Inkjet printer advice needed

[strange_complex]

Anyone out there know anything about aging inkjet printers? See, I have one: specifically an Epson Stylus Color 680It's approaching five years old now, and for some time I've been having trouble with the black ink. Initially, every time I put in a new cartridge, the print quality would be terrible for a while, to the extent of it not really

Comments

[rentaghost31]

any epson inject printer i have ever used has had ink problems sooner or later.

[strange_complex]

Yep, this is the picture I'm starting to build up. I found a few reviews of my current one online while I was looking for a link to show which printer it is, and a lot of them were very critical.

[byrnsey_b]

Love the icon!!

[strange_complex]

Hee-hee, thanks! I post quite a lot of computery-type questions, so I figured I'd need it!

[webofevil]

I've had a Stylus Color 740 for just about as long and the exact same thing has happened to it. Oh, except it won't print colour either. Clearly it's meant to be a feature.

I'm getting a new (non-Epson) printer soon, and I can only suggest that you do the same. That might not sound terribly helpful, but there are places that do reconditioned computer gear for feasible prices.

[strange_complex]

Ah, thanks for the info. I am actually thinking about buying a new computer fairly soon anyway, and I've noticed that there are quite a lot of deals around which include a free printer (doubtless a crummy one, but it's worth at least looking properly at what they're offering). So the odds are I probably will give up on it and get a new one. And, like you, it certainly won't be an Epson!

[byrnsey_b]

The free printers are probably Epson...

[mr_tom]

Is there a calibration tool included as part of the driver? That could be worth running...

[strange_complex]

There's a head-cleaning tool, but that's all.

I just looked up their trouble-shooting page for that model, and basically they say that if cleaning the heads several times doesn't work, the printer 'may need servicing'. I guess I could look into that, but the odds are that replacing it won't be much more expensive, will be easier, and will probably mean I end up with a better printer overall anyway.

[syrcleoftrees]

Hiya,,(((Penny))) I was about to and am going to say it is the best route to take there,a new printer.I use Lexmark.I have black ink porbs at the moment and am needing to clean the haeds and put in new black ink.

Does the ink dry out if you have it unopened for like two years?

[strange_complex]

No, I think it should be fine if you haven't opened it. It would probably dry up if you left it in the printer and didn't print anything for two years, but not if it was sitting unopened in the packet.