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[QUOTE="VA1DER, post: 217326, member: 15186"] 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 [URL='https://productrevue.ca/index.php/2019/04/23/why-not-hp-printers/']wrote an article[/URL] on why I'll never use an other HP. [/QUOTE]
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