Having said that, you can only take advantage of the extra controls and tweaks if you have custom (non-xyz) firmware from what I understand.

Here is what you do to make your life easier: (and cheaper)

Purchase the XYZerocart.  Install it and forget about using carts ever again.
Print a spool holder to use. (Theres hundreds of them on Thingverse)
Purchase quality filament from a reputable source (NO EBAY OR AMAZON)
Install on spool and set your spool behind the machine, about 2 feet from the machine. (The slack is needed to keep the spool from arbitrarily unwinding itself)
Purchase Simplify3D software to control your davinci. (throw away the xyzware)

No go print all you like and have fun.

How is Simplify3D compared to Slic3r or Cura?  Do you have control over the temperatures and layer options?
I tried the modded XYZopen and calibrating it was a royal pain and ended up going back to the stock XYZware.

Purchase the XYZerocart.  Install it and forget about using carts ever again.
Print a spool holder to use. (Theres hundreds of them on Thingverse)
Purchase quality filament from a reputable source (NO EBAY OR AMAZON)
Install on spool and set your spool behind the machine, about 2 feet from the machine. (The slack is needed to keep the spool from arbitrarily unwinding itself)
Purchase Simplify3D software to control your davinci. (throw away the xyzware)

No go print all you like and have fun.

I like the convenience of the cartridges too but the lack of XYZ stock drove me to explore this option.

I already love the fact that the spool of Inland I got at Microcenter last week was $14 for a Kg!

I have a number of carts right now with various amounts of filament left that are already bought and paid for.

I'm simply going to break out the spools so I can get rid of the cartridge boxes themselves.

I am confused. If you have a resetter why in the heavens name would you continue to buy XYZ over priced filament? I trust you realize their filament is twice the price of any other brand? The purpose for the resetter is so you can buy filament for other suppliers.

Here is the math. On average a spool from some other vendor is about 30 bucks. Give or take 10. On that spool you get 1000g or 1Kg. With XYZ you pay 25 to 30 bucks but you only get 600g per cartridge. So XYZ is double the other guys because you only get half of what the other guys give you for the same price. Plus it is near impossible to find black now from XYZ and stores are saying months before stock arrives.

You do make a valid point about cost effectiveness.   I only have 3 non-XYZ spools that I use, however in my *short* experience with my 1.0, XYZ filament seems to gives the best printing results.
I am using stock settings and XYZware for printing.  Eventually when I get into modding or using Slic3r/Cura, where I can control the bed and extruder temperatures, I will certainly be looking into other brands of filament.  Other brands/websites Ive looked at had great reviews and good selection, but required more specific temperature ranges.  My assumption is that proprietary XYZ filament is geared more towards the 210' extruder and 90' bed temperatures, but I could be wrong.

There are a few on Thingiverse, I may just print one or get a wire caddy at Home Depot...

PseudoShooter wrote:

Resurrecting an old thread but it seems no one has discussed the probability that the hole the filament leaves the cartridge from is too small.

I had this issue a few weeks ago with a brand-new red cart. About five minutes into the print, the filament stopped dead and the machine strained to keep pulling it out. Too bad there is no "emergency" stop on a print when this much pull resistance is encountered by the extruder assembly.

I cancelled the print and removed the cart to find that the filament was stuck in the hole and wouldn't flow freely. 

I fixed the issue by opening the cart and enlarging the hole with a small circular file. When I get new carts now, the first thing I do is pull on the filament to make sure it flows without restriction.

The last thing I want is to break my machine because of a shitty cartridge.

I'm on the verge of eliminating carts altogether once I take delivery of my shiny new cart resetter. Right now, I'm running a large black spool that's hanging on the back of my machine. I'm bypassing the DRM with a full purple cart in the bay for now.

It's working quite well and I'm pretty happy not to have to deal with the XYZ clowns any longer.

Awesome machine, pretty terrible service.

Now that I have a resetter, I have avoided using the cartridges all together because of the issue you mention.  I built a simple PVC pipe spool holder that sits on top of my printer that I can have 5 or so spools ready to go.  The filament feeds in through the center opening on the printer lid.
I leave a cartridge in the machine so I can use the resetter.  When I get new XYZ filament, I remove the spool from the cartridge and put it on my PVC rig.  In my opinion, it is much easier to access the filament this way.  It is also easier to monitor whats going on and reduces drag on the moving parts while printing.

