Best before date on SubliJet-R

[Paul]

ello!
I wonder what is your view on this one?
I bought some ink recently and it has 8 months in date.
Is this standard time for sawgrass ink? or it should be a year?

[Justin]

I've been looking at this and opinions differ, I'm told 6\8 months is typical. My 3110 is running out of date inks. Initially results lightened and have now gone darker! But fairly constant at moment. Ricoh last ages so longer dates please!

[Paul]

Thats what i thought to my self.... I want it bit longer as i have bigger printer that i use. so A4 is not used that much. Don't want my smaller and the most expensive printer to brake just because ink turned in to jelly or something

[Justin]

Insist on longer dates! My 7890 carts are all at least late 2015, some well into 2016!

[pisquee]

Yeah, you guys need longer dates - InkTec give usually a minimum of 18 months, and more often than not 24.
Having said that, I've used InkTec inks that were years out of date and they were fine, no problems with colours or the printer.

[Justin]

This is something as a community we should be insisting upon. Sawgrass advice to me was to replace all 4 carts immediately, surprise! lol.

[Justin]

Just found my email from Sawgrass support.....

"In regards to the use by dates, we aim to ship out SubliJet R cartridges with around 9-11 months use by date available. These are purchased from our resellers and from there it is down to their stock control to provide you with the best possible use by date. I have confirmed with our production manager that we do not ship out cartridges to our resellers with any less than 8 months left on the ink cartridges. If you have received ink cartridges with small use by dates, I would advise to contact your reseller for further advice about this. Also, in regards to using ink past their use by dates, this is certainly not a policy which we condone and we strongly advise not to us inks past their use by dates."

[pisquee]

If I were in your shoes I would be letting my supplier know when I ordered how much of a use by date I want/need/expect on the ink, or I will go somewhere else. If everyone did this, then the suppliers would then have to take the problem up the supply chain, with Sawgrass at the top knowing they need to have longer use by dates on inks supplied - either they need to produce ink that stays good longer, or improve their supply chain. When "going somewhere else" for inks stops being a different Sawgrass supplier and starts been a non-Sawgrass ink dealer then I am sure they may start paying attention.

[Justin]

Well said that man, now everybody listen to those wise words! and let us know how you get on

[pisquee]

If InkTec have an ink and supply chain which gives product delivered to end users in the UK with use-by dates of 18-24 months, then you'd think that Sawgrass should be able to do the same thing.
The fact that they don't, then surely means that EITHER their ink isn't as good/doesn't last as long OR that in fact it does last just as long but they print premature use-by dates, and advise customers to replace the ink when it passes the use-by date to sell more ink.
If there's a third possibility I'm happy to hear suggestions.