Best refillable system for 3800 (European)

[steveclv]

I need to find a decent alternative to the original Epson cartridges that are about to run out on my Epson 3800 - I have seen several US systems described and recommended but shipping cost to Europe plus taxes and duty makes them very expensive.

Are there any European supplies of a decent refillable system with good quality inks?

Thanks

[Some Guy]

I bought a set of empty refillables with the chips for about $75 off of eBay to use with my second printer.  Looks to be very much like the Inkjetmall ones too which I paid about $180 for.  The place was either China or Hong Kong and they sold pigment ink for the printers too.  Took about two weeks to get them.  No knowledge of their ink though as I use the Inkjet mall stuff, both pigment and dye.

I did find with the Inkjetmall ink, the ink bottles have a soft rubber tip that you can just use with their long needles (with green fitting) for their 60ml syringes to fill the carts.  No need for the syringe ever once you get past the first fill and initial prime.  Put the needle on the end of the bottle tip and you're good to go.  Didn't read anywhere of that in the instructions, but it just happens to work well for refilling and topping off and less mess cleaning up.

I'd also get an extra bottle of Photo Black too.  Seems to always be the first I run out of.

Fwiw, I put a 2" piece of clear tape over the tops of the carts where the chip and Epson chip reside, just not over the contacts.  The snap in tops on the refillables don't sit fully flush with the top and can cause issues at that joint removing them out of the printer if not taped down and the joint covered.  Makes it a lot easier.

SG

[RachelleK]

I need to find a decent alternative to the original Epson cartridges that are about to run out on my Epson 3800 - I have seen several US systems described and recommended but shipping cost to Europe plus taxes and duty makes them very expensive.

Are there any European supplies of a decent refillable system with good quality inks?

Thanks

I think there is now a European distributor for Cone Inks.  You might try the InkJetMall website.

http://www.conecolor.com/wheretobuy.html

or

http://inkjetsolution.eu/en_US/c/For-Epson-3800/45

[shadowblade]

Try these:

http://www.americaninkjetsystems2.com/store1/ultramaxii_ultra_wide_gamut_ink_prices_for_epson_38_48_98_series.html

Having seen a few prints made from these inks, I can definitely say that the gamut exceeds that of the Ultrachrome K3 set, especially in the greens and teals. The five-colour inkset (CMYK, plus green, plus light colours) has a similar gamut to the Ultrachrome HDR inkset.

I can't vouch for the longevity of these prints, though. Apparently Edward Loedding (a painter, rather than a photographer) has a varnished canvas that's been hanging outside on a south-facing wall in Vermont (i.e. direct sunlight) for four years with no discernible change in the colours, and there are other reports of it outlasting solvent prints. Certainly, Scott Saltman - the developer of these inks - is a wizard with inkjet printers and inks, and his inkjet cleaning fluid clears clogs like no other. But, until someone sends in some prints for testing, it's hard to say much more than that.

But they're probably at least as good as any other third-party colour inks on the market today.

[pflower]

The only UK based system I have come across is Lyson - sold through Marrutt.  I used a CIS on an old 2100 and couldn't discern any significant difference between their inks and the original epson inks.  I too moved to a 3800 and a 3880 and note that they now do refillable systems for both.  I haven't bothered to try these as I don't do enough printing these days to justify the start up cost.  However my experience is that Marrutt's support is very good and friendly and I can certainly recommend the inks for 2100 and see no reason why the inks for the 3800 should be inferior.

Good luck.

I need to find a decent alternative to the original Epson cartridges that are about to run out on my Epson 3800 - I have seen several US systems described and recommended but shipping cost to Europe plus taxes and duty makes them very expensive.

Are there any European supplies of a decent refillable system with good quality inks?

Thanks