This is my first and only printer..so far, and I love it.  I understand why people shy away from this line of printers with the proprietary filament but with a resetter, there are no issues I have run into yet.

I am confused. If you have a resetter why in the heavens name would you continue to buy XYZ over priced filament? I trust you realize their filament is twice the price of any other brand? The purpose for the resetter is so you can buy filament for other suppliers.

Here is the math. On average a spool from some other vendor is about 30 bucks. Give or take 10. On that spool you get 1000g or 1Kg. With XYZ you pay 25 to 30 bucks but you only get 600g per cartridge. So XYZ is double the other guys because you only get half of what the other guys give you for the same price. Plus it is near impossible to find black now from XYZ and stores are saying months before stock arrives.

Once I've flashed my firmware back to J and have my resetter up and running, I will slowly break down my remaining carts and use the spools loose. FU, XYZprinting.

I plan on building a rig so I can put the spool on top like yours as well. It's a bit of a pain to reach behind the machine where my printer is located in my office.

You won't regret it, it makes switching filament very quick and easy.  I've uploaded a picture of my super-fancy-high-tech spool holder (/sarcasm).  I put some silicone caulking on the underneath side so it wouldn't slide or rattle around.  I also cut some simple U-shaped cardboard dividers from the box they were shipped in, to sandwich the spool in-use to avoid the filament jumping off the spool or getting caught on anything.  Works great.

Only thing I've noticed is if you load too many new spools on the rig, it can be quite heavy and slightly offset your bed leveling, but that can be negligible.

I plan on building a rig so I can put the spool on top like yours as well. It's a bit of a pain to reach behind the machine where my printer is located in my office.

Resurrecting an old thread but it seems no one has discussed the probability that the hole the filament leaves the cartridge from is too small.

I had this issue a few weeks ago with a brand-new red cart. About five minutes into the print, the filament stopped dead and the machine strained to keep pulling it out. Too bad there is no "emergency" stop on a print when this much pull resistance is encountered by the extruder assembly.

I cancelled the print and removed the cart to find that the filament was stuck in the hole and wouldn't flow freely. 

I fixed the issue by opening the cart and enlarging the hole with a small circular file. When I get new carts now, the first thing I do is pull on the filament to make sure it flows without restriction.

The last thing I want is to break my machine because of a shitty cartridge.

I'm on the verge of eliminating carts altogether once I take delivery of my shiny new cart resetter. Right now, I'm running a large black spool that's hanging on the back of my machine. I'm bypassing the DRM with a full purple cart in the bay for now.

It's working quite well and I'm pretty happy not to have to deal with the XYZ clowns any longer.

Awesome machine, pretty terrible service.

Now that I have a resetter, I have avoided using the cartridges all together because of the issue you mention.  I built a simple PVC pipe spool holder that sits on top of my printer that I can have 5 or so spools ready to go.  The filament feeds in through the center opening on the printer lid.
I leave a cartridge in the machine so I can use the resetter.  When I get new XYZ filament, I remove the spool from the cartridge and put it on my PVC rig.  In my opinion, it is much easier to access the filament this way.  It is also easier to monitor whats going on and reduces drag on the moving parts while printing.

This is my first and only printer..so far, and I love it.  I understand why people shy away from this line of printers with the proprietary filament but with a resetter, there are no issues I have run into yet.

I had this issue a few weeks ago with a brand-new red cart. About five minutes into the print, the filament stopped dead and the machine strained to keep pulling it out. Too bad there is no "emergency" stop on a print when this much pull resistance is encountered by the extruder assembly.

I cancelled the print and removed the cart to find that the filament was stuck in the hole and wouldn't flow freely. 

I fixed the issue by opening the cart and enlarging the hole with a small circular file. When I get new carts now, the first thing I do is pull on the filament to make sure it flows without restriction.

The last thing I want is to break my machine because of a shitty cartridge.

I'm on the verge of eliminating carts altogether once I take delivery of my shiny new cart resetter. Right now, I'm running a large black spool that's hanging on the back of my machine. I'm bypassing the DRM with a full purple cart in the bay for now.

It's working quite well and I'm pretty happy not to have to deal with the XYZ clowns any longer.

Awesome machine, pretty terrible service.