THE NEWS IN PRINT

In an ever-improving effort to reduce the printing costs, a new solution seems to be in place by a third party vendor. Jon Cone, who produces BW inks for Epson has announced the arrival of cheaper ink-sets for Epson Stylus Pro 4800, 7800 and 9800 printers. The new ink system consists of transparent refillable ink cartridge along with refill inks.

ConeColor Inks as it's called are formulated to match Ultrachrome K3 printers. The new set of inks can be used along with the existing Epson's ICC profiles.

Refillable cartridge systems are easy to use and fill. At a glance you can see your ink levels and you never have to waste ink as you do with standard cartridges which when thrown away still contain valuable ink. The impact of this on the environment comes with the added benefit of reducing the amount of toxic and carcinogenic materials that are required in the manufacturer of semiconductor chips which are required for use in EPSON printers.

The ConeColor inks also add in saving our environment. The amount of inks saved along with the ink containers will definitely help in the cause.

More importantly, the manufacturer claims that a consumer will save up to 65% of ink costs by going with ConeColor. 1 liter of ConeColor ink costs £92 while the standard ink costs £255 for the same quantity.

The ConeColor ink is definitely a valuable replacement for the perennial problem of rising print prices. Before professionals can accept it, it needs to thoroughly tested for quality and durability. Note that this ink will not work on Epson's Stylus Pro printers that use Vivid Magenta inks.