# Cobraink closing - replacement question



## iga979 (Jun 9, 2018)

Hi,

As you already noticed Cobraink is closing.

We use 1430 printers so im looking for a replacement.

Cobra is suggesting heattransferwarehouse.com but it doesnt look like they have 6 colours sublimation ink.
Also im not sure about cobra's icc profiles support.

Please help.


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## into the T (Aug 22, 2015)

have you looked at inkowl here
they have their own icc's


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## iga979 (Jun 9, 2018)

into the T said:


> have you looked at inkowl here
> they have their own icc's


inkowl is a great company with great support, inkpot (reseller) 40 minutes driving from Montreal .

But their colour results doesn’t fit my needs.
I switched from them to Cobra and now cobra is gone so I’m looking for alternatives.


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## into the T (Aug 22, 2015)

cosmos ink?


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## iga979 (Jun 9, 2018)

into the T said:


> cosmos ink?


Any users of cosmos here ? Please share your feedback. Colors are close to original after printing ? Support? Possibility to order custom icc profile ?

Thanks for your help !!


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## NoXid (Apr 4, 2011)

I'm using different printers than you, and they are 4-color, so not what you are looking for. But I found InkOwl to be slightly more on target than Cobra had been. IO has a ton of profiles, including one specific to my printer. Still not perfect, but close enough for my art (no skin tones / people in my art).

What is your substrate? Regardless of ink brand, you might have to spring for a custom profile. There are independent services that do this.

Outside of Cobra and InkOwl I don't have any direct experience. But it seems lots of people are happy with Cosmos, though it is a much newer company than these others. I've no idea if they make 6-color inks, though. Seems like there are a billion brands of sub ink at Amazon or WalMart or whatever. Even if the ink itself is all the same, I'm dubious these other guys have profiles worth a poop, if they have profiles at all.

I'll miss Cobra and Richard, but he's put in his years, so not surprised that he retired.


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## iga979 (Jun 9, 2018)

NoXid said:


> IO has a ton of profiles


Thanks for the feedback.
Actually IO has only 1 profile for 6 colors, compared to cobra they have 2 for soft and hard substrates.
IO gives you ok results if you dont print it with max dpi settings. If you chose max dpi black is not black anymore, its dark blue, gray is greener etc etc.


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## iga979 (Jun 9, 2018)

Anyone using sublinova ink?


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## GLASSARTZ (Jul 29, 2012)

Hi,
I have had an Epson 1400 and 1430 and this works on both.
I bought refillable ink cartridges on Ebay and dye based Co ink black.
I fill all the cartridges with black ink, the cartridges don't need to be reset.
Works fine and you cant get much blacker!


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## deenacheri (Jun 6, 2008)

Printer Jacks
Love their ink and their paper!!!!
Tried cobra wasn't as impressed then tried cosmos, terrible in my opinion
I used Printer Jacks with and without the ICC profile and without it was just as good
Again my opinion
I'm using Epson WF 7710 and EcoTank 2720
I wont use another ink unless of course Printer Jacks taps out too


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## NoXid (Apr 4, 2011)

deenacheri said:


> Printer Jacks
> Love their ink and their paper!!!!
> Tried cobra wasn't as impressed then tried cosmos, terrible in my opinion
> I used Printer Jacks with and without the ICC profile and without it was just as good
> ...


What substrates are you printing on? Hard / soft?


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## into the T (Aug 22, 2015)

deenacheri said:


> Tried cobra wasn't as impressed then tried cosmos, terrible in my opinion
> I used Printer Jacks with and without the ICC profile and without it was just as good


does printers jack have 6 color ink for the op's 1430?
do they have a website?

another option is inkxpro, here and here for icc info


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## deenacheri (Jun 6, 2008)

NoXid said:


> What substrates are you printing on? Hard / soft?


Mostly soft, but did alot of the tumblers 
But I mostly do just clothing.


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## deenacheri (Jun 6, 2008)

into the T said:


> does printers jack have 6 color ink for the op's 1430?
> do they have a website?
> 
> another option is inkxpro, here and here for icc info


Yes they do have ink for 6 color and they do have the ICC profiles. I just didn't see the difference with or without it.
They sell on amazon which means fast delivery and returns if you don't like it


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## into the T (Aug 22, 2015)

deenacheri said:


> Yes they do have ink for 6 color and they do have the ICC profiles. I just didn't see the difference with or without it.
> They sell on amazon which means fast delivery and returns if you don't like it


thanks for the info

i did find a webstore that sold that ink, but only 4-color


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## JazzBlueRT (Feb 22, 2021)

Anyone know an alternative for pigmented Epson ink?


