Check If Printer Can Read Ink Levels of Compatible Epson Cartridge

The Epson compatible ink cartridge is one of the most reliable non-genuine cartridges on the market. The Epson printers will generally accept the compatible version of the cartridge without any issues. The ink volume levels however may not work on all printers, this depends on whether the printer can read the volume levels via the ‘chip’ on the ink cartridge. If not it is safe to print anyway until the ink runs out and just replace when the ink out warning appears.

Very often the cartridge will run until the ink is completely out and then give the message ‘cartridge not recognised’. This can be a signal to replace the ink cartridge if the cartridge has been working normally for some time or for what you would consider a normal length of time. If this error message was to appear when you first insert the cartridge then the chances are the cartridge is faulty. The ‘chip’ that is read by the printer may be damaged, out of position or even missing. In this case try removing and re-installing a few times and if this is still unsuccessful then replace the cartridge.

The print quality of the non-genuine ink cartridge can sometimes be a concern for people who have never used them before. The rule of thumb is that they are fine for every day general printing of text and images. If you are printing photo quality images and the colours are of particular importance then you may notice a slight difference in quality from the original genuine cartridge. In 95% of cases the compatibles are acceptable and the savings of up 70% when compared to genuine cartridges are a big plus. There is also more ink in the compatible ink cartridge than the genuine.

The reason for this is that the third-party manufacturers fill the cartridges to the top and don’t leave space. This is why a lot of the popular compatible cartridges are described as XL or high capacity so the customer benefits the extra ink at no extra cost. When an printer is bought new the ink cartridges that come with the printer only contain a small amount of ink and they are refered to as ‘set up’ inks. This ink will not last long and of course the printer manufacturer is hoping you will buy the genuine cartridges immediately. Switching to compatible or non-genuine cartridges not only saves you money but gives you the freedom to print for longer.