Mark (that would be MHMG-Mark), did you find the same thing with the pro-100, or is it more of a pigment ink issue?
BTW, is it possible that removing and re-inserting an ink tank triggers some sort of flushing? I've hestitated to pull tanks to check the level on my pro-100 because of this... there does seem to be a churning-pumping phase after replacing a tank. Presumably this may be different on a machine with remote tanks and tube-feed to sub-tanks and the heads.
The Pro-100, despite its small cartridge sizes, is far more economical on ink consumption in low use situations. If it has any preemptive cleaning cycles, they are few and far between and only consume a minimal amount of ink. I have not been able to identify any serious preemptive cleaning issues with my Pro-100. My amortization study on the Pro-100 is also ongoing but on track to put the Pro-100 in a "best in class" cost of ownership category for low volume users. This is indeed one advantage of a dye-based printer for users who don't expect to print on an almost daily or weekly basis. I did also recently acquire a Epson P-400, and it is also off to a great start for overall economy. It will definitely end up with significantly lower cost of ownership compared to my Epson P600. The P600 is reasonably economical and remarkably free of auto clean cycles once one gets past the first dozen or so prints (air in the lines is the issue, I believe not clogging, but the P600's economy is highly dependent on keeping PK/MK ink switching to a minimum. The PK/MK issue is more than just the 1.5 to 3ml of ink used to make the switch. It turns out that the P600 will not allow the ink switch if any one or more of the cartridges is at or below about 5% remaining on the ink level indicator. Few, if any, reviews of this printer, have picked up on that subtle "feature". So, to make the ink switch one has to discard any low cartridges, and in in one instance I had four low cartridges, so that meant discarding several ml of ink to make the switch conveniently at the moment I intended not to mention the additional ink used once the new cartridges were installed and the switch then took place automatically.
To your point about the cartridge removal causing a cleaning or priming cycle. Yes, different models handle it differently, and I've been studying that issue carefully. The P600 definitely initiates a priming cycle every time a cartridge is reinstalled, which in turn means that those low ink cartridges i discarded at one PK/MK ink switch are most likely not worth reinstalling in the printer to try to use up that residual ink. It's a game of diminishing returns, and I believe Epson knows the true "point of no return" is when the ink level indicators flag their little yellow triangle warning. A flagged cartridge still has enough ink left at that point to produce several or more good prints if you just run down the printer until it refuses to print, but again, getting at that last amount of ink in each cartridge is not really advisable when it coincides with a desired PK/MK ink switch. Bottom line: Buy two P600's or one P400 and one P600 if you like to print regularly on both matte and glossy media
The Canon Pro-1 is a different animal altogether. It does not appear to automatically induce a priming or cleaning cycle when I remove then reinstall the cartridge. Canon tech support hinted that it may when I discussed my concerns at length with them about how much ink my Pro-1 was wasting, but I then did specific experiments to confirm whether their comments were true, and it was a mixed bag. More often than not, a cartridge removal and reinstallation did not induce a priming cycle other than normal pressurization that the printer does ahead of every print, but in view of their comments, I've now backed way off on the weighing procedures, and now monitor the preemptive cleaning cycles by measuring the time it takes to initiate a print feed. If it takes more than one minute before the media is fed from the tray, you know the Pro-1 is doing more than just pressurizing the lines. It's performing at least one light duty cleaning which will occur with certainty if the Pro-1 has not been run in two days (I believe the first "cleaning" timer cycle is set to go off after 60 hours of non use, i.e. 2.5 days exactly).
For any folks who have been keeping score, you know that I now have four different 13 inch printer models in my studio right now, each with a unique ink set that I am testing. All can print on a wide variety of media and are advertised and reviewed as such, but it's clear to me that each one of these printers has a real sweet spot for what it does best. The Pro-100 is fabulous for RC media and for anyone who wants to precisely nail the "traditional photo finished look", not so much for matte fine art due to a weak Dmax (no MK ink in the Pro-100) and very restrictive Fine Art matte paper margins. The P-400 is the best "all around" model for low to moderate users who want to print regularly on both matte and glossy and care about print longevity as well. It's also got the best gloss optimizer in the industry, IMHO, but its lack of photo gray inks means it's not competitive for B&W print making with generic profiles. However, if you take the time to produce a great custom profile, then the P400 can indeed make a really decent B&W as well. The Pro-1 is best suited for very frequent higher volume use and glossy/luster media only. It also has four level photo gray inks compared to Epson's three level grays, and thus does best-in-class print quality at "out of the box" B&W printing with no additional heroics required. That said, the P600 can rival the Pro-1's B&W quality if one starts using advanced techniques like QTR to make B&W prints with the P600. Those advanced B&W techniques aren't available to Pro-1 users. Also, while the Pro-1 will indeed switch with no penalty between MK and PK, but that may be a moot point to low volume users who will lose massive amounts of inks to constant cleaning cycles on the Pro-1. Also, the Pro-1's hugely restrictive fine art media margins makes it a rather poor choice for anyone who likes to print on fine art matte media. The P600 is a far better choice in that regard.
If I had to pick a favorite 13 inch printer or recommend one to a friend from what I have learned to date, it would probably be the P400. The P400 can even serve as a light duty office printer in a pinch when you need to do some plain paper printing since it has no ink switch issue or weird paper margin limits. The P400's Gloss optimizer is so impressive, that I've even begun using the P400 as a convenient GO coater for my glossy/luster P600 prints (eliminates the need for Post treatment sprays like Print shield). If you can afford it, the P400 and P600 make a very complementary pair of 13 inch photo printers to have around. I'm actually somewhat surprised Epson has not put the GO into any bigger printer models to date (think Z3200 type configuration
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cheers,
Mark
http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com
