Hardware

Epson counts pages printed to calculate ink usage. If your page coverage is greater or less the the average used for calculation you will have some disparity with actual useage. It would be rather ponderous to count actual nozzel pulses plus cleaning cycles. Every time you replace a cartridge it assumes a NEW cartridge and resets that counter, if you install a partially used cartridge you may run it empty without warning.

"Does Epson do this to get you to buy more inks sooner?"

No, they like most printer manufacturers, have gotten surveys back with "It's be nice if we got some warning about when the ink cartridge is getting empty." A lot of people use these printers to print photos, and they definitely want to know if ink is running out before they start a job and potentially waste a photo quality sheet.

"Would it be possible to "fix" the guage to give you more time?"

Generally (at least with HP color ink cartridge printers), they provide a way to reset so you can essentially trick the printer to thinking that a new cartridge was inserted. On HP, you open the cover and lift the top of the cartridge lock, then put the lock back in place, close, and depending on the model, you'll get a printer alignment page and be asked to recheck.

"It doesn;t seem fair and I'm sure it result in some calls to tech support?"

I think most people just want to save money or time. They will operate whatever way they need in order to fulfill their need. Some people will complain that the feature is there, but I think many like the feature... I do anyway.

This question was closed by the author