should i give up on epson s22???

[Billy]

i am always finding myself buying a new epson s22 every 6 to 8 months due to the printer breaking on me ....... but i dont know whether to keep on buying epson or buying a ricoh?!?!?!? ...... problem is i havent a clue about ricoh?? how to get ciss for it? icc profile etc or even where to get a proper one any help would be much appreciated guys

[pisquee]

The S22 is the cheapest printer Epson make, and I don't feel it is being fair to them to judge all their other models against this one.
If you are doing sublimation, then it is a business, and needs a printer of a quality up to that job in terms of how well it prints and how reliable it is. The S22 is a cheap domestic printer for a family who occasionally need to print something.
You should buy something more aimed at business - a workforce or stylus office, or even a stylus pro.
Also, forget about CISS and go for refillable cartridges, they are less prone to problems.

With Ricoh you only really have a choice of Sawgrass inks, so you are buying into a very closed market.
With an Epson (or Brother) inkjet and refill carts you can be a lot more in control of what ink you want to use in your printer.
For ICCs, Paul, can sort you out for whichever printer you choose, so don't worry about that side of things.

[Billy]

thamks pisque will look into a better epson printer (better the devil you know) i suppose , also will defo change from ciss to refilable cartridges , thanks for a quick reply will post again if i have any probs with my new printer when i get one .

[bms]

i am always finding myself buying a new epson s22 every 6 to 8 months due to the printer breaking on me ....... but i dont know whether to keep on buying epson or buying a ricoh?!?!?!? ...... problem is i havent a clue about ricoh?? how to get ciss for it? icc profile etc or even where to get a proper one any help would be much appreciated guys

All depends what you want out of sublimation printing. If you want a reliable, good quality sublimation printer with full backup support of the distributor network in the event of problems then the supported Ricoh or Epson printers would be the way to go (the Epson supported printer is a more costly outlay than the Ricoh but both use closed cartridges).

If you want the experience of custom profiles, head cleaning, changing your printer every 6-8 months then the route you on is fine I think you'll find a huge number of users and members that have gone the Ricoh route and never look back.

[viccar]

Ive never had a Epson as a subli printer, but have had a ricoh for 6 months now, works every time and out of the box, all the profiles are downloaded from sawgrasseurope. Yesterday I had to reinstall everything on a new pc, and had a problem one phone call and all was sorted.

[Air MArshall]

I am getting a runny stomach from your post Billy! I have just bought the S22,havent started though. Im still waiting for the press and sublimates. Replacing every 6 months is not good!

[pisquee]

The S22 is dirt cheap, so should definitely be budgetted for replacing quickly - you would be better off though spending a decent amount of money on a better quality printer, rather than the cheapest one you can find. A good quality Epson and good quality ink should not give you any problems with blockages - we sure don't get them on our Epsons.

[Air MArshall]

True that pisquee. If I was a man of unlimited means I would kindly ask you, Paul or BMS to finish off the jobs currently on your machines and send me your kits! I guess I will have to make a plan to acquire a proper printer. You guys are very helpful.

[Dave271069]

To be honest I have a epson sx and a Ricoh , I've had less problems with the epson, but now a beta window 8 Powerdriver has been released we will see if it fixes my issues ref banding.
So its swings and roundabouts really, if you want good back up buy from a dealer if like me you take the chance buy ebay etc.

[pisquee]

... if you're technically minded, and are happy to do a bit of troubleshooting and working stuff out, then there are great bargains to be had on the used market, and in the end you will be a more empowered and knowledgeable user who know how their kit works inside and out.
So many people buy kit, realise that they actually need to do some work, and their get-rich-quick scheme isn't as quick as they first thought, and so dump everything onto Ebay.
With printers, used buy working and good condition large format ones go for a song on Ebay, often cheaper than people are buying brand new A4/A3 sublimation printers. Not that everyone wants or needs the size, but the quality of print and reliability compared to the more domestic models often used should be tempting for anyone running as a business.