Epson Ecotank printer inks

[RKMcEwen]

Does anyone know if there are genuine differences between the inks for 4-colour Epson Ecotank printers?

I am considering buying one as cartridges are just too inconvenient and hope a built-in CISS is less messy than an add-on version. However I have noticed that the bottles of Epson inks seem to be for specific printer models with low initial cost printer having higher running cost inks and vice versa.

For example, Ecotank 104 bottles yield about 2500 pages for £10/colour (0.4p/page/colour), compared to Ecotank 102 bottles which yield 6000 pages for about the same price (0.16p/page/colour). So the 102 bottles work out less than half the price of the 104 bottles.

However Epson say these inks are for different printer models.
104 bottles are for ET-2710/2711/2720/2726 & 4700, while the lower running cost 102 bottles are for ET-2700/2750/3700/3750 & 4750 printers which are generally more expensive units.

Since the lower cost inks go with the higher cost printers this looks like yet another version of the Gillette razor blade sales model, where the low printer prices are recovered with high ink costs. But I freely admit that Epson's (and other printer manufacturers) excessive use of this approach has made me somewhat cynical of their sales methods, so I may be wrong. However both 102 and 104 bottles are 4-colour dye ink systems, so I also suspect they are exactly the same inks.

Can anyone confirm this? Are the lower running cost ink bottles capable of being used on the lower cost printers without specialist printer profiles?

 

[RKMcEwen]

I have an ecotank epson the ET2710 that uses the 104 inks. The epson website says the 102 inks use dye and pigment inks also the black bottle is bigger than the 104 so I think printers that use the 102 have a bigger ink tank for black. (not that it would make any different as once the tank is full you take the bottle off then refill with the rest if needed)

I think pigment ink might be a bit thicker than dye ink. So the ones that use 102 might have different print heads for pigment ink.

Its just the black ink that is pigment, which Epson has used in most of their inks for years. If I recall correctly, that's how they fixed the orange plague issue with the original SP870 series.

I think the also bottles have different notches/fittings on them so a 102 bottle won't fit the notches/fittings on the 104 printers and 104 won't fit 102 etc.

Quite possibly, but just another obstacle they put up. Most cartridge re-fillers have loads of spare syringes around for just these situations.

I think I'll take the risk, buy the cheaper printer and use the cheaper ink, simply on the principle of not allowing myself to be conned by them.

If they had not abused the cartridge market then I probably wouldn't start from the position of thinking Epson were just trying to rip me off. It could take them many years to overcome the damage that did to their reputation.

Thanks for your info, though.

 

[RKMcEwen]

I've read a few articles online and can't decide if I should just leave the printer powered up all the time, or turn it off via the power button at the end of the day (but still plugged in).

Some articles seem to suggest that if left powered on the heads may dry out (it says they park and cap themselves when powered off to stop this). Others suggest the heads will cap themselves after a period of non use even if left powered on.

I've had a few Epson printers over the years and leaving them powered up and unused is a sure fire way of blocking the head. I've heard the same claims that they should cap themselves, but experience has taught me that they don't. Leave it plugged in and switch off with the switch on the printer (which isn't a direct power switch, but starts the shut-down/start-up procedures).

I took an old SX-515 apart to fix it a while back and that definitely didn't cap the heads when it was left powered overnight. With the lid off you could actually see that. It moved the head to the parked position after about 5 minutes without printing, but only capped the head on the drain when it was switched off. OK, that's quite an old model and they may have changed the procedure on more recent models, but I doubt it.

I would try leaving it switched on overnight and then switch it off before it gets any use in the morning. If you hear mechanical movement when it is powering down that is likely the head being parked and capped - so it wasn't capped by itself after a few hours of inactivity. If it just switches off without a sound then it probably capped itself during the night.

 

[RKMcEwen]

It will use a fair bit of ink every time you switch it on, just to flush the nozzles through. The ink may be cheaper than cartridge based printers, but it isn't free so switching on and off multiple times through the day isn't recommended.

With Epsons there are usually two power up nozzle flush cycles: a short one when the printer has been switched off at the printer switch but left plugged in and a longer one, using more ink, if it has been disconnected from the mains power whether switched off or not.