Happy With My Third Party Inks

  • Thread starter Thread starter One4All
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One4All

With some trepidation, I installed a continuous flow system (CFS) on
my Epson 1280 last August. No longer am I trepidated. After profiling
my printer, paper, and ink, I've not had one hassle with printing.
Colors nearly match what's on my monitor. No clogs, no runs, no
errors. Best of all, low cost.

For the life of me, I can't see why anyone who does a lot of printing
does not use a CFS. Forget refilling carts or buying cheaper carts. Go
CFS & you won't regret it. I sure as hell don't. As for buying OEM
cartridges, well, capitalism thrives on hucksters and suckers.
 
One4All said:
With some trepidation, I installed a continuous flow system (CFS) on
my Epson 1280 last August. No longer am I trepidated. After profiling
my printer, paper, and ink, I've not had one hassle with printing.
Colors nearly match what's on my monitor. No clogs, no runs, no
errors. Best of all, low cost.

For the life of me, I can't see why anyone who does a lot of printing
does not use a CFS. Forget refilling carts or buying cheaper carts. Go
CFS & you won't regret it. I sure as hell don't. As for buying OEM
cartridges, well, capitalism thrives on hucksters and suckers.
Click to expand...


Now, now. You don't want to anger the OEM gods. Have you knocked on an Epson
cartridge for good luck?
 
One4All said:
With some trepidation, I installed a continuous flow system (CFS) on
my Epson 1280 last August. No longer am I trepidated. After profiling
my printer, paper, and ink, I've not had one hassle with printing.
Colors nearly match what's on my monitor. No clogs, no runs, no
errors. Best of all, low cost.

For the life of me, I can't see why anyone who does a lot of printing
does not use a CFS. Forget refilling carts or buying cheaper carts. Go
CFS & you won't regret it. I sure as hell don't. As for buying OEM
cartridges, well, capitalism thrives on hucksters and suckers.
Click to expand...

and those who do not like faded prints of poorer quality.
 
I used Eye-One Photo with Match 3.6.1 software. Bought it, used, on
eBay about a year & a half ago for about $900. So far, this is the
only profile I made since I've only been using Epson's Premium Glossy
Photo Paper. When I try other papers, of course, I'll have to make
profiles for those papers. Eye-One bugs me every 30 days to reprofile
my Dell LCD monitor.

My system is a Mac G5, 1.8 GHz, 2.5 GB of RAM, 80 GB main HD, w/ a
Seagate 250 GB HD & an external LaCie 200GB HD. My OS is Mac's 10.3.9.
I use Photoshop CS. Both the OS & PS are dated, but I try to get by
long as I can, as you can guess from my OP.
 
|
|
| One4All wrote:
| > With some trepidation, I installed a continuous flow system (CFS) on
| > my Epson 1280 last August. No longer am I trepidated. After profiling
| > my printer, paper, and ink, I've not had one hassle with printing.
| > Colors nearly match what's on my monitor. No clogs, no runs, no
| > errors. Best of all, low cost.
| >
| > For the life of me, I can't see why anyone who does a lot of printing
| > does not use a CFS. Forget refilling carts or buying cheaper carts. Go
| > CFS & you won't regret it. I sure as hell don't. As for buying OEM
| > cartridges, well, capitalism thrives on hucksters and suckers.
| >
|
| and those who do not like faded prints of poorer quality.

Which is a clear subset of ONE aka measekite who is clueless 10^n+1
 
With some trepidation, I installed a continuous flow system (CFS) on
my Epson 1280 last August. No longer am I trepidated. After profiling
my printer, paper, and ink, I've not had one hassle with printing.
Colors nearly match what's on my monitor. No clogs, no runs, no
errors. Best of all, low cost.

For the life of me, I can't see why anyone who does a lot of printing
does not use a CFS. Forget refilling carts or buying cheaper carts. Go
CFS & you won't regret it. I sure as hell don't. As for buying OEM
cartridges, well, capitalism thrives on hucksters and suckers.
Click to expand...

Well, there is one thing that's a little annoying about the CFS. (Very
little). The Epson driver (which includes, I assume, the Utility app)
senses when the ink in an Epson cartridge is getting low. It assumes
you're still using Epson carts.

So, recently, I got a red light when I turned the 1280 on. My 3rd
party manufacturer had a support page that cited several causes, and
one cause could be what I've already described. It told me how to
correct this. Basically, I had to slightly raise, then lower my black
& color carts.

This involved cutting the restraining plastic strap needed to keep the
3d party carts in position. I'd installed this strap, following
instructions, when I installed the CFS. I slightly raised, then
lowered the carts so that (I think) the 1280 thought it was getting
new Epson carts. I turned on the 1280 & no red light. I resecured the
3d party carts with a new plastic strap (purchased in a package at my
local Ace Hardware) and am now on my merry way.

This operation was done in 15 minutes, at the most. So, I suppose
every 4 months or so, I'll have to do this, again. But, it's so easy
to do & such a slight inconvenience compared to the money I'm saving.
BTW, I don't name the 3d party manufacturer to avoid suspicion that
I'm promoting one brand. There are several out there with good inks
and CFSs. This firm simply was the only one (to my knowledge) that had
a CFS for my 1280, has quality inks, has good reviews, has been in
business a long time, and has great support for its users.
 
