Genuine vs. generic inks for epson printers

I've been cranking out portfolio's for potential employers, using my

photo 780 for the full page prints. However, I'm finding this

prohibitively expensive using retail prices of $20/$23 for

color/black cartridges. I'm intrigued by the price of some

generics, and I hear rave reviews by some of them-but I need

consistency and quality printing at 1440dpi.

 

Has anyone found a generic source that can rival genuine epson inks

in consistency and quality? Or found a source for genuine cartidges

that is significantly less than retail?

I have tried some generic inks for the Epson, specifically the Rhinotek. The ink worked fine but the profiles that I used for Epson inks were way way off. Given the pain of profiling a bunch of papers I think that the cost savings will be minimal. Consistency is another big selling point for Epson, since the knock off guys probably don't have as much run-run control as Epson. On the other hand, you could probably buy enough carts from the same lot to make it worthwhile, particularly since the portfolios don't need 20+ year life.

Bill

You can get the color ink for $15.40 from Buy.com, just enter the T008201 in the search. The black is $19.03, just enter T007201. There may be some others on the web that are cheaper, but I doubt by much. The generics are only about $1-$2 cheaper than this so I wouldn't consider them over the genuine ink.<br>

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Larry

Actually you can get generics for like $2-$4, which (if anyone has had comparative experience) would be a significant savings.

 

Thanks for the tip.

I've yet to see many rave reviews. Except from the folk who make the inks.. :)

 

My experience with generics is that, as above, the color balance is significantly 'wrecked' and the capacities are also not as good so there's a bit of false economy. I also hear from computer repair houses that severely clogged printers are very frequently found with generic carts in them. But of course that may just indicate the type of user who doesn't look after their printer properly is also likely to buy the cheapest carts..

 

I went down this path for a VERY short time only.

 

mt

I have been using generic ink cartridges in my Epson 740 for over two years, printing letters etc. Recently I got back into photography, and tried them for my photos. I couldn�t see the difference between the Epson, and the Generic cartridges. I have never had a priner problem. I buy them from www.123inkjets.com and am paying $5.77, and $7.77 each for B&W, and color, and they paid the shipping. I just ordered some more yesterday.