Epson 7800 ink waste

[willconnor]

After about a year of using the 7800, I've been suspecting that there is a lot of ink remaining in the 220ml cartridges after they are declared to be "ink out" by the machine.  I've measured about 25 ml left on all cartridges except the Light Black, which likes to leave 45ml.  It seems to me this is quite excessive.  Epson tech support told me up to 20% "is possible."

Is this typical?  If so, it strikes me as pretty egregious design flaw.  I know there has to be a little ink left to prevent air getting in the lines, but this much?

I wonder how HP and Canon handles this?

Thanks.

[Andrew Larkin]

I though I read that Epson was dragged through the courts about this with the 7600/9600 and this resulted in a firmware update that allowed greater use of the reserve ink.  There is a reference to something like this on Alain Briot's web site.

I would find it astonishing if, given the above being true, Epson repeated the sin with a newer printer.

I suppose the question should be - was the remaining 25ml or so a part of the 220ml that you actually paid for?  That is, was the amount of ink in the cartridge originally 220ml or 245ml?

Andrew

[John Hollenberg]

I've measured about 25 ml left on all cartridges except the Light Black, which likes to leave 45ml.  Epson tech support told me up to 20% "is possible."

Is this typical?  If so, it strikes me as pretty egregious design flaw. 

From whose point of view?  

Certainly not Epson.  Sounds more like a "feature".

--John