Dedicated photo printer - Epson SureColor SC-P600

dan_ · Expire: 2016-12-19

I'm looking to buy a dedicated pigment ink photo printer. I already have some dye-ink printers with good photo performance and formats up to A1 and I'm not interested in another dye one.

So far my preference goes to Epson SureColor SC-P600 ( http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/epson_surecolor_sc_p600_review/ ). I'll use it as a home printer and not as a photo-lab printer (probably max. 100 photos/month, tests included).

My questions are:
- What is your experience with this printer?
- My main concern is the ink consumption of this printer. The ink is very expensive and, as I read in some reviews, the 25ml cartridges don't last as long as advertised by Epson. What is your eperience?
- Have any of you tried the Marrutt Ink Solutions ( http://www.marrutt.com/ ) with this printer (or with another one)? They don't seam to be cheap ink resellers but more like quality alternate ink promoters (the ink is produced in USA by a respected company).

Thank you!

WolverineX · Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2016 8:51 am Post subject:

why don't you look up Epson photo printers with external ink tanks?

usually when Epson printers report that the ink is low you can still print out decent amount of A4 sized photos

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9097 Location: Houston, Texas

For answers to your questions, I recommend you go to Amazon and see if they carry that printer, and then read the reviews. You can also post questions about the printer and you'll likely get answers to them.

I've owned three Epson printers in recent years, including one "Photo Pro" printer. I must say that I will never buy another. If you do a lot of color printing, then an Epson can be a great printer for you. But if you do only occasional color printing, chances are your print heads will begin to clog and then you'll be in trouble. It is almost impossible trying to unclog an Epson print head. I even bought the special kit that a guy from Portugal sells on eBay. It sorta worked, but didn't completely get the heads clean. They finally clogged completely in the Photo Pro machine and in the other two I had no luck whatsoever cleaning the clogs from them.

But if you do a lot of printing, that may be a good printer for you. Just make sure you do, else you may wind up with an expensive, useless lump of office equipment.

WolverineX · Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2016 9:53 am Post subject:

dan_ · Expire: 2016-12-19

Thanks fot your imput WolverineX and Cooltouch!

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9097 Location: Houston, Texas

One of my Epsons stayed on all the time (a Workforce 600) and it was the worst at clogging. So I don't think this solution would have worked in my case.

visualopsins · Expire: 2025-04-11

cooltouch · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 9097 Location: Houston, Texas

This is fine if you use Epsons regularly. The only point I was trying to make was that if you don't use the color inks on a fairly regular basis -- say at least once a week -- which usually wasn't the case with me, then you might begin experiencing clogs. I printed out plenty of monochrome, but almost never color. I recall telling my daughter, nay, even pleading with her, to print out some color stuff at least once a week. But she didn't, and clogged heads were the result.

visualopsins · Expire: 2025-04-11

But I went 4-6 months sometimes without printing.

At the moment the printer has not been used in over a year. I'll report back how it went when I do get around to it.

Excalibur · Expire: 2014-04-21

Well I haven't bought the newer Epsons but had 3 older ones and they all clogged up if not used...the last one I tried everything to get it working but gave up and threw it away. The one I have now Photo 2100 just stopped comunicating with the computer...tried different computers and cables but no luck, but I hate to throw it away as it was a good printer but as it's on the floor ATM if I hurt my toes bumping in to it then in the bin it goes.

dan_ · Expire: 2016-12-19

I bought the new Epson 10 days before already. It is a very nice photo printer - so far I am very content with my aquisition. When using Epson photo paper or some HQ Art paper (I've tried some Canson Infinity - Arches Aquarelle Rag) the quality is simply outstanding.
The Ink consumption is, on the other hand, much greater than estimated by Epson. I have already ordered a Marut set of refillable cartridges and a set of inks for it. I'm curiouse how good they are in comparasation with the genuine ones (they costed 1/2 the price of the printer...).

Concerning the print heads clogging problem, I'll try a simple cure. I've noticed that most clogging problems occur in regions with low air humidity. The region I live in has quite a high air humidity. Last week I've tested an old HP printer and, surprisingly, after ~2 years of inactivity it worked perfectly from the first attempt (without changing its old ink and without any print heads cleaning).
Anyway, when not in use I'll place inside the printer a humidifier and keep a rubberized canvas cover on it all the time. Hopefully this will keep inner humidity of the printer at high levels. I don't know if it will really help, but I'm optimistic.