OneFor, please explain:

What does "CFS" stand for? I have acquired an Epson printer and I'm not
familiar with this term.

Please _do_ tell us (me) what brand of supplies you're using. You see, I
do need to know which manufacturers/resellers that other people have
had good luck with. It's important. It's a minefield out there.

Thanks.

Richard
 
Richard Steinfeld said:
OneFor, please explain:

What does "CFS" stand for? I have acquired an Epson printer and I'm not
familiar with this term.

Please _do_ tell us (me) what brand of supplies you're using. You see, I
do need to know which manufacturers/resellers that other people have had
good luck with. It's important. It's a minefield out there.

Thanks.

Richard
Click to expand...

CFS; continuous flow system aka CIS; continuous ink system

Although I don't do enough printing to justify using one I have read mostly
good things about them in the last few years. I would agree with you that
one should be thoughtful to where choosing to purchase one.
Two sources that I know carry them are
www.alotofthings.com and www.inksupply.com .
 
OneFor, please explain:

What does "CFS" stand for? I have acquired an Epson printer and I'm not
familiar with this term.

Please _do_ tell us (me) what brand of supplies you're using. You see, I
do need to know which manufacturers/resellers that other people have
had good luck with. It's important. It's a minefield out there.

Thanks.

Richard
Click to expand...

Richard,

Jan supplied you with two links to 3d parties & explained CFS & CIS.
(I did explain CFS in my OP.) Since you ask, I use www.inksupply.com
that Jan refers to. It's the only one I could find that provides a CFS/
CIS for my 1280 http://www.inksupply.com/cfs_1280_new.cfm. It's a
company attuned to the needs of the printing public for high-quality,
low-cost inks. I can't praise it enough. Just go to its Website &
explore the company before you buy.

Well, let me put it this way: MIS (inksupply.com) is the only one that
will ship its CFS carts for the 1280 prefilled. (At least what I could
find.) There's another 3d party CFS supplier, and that is MediaStreet
with its Niagra IV system that includes the 1280: www.mediastreet.com.
But, MediaStreet ships only empty carts with its CFS/CIS. I was not
going to be bothered (& I never will be bothered) with filling my own
carts. That's just me. Luckily, MIS fulfilled my requirements.

Lyson.com also has CFS/CISs. There's a host of others out there & I'm
not plugging any one. It depends on what the company can provide you
for your printer in a manner you want it (i.e., carts prefilled, in my
case). One thing I do note is that, except for MIS, 3d parties sell
CFS/CISs only for the latest printers. This is a major reason I went
to MIS for my 1280. Of course, if I'd seen complaints about MIS inks
in this group, or had seen unfavorable reviews on other Websites, I'd
not have bought MIS's system. You're going to have to do some
research. Google "continuous flow systems" and/or "continuous ink
systems." Wikipedia has a good article.

Another thing: I'm printing several hundred 11x14 color photos on my
1280. Going to a CFS/CIS was the obvious, (altho initially, for me,
risky) way to keep ink cost down. I took the risk & I'm happy.

Hope this helps. Jan, or anyone else, chime in. Well, maybe not
measekite! ;-)
 
Richard,

There's a book out there, "Mastering Digital Printing," by Harald
Johnson. I have the 2d ed. He lists some 3d party ink suppliers:
American Imaging Corp., Lyson, M&M Studios, MediaStreet, MIS, and
Pantone. Well, these are pigment inks. For dye-based he lists Futures/
EIC, Luminos, Lyson, MediaStreet, and MIS. These companies should be
on your short list. BTW, buy the book! There may be a 3d ed. out by
now.
 
One4All said:
I used Eye-One Photo with Match 3.6.1 software. Bought it, used, on
eBay about a year & a half ago for about $900. So far, this is the
only profile I made since I've only been using Epson's Premium Glossy
Photo Paper. When I try other papers, of course, I'll have to make
profiles for those papers. Eye-One bugs me every 30 days to reprofile
my Dell LCD monitor.

My system is a Mac G5, 1.8 GHz, 2.5 GB of RAM, 80 GB main HD, w/ a
Seagate 250 GB HD & an external LaCie 200GB HD. My OS is Mac's 10.3.9.
I use Photoshop CS. Both the OS & PS are dated, but I try to get by
long as I can, as you can guess from my OP.
Click to expand...

Hi.

If the Eye One is anything like the Spyder 2, in the first stages of the
Software, you can specify the "Reminder" period.

The first time I used it, I was so keen to get started, I didn't even notice
the options, and got the reminder after 2 weeks, and then every day onwards.

Roy G
 
Roy,

FWIW, I can shut off the reminder on my Mac: System
Preferences>Accounts>Startup Items, then delete Eye-One's
ProfileReminder. This is off-topic, but altho I don't think I need to
reprofile my monitor every 30 days, Eye-One doesn't give me a longer
option. We can all use some nagging, but it's a little unnerving how
30 days go by so fast, anymore. I'll keep the Eye-One reminder active;
as my ex-wife used to say about other things, "It's for your own
good." :-))
 
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