hi there, i bought an R1900 printer, due to previous experience with epsons (10+ years use with a 1290)


i want to buy a CIS, and am looking at the various on offer, inkrepublic, the bigfoot, or the refillable cartridges from efillink (their CIS is out of my price range).

i guess im leaning towards the bigfoot due to it being cheaper, and am looking for experienced advice if you think im making the right move.

who here has been using one, and can give me the lowdown?


i will also be buying a waste tank, from somewhere like octoink.


thoughts? and thanks.

russ 3d wrote:

hi there, i bought an R1900 printer, due to previous experience with epsons (10+ years use with a 1290)

i want to buy a CIS, and am looking at the various on offer, inkrepublic, the bigfoot, or the refillable cartridges from efillink (their CIS is out of my price range).

i guess im leaning towards the bigfoot due to it being cheaper, and am looking for experienced advice if you think im making the right move.

who here has been using one, and can give me the lowdown?

Having just got one of these in so I can get the documentation for the waste ink kit up to date, I was looking around for CIS kits for this printer but in truth all the places I would normally have looked I've been pretty discouraged.

Rihac, and Fotospeed both have older kits but not the R1900... Inksupply.com (MIS Associates) do have a kit but it is a tad on the expensive side too... Then there's ink republic but I haven't dipped my toe there in quite some time.

What I opted to do, was to purchase some refillable cartridges instead, from eBay... I think they're pretty generic and so long as they don't leak I think they'll be fine. The ink itself I'm getting from refillink.biz which is the European reseller for Image Specialists...

Having thought about it long and hard I think my advice would be to have two sets of refillable cartridges with one set always filled and ready. When you get a cartridge empty notification I'd suggest swapping them all out and putting the spare set in before refilling the set you swapped out. That way you're reducing the amount of priming that these things do and believe me they prime on every cartridge change. TBH: It scared me silly when I saw how much was being purged.

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I will also be buying a waste tank, from somewhere like octoink.

There's no rule that you HAVE to buy from me you know but if you opt for some other kit I'd be interested in feedback on your decision process.

FWIW: I've developed a different kit specifically for the R1900 & R2880 as they do require modification of the case side panel. I'm still writing up the guide on the whole thing though so it'll be a couple of days before it's live.

Just as a word of warning though.. If you're outside the USA/Canada then getting a resetter for the R1900 is a no go at the moment.. This article I wrote recently indicates what's changed..


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Printers: (Canon) MP500/830, MX700, iP4000/4200/4300/4500/5200, iX4000(A3) (Epson) C84/86, D88, CX6600, R285/800/1900 (HP) K550, K850, K5400, L7680

ok. i might go that route then, with the refill carts.

as for the waste ink, i didnt know it was even you selling them.. :]


as for the resetter, im new to this.. what are they for? can the cartridges currently be reset or is that just for the pads/waste kit? im still in the research phase.


did you look at the bigfoot kit? http://www.inkjetfly.com/product_info.php?products_id=211


thanks martin

russ 3d wrote:

ok. i might go that route then, with the refill carts.

as for the waste ink, i didnt know it was even you selling them.. :]

Something tells me I'm going to fail Marketing 101.. (To be fair this is a non-commercial forum so I don't harp on)
Octoink is my baby though

Quote:

as for the resetter, im new to this.. what are they for? can the cartridges currently be reset or is that just for the pads/waste kit? im still in the research phase.

Ah.. ok... First off you probably want to read this article on the topic of waste ink, service required, etc.... It covers a lot of ground.

Short version though... printer has a counter in the firmware that keeps track of the expected amount of ink sitting in the pads and then shoves out a service required when a trigger point is reached. A resetter will allow you to reset this counter and normally this is an adjustment utility or the IPR util from Epson themselves.

Re: the actual resetter required for the R1900... If you're in the USA then you can request the IPR by submitting your serial number, etc... via this link and they send you an activation code and a URL for the utility. The R1900 is one of the newer breed, hence the activation.

