Nope, never, it's not worth a print head to use cheap ink, especially
with Epson printers, Canon seen to be able to take the cheap ink
better but for a few lousy dollars, buy the genuine stuff.
Actually micropiezos are more tollerant to different media... it's
those pesky thermal technologies that depend on chemistry... or rather
the rate that a liquid turns into a gas... that are more fickle. But
all of this is accidemic as most if not all consumer based inkjets are
primarly water based.
Most printer warranties are voided with the use of any non genuine
ink, some is better than others, plus it's classed as a modification
to the printer and voids the warranty immediately, if
ya don't beleive it, read the fine print !
Show me where *anyone* expressly says this in the fine print.
Seriously... under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act if use of consumables
is a prerequisite for warranty coverage then they must provide these
consumables *for free* during the warranty period. Seriously if you
can actually quote anyone who officaly says third-party ink voids the
warranty I'm buying that printer... and i'll make damn sure I get my
year of free ink.
I have seen the following
"Canon has more engineers dedicated to creating quality ink for
providing the best results for output on Bubble Jet printers than any
other organization. Canon does not prohibit the use of third-party inks
and the use of third-party inks does not invalidate the product's
limited warranty. However, Canon cannot guarantee the quality or
performance of your printer when you are using inks from other
suppliers."
Source: "Canon BJC-6000 Series Users Manual"
It's no more a modification than putting Pennzoil in your car when it
shipped from the factory with Quakerstate or Castrol. This saw was put
into place so the manufacturer couldn't put their label on someone
else's oil and sell it more more and threaten to void the warranty if
you use someone else's oil. It's a good law. Now if for example that
can say for certain the damage was caused by the 3rd party ink... they
could deny warranty coverage... but this is very very very tough to
prove.
Now you can say buying into a printer is buying into a system of inks
and paper that are designed to work well together. This is true. You
can also say that ink that runs $23 to $50/oz might be better than ink
that runs at $2.50 to $5.00/oz. But whether it's worth it or not is up
to the user... given you save 90% and it doesn't automaticly void the
warranty and you had to shell out for another printer after the 3rd
refill... it still tends to cost less than OEM ink. Might not be worth
it to you but it certainly is to me.
