Looking to save even more money? We purchased a package of Staples Photo Plus Gloss paper and compared it to Epson's Premium Glossy Photo paper. Using Epson inks on both, three of our editors had trouble distinguishing any real differences between the papers, but when asked to make a choice, two of them chose the Staples paper, which at 45 cents a sheet in a packet of 50 sheets, costs 36 percent less than the Epson paper which cost us 70 cents a sheet in a packet of 50 sheets.

One thing we couldn't test was print longevity of these papers and inks. We'll monitor the prints for fade resistance over the coming months and will report back should we find that the either paper outperforms the other.

These are the findings from a single third-party ink supplier and one third-party paper using just one printer, so its hard to say how well other printers work with Silo inks or how well the NX400 would work with inks from CartridgeWorld. Should we look at others? Do you use third-party printer consumables? If so, let us know about your experiences, good and bad.