R200 Ink Moniter - some sort of joke?

[mrtunes]

So I've run down my first set of cartridges but the funny part about it my prints have been looking fantastic even with the moniter telling me I have very little black, light cyan and magenta. I could've kept going but now it says the Magenta is empty. The print right before it said this shows strong Magentas, I dont think it's even empty. I did notice my ink levels were going down rapidly throughout the time since I bought it. Has anyone found the levels to be wonky on this machine?

[DeadLily]

Not wonky. Bogus. The monitor deliberately reports lower levels than are actually there. Every time a cleaning is performed, the levels go down, even though hardly any ink was used. Supposedly it's to avoid any damage that might happen if a cartridge actually does become empty.

You can buy chip resetters which fool the printer into thinking the cartridges are full, but then you have deal with the headache of guessing when a color goes dry (which usually happens right at the beginning of an important print).

[mrtunes]

I did do a quick search in the forum and I found this SSC utility:
http://www.ssclg.com/epsone.shtml

Reliable?

But it's already too late i just changed three of the cartridges. Epson wins this time, but next time they won't fool me! Of course they're going to be laughing cause I just put in cheap replacement ink and i don't have much faith in this. It was a great printer while my first cartridges lasted but i expect nothing but problems now.

[sray2k]

Well,
Actually, My father has been using generic ink in his and so far NO problems ! And we are now testing the Monitor as we set it to where it will freeze the counters, SOOOO helpful when you get the "Ink Waste Pad Full" message !

And I just purchased one off of Ebay and patiently waiting for it's arrival and then I need to buy some ink..Sorry Epson..No costly ink for me !!!

Laters..

[funnel71]

You could always get an imk chamber system that will constantly keep the carts full, and when the monitor gets low, all you do is turn the printer off, and they'll reset.

[mrtunes]

Well,
Actually, My father has been using generic ink in his and so far NO problems ! And we are now testing the Monitor as we set it to where it will freeze the counters, SOOOO helpful when you get the "Ink Waste Pad Full" message !

Wait so you tell the counters to freeze at a certain point? I was wondering how people freeze the counters cause if you freeze them when everything's full you have no idea which ones are running out when it comes time to replace.

Funnel: Continuous ink is interesting to me but I could never see myself dealing with that for so many reason. I'm not very handy, I have little patience, and I tend to screw everything up that can be screwed up. with CIS i just imagine myself in a puddle of expensive ink.

[adam]

There is actually a class action lawsuit against Epson right now about this. Tests have shown that the monitor is intentionally conservative, as someone mentioned, but that it may be to the point of being a misrepresentation. The lawsuit I saw claimed that with manufacturer ink you actually have a full 33% ink left when the printer deems it empty and refuses to print anymore.

I only use generic ink and the monitor seems to be pretty accurate to me. By the time it says to replace it I have maybe 4 or 5 more prints and then that color starts to get streaky.

[Noahtuck]

I just watch the external tanks on my R200 & R300 and fill them when they get low.


8)

[Paul_G]

Ink levels and the ink pad waste counter warnings are just a big fat scam to make people shell out money for nothing. Also no printer company should make printers refuse to print when they think the cartridges are empty.

[mrtunes]

I just watch the external tanks on my R200 & R300 and fill them when they get low.

How accessable is your fresh ink(in a store in your city or online?), and how much does a tank cost?