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

JazzBlueRT said:


> Anyone know an alternative for pigmented Epson ink?


All of the recommendations above your post.


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## Gizmogirl256 (Jan 19, 2021)

I use InkOwl's 4 color ink and it's done well for me. Their ICC files are good general purpose versions but it's like using an all-season tire. It gets you there but not perfect for every situation. If you're doing logo work where color is important, get custom ICC files for each of your substrates.


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## JazzBlueRT (Feb 22, 2021)

Has anyone tried inkpro2day.com. They have pigment ink for the ET-15000

Pigment Ink 4- 135ml bottles for EPSON EcoTank ET-15000 printer


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

JazzBlueRT said:


> Has anyone tried inkpro2day.com. They have pigment ink for the ET-15000
> 
> Pigment Ink 4- 135ml bottles for EPSON EcoTank ET-15000 printer


Everyone has pigment ink for the ET15000. The question is do they have a color profile. They don't mention they do on the link.


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## evygrace (Mar 9, 2008)

iga979 said:


> Any users of cosmos here ? Please share your feedback. Colors are close to original after printing ? Support? Possibility to order custom icc profile ?
> 
> Thanks for your help !!


I have ET8550 and use them..working just fine. I do have the cobraink profile though which gets me where I need to be.

I print whenever needed. No clogging. Head clean periodically. I love no cartridges.


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## JazzBlueRT (Feb 22, 2021)

splathead said:


> Everyone has pigment ink for the ET15000. The question is do they have a color profile. They don't mention they do on the link.


Cobra told me to use the Epson profile and it seems to be accurate enough. I like the keyed bottles.


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## izlude (Apr 16, 2010)

This is insane ToT First inkjetcarts (best ink in the universe), now cobraink (my fallback ink)... ugh, and I was in the market for a new CISS and need new inks. Running a WF-7610, pigment setup (will make new topic), just putting in my thoughts, it's sad to see'em go.

Edit: oops, wait, they're now called WALAInk?? I just found'em.. and hoisin sauce, their pigment is expensive!!!


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## WalkingZombie (Mar 15, 2014)

This is what I get for buying in bulk. I go back to the site a few months later to stock up on more and they done closed up shop. Eeek! Luckily it's the weekend and now I'm forced to FINALLY uncrate my Epson F570 lol.

But I have used InkOwl for many years, in the past, for toner and they were great. Plus, they've been around for a while, so they should be a reliable company to go with.


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## jasonsmith (Mar 30, 2011)

It's so annoying that Cobra Ink didn't at least e-mail everyone in advance to let them know and give them an opportunity to buy whatever inventory they had left. I have no idea how long he knew in advance he was shutting down, but he should have at least sent out e-mails to everyone. That's just dumping your customers without notice for no reason to do it like that. If I knew he was shutting down, then I'd have stocked up a little more on ink as I just bought some a few months ago when they had a sale. Will be looking for replacement inkjet dye based ink for an Epson 1400.


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## WalkingZombie (Mar 15, 2014)

jasonsmith said:


> It's so annoying that Cobra Ink didn't at least e-mail everyone in advance to let them know and give them an opportunity to buy whatever inventory they had left. I have no idea how long he knew in advance he was shutting down, but he should have at least sent out e-mails to everyone. That's just dumping your customers without notice for no reason to do it like that. If I knew he was shutting down, then I'd have stocked up a little more on ink as I just bought some a few months ago when they had a sale. Will be looking for replacement inkjet dye based ink for an Epson 1400.


Completely agree but knowing them and my experience, they were always bad at communication, so it didn't surprise me. I would have stocked up a little too.


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## jasonsmith (Mar 30, 2011)

I did buy some Cobra Ink many many months ago when they had a holiday sale. But did Cobra Ink have a major sale before they closed? I heard someone here make a comment that the owner retired. Well, you don't make that decision at the last minute.

How did everybody find out that they closed? Was it that they just stopped responding to emails and phone calls? Instead of them taking down their website, they could have left it up for at least 6 months or a year to let everyone know they've closed or something. Just really crappy. 

