Had enough of Epson printers

Jonny69 · 7 Jul 2010 at 12:40

I used to like Epson printers because the ink used to be cheaper and back in the old student days you could refill the cartridges yourself. The head is in the printer instead of in the cartridge. Less waste each time etc etc.

I'm rambling.

I don't use my printer all that much and basically whenever I do I find it's missing lines or a colour is blocked and I have to go through the head cleaning procedure. I couldn't get the old printer to clear so I ended up buying a new one. Now the new one has done the same. I've emptied a whole set of cartridges through it now, at great expense, and basically after 6 months owning it I'm going to have to dump it :mad:

I tried to strip the old printer to get to the head to clean it with a swab but this was nigh on impossible so I'm not prepared to go through this again.

Is there any easy way of cleaning the print heads out to make them work again?

Do these type of products for unblocking actually work or would I be better off just swapping to an HP printer which has the head in the cartridge?

Cybermyk · 7 Jul 2010 at 12:45

Permajet do a head cleaning kit for Epsons, I've not had to use one though.

Participant · 7 Jul 2010 at 12:45

Epsons are only worth it if you print very regularly imo. We have a dirt cheap Epson printer / scanner (with print head in printer as you say) and although the scanner is great, we probably use the printer about twice a week and still have to run the cleaning routine about twice a month (which in itself uses a load of ink as you say).

I wouldn't faff around trying to clean the head. If it's only 6 months old, RMA it to Epson.

Morgoth · 7 Jul 2010 at 12:46

My epson printer stopped printing dvds, that was a sad day. It was over 3 years old however.

Jonny69 · 7 Jul 2010 at 12:53

Robbie G said:
I wouldn't faff around trying to clean the head. If it's only 6 months old, RMA it to Epson.

I'm just feeling like it's not worth the bother. I'd have to sort it out with Epson, 40 minutes in the queue in the post office, sort out collection because nobody is at home during the day...

I might just bung it on eBay along with the other one and swap it for one with the heads in the cartridge.

matthewhotdude · 7 Jul 2010 at 13:03

I didn't think any had heads in the cartridge anymore, thought all the cartridges were static now connected to the moving head by pipes

Cosimo · 7 Jul 2010 at 13:04

If it's still under guarantee I'd send it back. It can't be that difficult to do.

Berserker · 7 Jul 2010 at 13:08

Robbie G said:
Epsons are only worth it if you print very regularly imo.

Not jsut Epsons either. I think they all do it. If you leave them, the ink dries and you've got a blockage. Mind you, I haven't used my latest one for months so I'm pretty sure that's dead.

TS7 · 7 Jul 2010 at 13:25

Which model do you have? I hardly use mine and yet the ink still runs out incredibly quickly. The separate cartridges which are supposedly suppose to be more cost effective don't work indvidually either which renders that feature pointless. The paper never stays alligned either, the print comes out bent most of the time. Won't be buying again.

Jonny69 · 7 Jul 2010 at 13:32

simulatorman said:
If it's still under guarantee I'd send it back. It can't be that difficult to do.

Pretty sure the warranty is void now I've used compatible ink cartridges. Even if it's not, I seriously cannot be bothered with the hassle now. I've already put too much of my time into this and the other printer.

TS7 said:
Which model do you have? I hardly use mine and yet the ink still runs out incredibly quickly. The separate cartridges which are supposedly suppose to be more cost effective don't work indvidually either which renders that feature pointless.

It's a D120. Yes, I've noticed that as well. You put one new cartridge in and it drains all of them in the process. Total waste. I did an experiment by setting it to only use black ink; the colour ones get used up and then you can't print anything :confused:

wozzizname · 7 Jul 2010 at 13:34

The Epsons I've had in the past have all done this - as others have said above, they're ok if you print regularly but for occasional use they always seem to block up.
I've used HP's for quite a while now and never had the same problems.

willhub · 7 Jul 2010 at 13:40

I've just got a printer from a neighbour for free, Epson Stylus C62, it's telling me it's at the end of its service life, thankfully there is software to reset everything, but I need to be on Windows XP

Aod · 7 Jul 2010 at 14:39

Jonny69 said:
Pretty sure the warranty is void now I've used compatible ink cartridges. Even if it's not, I seriously cannot be bothered with the hassle now. I've already put too much of my time into this and the other printer.

It's a D120. Yes, I've noticed that as well. You put one new cartridge in and it drains all of them in the process. Total waste. I did an experiment by setting it to only use black ink; the colour ones get used up and then you can't print anything

inkjet printers are the scam of the century. i cannot fathom why such expensive ink clogs as prolifically as it appears to do so.

i gave 'em all up years ago. i have a nice tidy dell laser printer (black only, of course) and it's amazing, 23ppm no matter how dense the page is with toner and of course, the text resolution blows inkjets out of the water.

the fact that i've had it for three years and it's still on the original toner cartridge (and has never failed to print a page) also makes me happy.

LizardKing · 7 Jul 2010 at 14:46

Its makes your wonder what goes into the ink to make it worth over £1k a litre!

MiNxYyY · 7 Jul 2010 at 14:49

If your having trouble with your printer missing lines etc.. Go into your printer settings and turn Printer quality to High.

This will make it go slower and more accurately.

Dewotter · 7 Jul 2010 at 14:50

Berserker said:
Not jsut Epsons either. I think they all do it. If you leave them, the ink dries and you've got a blockage. Mind you, I haven't used my latest one for months so I'm pretty sure that's dead.

I have a 11 year old HP DeskJet 710C and it goes months without use. When we need it, it prints perfectly fine, if a little slow.

Dave M · 7 Jul 2010 at 14:51

I switched to a small bw laser years ago - it just sits on the shelf for years until I hit print and out it comes, first time perfect. It sometimes surprises me as it's so long since I last used it I forget it's there

A mate said his new canon (some sort of new ink - chroma?) was good as it had been sat for a while then printed without any fuss.

Le_Petit_Lapin · 7 Jul 2010 at 14:53

Got me a Canon Pixma MP550 for the house the other day as ity happens, Tescos were selling them for a decent price. Cheap, works lovely, and you can get a pack of the 4 Colour Ink Carts (CYMK, all seperate, not one of those daft all colours in one cartridge affairs) plus 2 Black text Carts, all original Canon, not 3rd Party for 20 quid.

Had an aging HP before and the Inks were a complete rip-off (£11.99, each) along with it seeming to trash its own printheads on a regular basis, so its been consigned to the recycling center.

Edit: Sorry for that sounding a bit like a sales pitch. Its unintentional.

Adz · 7 Jul 2010 at 15:08

I've never got on with inkjet printers for all the reasons you describe. If you're not printing photos, a cheap colour laser is faster, much more reliable and probably cheaper to run long term.

Jonny69 · 7 Jul 2010 at 15:26

I don't think you can use laser printers for printing t-shirt transfers, so that rules them out for me unfortunately

Had enough of Epson printers

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