Why the big variation in page yields?

[StillStihl]

I'm talking about business/office printers and printing, rather than photo printing, as I'm in the process of replacing my Epson ET-16680.

I'm a little baffled by the big variation in pages per ml, so for example, one Epson workforce inkjet model might yield 12,000 pages at 5% coverage from a 200ml cartridge, while another might yield 20,000 from a 275ml cartridge and a third one 13,000 from a 300ml cartridge.

Some pretty simple maths tells you that there's quite a difference between how many pages each produces per ml, so what's going on here?

 

[wilberforce_1]

Although page yields are supposed to be done for ISO std of 5% coverage, it is up to manufacturer to decide at what ink density or dpi. So the manufacturers game the system by quoting the page yields for the lowest ink density and dpi the particular printer can produce, which is almost never how it is actually used. I therefore think the quoted page yields are essentially useless information, and it is more meaningful to simply look at cost per ml of ink. This number cannot be fudged.

Good luck trying to compare page yields and costs of laser printers with inkjet printers.