Old Epson Stylus Photo 2100 Ink Type Question

[Paul-H]

Hi all

I have an old Epson Stylus 2100 Printing I am thinking of returning to service but will need to get some new ink.

To keep costs down I was thinking of either going down the refillable cartrige or CIS route and have been looking online for some options, but there I found some confusing information.

The 2100 IIRC used Pigment based inks, but all the supplies I have found that still list this older model seem to offer the inks in a choice of Pigment or Dye.

So the question is if I am correct that the ink supplied by Epson is Pigment inks is it safe to use Dye inks and if it is OK why would you use one over the other, apart from cost with the Dye inks being cheaper than the pigment option.

Thanks for any help with my confusion.

Paul

 

[Iron]

Hi all

I have an old Epson Stylus 2100 Printing I am thinking of returning to service but will need to get some new ink.

To keep costs down I was thinking of either going down the refillable cartrige or CIS route and have been looking online for some options, but there I found some confusing information.

The 2100 IIRC used Pigment based inks, but all the supplies I have found that still list this older model seem to offer the inks in a choice of Pigment or Dye.

So the question is if I am correct that the ink supplied by Epson is Pigment inks is it safe to use Dye inks and if it is OK why would you use one over the other, apart from cost with the Dye inks being cheaper than the pigment option.

Thanks for any help with my confusion.

Paul

Our Epson Stylus 2100 printers here all use pigment inks.

I have heard of people using CISS or refillable ink cartridges with their Epsons and ruined the print head, probably because they used dye ink or, if the ink is pigment-type, it's not up to spec. I've tried this route with some of my old personal dye-ink printers before and ended up ruining the head. Now, I always use genuine cartridges with any printer I have. With such a quality printer, unless you have access to good ink labs formulating ink for that specific printer, it's best to stick with genuine.

For reference, the Epson Stylus Photo 2100 uses the T034X series of ink cartridges. They can still be purchased upon request from a distributor.

 

[John King]

I completely agree with Timo (@Iron) . Only ever use OEM inks ink expensive printers. A new print head for my Epson R3880 is around AUD$ 1,200, or about half the price of the printer. Apart from not wrecking the printer, the colours are excellent.

I use reputable after-market dye inks in my 'cheap' Epson XP-970 with no problems.

 

[John King]

BTW, if the printer hasn't been used for a very long time, with no ink tanks installed, the print head may already be rooted.