Epson printer:ink low warning?

[Lani]

Anyone got an Epson printer, and know how much ink is probably left when you get the ink low warning? I have the R800. Cynical me gets the feeling there is probably more left than what the manufacturers lead you to believe.

[pgbphotographytas]

I don't personally have an Epson but I have dealt with a few of them at work, generally they are fairly close to the mark, others like HP's can give you false readings quite often

Paul

[Lani]

Well I have kept on going so I guess I'll find out. Michael reckoned it meant there was about 15% left?

[pgbphotographytas]

Well I have kept on going so I guess I'll find out. Michael reckoned it meant there was about 15% left?

I think normally they come on anywhere form 5% - 20% depending on make and model.

[Lani]

I'm on my last A4 print so hopefully it will make it that far.

[phild]

I have an R1800, and I can tell you that there is enough left in the cartridges for users to get together in the US and conduct a class action against Epson.

Despite agreeing to settle for a compensation package valued at more than US$350 million, Epson maintained it had done nothing wrong and that it kept extra ink in its toner cartridges in order to "maintain print quality and reliability."

FWIW there is a nice little utility that reads the cartridges and can supposedly be used to reset the chip counters on some models. You can download the SSC service utility free from here.
Read about the class action here.

[Lani]

Thanks Phil, had a look at that site, but it says the reset utility won't work on newer printers, including R800. Unfortunately.

Do you keep printing until it just stops, then change cartridges or when the warning thingy comes up?

As far as the class action goes, there was obviously substance to the claim. I wonder if that forced them to improve the software.

[Seesee]

My Canon Pixma does same and usually I estimate about 10% left to use..I just keep using until it simply refuses to go into print mode.

[MarkW]

At least with some of the later model Epson printers you can run the printer dry of ink without the print action stopping. This happens on my C8330. My current Epson - R1900 - wont tolerate running out of ink as its a pigment not dye ink user. As the head is in the machine not in the cartridge, running out of ink can be a nightmare trying to clean it out.