Epson illegal programming... OEM cartridges only?

[itspjbanks]

I would like to hear from anyone who has experienced problems in using independent manufacturers cartridges with the Epson R300 printer.

I have had three new R300 printers stop working with the following message, "Parts inside your printer are near the end of their service life. See documentation that came with your printer".

I returned the printers to the store from which I bought them after re-inserting the original OEM cartridges.

At first I thought I had a bad batch of printers or the independent cartridges I was using were not suitable for the R300. However, the problem reoccurred with different manufacturer's cartrides. Additionally, I heard from a friend that the same problem happened with him.

Clearly there is something wrong here. Are Epson illegally restricting the printer to malfunction if it detects the Epson cartridges are not installed?

I would be grateful for any other members experiences.

Thanks, Paul

[mattchall]

Many Epson ink carts have a small circuit board attached. This is used to reset the counter. Most third party companies don't change this, so the machine can't reset. Also, the quality of ink used by 3rd party co's. is inferior to Epson's. Many of them use the same ink to refill Canon, HP, Lexmark and Epson. Different technologies require different ink formulas. I have scrapped dozens of Epsons over the years because of cheap ink damaging the print heads. I've never used anything but origional ink in my SC400 that I've owned for close to 10yrs and it still works great. If you own an Epson, use origional Epson ink. No, I don't work for Epson or sell their products, I just hate seeing our landfills needlessly filling up.

[malamute]

i agree about using cartidges that arn't made for your particular printer,i have an R800 and i have had some awesome printouts,i also use Epson printer profiles as well,these can be had for free on the American Epson website.Your local Epson dealer might TRY to tell you that you will have to pay for them,the new zealand one did anyway