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did you look at the bigfoot kit? http://www.inkjetfly.com/product_info.php?products_id=211

I did but tbh I have an inbuilt aversion to anything involving the all-in-one reservoirs... If I could I'd build my own kit from a decent cartridge and chip set, my own tubing and bottles with dip tubes but that's just me.. At the moment I'm waiting on Sam from Rihac to get back to me on whether they're going to be producing a R1900 kit.

Hmm... I suppose you could do worse than the IJFly kit but I would purchase your ink separately and keep a careful eye on it.


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Printers: (Canon) MP500/830, MX700, iP4000/4200/4300/4500/5200, iX4000(A3) (Epson) C84/86, D88, CX6600, R285/800/1900 (HP) K550, K850, K5400, L7680

thanks for your advice. 2 last things.


1. i guess that the only problem im facing with the refillable carts are the chips not easily being reset? seems to be mixed views on whether they work all the time.

2. if i get one of the ink pad messages... all i can say is *********. how many prints will it take to get this message...? does anyone know? and surely a workaround will turn up soon. the russians wont take this lying down, will they lol. why do the us get it and not eur?


ive hated region stuff since the days when i used consoles. when will they learn they are putting off customers? i bought an epson because of 10+ years of solid use, if they keep this up next time i wont be buying from them.


oh, and i may have found octoink from here, i had so many tabs open doing my research that you must have got rhough to me somehow:]


edit* im guessing that i didnt use my 1290 enough to warrant a service error. but i planned on using this one more. we'll see i guess.

russ 3d wrote:

thanks for your advice.

You're welcome... Heck I've learned most of it in the last 3 weeks so it's still fresh

Quote:

1. i guess that the only problem im facing with the refillable carts are the chips not easily being reset? seems to be mixed views on whether they work all the time.

I'll be honest I haven't had a chance to check... My ink is on back order so until I get it I can't tell one way or the other.

Quote:

2. if i get one of the ink pad messages... all i can say is *********. how many prints will it take to get this message...?

From what I've read the R1900 is less wasteful than the R2400 or R1800 but it still wastes a fair amount of ink. Take into account you have more inks but a bigger printer, so probably a bigger waste pad. It's hard to say when it will hit but if you avoid excessive cleaning and especially try to avoid borderless printing you shouldn't hit it too quickly.

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does anyone know? and surely a workaround will turn up soon. the russians wont take this lying down, will they lol. why do the us get it and not eur?

I'm looking at getting a resetter from a rather "interesting" character on the net (took some finding too!) but as yet I'm undecided if it's a rip off. I'll certainly let you know if it works out.

As for the Russians, I'm guessing you mean the SSCLG group... Unfortunately it looks like they've shutdown and moved on. The utility is still there but they haven't posted at all in over a year now that I can find.. It looks like that avenue is closing, sadly.

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ive hated region stuff since the days when i used consoles. when will they learn they are putting off customers? i bought an epson because of 10+ years of solid use, if they keep this up next time i wont be buying from them.

Way of the world sadly... The prices they can charge in Europe are higher than they can charge in say, Africa or China but they still want to tie people in and get as much money as they can from each market. I doubt they'll learn anytime soon..

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oh, and i may have found octoink from here, i had so many tabs open doing my research that you must have got rhough to me somehow:]

ROFLMAO... Well, perhaps it's not a complete fail then D- maybe

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edit* im guessing that i didnt use my 1290 enough to warrant a service error. but i planned on using this one more. we'll see i guess.

Well the 1290 is one worth hanging on to... the reset is easy and the waste ink mod or pad replacement/clean is relatively do-able too... I wouldn't get rid just yet


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Printers: (Canon) MP500/830, MX700, iP4000/4200/4300/4500/5200, iX4000(A3) (Epson) C84/86, D88, CX6600, R285/800/1900 (HP) K550, K850, K5400, L7680