Black as night (Epson T0711)

Member Name: MI9to5

Product:	Epson T0711
Date:	21/12/08 (67 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Wonderfully clear print

Disadvantages: Always seems to be the first to run out

I have had my Epson printer for just over a year now and had the one before that for over two before it began to chew paper and was kindly replaced by Epson for the one I currently have. Luckily for me both of the printers use the same ink cartridges and therefore I didn't waste any ink whatsoever when I switched printers.

Now being at University and constantly having to hand in double copies of essay and presentation notes I do get through rather a lot of ink and it is my black ink that takes the greatest bashing.

The black ink cartridge in question can be bought separately or in a pack, which has the code T0715 and contains a black ink cartridge as well as one of each of the colours; cyan, yellow and magenta. It may be a good time to mention that this cartridge as well as the multi-pack and the single colours has a picture of a cheetah on the front and so it is easily recognisable in the shops.

When you get the ink home I have found that the cartridges are really easy to replace and like I have mentioned above I have had two different printers that use this cartridge. You simply send the printer heads to the centre of the printer, flip open the cartridge lid, pull out the old cartridge and push the new one into place. The printer will then do everything else. The whole process takes no more than two minutes.

Each of the cartridges contains 13ml of ink, which compared to other cartridges is quite a lot. I do find however that it is always my black ink cartridge that runs out first due to the fact that near enough everything you print involves using the black, even if just a little. The cartridge itself can be used in the following printers: DX4000, DX4050, DX4400, DX4450, D120, DX6000, DX6050, DX7000, DX7400, DX8400, DX8450.

I have found that the black cartridge produces a very bright and strong colour that doesn't weaken as the cartridge lives out its life. In particular I have noticed that I can type in a relatively small font and still read what I have written because the printing quality and brightness of the ink is so good. A point to note here is that I don't purchase expensive paper, 500 sheets for £3 is about my limit and the quality of the printing I achieve is therefore all credit to the ink.

The price of a black ink cartridge does however vary greatly depending where you purchase it from and how many you are purchasing. From a retailer such as PC World you can expect to pay up to £8 for a cartridge but by shopping around online and buying 2 or 3 at the same time I have managed to get that price down to around £6 a cartridge.

Summary: A decent sized cartridge with excellent print quality

Processing/Quality:
Reliability:
Ease of use:
Speed: