Do all printers cain all your ink away ?

Things change I've changed · 12 Mar 2006 at 01:07

Printer Rant......

In a bad mood atm over my printer (Epson Photo RX425), basicly the ink for this thing costs about £30, I buy the ink cartridges, whack them in the printer and they charge up and everythings fine, yet if I don't print nothing for more than 4-5 days and then when I go to use the printer my docoments come out patchy, I do a print nozzel check and you can cleary see lines missing so I have to clean the heads, problem is cleaning the heads cains about 15-20% of my ink and usualy it takes about 3-4 times to get them clean again,

Now usaully to stop this from happening I have to print out a test page or random doc at least once aday to keep the ink flowing, the thing is sometimes I forget to do this and that means when I do come to print sometihng out £30 worth of ink has gone down the drain, like tonight, in fact I nearly throw the printer out the window (I know, hardly rational behavior but it really stressed me),

Is this the way all inkjet printers work ?, b-cos tbh I've never really own'd a printer that ever really seems to work right and ends up costing me an arm and a-leg in ink, can you not leave them on for a few days without them having to go througth head cleaning cycles,

Also what would anyone recommend as a relieable inkjet printer, I only ever print out word documents and web pages etc, I was thinking of going over to budget laser jet, are these just as problematic ?

pegasus1 · 12 Mar 2006 at 01:15

lowrider007 said:
Printer Rant......

In a bad mood atm over my printer (Epson Photo RX425), basicly the ink for this thing costs about £30, I buy the ink cartridges, whack them in the printer and they charge up and everythings fine, yet if I don't print nothing for more than 4-5 days and then when I go to use the printer my docoments come out patchy, I do a print nozzel check and you can cleary see lines missing so I have to clean the heads, problem is cleaning the heads cains about 15-20% of my ink and usualy it takes about 3-4 times to get them clean again,

Now usaully to stop this from happening I have to print out a test page or random doc at least once aday to keep the ink flowing, the thing is sometimes I forget to do this and that means when I do come to print sometihng out £30 worth of ink has gone down the drain, like tonight, in fact I nearly throw the printer out the window (i know hardly rational behavior but it really stressed me),

Is this the way all inkjet printers work ?, b-cos tbh I've never really own'd a printer that ever really seems to work right and ends up costing me an arm and a-leg in ink, can you not leave them on for a few days without them having to go througth head cleaning cycles,

Also what would anyone recommend as a relieable inkjet printer, I only ever print out word documents and web pages etc, I was thinking of going over to budget laser jet, are these just as problematic ?

Before you do anything rash you should throw the printer out the window or off a multi story car-park, it wont solve your problem but it will make you fel better. Ink is a rip-off as are some printers, at one point it cost me the same for a new printer (with free ink) as it did for an ink cartridge.
Ive got a Lexmark Z25 atm and its ok for what i do (word and email).

gary996 · 12 Mar 2006 at 01:19

I had the same problem with my Epson. Had to clean the nozzles at least 4 times to get a decent test pattern. Have now got a canon IP8500 and have not had any problems at all. Even after not using the printer for many weeks.

Ren.182 · 12 Mar 2006 at 01:25

I don't use a printer no more. It just started to mess up... and the heads were knackered. I just find printers more trouble than they are worth.

Was a good printer though while it worked. I just email my documents to college now and print them there...

EDIT:
Couldn't you make a scheduled task to print out a document/test page once a day automatically?
Try making one here...
Start> Program files> Accessories> System Tools> Scheduled tasks.

Go there and see if you can set it to print something. Not really a solution, but it keeps your ink flowing.

Chocki · 12 Mar 2006 at 01:39

Had an epson which kept blocking and cost a fortune to run, now got a Canon IP8500, costs more initially, but cheap to run in comparison with the Epson, and I left it off for 4 months whilst working away, expected the worst when I got back, but no problems at all, it just works perfectly.

Things change I've changed · 12 Mar 2006 at 01:42

Ren.182 said:
I don't use a printer no more. It just started to mess up... and the heads were knackered. I just find printers more trouble than they are worth.

Was a good printer though while it worked. I just email my documents to college now and print them there...

EDIT:
Couldn't you make a scheduled task to print out a document/test page once a day automatically?
Try making one here...
Start> Program files> Accessories> System Tools> Scheduled tasks.

Go there and see if you can set it to print something. Not really a solution, but it keeps your ink flowing.

cheers, thats a good idea, I can't see why that should'nt solve the problem, well at least until I find a better printer.

Ren.182 · 12 Mar 2006 at 01:43

Hope it works, LowRider.

R B Customs · 12 Mar 2006 at 02:10

30 quid !!
if you get compatibles you can get a full set for 12 !!
i have this printer too... the only thing i find it SUCKS for is TEXT !
honestly, the text it prints is useless. even on PHOTO quality, yet the photos it prints IMO are superb.

how does head clweaning use 15-20% of ink ?... i mean... where does it go ?

