What about Epson printers?

About 4 years ago, I decided to purchase a new printer. I had an older HP printer that I was using. It had 2 cartridges-one color and one black. I was constantly running out of the "blue" in the color cartridge before I used up the "yellow" and "red" part of the cartridge. I found an Epson printer that was reasonably priced that had separate cartridges for the colors.

As far as printing, the Epson does a great job. However, I have most recently noticed how much colored ink that I go through without a lot of printing. I had to buy ink again this last weekend. I decided to research to find out why I am going through so much ink.

I do not print much of anything. I am very careful as to what items I print whether it be for school or for printing coupons. I only print off items that I know I plan on using because I do know how expensive my ink is (usual price is about $20 for the black cartridge and $50 for the 3 different color cartridges). Also, I noticed that despite my previous years of printing experience in always running out of blue before any of the other colors, I always show equal use of all the color cartridges with this printer.

After 4 years, I have finally realized there is a problem. I began researching my current Epson CX4800 printer online. In my research, here are some of the interesting things that I discovered for anyone considering purchasing an Epson:

1) I found out that the color cartridges are used every time you print whether you are printing in color or just black and white. I find myself running out of colored ink and rarely using the color. Here is what I found out from the Epson website.

Q: A color ink cartridge is expended even though I print in black only. Why does this happen?
A: To keep the print head clear and ready to print, the printer uses a small amount of ink from all the cartridges whenever it prints. Even if you select Black ink Only, some color ink is still being used.

This helped to explain why I was always running out of color even though I did not use them.

2) Also, I found that even if I only ran out of the color cartridges or the black cartridge, the printer would not work. Epson is made so that when you run out of ink in any cartridge, you can not print at all, and it can not be by-passed. Here is what the website said:

Q:Can the printer still print if an ink cartridge is expended or not installed?
A: No. The printer will not operate if any cartridge is expended or removed. It’s best to always have extra cartridges on hand.

I visited the local Staples this past weekend to check into various printers. I found that, while the particular printer that I was looking at did not offer the separate color cartridge option, one positive thing with HP is that you can print even if your color cartridge runs out. You can even take out the color cartridge and still print in black and white or gray-scale. Therefore, as long as you have ink in one of the cartridges, you can still use your printer.

Anyway...I just wanted to share my findings on the Epson.