August 8, 2022 Fight to Repair: Citing Danger of “Ink Spills” Epson Programs End of Life for Some Printers
Haven't used mine in years as I am too cheap to buy ink but it looks like my next printer will be another brand.
Same here but in the meantime just find and install pre-2018 firmware, which will enable you to use generic ink carts and avoid these new shenanigans. This guy has all the info you need: https://mattpilz.com/how-to-downgra...ix-ink-not-recognized-error-xp-300-to-xp-640/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6wdgJODghc
I dislike printers & printer manufacturers. I have a couple printers I don't use because it takes at least 15min to an hr or more to get any printer I've had to work if I can get it to work at all. And a lot of brain power I might add. Now as infrequently as I print I go to Kinkos FedEx to print. The printers were out of order or a long wait. So the other day I paid $4.85 for 10 pages b&w with behind the counter help. Had to drive there too. But it's worth it to me vs. getting my home printer to work.
I also have a Epson printer and I’m thinking the same as you. But possibly other manufacturers will do the same thing…
As the Fight to Repair article says, "As outrageous as this behavior is, it does not appear to be new." A 2017 video shows an Epson printer owner doing a manual replacement of the saturated ink pads to clear the 'end of service life' message. And I thought I had seen this before, as well. Ah, yes, July 6, 2019, the "Fix your printer !" blog mentioned the issue and a fix for the Epson EcoTank L382, utilizing the reset button at the back of the printer. In 2018 there was a different fix for a series of Brother printers.
I know that HP will expire ink cartridges but the printer will continue to work with new ones. Not quite the same but still sucks. I read an article a couple of years ago that claimed that if you take the amount of ink in an inkjet cartridge times the price that the ink costs $10,000 a gallon. And you thought gas was expensive.
Exactly. They almost give away the printer and the ink is more. I once had a coworker that said he would buy a new printer, use the included ink, sell the used printer on eBay for what he paid for it, and then went and bought a new one. After his initial purchase he was pretty much running a new printer for free. I'd rather pay a fair price for a good printer and then pay a fair price for ink. But they want all of their profits to come from the ink as it is an ongoing source of revenue. This is why they don't want you to buy generic ink.
Coincidently, last night on America's Got Talent, one contestant was a former aerospace engineer turned comedian. During his act he complains about the cost of printer ink comparing it in price/gallon to various other liquids including human blood, cobra venom, and oil. Funny and informative. Starts at 2:08 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ly-l4OQTJR8
I owned Epson ink printer many, many years ago. It eventually stopped working. I don't have a printer now. Maybe I will buy some in future, but it would probably be a monochrome laser printer from other vendor.
