• hperrin@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Epson EcoTank. They’re expensive printers, but the ink is so cheap they make up for it. I absolutely love mine and recommend it to anyone looking for a printer.

    • Actually eco tank printers are also designed to fail as they have ink pads that can only be replaced by the manufacturer I recommend you watch this video explaining the problem with tank printers like the eco tank.

      • hperrin@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        That’s an ink absorber, and all inkjet printers have them. It’s not “designed to fail”, it’s a physical limitation of the universe. You can’t just keep dumping ink into a sponge forever. Eventually it will become saturated and you can either clean it or replace it.

        I’ve had my printer for about four years and haven’t needed to replace one yet. They only cost about $10 when you do need to replace it. If they cost several hundred dollars, I would see your point, but the savings in ink more than makes up for having to replace a sponge every decade or so.

        Edit: I missed that you said only the manufacturer can replace it. That’s not true. It’s user replaceable with a Phillips head screwdriver.

        Edit 2: Added links.

        • fake arch user they/them@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          4 months ago

          What I meant by “designed to fail” is that most of these ecotank printers need the counter to be reset by epson themselves. You can easily replace the pads. But you can’t easily reset the counter. It is possible but it involves trusting sketch sites and paying for a license to use the reset software. Older cartridges based epson printers had waste tanks with chips so that it could know when it was replaced. Newer eco tank printers don’t have the chip that let’s it know when the waste tank is replaced.

          • hperrin@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            That’s not designed to fail, that’s designed to be serviced. Do you call cars “designed to fail” because they need new oil filters and the check engine light comes on when you need an oil change?

              • hperrin@lemmy.world
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                4 months ago

                You just said there are other ways to do it besides Epson. There are multiple sites that provide utilities to reset the counter.

                The sponges are cheap. Way cheaper than using a cartridge printer. You can even just clean out the sponge and put it back in. You don’t have to buy a new one.

                Even going through Epson’s first party maintenance program is way cheaper than using a cartridge printer. Like, orders of magnitude cheaper.