Printer

It’s very easy to be enticed by cheap printer prices but its best to think long and hard and do your research before plunging in and buying what seems an offer that’s too good to miss.

Let me explain further.

Most people are aware of the costs of replacement inks, if only by the volume of articles and forums with posts highlighting the over inflated costs of replacement cartridges. It must be one of the most talked about and written about subjects by both professional writers as well as consumers voicing their shock the first time they purchase replacement cartridges for a new printer.

Printer

It’s also a fairly widely known fact that printer manufacturers sell many printer models at cost or below cost, see my other article Compatible Cartridges – Some News and Views, making up profits by over inflating the costs of ink cartridges.

Printer

The recent batch of printer released by Epson in the Stylus and Stylus Office range seem like a good place to start. I refer to the following models of printers – the Epson Stylus S22, SX125, SX420W, SX425W, SX320FW, Stylus Office BX305FW, BX320FW and BX625FW. These printers have all been designed by Epson to accept the T1281, T1282, T1283 and T1284 or the T1291, T1292, T1293 and T1294 ranges of cartridges.
Some of these printers, such as the Stylus S22 and the Stylus SX125 are now available to purchase, both online and in shops for as low as £29.99, which seems like great value and if you’re in the market for a cheap basic inkjet printer you could easily be seduced by the low retail price. However these printers are designed to only accept the T1281 through to the T1284 cartridges. This means one black cartridge and three separate colour cartridges, which on the face of it seems fair, since you can replace just the one cartridge that has run out.

Printer

Now, let’s have a look at these cartridges themselves.

The T1281 or black cartridge is filled with just 5.9ml ink and each of the three colours (T1282, T1283 and T1284) a measly 3.5ml of ink and with a set of the four cartridges costing around £31.26 direct from Epson, they’re not exactly cheap. In comparison the T1291 black cartridge contains 11.2ml and the three colours (T1292, T1293 and T1294) 7ml, so the printers which accept this range, will benefit from essentially double the amount of ink in each cartridge.

Printer

Let’s now refer back to the printers themselves.

The ‘cheap’ printers the Stylus S22 and the Stylus SX125 only take the low capacity cartridge, so by doing this Epson are making sure you are going to have to purchase twice as much ink as all the other models since the only cartridges that will fit these contain half the ink.

Compare to the Epson Stylus SX420W, SX425W, SX620FW and the Epson office BX305FW, BX320FW and BX625FW which start at around the £50 mark for the SX420W and range up to £209.99 for the Office BX625FW which can accept the bigger T1291-T1294 cartridges, you may be paying a bit more to start with but you’ll be finding yourself buying half the ink.

Luckily there are compatible versions of both these types of cartridges appearing on the market now and as a rule they are filled with almost twice the ink of the Genuine Epson cartridges, and at half the price too, but next time you think about replacing your printer and the price seems too good to pass up – it probably is! Just make sure you research your cartridges.