Update on ink usage for 2200.

[Leon Wittwer]

I've printed about 30452 square inches of print, almost all of it at 2280 dpi. Something over half was on the Epson premium lustre paper. Almost all the rest was on Epson enhanced matte paper. It did not appear that the different papers used significantly different amount of inks. It is now clear that the set of cartridges that came with the printer did not have as much ink as the later purchased cartridges. This first set may have had only about half of the ink per cartridge as later cartridges. If I take the last 19807 square inches, the ink usage was 4.1 light magenta, 3.55 light cyan, 3.45 light black, 2.25 yellow, 1.65 magenta, 2 cyan, 1.77 matte black, and 1.05 photo black cartridges. This comes out to about 1000 square inches per cartridge. Assuming $10.76 per cartridge, the costs are $0.86 and $0.26 for a 8x10 and 4x6 inch print, respectively. If I take the last 10000 square inches printed, I get very close to the same numbers indicating that my ink use stabilized after the first cartridge set was used up. To get total costs you must add the paper costs. Other info on the 2200 can be found at the following URL.
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1003&message=3399341

 

[WillieB38717]

Thanks.
--
WillieB

 

[Lewis Levin]

The very first cartridges you install give up a lot of their ink to charge the print heads of a new printer. Some of that ink is there to use, but the carts will read empty sooner. When you use your next set of carts, the heads have already been charged with ink so you use a higher percentage of the ink to print. I have been very pleased with ink consumption. I have been much less precise than Leon in my measurement but I think I might be obtaining costs about 80% of what he reports, but close enough and he has been rigorous.

I think we need to thank the competition with Canon to get Epson to provide separate ink tanks. Overall, even though a set is more expensive than a single cart, ink costs will be lower.

Not as low as if the carts were refillable. I used Generations 4 for over a year and went through less than 8 oz. of each color of ink. That's about $180 in over a year and hundreds of 8x10 prints.

But, the ultrachrome ink is unique and I doubt that Epson has any economic incentive to sell a bulk supply system. Too bad.

Still, I am very pleased with the results and happy to continue as is.

 

[Leon Wittwer]

The very first cartridges you install give up a lot of their ink to
charge the print heads of a new printer. Some of that ink is there
to use, but the carts will read empty sooner. When you use your
next set of carts, the heads have already been charged with ink so
you use a higher percentage of the ink to print. I have been very
pleased with ink consumption. I have been much less precise than
Leon in my measurement but I think I might be obtaining costs about
80% of what he reports, but close enough and he has been rigorous.

The charging time was only a couple of minutes. I very much doubt that 40-50% of all the ink cartridges were used in that time. In addition, when I change black inks, the printer charges the black nozzle with the new inks to flush the old inks. This process also does not seem to use much ink. Certainly it is nowhere near 40% of the cartridge capacity.

I think we need to thank the competition with Canon to get Epson to
provide separate ink tanks. Overall, even though a set is more
expensive than a single cart, ink costs will be lower.

Not as low as if the carts were refillable. I used Generations 4
for over a year and went through less than 8 oz. of each color of
ink. That's about $180 in over a year and hundreds of 8x10 prints.

But, the ultrachrome ink is unique and I doubt that Epson has any
economic incentive to sell a bulk supply system. Too bad.

Still, I am very pleased with the results and happy to continue as is.

 

[Woody W.]

Leon,

How much actual drainage impact is there when switching blacks? (I haven't found a local source of Matte Black yet, but I have some Watercolor paper I'm dying to try with it...)

The very first cartridges you install give up a lot of their ink to
charge the print heads of a new printer. Some of that ink is there
to use, but the carts will read empty sooner. When you use your
next set of carts, the heads have already been charged with ink so
you use a higher percentage of the ink to print. I have been very
pleased with ink consumption. I have been much less precise than
Leon in my measurement but I think I might be obtaining costs about
80% of what he reports, but close enough and he has been rigorous.

The charging time was only a couple of minutes. I very much doubt
that 40-50% of all the ink cartridges were used in that time. In
addition, when I change black inks, the printer charges the black
nozzle with the new inks to flush the old inks. This process also
does not seem to use much ink. Certainly it is nowhere near 40% of
the cartridge capacity.

I think we need to thank the competition with Canon to get Epson to
provide separate ink tanks. Overall, even though a set is more
expensive than a single cart, ink costs will be lower.

Not as low as if the carts were refillable. I used Generations 4
for over a year and went through less than 8 oz. of each color of
ink. That's about $180 in over a year and hundreds of 8x10 prints.

But, the ultrachrome ink is unique and I doubt that Epson has any
economic incentive to sell a bulk supply system. Too bad.

Still, I am very pleased with the results and happy to continue as is.

--

• Woody -

Eqiupment: Lots.

Favorite Quote: 'Never let the quest for the Perfect become the enemy of the Excellent'

 

[Woody W.]

One of my local CompUSA's just got some Matte Black. I grabbed their last two this evening!

How much actual drainage impact is there when switching blacks? (I
haven't found a local source of Matte Black yet, but I have some
Watercolor paper I'm dying to try with it...)

The very first cartridges you install give up a lot of their ink to
charge the print heads of a new printer. Some of that ink is there
to use, but the carts will read empty sooner. When you use your
next set of carts, the heads have already been charged with ink so
you use a higher percentage of the ink to print. I have been very
pleased with ink consumption. I have been much less precise than
Leon in my measurement but I think I might be obtaining costs about
80% of what he reports, but close enough and he has been rigorous.

