Epson R300 is heavy on ink

[erito]

Hi, i am very happy with the results and functions on the R300, but i think it uses to much ink!!

How many CD can you guys print? Or how many A4 photos?

I have now printed about 12 CD/DVD and 3 A4 photos, and the ink overview show about 70% left of ink.

[offline]

Why do you think printers are so cheap? The manufacturers sell at a subsidised loss and make their profit back on the ink/toner/dye/paper.
In the life of your printer you will pay back its retail cost many times
over just in consumables.

A4 photo's use a lot of ink on any printer period. As for CD/DVD's it has been estimated that starting from a full tank you should get around 120 full colour discs from the Epson.

[Poppa_Meth]

I agree that it takes too much ink. My old HP 722c could print about the same things and go for several months on ink. Now I've had mine about a week and used half the black ink already. Got to experiment with quality settings. I don't think the defaults are set up well. It uses more ink than necessary.

the HP was better on draft print quality as well. overall I'd say the HP was better for text and the Epson better for photo, but the HP blows the Epson away in terms of ink consumption.

[Gregg]

Hi,

I have more than 1000 /one thousand/ discs printed on this printer already /at -1, -2 settings/ and I can tell you that one load of ink is good for 300-350 discs. I'm using mostly Riteks and BeAlls. This brings the price of a single printout down to less than 30 cents which to me looks like a very good price.

Enjoy!

[The village idiot]

I agree that it takes too much ink. My old HP 722c could print about the same things and go for several months on ink. Now I've had mine about a week and used half the black ink already. Got to experiment with quality settings. I don't think the defaults are set up well. It uses more ink than necessary.

the HP was better on draft print quality as well. overall I'd say the HP was better for text and the Epson better for photo, but the HP blows the Epson away in terms of ink consumption.

Keep in mind that the first set of carts does not last as long as the next and subsequent carts. The printer must fill the printhead with ink, which can take up a third to a half of the cartridge. The next set will not have to fill the heads, so it will start out actually being full when you start to use it. They can't ship the printer with the printhead filled because it would dry out, and you can't put a bigger cart into the holder, so they can't give you an initially larger supply just so you can fill the heads. Yes it sucks, but that is the way it is.

[Poppa_Meth]

True, didn't come to mind immediately. My previous printers have all had the head built into the carts.

[dead_indian_walking]

Which is best for direct DVD/CD printing R200, R300 orR800

[garryheather]

Also consider that a page of text is what - between 2 and 3% total coverage ?

Compare that do a full colour label or insert, and there goes your ink cartridge. It's all relative when you look at it that way.

[jaxxboss]

Yeah, but you don't have to do a full color label. You can just erase some of the color sucking garbage background crap if you want. Especially black which not only uses the black ink, but also uses a lil of all the other colors as well.

[axolotls]

The RITEKS look smashing with even -2/-3.

I have some Memorex that have a rough surface and looks like shit compared to the RITEKS. The memorex take more ink -1 and just look icky.

I am done with them

[erito]

Okay thank you all for the input!

I didn't know that the printer need to fill the print-head. I have bought non-Epson cartridges for half price to replace the ones i got in the box when they run out (soon). Anyone who have tried other than original Epson with same result?

I bought 70pcs of Memorex printable with the rough surface, but i will now order Ritek instead. Thanx axolots and you other guys.