Sydney, June 4 2002: Epson Australia, a leading vendor of high quality inkjet and laser printers for professional and home users, says tests it conducted on non genuine ink cartridges showed that they can cost users up to 40% more to produce a finished printed page than a genuine Epson cartridge.
Launching a consumer and reseller campaign focusing on the cost and quality benefits of using genuine Epson ink cartridges, Epson Director of Marketing Communications, Mike Pleasants, said using a genuine Epson cartridge is the best choice for the customer as it is more economical even after allowing for any difference in retail price.
"According to the testing Epson has done, non genuine cartridges can actually cost the customer more to use because the non genuine cartridges produce fewer finished printed pages resulting in higher cost per page. In addition they can increase the maintenance costs of the printer. According to our testing non genuine cartridges and inks are simply not compatible with the high quality, sophisticated and complex Epson printing system, despite the claims the non genuine vendors are making," Mr Pleasants said.
"The simple sum of dividing the cost of the cartridge by the number of finished pages it produces shows without a doubt that Epson cartridges are cheaper to operate. Add to that the time and paper wasted with a non genuine cartridge, and any increase in printer maintenance costs, and there is no doubt Epson cartridges give users better value and better quality prints.
"Many users don't keep the records to do this sum, so they rely on the difference in retail price as the measure. But this is misleading because it does not show the whole picture. An ink cartridge should produce a usable printed page first time every time, and it should produce the most usable printed pages possible. Epson cartridges do this. The non genuine cartridges we tested did not."
Mr Pleasants said the additional maintenance costs caused by non genuine cartridges could include physical damage to the printer.
Epson conducted the series of tests on non-genuine cartridges after observing a trend of increasing numbers of damaged printers, including corrosion of the ink needles on the print-head. One of the aims was to replicate the type of damage occurring and discover its cause. During testing, using non-genuine cartridges installed in a new Epson printer, the same type of damage was observed after just three weeks. The ink intake needles were significantly damaged by corrosion.
"All the testing and examination of non-genuine cartridges that we have done is quite conclusive: genuine Epson cartridges mean lower running costs and better quality prints for our customers, and greater protection for their printer," Mr Pleasants said.
Epson can provide the following image:
1 Cut-away view of the complex and sophisticated components that go into making a high quality Epson ink cartridge.
Read them at: http://www.epson.co.jp/e/newsroom/newsroom_index.htm
