Customer Reviews

Epson T044120 DURABrite Black Ink Cartridge

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

This has to be one of the most expensive, smallest capacity ink cartridges on the market. I go through three of these for every color cartridge. The C64 may have a low price, but the ink is a killer. I'm donating the printer to the Goodwill and saying goodbye to Epson. I can't afford this high cost of printing. And generics clog the nozzles.

I have to replace the cartridge for 20-25 pages of printing on a normal print. No photos or dark fonts. C64 is the only printer I have seen that requires a Black Cartdrige replacement way ahead of the Color even though I print lot of color pages. Think twice before you buy this.

I have an epson cx4600, which on the surface looks to be a bargain, at $80. But the ink costs $60 to replace (3 colors and black) and the black, which I use mostly, costs twice the color ink.

But here's the real jab, I don't print too much and the ink got clogged some. It says to clean the print heads, and then print a test pattern. Well, the test pattern did not show completely clean, and so I repeated it 5 times. Then to my horror, I saw that each cleaning cleans ALL cartriges, and after the 5 cleanings, I was down to 50% ink. They don't have a way to clean just the black cartrige (or a specific color). I tried faking it out by saying i was replacing the ink in one cartrige (pull the black out and then back in) and it almost got the thing unclogged, but on the second try at this it got worse.

Bottom line, they give away the printers then get you by selling you high priced ink. The size of the cartrige is miniscule and I think you could probably only get about 20-30 full page images printed for about $50-60 worth of ink.

I am on my second Epson printer, the first having been clogged using Epson inks. I have done a lot of research, and the issue is complex. First, there are two main types of ink, pigment based and dye based. Epson Durabright inks are pigment based inks. These produce better, longer lasting, and more water proof prints. However, they also clog the printer much more readily than dye based inks. Secondly, if you use your printer infrequently, the pigment inks are even more likely to clog.

So, if you use your printer a lot, and need the highest quality prints, use Durabright. Avoid 3rd party pigment based inks because variations in pigment particle size worsen the clogging potential. However, if you use your printer infrequently, or don't care about long lasting prints, and want to save some money, use 3rd party dye based inks. These are less prone to clog and are way cheaper. Apparently, mixing pigment and dye can be a problem, and there are various methods to online to purge the printer when switching. I've found that just printing a lot after switching is ok.

What, you noticed that ink vendors don't mention which type in their ads? Are you surprised?

You all are right. The ink is where they get you. It doesn't even last a semester. It's cheaper to print my papers at the library than at my house!

I have paid more for the black cartridges in 3 months than I paid for the printer. I think I will do what one other person suggested and donate this printer to someone or a charity. My HP, which is 5 years old is so much better.

Got this lousy product bundled with a computer purchase and tried to use it sparingly but regularly. Yellow cartridge stopped working when still 1/3 full and so print head cleanings were attempted. Each head cleaning consumes about 1/8 of the ink, but I was able to print two more pages. Bought all new cartridges and installed them all at once according to instructions - printed one page black and magenta, then nothing at all. Repeated all head cleaning/test print and alignment tests until the ink was supposedly depleted - although none ever made it to a page. Installed my last set of ink cartridges and still nothing.

Total number of pages printed during the product's lifetime: 25 pages text + 16 Photos. Total average cost per page considering original purchase price + two additional sets of ink cartridges: Greater than $5 per page or photo! This product is only good for use as a prop when reenacting the "fax in the field" scene from the movie Office Space.

Skip this low-capacity black ink cartridge for the Epson CX6400, and go for the high-capacity cartridge (available at other retailers). Average price is $35.00, but prints almost twice as many pages (800+).

The cartridge came on time and was in great working condition. I will buy this one again in the future. The price is right and the quality is perfect.

This product ended up being exactly what I needed and was expecting. It was brand new and the price was a lot cheaper than in the stores. It was as if I had just bought it from the local office supplies store. From now on, I will be buying all my printer cartridges on line.