In Oct 2004 we bought a $99 Epson Stylus CX4600 color inkjet printer, a dramatic upgrade from our seven-year-old 400. We only upgraded because it was getting darn hard to find ink for the 400, but this was before the Cartridge World refill franchise was on Oahu.
18 months later (out of warranty) the 4600 plugged up. I followed all the troubleshooting techniques on various websites but noticed that the long-term solution was "Bitch at Epson, they'll ask you to mail it in for repairs, and they'll give you a 4800". So we sent in the 4600 and meanwhile bought a second 4800 for $128 to keep the teenager's graphics department science project perking along. Eight weeks and two phone calls later Epson "repaired" the 4600 by sending a free 4800 (our second). The advantage of two 4800s is that we now had eight full ink cartridges, basically two free printers for the retail cost of four cartridges, and I could hot-swap them if they plugged up again.
The CX4800s lasted almost a year before we started having the same symptoms. This time the problem, whatever the heck it was, took out both of them. Each was plugged in the same way even with different inkjet color cartridges. Each would sorta clear up after copious head cleanings (half a cartridge or more, and that uses the same amount of ink from all four cartridges even if just one head is clogged) and would clog again in a day or two. It didn't matter if we were using Epson retail ink or Cartridge World $8 refills.
We got through the #$%^ing science project after a lot of arguing (pretty pictures with crappy analysis) plus a little help from Kinko's. Those photos & spreadsheets sure looked impressive, but luckily her science teacher joined in with a resounding "C" grade on data analysis & conclusions. Hopefully future research will depend more on the quality of the analysis and less on the photos.
Total cost over the last 30 months? A $99 printer, a $128 printer, and $443.31 of ink. (Yes, that's over four hundred dollars.) I was also pretty darn tired of late nights & teen tantrums over every page of paper that went through the alleged "color" inkjet.
So over the last couple months I've searched old threads on color lasers, looked on the Web, consulted an expert or two, and narrowed the field. I was all set to do my usual nuclear-engineering LBYM analysis of the merits of the various models, shipping costs to Hawaii, and the deals available at all Oahu military bases.
Then I said "Screw it, what are we saving it for?" and went to Costco to get our Friday-night pizza. After looking over their extensive selection (two models) we bought a HP 2605dn for $410 (after a $75 rebate). If this doesn't work out over the next couple months then we'll return it and start over, but at least I'm out of the graphics-arts tech support business.
It's a big sucker, it uses a lot of energy to heat the toner drums, and it's going to stay turned off most of the time. But each cartridge is expected to produce 2000 pages, which should get us through at least two more science projects years of color printing. In the meantime we'll keep using the CX4800 for scanning, faxing, and B&W printing until it runs out of black ink. If we get through the next two years without having any material problems or cartridge replacements then we'll be way ahead of the inkjet scam game.
I should be writing off printer ink as an educational expense...
18 months later (out of warranty) the 4600 plugged up. I followed all the troubleshooting techniques on various websites but noticed that the long-term solution was "Bitch at Epson, they'll ask you to mail it in for repairs, and they'll give you a 4800". So we sent in the 4600 and meanwhile bought a second 4800 for $128 to keep the teenager's graphics department science project perking along. Eight weeks and two phone calls later Epson "repaired" the 4600 by sending a free 4800 (our second). The advantage of two 4800s is that we now had eight full ink cartridges, basically two free printers for the retail cost of four cartridges, and I could hot-swap them if they plugged up again.
The CX4800s lasted almost a year before we started having the same symptoms. This time the problem, whatever the heck it was, took out both of them. Each was plugged in the same way even with different inkjet color cartridges. Each would sorta clear up after copious head cleanings (half a cartridge or more, and that uses the same amount of ink from all four cartridges even if just one head is clogged) and would clog again in a day or two. It didn't matter if we were using Epson retail ink or Cartridge World $8 refills.
We got through the #$%^ing science project after a lot of arguing (pretty pictures with crappy analysis) plus a little help from Kinko's. Those photos & spreadsheets sure looked impressive, but luckily her science teacher joined in with a resounding "C" grade on data analysis & conclusions. Hopefully future research will depend more on the quality of the analysis and less on the photos.
Total cost over the last 30 months? A $99 printer, a $128 printer, and $443.31 of ink. (Yes, that's over four hundred dollars.) I was also pretty darn tired of late nights & teen tantrums over every page of paper that went through the alleged "color" inkjet.
So over the last couple months I've searched old threads on color lasers, looked on the Web, consulted an expert or two, and narrowed the field. I was all set to do my usual nuclear-engineering LBYM analysis of the merits of the various models, shipping costs to Hawaii, and the deals available at all Oahu military bases.
Then I said "Screw it, what are we saving it for?" and went to Costco to get our Friday-night pizza. After looking over their extensive selection (two models) we bought a HP 2605dn for $410 (after a $75 rebate). If this doesn't work out over the next couple months then we'll return it and start over, but at least I'm out of the graphics-arts tech support business.
It's a big sucker, it uses a lot of energy to heat the toner drums, and it's going to stay turned off most of the time. But each cartridge is expected to produce 2000 pages, which should get us through at least two more science projects years of color printing. In the meantime we'll keep using the CX4800 for scanning, faxing, and B&W printing until it runs out of black ink. If we get through the next two years without having any material problems or cartridge replacements then we'll be way ahead of the inkjet scam game.
I should be writing off printer ink as an educational expense...
