Just purchased a new Epson 7900

[Happyprinter]

Just received our new Epson 7900. We are currently setting it up and hopefully will have it online early next week. My question is, is there a cheaper solution to purchasing ink for this unit other than from Epson. I went into sticker shock when I started pricing 350mL and higher. Yes, my fault for not being more inquisitive before the purchase but regardless, we are happy with the machine just want to see what alternatives there are for this unit. What about bulk connections for it, or reinking cartridges. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Padzilla]

You have to be careful with that, using third party inks could void your warranty. When I installed a 10600 at a previous gig, we used ColorScience to manage color, and they wouldn't support anything but Epson ink.

If you do find a good third party supplier, though, I'd love to hear about it. I was never able to find any one that could deliver consistent color, but this quite a while ago.

[dleather]

Also, be sure your'e getting what you pay for. I orderd ink for my Epson 4880 through a third party and the ink was much older than ink I ordered from Epson around the same time. The older ink required the heads/nozzles to be cleaned more frequently.

[Barrie]

What do you need most?
Epson with quality and consistency or problems with profiling, damaged heads and blockages?

The 7900 does need more cleaning of heads than the previous model (7880) but the output is excellent and well worth the extra cleaning. Do the Nozzle check rather than a power clean as this will save on ink wastage.

My work involves me with all the Ultrachrome, Vivid and HDR ink models of the Epson SP printers. I am not exaggerating when I say that every printer I have seen that has converted to non-Epson inks has had to have the heads replaced and in many cases it has been cheaper to scrap the printer and buy a new one.

[Happyprinter]

Thank you for all the replies. I believe we will just bite the bullet and stick with Epson ink until a tried and true new and cheaper ink solution comes around. I guess the old adage, you get what you pay for, holds true most of the time.