Gelsprinters and starter ink cartridges

[mrwho]

I've got two conflicting informations regarding the starter cartridges on the Gelsprinter series:

a) It's good for 400 prints (@ 5% coverage)
b) It's only got enough ink for initialization and little more.

Which one is correct?

[pdmac]

The answer is A

[mrwho]

Well, the Gelsprinter in our showroom lost all the ink in all of the four starter cartridges in under 100 prints - roughly half of those were under 5% coverage and the other half between 5% and 20%. Oddly enough, the used ink reservoir is also full. So I don't know what conclusion can we take from all this.

[Herrmann]

So I don't know what conclusion can we take from all this.

I can help you out: Don't even think about selling these POS

[neergish]

We had one of these PITA in a calf buyers truck behind a inverter for printing out checks. It ran OK and seemed to survive being bumped around and being covered with manure and muck but drank ink like nothing Ive seen. Figured it out to be because the inverter would turn off every time the truck did, the printer would turn off and on and then go through its start up procedure of ink wasting nozzle checks.

[teebee1234]

Found this in the Global Knowledge Base.....

Ink alert occurs too often
Problem / Possible Cause Comment/Suggestions

• Color ink is consumed even when all printing is in black and white

Printing in black-and-white also consumes color ink. To keep their nozzles (inkheads) in top condition, GelJet devices perform automatic maintenance at various times, including the beginning of a print task.
When maintenance is performed, very small amounts of fresh ink are used to clear away ink that has dried within the nozzle, wipers absorb ink as necessary, and foreign particles of paper and dried ink are cleaned away. For this reason, even colors of ink that are not used for the printing itself are consumed during maintenance.
Manually initiated maintenance tasks such as head cleaning also consume ink.

Finally, to ensure optimal print results, GelJet devices perform automatic image processing adjustments based on the ink and paper to be used. For some kinds of paper, the best way to get black images may be to mix colored ink on the page. This is another reason why color ink may be consumed to produce printouts in black and white.

• If just one color of ink runs out, device cannot be used

To keep their nozzles (inkheads) in top condition, GelJet devices perform automatic maintenance at various times, including the beginning of a print task.
This maintenance is performed so that white lines and misaligned colors do not occur as a result of airborne particles or nozzles (inkheads) that have dried up as a result of not having been used for a long time (for example, in devices which are used mainly for monochrome printing). If this maintenance cannot be automatically performed, it is possible that the nozzles may suffer permanent effects such that even head cleaning cannot restore them to optimal operation.

To prevent problems like this, if even one GelJet cartridge ink color runs out, print operations stop.

Finally, to ensure optimal print results, GelJet devices perform automatic image processing adjustments based on the ink and paper to be used. For some kinds of paper, the best way to get black images may be to mix colored ink on the page. This is another reason why printer operations stop when even one GelJet cartridge ink color runs out.

• Ink alert for C (Cyan) occurs too often

Compared with other colors, Cyan runs out sooner because it is most often used.

• Ink alert occurs too often when print jobs contain large areas of color coverage

Print jobs with large color areas (bar graphs, pie charts, large color photos, etc.) will consume ink much faster

• Ink cartridges from the starter kit provided with the printer run out too soon

The starter cartridges provided with the printer contain less ink than the medium and large size cartridges that are available for purchase.
Starter cartridges are for ink initialization, and contain only enough ink for performing that task. They cannot be used to print on the same scale as the cartridges available for purchase.

• Ink initialization does not complete.

If the printer is interrupted during initialization, the process will start again from the beginning the next time the printer is turned on.
Never disconnect the power cord while the printer is initializing after power. Set the printer in a location where its power cord will not be removed accidentally.
An error may also occur if ink initialization is performed using either the starter cartridge or a replacement cartridge purchased separately if the ink levels are too low. Use a new starter cartridge for ink initialization.

• LED flashes on the control panel

The LED indicates ink-end or open cover. There could be an open cover issue

[mrwho]

Starter cartridges are for ink initialization, and contain only enough ink for performing that task. They cannot be used to print on the same scale as the cartridges available for purchase.

Yep, that where I read it. But, on the other hand, Ricoh themselves told us about the 400-page yield.