Quick review of InkSupply K4 ink set on Epson R3000

[dasuess]

I promised this followup quite awhile ago, but it has taken a loooong time for the Epson carts shipped with my R3000 to get low enough to swap out. I've had my R3000 in use for about three months, printing on average several prints a night and the carts just kept on going.

As for the InkSupply refill kit for the R3000, I paid $200 just over a month ago (it's gone up just a bit since then). What you get is 9 empty carts with chips, 9 syringes and adapters, plus 9 4oz bottles of ink (MK, PK, LK, LLK, VM, VLM, C, LC, Y).

The process of filling the cartridges was a bit fiddly, but with patience I was done, cleaned up and had the new carts installed in the printer in about 90 minutes.

Before I purchased the refill kit, I checked with InkSupply support and was told that I could use existing ICC paper curves. All I needed to do after installing the filled carts was to run a couple of purge prints to clear out the residual Epson ink.

I then ran several test prints to compare to the same image I had earlier printed on the same paper using the Epson inkset. So far, I have been unable to tell any difference in the prints using the Epson K3 inks vs the InkSupply K4 inks.

Each 4oz bottle of ink should provide approximately 4 cart refills. Additional 4oz bottles of K4 ink are $15 each, so a big savings over buying Epson cartridges for $25 or $30 each.

While there is no Wilhelm permanence data on the K4 inks, InkSupply does have some info on their website that indicates approximate equivalence to the Epson K3 inks.

[dasuess]

A quick update to my quick review... I recently switch over to MK black and made some beautiful B&W prints with the InkSupply K4 inkset using the ABW mode on my R3000.

I am totally sold on this inkset for the Epson R3000, for both quality and cost.

[Bob Michaels]

David: Thanks for the report and update. This is always good news.

Is the ink flow from the 3000 carts consistently perfect? It is excellent with 2400 MIS refillable carts but the Epson carts are absolutely perfect. I have never (NEVER) had a dropped nozzle with Epson carts in my 2400s in 7 years. While I had very few with the MIS carts, I did run nozzle checks before I printed on a $4- sheet of paper. Eventually, I got lazy and went back to using the Epson ink in their carts.

Interesting the K4 inkset matches the color gamut of the Epson inks for all models from the 2400 up through the 3000, and probably up to the 3880. Somewhere along the model transition, Epson began touting the "vivid magenta" but I could never see any difference in the prints. I would guess that the Epson inkset has actually remained the same.

[dasuess]

Bob - too soon to tell since I've only had the refillable carts with the K4 ink for a couple of weeks, but I have been very impressed so far. My old eyes have so far been unable to see a difference in the prints compared to the Epson K3 inks and I have ben using the same profiles. Also, a kudo for Red River paper, as I have have pretty much chosen their Premium Matte as my standard paper. And the RR profiles for the R3000 have worked great for the K4 inkset.

[csg]

Thanks for the report: very interesting and informative.

[dasuess]

Originally Posted by csg

Thanks for the report: very interesting and informative.

A further update to my mini-review is that I have been using the InkSupply K4 inkset in my R3000 for three months now with no issues, clogging, etc. On occasion, one or two of the carts show an error on powerup (always the same two, but not always both at the same time); however, a simple cart reseating of the cart and all is fine. I have also been away on vacation twice this summer (each a week long) and the first print out the printer after returning was perfect. And like Bob, I don't do nozzle checks anymore.

[SausalitoDog]

I just offed my 2400 for a 3000 and was delighted to save more than 50% in ink costs and generally I'm extremely happy with the printer. Back in the days of the 1160 and 1280 I used some external ink setups but never refilled carts - doesn't that get pretty messy?

Good luck with it... it sounds like it is financially a great deal !

[dasuess]

Originally Posted by SausalitoDog

I just offed my 2400 for a 3000 and was delighted to save more than 50% in ink costs and generally I'm extremely happy with the printer. Back in the days of the 1160 and 1280 I used some external ink setups but never refilled carts - doesn't that get pretty messy?

Not really too messy since the InkSupply folks have done a good job of providing a process for filling/re-filling the carts. The kit includes a separate syringe for each color ink. Cleanup was pretty easy - I just put all the syringes in a sink full of water to rinse them out. Just don't fill the carts on the white carpet in your living room

[tedwhite]

I, too, have an Epson R3000 and am really tiring of spending either $31 or $26 (depending on whether or not they're on sale) from ATLEX. I do most of my printing on Epson's Ultra Premium Presentation Matte paper, but am intrigued by indie papers such as Red River and Moab. Would I be able to see a difference using one of these?

I'm seriously considering the Ink Supply kit. It's pricey initially, but apparently you save over 50% over time?

David, can you give us an update?

Ted

[dasuess]

Originally Posted by tedwhite

I, too, have an Epson R3000 and am really tiring of spending either $31 or $26 (depending on whether or not they're on sale) from ATLEX. I do most of my printing on Epson's Ultra Premium Presentation Matte paper, but am intrigued by indie papers such as Red River and Moab. Would I be able to see a difference using one of these?

I'm seriously considering the Ink Supply kit. It's pricey initially, but apparently you save over 50% over time?

David, can you give us an update?

Ted

The only update I have at this point is that I have been using the K4 inks in my R3000 for six months with absolutely no issues, no clogging, nothing. I cannot tell any difference between the K4 prints and ones done with the Epson K3 inks. I am able to use the same ICC profiles as I used for the K3 inks.

As for Red River paper, I am sold - it is all I use. My standard paper is RR Premium Matte. It is dirt cheap and gives great results. I have gone thru one of the RR sampler packs. The Pecos River Gloss is a great paper if you want glossy prints. For higher end matte prints, their Aurora Fine Art Natural is good, but higher priced - no OB added thiugh.