Genuine Mimaki ink vs third party inks. Which to Use?

[Peter Normington]

I would stick with genuine inks for two years, as I think this is a requirement to have the 2 year extended warranty, on your Mimaki.
The extra cost of genuine inks will be cheaper than a maintenance contract
I changed to third party inks after two years, but also the company that supply the inks, also provide my maintenance contract, so no issues and arguments about who is to blame if things go wrong.

Peter

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

That is what the supplier suggested but I have others trying to sell the third party inks! I am a believer in sticking with original parts/inks etc but just wanted to see what you guys have done!

Cheers Peter

[Jamie Wood]

We tried 2 different types of 3rd party ink in our JV3 after the warranty had expired,
and reverted back to OEM inks rather rapidly. In my opinion, it’s not worth the hassle,
although other people may have had better results than us….I’m not even going to
consider it on the JV33.

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Thanks Jamie, Do you mind me asking what the difference was?

[Jamie Wood]

We experienced blocked nozzles, ink dropout, overspray, and poor colour matching. We were advised that they were plug and play, and we didn’t need to alter any profiles. As
it turned out, the colours were miles out, and we had to run the machine 15-20 degrees
hotter to stop banding. I ran away very quickly, and will never return.

[Matt Boyd]

we just had a roland vp540i installed and was told that we HAD to use roland genuine inks for the warrenty period of 2 years. i have also been told by other roland users to stick with roland inks as they seem to be better than after market inks. i guess since roland inks are made for a roland printer, then you know you won’t have any issues from them! i would assume the same for the jv33.

[Ruairi O'Boyle]

Thats all very true Matt but then you have the problem of pricing against someone with bulk systems and cheaper inks! Hence my reason for even considering third party inks!

That being said I will not sacrifice print/material quality over price unless a customer specifically requested it!

Cheers

[Matt Boyd]

yeah, thats one of the things you have to consider very true ruairi. i know i’m going to stick with roland gen inks, just because i’ve spoken to other roland users who have been down the route of after market inks and have regretted it! not saying everyone who buys after market inks regrets it, theirs obviously a market out their for it, just not going to go down that route myself.

[David Rowland]

we dont have jv33, but a jv3… i am with selectech/colorific/tech8 with inks/support/supplies and they all work together…

However, with a machine, the warranty period is valuable, so you got to weigh up your circumstances… i would stick with mimaki for the time being.

[Matt Boyd]

as dave says, if your in warranty stick with the manufacturers recommended inks, i know roland void the 2 year warranty with our machine if we don’t use roland inks! not worth the hassle!