R220 getting scarce?
2006-12-04 by l33ry
Tom Baker's last post got me looking around. I'm not sure if this is temporary or if this is it, but stocks of new R220 and R320 seem to have dried up, at least via retail, and the R340 is getting hard to find as well. Best Buy, Ritzcamera.com, amazon.com have dropped those models, which covers every place I've ever bought an Epson inkjet from. The good news is that refurbished R220's are back in stock, for now, at the Epson.com clearance center, as are refurbished R340's. They are $71 and $89 respectively, including shipping, which is as good a deal as you're likely to get on ebay. If you're in the market for the OEM inks, the printers are essentially free. Speaking of ebay, they seem still plentiful there. Warranties are now moot for BW printing purposes, as Epson will simply replace problem units with a Claria model. But my guess is that if you think you want one, get it while you can. It appears Epson has EOL-ed this cartridge/head/ink technology. A possible alternative for Epson T048-series cartridges (as used by MIS) are the older "RX-6xx" series multifunction machines (the new RX580 uses Claria). Unfortunately, I've never heard of anyone trying these with BW inks. Epson has refurb RX600's for $99, and appear to be blowing out the RX620's for $130, both shipped free. Anyone else have info? Bob L