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HP Must Defend Half-Empty "Economy" Ink Cartridges

An Anonymous Coward excerpts this short Detroit News story, which begins "PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Hewlett-Packard Co. must defend the sale of half-full ink cartridges with its printers after a Minnesota appellate court reinstated a lawsuit against the world's largest maker of printers. Three Minnesota women claim that the company doesn't reveal that the 'economy cartridges' installed on new printers are only half full of ink." The cost of refills is why I've given up on inkjet printers entirely (for now) -- guess which division of HP made more money than the other four combined?

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  1. Re:Why do people bother with inkjets? by SomeoneGotMyNick · · Score: 5, Informative
    My nearly perfect sequence for a worry-free refill on an HP cartridge for an 800 series printer.

    1. Act immediately - When it's running out of ink, you have better luck refilling it before the ink dries in the nozzles
    2. Use only the suggested amount of ink recommended by the refill kit. Don't top-off and suck back a bit of ink to make a cartridge full.
    3. When done, squeeze sides slightly while closing off fill hole. Another reason why you don't fill to the brim.
    4. Let the printhead fully sit on blotting paper for 5-10 minutes (prop up cartridge with some loose change)
    5. Carefully wipe clean the printhead and insert in printer. Do full print tests, cleaning, and alignment.

    I say 'nearly-perfect' because I found that sometimes, I needed to do a little more blotting before everything is perfect.