, Canon, Xerox & now Brother.

I've read online that thermal printheads are more likely to fail than piezo printheads. I didn't know that Brother printers have piezo printheads but they do. A Brother employee confirmed that to me in an e-mail.

I'd rather have a piezo printhead than a thermal printhead. That means either a Brother or an Epson printer.

I've read online that Epson printers have a reputation for clogged printheads. Consumer Reports recently removed recommendations for Epson printers due to a lot of complaints about reliability. Yet I've also read good reviews of Epson printers. That's confusing to the consumer - me!

I wonder if the complaints at Consumer Reports about clogged printheads refer to the non-Ecotank printers. The non-Ecotank printers don't have cartridges with sponges inside thermal printheads. The ink level in the cartridge gets low; the sponge dries out; air gets into the cartridge & the printhead clogs. The bottles have only ink; no sponges, no low-ink sensors. So, an Ecotank printhead should be less likely to clog since the cartridges have no sponges.

I read about the Precision Core printheads. Their nozzles are even smaller than the nozzles on "standard" Epson printers. I wonder if Precision Core printheads are more likely to clog than "standard" Epson printheads.

So, what is your personal experience of clogged printheads on Epson printers?

i have a Thermal Print-head and would like to construct a driver Board, i can give the Pin-outs if needed it also has 4 Data/IN pins and 4/Data-Out Pins , i could understand the Data-IN pins. but why the 4 Data/OUT