Rick

nrh1703 · 12 Mar 2006 at 08:47

you can use printui.dll for command line stuff to be sent to a printer e.g. put the following line (case sensitive) as a scheduled task to print a test page (/k) on a printer called epson attached to a computer called lowrider

rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /k /n \\lowrider\epson

use the /? switch to generate a list of options for printui.dll

Monstermunch · 12 Mar 2006 at 11:14

EPSON are known in the industry for this, they use about twice as much ink as their rivals, and produce pictures that look about the same. They also use a stupid DPI of 770 x 1440, which doesn't correspond with any computer program. All proper printing is done at 300dpi, there is no need for higher, so HP for example are 600x1200 which complies properly.

I'm still using a HP deskject 720c that's about 10 years old. It still produces excellent photo printing, maybe not very fast but I very rarely have to replace the ink cartridges.

Brizzles · 12 Mar 2006 at 12:32

Probably not much help in the short term.

I have a Canon Pixma IP 3000

When not in use it has lids/flaps which close to keep dust out.( Have never needed to clean heads in 18 months )

It uses separate Ink cartridges for each colour , so you only replace an individual colour as it runs out.

I use non original ( i.e not Canon ) inks which cost £3/£4 each.

Great quality printing alround.

So Good and Cheap to run that Canon stopped making them !!

I picked on up for a friend on E*** ( auction site ! ) recently for £80

So , as i say , in the short term an outlay of poss. £80/90 , but if you use it a lot it will pay for itself.

Cheers,

Mark

Sirrel Squirrel · 12 Mar 2006 at 13:16

My Canon i865 has lasted me ages, I've had it nearly 2 years and think I've only changed the cartridges once, or maybe twice so thats gotta be a good thing

Scythe · 12 Mar 2006 at 13:19

Chocki said:
Had an epson which kept blocking and cost a fortune to run, now got a Canon IP8500, costs more initially, but cheap to run in comparison with the Epson, and I left it off for 4 months whilst working away, expected the worst when I got back, but no problems at all, it just works perfectly.

Yep, I got a Canon IP2000 and its brilliant.

DaveBennett · 12 Mar 2006 at 13:31

I think this a general problem you always get with Epsons, my mum has a epson which she only uses occasionally. For the oddword document and bank statment etc, and from time to time some photos.

Every time she prints somehting out I spend a good 10-20 mins cleaning the nozzlesto get it perfect again.

I think Epsons are really only for people whp print stuff ever day. If you only print every once a week or w/e I recomend a cheapo printer like the Lexmarks
or HPs. I have had my HP for about 3 years (it came with my laptop) and ive only changed the carts twice and I do use it a fair bit.

Dave

Jimbo · 12 Mar 2006 at 14:25

I used to work for a well known manufacturer of printers and I once saw a video of a tech guy installing new cartridges in an epson printer, it showed the ink waste during priming and also just turning the printer on. Believe you me it is absolutely shocking, these things drain away your cartridges just turning the printer on.

Things change I've changed · 12 Mar 2006 at 14:26

Thanks guys, this forum never ceases to amaze me with the help and support you get off people

, It seems that canon is the way to go then, think I'm going to go for the PIXMA iP2000 which should be more than enougth for what I need.

Scythe · 12 Mar 2006 at 14:46

lowrider007 said:
Thanks guys, this forum never ceases to amaze me with the help and support you get off people , It seems that canon is the way to go then, think I'm going to go for the PIXMA iP2000 which should be more than enougth for what I need.

Good choice, thats what i got, you wont be disappointed.

Solari · 12 Mar 2006 at 15:39

Just another voice to add in support of Canon... I've had an i850 for a few years, done loads of photo printing and only had to change the cartridges twice. Great printing and cheap to run.

I defected from Epson, I found they consumed way too much ink and were prone to going mental now and then... any error in a print job and sometimes they proceed to spew out pages of garbage... plus the paper rollers have smudged ink over photos before for me :mad:

TheVoice · 12 Mar 2006 at 17:06

Been using HP for a long time myself in various forms and never had a problem. Reliable printers. Got a PSC 1510 at the moment.

As for the ink issue, turn your printer off when you're not using it if you don't already. Evidently it can lead to higher overall ink consumption or blocked print heads.

KiNgPiN83 · 12 Mar 2006 at 17:08

Another annoying thing with Epsons is that they do an automatic head clean every 10 or so times they are turned on and there is no way you can stop it. Although one thing i've noticed with all manufacturers is that the ink levels in cartridgeshas slowly been decreasing yet the prices have largely remained the same. For example a HP no. 45 cartridge has iirc 45ml of ink and costs about £25 for an original. However a cartridge such as the no. 339 has 23ml and costs about £28. That isn't a dig at HP, they all do it but its just one i remember from work.

Customers where i work always moan to us but at the end of the day there is nothing we can do, manufacturers know that they can make more money from cartridges, so they sell the machines for less and whack more onto the price of cartridges. Of course there are always refill kits and compatibles but for the best quality its best to use the makers own brand. Epson have even gone as far to say that you void your warranty if you use compatibles or refills, how they'd find out i don't know.

I myself use a HP 6840 and yes the ink is expensive, but my dad seems to do the most printing so he buys the cartridges anyway. lol