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Discussion STS inks. Anyone have experience with them?

Pixels Are Bad Mmmkay?

Pixels Are Bad Mmmkay?

New Member
I've got a vendor in our immediate area who wants to earn our business and has been able to match or beat some current prices on our media and inks. They can also match our current prices on non-OEM inks but we're currently using Bordeaux ink and have had good results as they were recommended on this forum by a few people as a good replacement ink at exceptional value. The inks this vendor sells are from a company called STS and I'm wondering if anyone here has tried these inks and whether or not they are a good reliable option.

We're running a Mimaki CJV-150-130 with SS21 inks.
 
J

Joe House

Sign Equipment Technician
What do they bring to the table that's making you consider jumping off an ink set that you have confidence in? How much is that confidence/peace of mind worth? I don't have experience with either of them, I'm just curious what the motivation is.

Good Luck
 
premiercolour

premiercolour

Merchant Member
Joe House said:
What do they bring to the table that's making you consider jumping off an ink set that you have confidence in? How much is that confidence/peace of mind worth? I don't have experience with either of them, I'm just curious what the motivation is.

Good Luck
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jsmoritz2000 said:
I've got a vendor in our immediate area who wants to earn our business and has been able to match or beat some current prices on our media and inks. They can also match our current prices on non-OEM inks but we're currently using Bordeaux ink and have had good results as they were recommended on this forum by a few people as a good replacement ink at exceptional value. The inks this vendor sells are from a company called STS and I'm wondering if anyone here has tried these inks and whether or not they are a good reliable option.

We're running a Mimaki CJV-150-130 with SS21 inks.
Click to expand...

I would like to know that too, Same day delivery?
 
C

CanuckSigns

Active Member
My understanding of 3rd party ink is if you find a brand that you are happy with and doesn't cause issues, stick with it! So many horror stories on here from people trying to save a few pennies.

If the new vendor is only pricematching, I wouldn't be willing to jump from a product you are happy with to an unknown.
 
Pixels Are Bad Mmmkay?

Pixels Are Bad Mmmkay?

New Member
Johnny Best said:
I'd listen to Doc Zoom, he has first hand experience.
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Yeah, and that's the feedback I kind of expected. I'd never heard mention of these inks until yesterday and the forum search feature wasn't turning up anything either. I figured if there wasn't much talk about them they probably aren't worth trying.
 
Gino

Gino

Premium Subscriber
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Why would you wanna take all those chances ?? Let them earn your trust by giving you the good prices on media and let the ink part go for the moment.
 
Pixels Are Bad Mmmkay?

Pixels Are Bad Mmmkay?

New Member
Gino said:
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Why would you wanna take all those chances ?? Let them earn your trust by giving you the good prices on media and let the ink part go for the moment.
Click to expand...

We already took a chance going non-OEM in the first place, in my opinion, so I'm willing to try anything once but only if it's recommended by others. The advantage, as I saw it, is the fact that they carry a lot of media that we normally have to go through three different vendors to acquire. This way, we would only have to deal with two vendors and since we've been having constant issues with one of our current vendors I have been wanting to keep my options open.
 
CMYKENGINEERING

CMYKENGINEERING

New Member
jsmoritz2000 said:
We already took a chance going non-OEM in the first place, in my opinion, so I'm willing to try anything once but only if it's recommended by others. The advantage, as I saw it, is the fact that they carry a lot of media that we normally have to go through three different vendors to acquire. This way, we would only have to deal with two vendors and since we've been having constant issues with one of our current vendors I have been wanting to keep my options open.
Click to expand...

We're ink guys ourselves so take what I say with a grain of salt. We have only dealt with their UV inks, which are crap. Low quality and high-potential to damage printheads. But maybe their eco-solvent inks are better *shrug*
 
GetTarps

GetTarps

New Member
Gino said:
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Why would you wanna take all those chances ?? Let them earn your trust by giving you the good prices on media and let the ink part go for the moment.
Click to expand...
Some OEM's have trouble with their own ink. If u can save $$...do it!
 
cstone94

cstone94

Pro-Graphx
I ran their Aqueous inks in 2 Epson SureColor p8000’s. Chips weren’t recognized half the time, and both printers lost the LK channel in the heads. I’d look at alternatives. We have run JTECK for 6+ years.
 
MelloImagingTechnologies

MelloImagingTechnologies

Many years in the Production Business
There are a few ink manufacturers out there.
I’ve been repairing printers For my customers for 20 years.
The few customers who have used 3rd party inks have had problems with STS.
Last year one of my customers used STS ink for their Seiko M64 printer I sold them 5 years ago since they could no longer buy the correct inks from Grimco.
Over 3 months he thought he saved $600 but after the leaks from the pump hosing occurred due to the STS ink, the parts replacements cost him $1800.
You should always use the manufacturer’s inks unless it’s on an HP where you are regularly replacing heads yourself anyway.
 
Active Sign

Active Sign

Sign Guy
We Have run Bordeaux since 2011 with good results other than black overspray. Tried OEM again and then gave STS a shot on our Roland with DX4’s hoping for no overspray. StS had same overspray issue. Other than that STS ink worked fine with a little extra maintenance but we went back to Bordeaux. My suggestion would be to stick with Bordeaux if it’s working good. It is okay to spread the vendor love out to a few places.
 
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