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In Summary: By far the BEST refillable continuous ink supply system available !
(My team dedicates this review in celebration of having saved thousands of dollars in ink-costs thanks to this highly practical CISS system. Our intent is to give you and others an equal opportunity to save BIG on ink costs! We have no affiliations with Epson, nor the ink cartridge seller. Just trying to do the right thing and pass forward a good experience...)
Background:
My business is producing large quantities of personal planners which requires a 1) cheap / 2) reliable / and 3) user-friendly printing solution.
Hence, after an extensive 2-month research, my team concluded that this particular set of refillable ink cartridges for the Epson WP 4020 / WP 4530 / and WP 4540 printers scored particularly high on our evaluation list. (see bottom list of compatible Epson printers)
Here is WHY:
CAPACITY: these 100ML cartridges are HUGE and it takes a couple of thousand pages before refilling. Mark my words: these cartridges last a looooooooong time.
CONVENIENCE: If you have seen a CISS how-to installation video guide on You.Tube, you will conclude that it takes a lot of rather complex installation work to make a standard CISS system work (if it does not break during the install). THESE CARTRIDGES ARE EQUIVALENT TO A CISS SYSTEM BUT WITHOUT THE PAIN of installing them. For some fortunate (!) reasons, Epson has design a plug-&-play cartridge refill solution for its three WP 4020/4530/4540 printers (cartridge tanks supply ink to the print-head via a 15-inch tube instead of being placed on-top of the print-head itself which is exactly how CISS systems work)
$$$ SAVINGS: We purchased each of the three Epson WP models listed below each of them having the CISS cartridges installed. These printers are running at times 12 hours shifts without the need to refill ink. Instead, every 2000 pages we auto-reset the cartridge chips by removing and re-inserting them. Without exaggeration, these cartridges have paid back the original cost 10-fold in a short amount of time compared to purchasing the original refill cartridges. Hence, we gladly purchased these CISS cartridges for all three printers.
QUALITY: Most printers that we tested (and eventually returned) during our 2-month analysis have failed in the areas of quality and speed. These Epson WP printers live up to their promise: producing thousands of pages in good quality and with a minimum of paper jams. (Tip: if not in a rush, use "quiet mode" which will add an additional boost in quality)
SPEED: One of our favorite features of the WP printers is the automatic double-sided printing which has enabled us to generate very large batch jobs of collated pages with the click of the 'print-button' :). Note: we use basic PDF and PowerPoint files to generate the batch-print jobs and let the printers auto-assemble the completed packages. The Epson WP printers provide 3 speed levels, out of which we prefer normal speeds for an optimum quality/speed balance.
EASY AUTO-RESET CHIPS: resetting the cartridge chips is as easy as connecting two circuit points with a paper-clip or staple on the chip for 5 to 7 seconds. Note: the occasional "cartridge not recognized" message for one of the 4 colors is easily resolved by a second cartridge chip auto-reset trial.
SIMPLE FIRST-TIME SETUP: Because each of the 4 cartridges are connected to the print-head via 15-inch Epson-built ink tubes, it is important to "prime" the cartridges meaning to remove the air from the tubes.
There are two easy options for priming the cartridges: You either run an Epson software based head-cleaning a couple of times or you use one of the supplied syringes to extract the ink. Option A is less messy, but takes a a few more minutes equivalent to a coffee break :)
[!] ATTENTION: EASY, BUT CRUCIAL THING TO WATCH OUT FOR ...
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As much as we would like to praise Epson for its outstanding new WP printer models, the automatic "Firmware software upgrade" that pops up when you install the drivers is a trap [!] and MUST BE DECLINED as we suspect that the goal is to actually modify chip configurations and block the non-Epson cartridges. WHAT TO DO? --Just decline the upgrades and de-install then re-install driver software in the worst case...
There is a lot more that we could write about, such as that the 400ML Pigment Ink itself that comes with the cartridges has a value of above $40... But for the interest of YOUR TIME, we conclude this review with the list of our compatible Epson WP printer models that are available on Amazon. (see below)
Compatible Epson printer models (note: all printers are the SAME, except the 4020 has only the printing feature, whereas the 4530 and 4540 come with LCD screens and fax/scanner features. The 4540 has an addition paper tray but is not worth the extra $100 unless in an office environment)
Epson WP 4540 (
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