Continuous ink system

gphotography

gphotography

Suspended / Banned
Messages
95
Name
G
Edit My Images
Yes
Hi Guys, no doubt this has been asked before. Can anyone recommend a good continuous ink system for an Epson R1800? I don't do much home printing, only letters, proofs, posters etc but from what I can see it's cheaper than buying ink cartridges all the time.
 
CIS is much cheaper to run, but but they are not for everyone.
You need a bit of a technical inclination to install and they are prone to bubbles / blockages.
I have a weekly reminder to do some printing which has sorted out most of the blockages and experimentation with tank height sorted out the bubbles.
Most of the main photographic CIS suppliers seems to be similarly featured and priced; there are cheaper systems which may suit your needs, but I don't have experience of them.
Duncan (R1900 with a Lyson CIS)
 
Last edited:
Fotospeed's CIS System is excellent. I use it with the R2400 with no issues. They do custom profiles for their papers too and if you use a third party paper make a call and they will likely give you a free custom profile if you take their ink system.

The issue though is if you only print the few things you note above, is a cheap colour laser printer not a far better option?

If you use the R1800 for printing photographs then fine the CIS will save you - but if you just print flyers, letters etc, a colour laser is the way to go. Image qulaity is surprisingly good on plain papers (although not like a proper photo)

I have the R2400 for my images and use a Lexmark C544DN for letters, newsletters, flyers etc.
 
EOS_JD said:
Fotospeed's CIS System is excellent. I use it with the R2400 with no issues. They do custom profiles for their papers too and if you use a third party paper make a call and they will likely give you a free custom profile if you take their ink system.
Click to expand...

That's one of the other main CIS vendors that I was thinking of.
A lot of people around here use them as they are reasonably local and when there is a problem they can nip over there and get them to sort it out for them.

Will they get a problem? Yes...
Everybody I know has had a problem at some point or other and about half the people I know no longer use their CIS because of ongoing problems.
The profiling thing isn't a luxury, it's a necessity and setting up the PC to use the profile baffles a lot of people.
Hence I always caveat my CIS recommendation with being technically minded enough to sort the niggles out.

As I said earlier; going by what I've seen, no one make of CIS (or printer) is significantly better than the others.
They all produce great results for very little money.
But all the systems give problems from time to time.

Edited to add...
I like the colour laser suggestion :thumbs:
I just Googled them and hadn't realised how sensibly priced they were!
Looks like a really good option for the OP.
 
Last edited:
Colour lasers can be had for less than £100 these days! I think I paid about £200 as I wanted networking and duplex (although that doesn't seem to be working right)!

I can't get cheap toner bottles for my lexmark. I'd suggest looking to see what printes you can get cheap toners for then looking at the price of printers.

My toner cartridges are pretty expensive although they do last for qwuite a long time.

Regards the CIS - One issue I had with clogging was the height of the bottles is quie crucial. Once I got that right it's never been an issue. Yes if I don't print regularly i do get nozzle issues (but that was the same with my Epson inks)! It just takes a quick clea and all done.

I'm relatively happy with my CIS and have been using it for about 3 or 4 years. I've spent £600 on ink but the equivalent amount of Epson ink is about £3k!!!

So a massive saving!
 
As I am considering a CIS, can you giove a biot more info about the optimum height of the bottles please? Also, I think only one system, the Permajet (?) has a clamp on the ink lines...does this make any difference? Anyone have any experience of the Epson R3000 compared to other systems...the R3000 doesn't have moving ink lines?
 
The R3000 uses a cartridge refill system I believe. The height they suggested was an inch above the ridge at the bottom of the 2400 - the bottom of the bottes (not the legs) is 2" from the table level.

Seems to work fine for me.

Check the Fotospeed web site for info on the R3000.
 
Thanks guys. I want to keep my Epson as it's A3 & I do my DVD labels on it. I have been looking at the Fotospeed set up but was wondering what apart from the price was the difference between the dye & pigment inks?
 
Give them a call and ask. I guess the pigment inks have better archival properties - I don't use the dye inks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top