Digital BW, The Print

A couple of very un-artistic questions.

- About how many prints (8x10 or 8.5x11) do you get from one set of 
cartridges of MIS VM inks for the Epson 1280?

- How many ounces of ink are there in a cartridge (of black, and of 
the gray/color chambers)?

- Anybody want to share experiences/horror stories from when you 
decided on either refilling cartrigdes or getting a CIS system?

- I also have an old HP Deskjet 500 that works well.  Is it worth the 
bother hooking the Deskjet and the 1280 up to an A/B box so I can use 
the Deskjet for ordinary text printing and the occasional music 
manuscript?  This is a cost of ink vs. convenience thing. 

Why I'm asking all this:  I just ordered a set of prefilled VM 
cartridges for the 1280 from MIS to try out Hextone printing.  
Eventually I may get the virgin cartridges and refill myself, or get 
a CIS.  I don't print every day, and I might not print every week 
except for a quick throwaway to keep the ink from drying out.  I need 
this information to get an idea of how much ink I'll consume, etc.

Thanks,
--Peter Klein
Seattle, WA