The charging time was only a couple of minutes. I very much doubt
that 40-50% of all the ink cartridges were used in that time. In
addition, when I change black inks, the printer charges the black
nozzle with the new inks to flush the old inks. This process also
does not seem to use much ink. Certainly it is nowhere near 40% of
the cartridge capacity.

I think we need to thank the competition with Canon to get Epson to
provide separate ink tanks. Overall, even though a set is more
expensive than a single cart, ink costs will be lower.

Not as low as if the carts were refillable. I used Generations 4
for over a year and went through less than 8 oz. of each color of
ink. That's about $180 in over a year and hundreds of 8x10 prints.

But, the ultrachrome ink is unique and I doubt that Epson has any
economic incentive to sell a bulk supply system. Too bad.

Still, I am very pleased with the results and happy to continue as is.

--

• Woody -

Eqiupment: Lots.
Favorite Quote: 'Never let the quest for the Perfect become the
enemy of the Excellent'

--

• Woody -

Eqiupment: Lots.

Favorite Quote: 'Never let the quest for the Perfect become the enemy of the Excellent'

 

[Leon Wittwer]

The ink lost during a switch is too small to see in my measurements. I doubt if there is much ink at all in the nozzle system so it doesn't take long to flush. Seems to be a non-problem.

How much actual drainage impact is there when switching blacks? (I
haven't found a local source of Matte Black yet, but I have some
Watercolor paper I'm dying to try with it...)

The very first cartridges you install give up a lot of their ink to
charge the print heads of a new printer. Some of that ink is there
to use, but the carts will read empty sooner. When you use your
next set of carts, the heads have already been charged with ink so
you use a higher percentage of the ink to print. I have been very
pleased with ink consumption. I have been much less precise than
Leon in my measurement but I think I might be obtaining costs about
80% of what he reports, but close enough and he has been rigorous.

The charging time was only a couple of minutes. I very much doubt
that 40-50% of all the ink cartridges were used in that time. In
addition, when I change black inks, the printer charges the black
nozzle with the new inks to flush the old inks. This process also
does not seem to use much ink. Certainly it is nowhere near 40% of
the cartridge capacity.

I think we need to thank the competition with Canon to get Epson to
provide separate ink tanks. Overall, even though a set is more
expensive than a single cart, ink costs will be lower.

Not as low as if the carts were refillable. I used Generations 4
for over a year and went through less than 8 oz. of each color of
ink. That's about $180 in over a year and hundreds of 8x10 prints.

But, the ultrachrome ink is unique and I doubt that Epson has any
economic incentive to sell a bulk supply system. Too bad.

Still, I am very pleased with the results and happy to continue as is.

--

• Woody -

Eqiupment: Lots.
Favorite Quote: 'Never let the quest for the Perfect become the
enemy of the Excellent'

--

• Woody -

Eqiupment: Lots.
Favorite Quote: 'Never let the quest for the Perfect become the
enemy of the Excellent'

 

[Peter Carey]

Thanks for the analytical info Leon! I'm just getting through my first LM and LC carts. and was going to try to start to figure this out. This gives a nice baseline.

pwc

I've printed about 30452 square inches of print, almost all of it
at 2280 dpi. Something over half was on the Epson premium lustre
paper. Almost all the rest was on Epson enhanced matte paper. It
did not appear that the different papers used significantly
different amount of inks. It is now clear that the set of
cartridges that came with the printer did not have as much ink as
the later purchased cartridges. This first set may have had only
about half of the ink per cartridge as later cartridges. If I take
the last 19807 square inches, the ink usage was 4.1 light magenta,
3.55 light cyan, 3.45 light black, 2.25 yellow, 1.65 magenta, 2
cyan, 1.77 matte black, and 1.05 photo black cartridges. This
comes out to about 1000 square inches per cartridge. Assuming
$10.76 per cartridge, the costs are $0.86 and $0.26 for a 8x10 and
4x6 inch print, respectively. If I take the last 10000 square
inches printed, I get very close to the same numbers indicating
that my ink use stabilized after the first cartridge set was used
up. To get total costs you must add the paper costs. Other info on
the 2200 can be found at the following URL.
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1003&message=3399341

 

[Marty Scher B]

If the Best Buy (and other stores too) guardians of the print cartridge isles are being truthful, The then the initial cartridges that come with the printers are not always full.

Not so much as to save on ink, but to get you to buy a refill much sooner.

Just a thought

The very first cartridges you install give up a lot of their ink to
charge the print heads of a new printer. Some of that ink is there
to use, but the carts will read empty sooner. When you use your
next set of carts, the heads have already been charged with ink so
you use a higher percentage of the ink to print. I have been very
pleased with ink consumption. I have been much less precise than
Leon in my measurement but I think I might be obtaining costs about
80% of what he reports, but close enough and he has been rigorous.

The charging time was only a couple of minutes. I very much doubt
that 40-50% of all the ink cartridges were used in that time. In
addition, when I change black inks, the printer charges the black
nozzle with the new inks to flush the old inks. This process also
does not seem to use much ink. Certainly it is nowhere near 40% of
the cartridge capacity.

I think we need to thank the competition with Canon to get Epson to
provide separate ink tanks. Overall, even though a set is more
expensive than a single cart, ink costs will be lower.

Not as low as if the carts were refillable. I used Generations 4
for over a year and went through less than 8 oz. of each color of
ink. That's about $180 in over a year and hundreds of 8x10 prints.

But, the ultrachrome ink is unique and I doubt that Epson has any
economic incentive to sell a bulk supply system. Too bad.

Still, I am very pleased with the results and happy to continue as is.