Here's some information that might be of interest to digital photographers who use the Epson Stylus Photo Printer 1280. I have been using after-market inks in this printer for several years now, and have not had any mechanical problems with my printer. The Chinese inks seem to rival the quality of genuine Epson dye inks, and of course, are much cheaper. Their greatest disadvantage is poor achievability. That is, don't expect to get more than a couple of years without fading. I have found, however, that using matte paper seems to drastically increase the life of the photograph. By "life" I mean some of my photos using the bogus inks on glossy paper have faded in less than one year, but those I printed on Epson matte paper have lasted more than two years with no evidence of fade.
The bottom line is: If you do a lot of printing and proofing for short life, or just print pictures for club competitions, then you can save lots of money by using the after-market inks. I have used inks sold on the internet from
www.inksell.com ,
www.inkblvd.com , and
www.inkgrabber.com . The cost is phenomenally low. Right now, I'm using the cartridges from INKGRABBER. A black cartridge cost $3.50 and a color cartridge cost $4.25. Shipping is by USPS and runs between 3-4 dollars.
I cannot speak for any other printer except the Epson Stylus Photo 1280 (dye based inkjet).
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