Cost per A4

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GigiVega

Does anyone is so expert to know how much does it cost (about) a full color
A4 print with these printers:
Canon i950
Epson 950
Epson 2100

I'm going to buy one of that and I would like to know how if I will spend
more or less with the printers up here, compared whit my old epson 870.
Thanks
 
Taliesyn said:
Have you considered refilling? With the money you'll save you can
buy all three printers in a couple of years. :-)
Click to expand...

Ok you are right, I never try a refilling sistem.
Now the question become: what about the special ink of the 2100
("pigmentazione" in italian)? Does a refill sistem exist also for that? i
don't think so, or better I don't think some one produce an alternative ink
for 2100 that make you sure to have good colors after years. So now my "to
be or not to be" question is: cheap and not durable (is "durable" a right
word??) or expensive and all life guaranted colors?
And coming back to my first question: how much more I will spend with the
2100 (considering the special ink) for each print compared with a normal
(not refilled) epson?
 
GigiVega said:
Ok you are right, I never try a refilling sistem.
Now the question become: what about the special ink of the 2100
("pigmentazione" in italian)? Does a refill sistem exist also for that? i
don't think so, or better I don't think some one produce an alternative ink
for 2100 that make you sure to have good colors after years.
Click to expand...

I don't know, check the Internet for dealers of Epson 2100 ink.

So now my "to
be or not to be" question is: cheap and not durable (is "durable" a right
word??) or expensive and all life guaranted colors?
Click to expand...

It's costing me maybe a couple of pennies for a 4x6, so I really
couldn't care if it fades in 2, 5, 10 or 20 years from now. All my
photos are saved on CD. If I ever want to reprint any, it certainly
won't cost me an arm and a leg. And no one guarantees all life
colors. I had a genuine Canon ink and paper photo on my wall and
it lost half its color in 3 months. I'm sure if you put them in
a dark photo album they will last longer. I'm not using Canon ink
nor paper any more, so my prints will now last longer. ;-) And for
paper, check eBay, some great papers at a fraction of genuine
paper cost are available.
And coming back to my first question: how much more I will spend with the
2100 (considering the special ink) for each print compared with a normal
(not refilled) epson?
Click to expand...

I'm not qualified to answer that question, I have a Canon.

-Taliesyn
 
Actually your cost estimate may be a little on the high side, but by all
means it is vastly better than OEM ink prices or even the cost of third
party tanks. I have an s820 which has 6 tanks vs. the 4 in an i850. Both the
s820 and the i950 use the same BCI-6 tanks. BCI-3 as in the i850 and BCI-6
tanks are identical in size and capacity. The only difference is ink
formulations which are different for the two types of printers. Both the
supplier you reference and the one I use appear to use bulk ink from
Formulabs which is one of, if not, the best maker of inks. Because I
purchased my ink in 1 pint bottles (480 cc's) that works out to 2880 cc's
for a set of six bottles. I can usually print about 40 full coverage 8.5 x
11 sheets before needing to refill when the first low ink warning pops up.
At that time I install my entire #2 set of cartridges and then refill the
entire set #1. Two of the cartridges will usually take 5cc's to top off the
ink reservoir, 3 will take 3 cc's and one takes 2 cc's. This is a total
consumption of 21 cc's. I paid less than $70 U.S. incl shipping for the six
pints which works out to about 50¢ per refilling session after printing 40
sheets. My net cost is approx. 1.2¢ per sheet. Ink purchased in smaller
quantities will cost more per ounce, but by any estimate it is a great cost
savings. I do a very large amount of printing and have easily saved the cost
of several printers since the first of the year. The i950 should be
equivalent in consumption to the s820, so the original poster can easily get
an idea that even buying some of the most expensive bulk refill inks, his
costs per page will be extremely low. I know he was asking for comparisons
on Canon and Epson models, but because of my total satisfaction with Canon,
I won't even consider any other inkjet.
 