I'll have to find replacement ink for Epson that's a good quality. I will say I've got some Cobra Ink dated 2015 that I've still been using. As I don't print much recently. So their ink has held up for at least 7 years. Though I don't know how accurate the colors would be compared to fresh ink. But I don't print photos or things like that where you'd need high color accuracy.

It kind of reminds me when I bought an aftermarket battery from a company. Supposed to be high quality instead of cheap China batteries. As the OEM don't make these batteries anymore. And the 2nd battery I bought pretty much died after 1.5 years, and it was still kinda in warranty. And I sent them e-mails and they never respond back. And they don't answer the phone.


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## jasonsmith (Mar 30, 2011)

I did start getting e-mails from a company saying they took over Cobra Ink or whatever. What exactly happened there? As that company isn't using the name "Cobra Ink". Did they buy the ink formula or what exactly? It seems like to me that Cobra Ink must have sold all of their customers e-mail addresses to this new company. It's one thing if Cobra Ink got a new owner. but really sleazy for Cobra Ink to give my e-mail address to some random company to start e-mailing me.


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## Worked Wood (Aug 7, 2019)

evygrace said:


> I have ET8550 and use them..working just fine. I do have the cobraink profile though which gets me where I need to be.
> 
> I print whenever needed. No clogging. Head clean periodically. I love no cartridges.


Would you mind sharing the profile from Cobra? I've been using an Epson 1430 with the CS6 profile but have an ET-15500 but no profile.


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## sapience (Sep 25, 2010)

jasonsmith said:


> I did start getting e-mails from a company saying they took over Cobra Ink or whatever. What exactly happened there? As that company isn't using the name "Cobra Ink". Did they buy the ink formula or what exactly? It seems like to me that Cobra Ink must have sold all of their customers e-mail addresses to this new company. It's one thing if Cobra Ink got a new owner. but really sleazy for Cobra Ink to give my e-mail address to some random company to start e-mailing me.


The reason why that company contacted you is because Richard doesn't have control over all the people that were using his ink... because his ink is controlled by a USA manufacturer... the person from the company that holds all the accounts has control over who will be taking over distribution from Richard's customer base. The CMYK is the EXACT ink Richard was selling for the ET-8500 & ET8550 . They ( USA Ink manufacturer) is working on the gray as it's actually an old Epson Gray that was discontinued, upgraded, or something... bottom line, they are working on it and also trying to provide a replacement that will also work with the ICC profiles we already are using from Richard. So the company that contacted you wasn't trying to grab business from you rather, they were reaching out because they will (and partially as they have the CMYK) have the replacements you need. 
Ink Owl does make their own ink, and I have used them in the past for several Ricoh printers, and I have spoken at length to them as well. Their ink will not mix with Cobra/Richard's ink, and you will need to use Ink Owl's ICC profile. When I last spoke to them they were having difficulty formulating the gray. If you haven't purchased a printer yet, or yours is new without ink installed yet, Ink Owl is an option. They've always been very fair with me, and were the 1st company that actually provided a means for me to finally begin turning over a more respectable profit margin by lowering my ink costs considerably. I actually called them 1st when I purchased the ET-8500, but they didn't have the ink. I already knew about Richard/Cobra, and he was able to help, went well above and beyond. I will always be grateful to Richard so I ask everyone to please be a bit more kind regarding how he handled this. I also wasn't / still am not happy with how it all went down, but none of us know what he was / is dealing with. ALL of us are dealing with immense challenges right now, albeit they vary among us... regardless, we are all dealing with a lot of crap. He didn't leave us 100% hanging, he did provide a contact AND the distributor who was awarded the contract. We all would have liked a 'heads up'. Once again, all I ask is that we all take that into consideration.

I recognize that the ET-8500 & ET-8550 aren't the most expensive printers, but they aren't exactly cheap, not to mention supply chain issues still exist trying to find one to purchase. The only ways I've seen to dump ink from eco-tanks is to disconnect the ink lines, use a syringe to suck the ink out, etc. or to literally turn the printer upside down to dump the ink into a sink. I'm not doing either of those things, LOL. 
I prefer to get the eXACT ink I was getting from Richard because I can't afford to just spend the $700+ to replace the printer, and that's even if I can find one for sale. I am also incredibly thrilled with the performance of this ink. I have been printing many of the same designs over the past nearly 13 years and know what they've looked like over the years from different ink and printers. This ink excels.

