That’s an ink absorber, and all inkjet printers have them. It’s not “designed to fail”, it’s a physical limitation of the universe. You can’t just keep dumping ink into a sponge forever. Eventually it will become saturated and you can either clean it or replace it.
I’ve had my printer for about four years and haven’t needed to replace one yet. They only cost about $10 when you do need to replace it. If they cost several hundred dollars, I would see your point, but the savings in ink more than makes up for having to replace a sponge every decade or so.
What I meant by “designed to fail” is that most of these ecotank printers need the counter to be reset by epson themselves. You can easily replace the pads. But you can’t easily reset the counter. It is possible but it involves trusting sketch sites and paying for a license to use the reset software. Older cartridges based epson printers had waste tanks with chips so that it could know when it was replaced. Newer eco tank printers don’t have the chip that let’s it know when the waste tank is replaced.
That’s not designed to fail, that’s designed to be serviced. Do you call cars “designed to fail” because they need new oil filters and the check engine light comes on when you need an oil change?
Yeah but it’s the same as if the oil filter in your car was super glued in and the dealership was the only ones that had the chemical to dissolve the glue.
You just said there are other ways to do it besides Epson. There are multiple sites that provide utilities to reset the counter.
The sponges are cheap. Way cheaper than using a cartridge printer. You can even just clean out the sponge and put it back in. You don’t have to buy a new one.
Even going through Epson’s first party maintenance program is way cheaper than using a cartridge printer. Like, orders of magnitude cheaper.
That’s an ink absorber, and all inkjet printers have them. It’s not “designed to fail”, it’s a physical limitation of the universe. You can’t just keep dumping ink into a sponge forever. Eventually it will become saturated and you can either clean it or replace it.
I’ve had my printer for about four years and haven’t needed to replace one yet. They only cost about $10 when you do need to replace it. If they cost several hundred dollars, I would see your point, but the savings in ink more than makes up for having to replace a sponge every decade or so.
Edit: I missed that you said only the manufacturer can replace it. That’s not true. It’s user replaceable with a Phillips head screwdriver.
Edit 2: Added links.
That’s fine, but make it easily user replaceable then!
It is? It’s behind a panel on the back of the printer. Just take the single Phillips head screw off.
It would be nice of them to sell replacement kits, though
https://epson.com/Accessories/Printer-Accessories/EcoTank-Ink-Maintenance-Box-T04D100/p/T04D100
Or
https://epson.com/Accessories/Printer-Accessories/EcoTank-Ink-Maintenance-Box-T04D000/p/T04D000
What I meant by “designed to fail” is that most of these ecotank printers need the counter to be reset by epson themselves. You can easily replace the pads. But you can’t easily reset the counter. It is possible but it involves trusting sketch sites and paying for a license to use the reset software. Older cartridges based epson printers had waste tanks with chips so that it could know when it was replaced. Newer eco tank printers don’t have the chip that let’s it know when the waste tank is replaced.
That’s not designed to fail, that’s designed to be serviced. Do you call cars “designed to fail” because they need new oil filters and the check engine light comes on when you need an oil change?
Yeah but it’s the same as if the oil filter in your car was super glued in and the dealership was the only ones that had the chemical to dissolve the glue.
You just said there are other ways to do it besides Epson. There are multiple sites that provide utilities to reset the counter.
The sponges are cheap. Way cheaper than using a cartridge printer. You can even just clean out the sponge and put it back in. You don’t have to buy a new one.
Even going through Epson’s first party maintenance program is way cheaper than using a cartridge printer. Like, orders of magnitude cheaper.