Ron said:
Actually your cost estimate may be a little on the high side, but by all
means it is vastly better than OEM ink prices or even the cost of third
party tanks. I have an s820 which has 6 tanks vs. the 4 in an i850. Both the
s820 and the i950 use the same BCI-6 tanks. BCI-3 as in the i850 and BCI-6
tanks are identical in size and capacity. The only difference is ink
formulations which are different for the two types of printers. Both the
supplier you reference and the one I use appear to use bulk ink from
Formulabs which is one of, if not, the best maker of inks. Because I
purchased my ink in 1 pint bottles (480 cc's) that works out to 2880 cc's
for a set of six bottles. I can usually print about 40 full coverage 8.5 x
11 sheets before needing to refill when the first low ink warning pops up.
At that time I install my entire #2 set of cartridges and then refill the
entire set #1. Two of the cartridges will usually take 5cc's to top off the
ink reservoir, 3 will take 3 cc's and one takes 2 cc's. This is a total
consumption of 21 cc's. I paid less than $70 U.S. incl shipping for the six
pints which works out to about 50¢ per refilling session after printing 40
sheets. My net cost is approx. 1.2¢ per sheet. Ink purchased in smaller
quantities will cost more per ounce, but by any estimate it is a great cost
savings. I do a very large amount of printing and have easily saved the cost
of several printers since the first of the year. The i950 should be
equivalent in consumption to the s820, so the original poster can easily get
an idea that even buying some of the most expensive bulk refill inks, his
costs per page will be extremely low. I know he was asking for comparisons
on Canon and Epson models, but because of my total satisfaction with Canon,
I won't even consider any other inkjet.
Click to expand...

Great post! My cost estimate was only a rough guess. Yes, I would
definitely save even more by buying the quart/litre size, a saving
of a further $18 (CDN) per colour (that's like getting 4 free 250 ml
bottles). I don't know if it's true, but I seem to recall reading
somewhere that Formulabs supplied one or more of the Big 4 printer
makers. Is this possible?

I also like your method of rotating complete sets of cartridges. This
way you don't have to stop 4 times to fill an individual cartridge. By
the way, I use tiny 2-56 x 1/8 stainless steel set screws (about the
size of this letter "I") to seal the holes. They seem to work great and
look attractive... A lot better looking than a gob of glue from a glue
gun.

-Taliesyn
 
Ron Cohen said:
Actually your cost estimate may be a little on the high side, but by all
means it is vastly better than OEM ink prices or even the cost of third
party tanks. I have an s820 which has 6 tanks vs. the 4 in an i850.
Click to expand...

Very exhaustive post, thanks.
 
Relax, none of the prints I've created on the s820 since last fall have
shown any sign of fading and some are in not the best places for print
longevity. FWIW, I also have an older BJC-3000 which uses the BCI-3
cartridges (same as the i850). Prints made several years ago still look like
they did the day they were printed. Be sure to use a decent photo paper. In
the US, Red River and Office Depot are priced way less than Canon paper and
give outstanding results. Ilford Gallerie is now available at Sam's for less
than $25/100 sheets.
 
The canons will definitely be cheaper than the epsons from my experience
based on the single-cartridge vs. multiple cartridge systems.

I know the Epson 2100 uses separate cartridges, but I don't know about their
cost or how long they last. I just know my i950 has been far, far cheaper
to use than my Epson 1270 or 820.

-Larry
 
I'll almost guarantee the 2100 will be the most expensive. So much so I bought an i850 because the
2100 costs so much to print I now ONLY use it for DVD printing now (I have little need for A3 and
archival printing, I just wanted a DVD printer for my video productions). I swear a full A3 photo
print would have cost about US $10-15 based on the carts drop after the first one (I couldn't afford
to continue to test).

It may have high quality ink, and be A3 capable, but after one A3 photo, 2-3 A4's and a few other
misc test prints the carts were around 3/4 empty. That's 7 carts at AUS$25 for a total cost of
AUS$175 or US$115. I'm sure its a bit better elsewhere but I can only source the carts full retail
at the moment :-(

I think it is quite obvious that while the carts are large, they contain little ink. I've seen one
taken apart, and most of it is plastic and anti refill design.

shame on Epson

Larry said:
The canons will definitely be cheaper than the epsons from my experience
based on the single-cartridge vs. multiple cartridge systems.

I know the Epson 2100 uses separate cartridges, but I don't know about their
cost or how long they last. I just know my i950 has been far, far cheaper
to use than my Epson 1270 or 820.

-Larry
Click to expand...
 
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