Kitchen Garden Forum

I guess the fact that we are all forum users means that we are all pc users...but I will get to the point! I have a new Epson photo printer, well over a year old now but do not use it much, hence the print cartridges are just running out. I am torn between getting the genuine epson articles or cheaper replacemts, the price difference is vast....has anyone got a similar printer and have they got on ok with non original replacements.

My model no is Epson Stylus Color R300....

Stick with originals if your pocket can run to it.

My inkjet experiences are poor, in fact I cleared my loft yesterday and skipped three printers, two of them inkjets.

An Apollo, which cost £29.99 and takes HP cartridges costing £25.00. Poor quality.

A Rank-Zerox with seperate print heads and ink containers, which consistently clogged after a weeks lack of use and took several hours to get clear.

Now have a Samsung Laser, which cost £50 and takes a £40 cartridge, took over a year of fair use to empty the one which came with it. Which is supposedly lower capacity than the replacement ones.

Also an HP photoquality inkjet, which was same as work had and proved itself in the office.

I have used the home-brew ink injection kits, which never seem to last well, reckon the ink is runnier than original. Also it can be messy.

Keep an eye on PC-World for Samsung Laser;s at keen prices, have seen the offer three times.

Hi Compo, I have been using an Epson C64 printer which is similar to your for 18 months now and I have never bought the original ink cartridges, the equivalent cartridges I have used have been excellent both for normal printing and for photographs. I get them from this website if you are interested:
http://www.365ink.co.uk

our r300 runs on compatables, before we aquired it it was sat in our local computer shop doing all their photo printing, its never had a genuine epson cartridge in it. the local shop doesnt even stock them.
we used to occasionally get problems with clogging in our old epson 640, which im sure was lack of use , it didnt like being sat unused for a month.
now wo do a lot more printing, weve also got a hp laserjet for black and white documents, so much quicker, but wont do colour or phote quality.

Compo, If your printer has run out of guarantee, then use compatibles. I have for years with all the diferent printers I've had. However, if still under guarantee, and it goes wrong the maker will not repair it free.

Generic cartridges in my experience are okay, although the blacks can occasionally produce slightly washed out images.

Out of interest, do colour lasers print on glossy photo paper / stickers etc? I was under the impression that they don't.

I tend to print mostly photos, which I nearly always either order online (via jessops / snapfish or photobox) or take to one of those in-store printers. The cost is tiny, and you get an excellent quality print. I have an old epson with generic cartridges for printing off the occasional letter / online receipt.

Worth noting that with whatever inkjet, frequent use means more efficient use of the ink, as it doesn't dry up & clog the heads.

Also worth bearing in mind that some brands don't allow their cartridges to be recycled (Epson!) Boo...

I have the same printer Compo, I used generic cartridges to print jam labels with, ok at first but the colours have now started to bleed into one another.

The originals are more expensive but much better especially if you want to keep documents or pictures for any length of time.

Well I have gone for one lot of good quality compatibles, I only print documents that usually end up elsewhere or being destroyed, the photo's are all burnt onto CD's so don't rely greatly on paper.

Compo

I too have an Epson printer currently the Photo RX620...all my previous printers have been Epson.

I tried other so-called compatable brand inks including refills and I found they clogged up the jets and I had either uneven printing or a bad mix of colours.

I now stick to the branded inks....no problems. Strange this topic should come up now as I have to stop off today the get a new pack of inks.