Shelf Life of installed Ink Carts?

[One Frame at a Time]

Hi,

Follow up to all my recent posts in trying to select a printer.  What are the rated shelf life of the inks from HP and Canon?  Epson specs 2 years sealed and only 6 months open.  I know that others report that 6 months is very conservative but I am concerned about not using my printer for extended periods.  No way that I will blow through all 9 or 12 inks every 6 months.  That makes me wonder about support, if I have problems and the inks are past their expiration dates...  

Also wondering: am I going in the wrong direction with the pigment based inks?  I see Epson just came out with a new series of dye printers.  Can only go to 13" which is not what I really want.  But, I have had good luck with the dye printers unused for 4 months while I am away traveling.  Any word if a  17 or 24 inch dye printer is on the horizon (if this is a better ink set for my needs)?  I can live with 50year + light fastness.  No one has yet offered me thousands of dollars for my prints....

If the inkset is not a real concern then I guess I am leaning towards the 3800.  Epson has been really good to me in the past for support matters.  Canon on the other hand, seems to be much less responsive from reading many of the posts on the forums.  The 5000 does seem like a good printer though if you have no support needs.

Thanks (again),

Paul

paulsgallery.smugmug.com

[Jim_H_WY]

Hi.

Canon seems to have the same sort of ink tank longevity suggestions as Epson.  A couple of years sealed in their packages and six months after opening the package.

I was worried about the life for installed cartridges too before buying the iPF5000.  To me, it seemed like I'd never go through that much ink in six months.  So I hope that they do last longer than the six month suggestion.

One thing that the iPF5000 does which should help is that it stirs the ink in the ink tanks periodically through a clever use of the ink pumping system and a baffle that's built into each of the ink tanks.  So settling out of the particles in the tanks themselves should not be a problem.

The ink that's in the tubing and the heads could settle, though, so you probably should still try to print enough to keep that purged with stirred ink.  My guesstimate is that there's about 35 ml of ink (of each color) in the tubing and heads.

What concerns me as much as the ink longevity now, however, is finding out that Canon recommends that the printheads be replaced 12 months after their package is opened.  The heads seem to retail for $560 to $640 apiece and there are two of them.  Nobody yet knows if this "12 months after you open the package" is a very conservative recommendation or if we'll all be faced with dead heads at 13 months no matter how much printing we've done.

I guess we'll know the answers to all of this for both the Epsons and the Canons in a year or so.  Meanwhile, the worst case estimate with the iPF5000:  $1200 annually for heads + $1700 annually for fresh ink - no matter how little you print.

That kind of makes the price of the printer seem trivial.

I better start making prints for sale and really working this beast hard

Jim H.

[colinm]

It's probably worth mentioning that at least for the Epson inks and Canon's older dye inks (can't speak to LUCIA), the six month "expiration" doesn't indicate the inks are going to suddenly become useless. Rather, it's the time period after which you'll start to conceivably see a decrease in accurate color rendition.

If the ink you've got loaded is still making acceptable prints, it's not imperative to pitch it just because 180 days (give or take a few) have elapsed.

And you're on the right track, Jim: If you can make and sell enough prints, you'll never even have to worry about it.

[Ernst Dinkla]

Hi.

Canon seems to have the same sort of ink tank longevity suggestions as Epson.  A couple of years sealed in their packages and six months after opening the package.

Jim H.
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

But will Canon replace a cart if it fails ? I thought that there was quite a customer uproar on their policy.

[a href=\"http://canonipf5000.wikispaces.com/]http://canonipf5000.wikispaces.com/[/url]

See 4th consideration before buying.


HP Z3100 carts come with the following text on the Twin pack in Europe:

"Cartridge expires 18 months after date of installation if installed prior to "install by" date on the package. If installed after such date, cartridge will expire in less than 18 months. Ink cartridge limited warranty end 6 months after "install by" date. See insert or retailer for details."

The Twin Pack I bought two weeks ago has "Singapore December 2008" inkjet printed on the carton. So in this case I think it means 18 months when installed now and 37 months shelf life but in worst case zero life when installed then. If someone for an odd reason wants to stretch that period fully he should install the cart 30-11-2008 and still get the 18 months of cart in printer life: total 37 months from date of purchase.

The software shows warranty/no warranty for the carts and heads.

Ernst Dinkla

try:  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Wide_Inkjet_Printers/

[Jim_H_WY]

That is certainly a concern for the Canons.

Ink carts and even printheads are considered by Canon to be "consumables" and have NO warranty whatsoever here in the US.

So far, there have been mixed results when people try to get replacements for defective ink cartridges.  It seems to be better now than it was initially with recent reports stating that bad ink carts have been replaced by Canon with no hassle at all.  Perhaps Canon has taken these concerns to heart.

Some dealers have been replacing defective cartridges all along with no problems too.  It's been Canon themselves who have been the problem.  So it is highly recommended that you purchase these printers from reputable dealers.  There is a list of known-good dealers on the Wiki.

I just checked the ink cartridges that I received most recently and they appear to all have "install before" dates that are at least one year from now, but not much longer than that.  So it may be that "about one year in the package and six months once installed" is typical for the Canon carts for the iPF5000.

So far, there have been no reports of heads going bad after a printer is up and running properly.  However, in the one instance I can remember of heads going bad very early, those heads were replaced by Canon with no problem.  But it's still a very big concern that Canon's written warranty specifically states that there is NO warranty for heads or ink carts.

Because of this non-warranty, Canon can actually do whatever they want in any particular case.  That's not very reassuring.  I greatly prefer HP's warranty coverage for heads and ink.  Members of the Wiki have been hoping that Canon will rectify their official warranty so that heads and ink are covered.  But so far, nothing has changed.

I feel like I'm beating a dead horse every time I even mention any of this, but it truly is a big concern that most people feel needs to be addressed by Canon if they intend to be competitive in this market.  Most people are just not interested in gambling with this amount of money.

Jim H.