Now that I have the proper profile, great results

Tom-C wrote:

In their test they printed 200 8x10s. That is a long enough test to have averaged out any overhead ink usage.

That isn't a factor in this comparison. Any extra prints you make to get it right would apply whether you do it yourself or have someone else do it. Let's say that it takes two tries to get it right. If using an outside service such as AdoramaPix, you would send off the file and wait a few days to get it. Then make any needed adjustments and send it off again. That comes back OK after another few days. So you can then send off the final order in quantity and wait again for a few days. Each of those first two prints will have not only cost time, but would have cost more money than the same two trial prints you could make with your R2000.

The issue of the waste tank is another matter.

I bought an Epson R2400 when it first came out, nearly 8 years ago. I used it as my only photo printer for all those years until I retired it a few months ago. In all that time, it just worked. I never bothered to do nozzle checks because they were always good. The waste tank message finally came up after 7 years use. I found a resetter program and reset the printer and continued to use it. It takes a very long time for the waste tank to fill. Most people would have replaced the printer sooner than 7 years and thus never encountered the waste ink message.

Based on my experience, it was a mystery to me why people worried so much about the waste tank. But then I saw some comments from people using non-oem ink with refillable cartridges. For whatever reason, it appeared that head cleaning used a lot more ink from those cartridges. So perhaps the waste tank issues some people report were related to the refillable cartridges. I doubt the type of ink used would be a factor. But non-Epson ink pretty much implies non-Epson ink cartridges of some type.

In any case, I always just used Epson ink and cartridges in my R2400. And I went for 7 years before getting a message about the waste ink.

Tom