So, the ink IS available, the EXACT ink, from the company that contacted you 

Also, the other companies mentioned on here, they may be okay and some many be happy with them. Be advised that they all sell ink from China. It all depends on your needs graphically. I've also dealt with China for ink too. It printed the same as Sawgrass's ink, it prints flat despite many graphic tweaks... would likely be less flat that when printed on a Sawgrass /Ricoh which is a durable printer but of which the resolution is more suited for the office copies Ricoh mainly focuses on as their customer base. The sharpness and detail is just not there with Sawgrass/Richoh printers. So for that reason alone, it's possible that the Chinese ink is fine for whatever your needs are. Understand though that quality may shift depending on the time of year. A/C factories aren't exactly everywhere over there, and sub ink can be temperature sensitive. Many things to consider, especially since the average business person in China is also dealing with a lot of challenges and crap right now too.

Anyway, I wanted to take the time to respond and let everyone know that the contact they received is actually a legit hand reaching effort to solve a very upsetting situation for many of us. Could things have been handled better? Yeah, sure... but once again, who knows what crap came flying down? PEACE!


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## jasonsmith (Mar 30, 2011)

sapience said:


> The reason why that company contacted you is because Richard doesn't have control over all the people that were using his ink... because his ink is controlled by a USA manufacturer... the person from the company that holds all the accounts has control over who will be taking over distribution from Richard's customer base. The CMYK is the EXACT ink Richard was selling for the ET-8500 & ET8550 . They ( USA Ink manufacturer) is working on the gray as it's actually an old Epson Gray that was discontinued, upgraded, or something... bottom line, they are working on it and also trying to provide a replacement that will also work with the ICC profiles we already are using from Richard. So the company that contacted you wasn't trying to grab business from you rather, they were reaching out because they will (and partially as they have the CMYK) have the replacements you need.
> Ink Owl does make their own ink, and I have used them in the past for several Ricoh printers, and I have spoken at length to them as well. Their ink will not mix with Cobra/Richard's ink, and you will need to use Ink Owl's ICC profile. When I last spoke to them they were having difficulty formulating the gray. If you haven't purchased a printer yet, or yours is new without ink installed yet, Ink Owl is an option. They've always been very fair with me, and were the 1st company that actually provided a means for me to finally begin turning over a more respectable profit margin by lowering my ink costs considerably. I actually called them 1st when I purchased the ET-8500, but they didn't have the ink. I already knew about Richard/Cobra, and he was able to help, went well above and beyond. I will always be grateful to Richard so I ask everyone to please be a bit more kind regarding how he handled this. I also wasn't / still am not happy with how it all went down, but none of us know what he was / is dealing with. ALL of us are dealing with immense challenges right now, albeit they vary among us... regardless, we are all dealing with a lot of crap. He didn't leave us 100% hanging, he did provide a contact AND the distributor who was awarded the contract. We all would have liked a 'heads up'. Once again, all I ask is that we all take that into consideration.
> 
> I recognize that the ET-8500 & ET-8550 aren't the most expensive printers, but they aren't exactly cheap, not to mention supply chain issues still exist trying to find one to purchase. The only ways I've seen to dump ink from eco-tanks is to disconnect the ink lines, use a syringe to suck the ink out, etc. or to literally turn the printer upside down to dump the ink into a sink. I'm not doing either of those things, LOL.
> ...


I don't know what you are going on there about. But I have an Epson 1400 with dye inks. And I don't think it was all that great for Cobra Ink to take my e-mail address or whatever and just give that over to some 3rd party. Cobra Ink didn't even ask first. That 3rd company in their e-mails made it sound like they had bought the Cobra Ink company, but then that doesn't look like to be the case since I guess Cobra Ink's physical location is shut down, and that other company isn't using the Cobra Ink name or logo. 

I wonder if that 3rd company had paid Richard for his customer's e-mail accounts so they could spam everyone trying to sell ink since Cobra Ink closed down. And I still haven't seen anything from that 3rd company who sent me e-mails as to what exactly their business arrangement was/is with Cobra Ink. As it looks like to me that they have nothing to do with Cobra Ink other than gaining access to the e-mail accounts of all the customers of Cobra Ink.

I will have to find new dye ink for my Epson 1400. I just wish he had given us a heads up as I probably would have bought some ink to last me for the time being. As last I bought a couple of months ago, I just bought some extra ink that I was going to be running low on. I will say the Cobra Ink I'm running right now was bottled in 2015. As I don't really print much.


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