RICOH GXe3300 ... worth the while ?

[fredster]

i'm thinking of upgrading to this printer as im running out of ink in the epson i have right now .. can anyone give me any pros n cons for this machine? and whats it like on ink consumption ? how often would i be buying new cartridges or do they do refillable ones ? cheers all

[Scotty@BMS]

The Ricoh is roughly 20% more expensive than the Epsons (of course, that is only applicable if your Epson exists in a perfect world where you never waste ink with head cleans). If I can talk ink usage in terms of mugs, you should get somewhere between 300-500 mugs on your first set of carts and anything up to 700 on subsequent sets (depending on how much colour you're putting down). There are no supported refillable carts available.

[pisquee]

More to the point, there are refillable carts available, but has anyone found suitable sublimation ink to go in them?

[John G]

Been through that one pisquee - it's a no go IMO.

The ink in Ricoh printers is a gel type ink (non aqueous) and the heads or head has been modified to allow for this, due to this blockages tend not to happen. Epson type ink is not gel (its aqueous) and the head is standard to allow just the right amount to go through. This is why epson tend to block if left for weeks without printing.

Refillable carts are available, and I've seen third party inkjet gel ink, but I've never seen third party sublimation gel ink.

Cheers John

[Paul]

There ARE refillables available with gel sublimation ink on the market. But from abvious reasons you cant ise powerdriver. Only icc.

[fredster]

i saw the refillables on ebay last night and wondered about the ink ..i know i'll end up going for one ..its just a case of when ... lol
anyone know what theyre like as a normal printer? sick to death of bloody epson printers blocking heads and wasting oodles of ink.

[bms]

i saw the refillables on ebay last night and wondered about the ink ..i know i'll end up going for one ..its just a case of when ... lol
anyone know what theyre like as a normal printer? sick to death of bloody epson printers blocking heads and wasting oodles of ink.

Should be fine as a normal printer as well - after all that's what they're designed for. Don't know if you've seen the offer but we're giving away 10 sets of (ordinary) cartridges with a Ricoh printer on our website as a special to clear the pile of Ricoh cartridges that are building up.

[fredster]

i did see that martin thats why i asked ... just a shame im paid monthly though ... lol will see if u have any left come pay day

[chrislacruz]

We purchased the 3300 from BMS back in March last year and it has been fantastic, I would imagine we have put through well over 1500 prints (for mousemat, mug, keyring and iphone case) and I could not be happier. Never clogs (even when it is not used for several days), never had to clean a head and I am very happy with print quality, using mugs from BMS and Mouse Mats from Merlin.

If my R1900 with refillable carts was as easy I would be very happy

[gstk]

Had both - wouldnt go back to messing about with CISS sets. Its cheaper by far if you include time wasted on CISS systems