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Getting Around Printer-Manufacturer Abuse
An anonymous reader writes "Here's a guy that demonstrates how printer companies abuse their clients. He found that Lexmark cartridges are a perfect replacement for Xerox ones, with only minor modifications to the printer.
It's well illustrated with may photographs."
Normally I found that Lexmark cartridges are insanely prices compared to the other brands which shows up furthermore in the price-per-page comparisons you often see.
:-?
Personally I've gone for the 4-cartridge Canon systems for inkjet and a HP 2200D Laser for the normal stuff (using refurbished toner cartridges - a mere $118 rather than $269 - complete with warranty).
This guy certainly proves that a little bit of searching around sure saves a LOT of money.
The whole printer-ink system reeks of things like the Debeers diamond cartel.
Now, I wonder how long this guy's WWW site will stay up
Article from the Chicago Tribune (free reg needed): http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/chi-02102 2ink,1,1030029.story
A cartridge conspiracy
By Phillip Robinson
Knight Ridder/Tribune
Published October 22, 2002
Ford and Chevron have partnered to design a new SUV. They claim it will run smoother and longer on a gallon of gas than any other SUV in the same class.
However, you'll have to use a special Chevron Premium gas that costs 30 percent to 70 percent more than typical gas. It's up around the $3- to
$4-a-gallon level. Use any other gas from any other station and a microchip in the tank will detect the difference and prevent the SUV from starting.
That protects you from poor performance and possible damage to the finely tuned engine. In fact, trying to use any other gas can sometimes void your warranty.
Relax. It isn't true. In cars, that is. (My apologies to Ford and Chevron.)
But it is true in computer printers.
Time to stop relaxing.
Some of the biggest inkjet printer makers are implanting chips in inkjet cartridges. These chips monitor the ink supply and let you know when you're getting low. They can even freeze the printer when the cartridge is empty. Supposedly that can permanently damage the printer.
So far, not so bad. Pretty much all cars have a fuel gauge, and all printers should, too. I loved when Lexmark added ink supply monitors to its software, so I could see how much was left. Few things are more annoying than getting halfway through a vital document only to run out of ink.
If and when you do find the cartridge, let's hope it isn't your first time buying replacement ink. First-timers are typically shocked at what they have to pay. That $100 inkjet printer may need three $35 cartridges to get back in a printing mood.
No wonder HP makes more profit on "consumables" such as ink than on anything else. No wonder Dell wants into the business. No wonder there's a busy
"recycling" and "remanufacturing" business in discount ink cartridges.
A growing number of companies refill used cartridges, and then sell them - often on the Internet - for 30 percent to 50 percent less. That saves you a lot of money and saves dumps from piles of dead cartridges.
But the remanufacturers won't be able to put a new chip in this latest cartridge design. Or be able to set the old chip back to recognizing "full."
Once that cartridge is empty, it's kaput. No recycling, no savings. The chip "squeals" on any attempt to reuse.
Some inkjet printer owners use their own refill kits to save even more money on ink. These kits are available even in some standard stores. They include a syringe, large bottles of ink and instructions. You fill the syringe and
then inject your cartridges. There's the danger of a mess, and of voiding the warranty, but there's also the prospect of saving 80 percent to 90
percent.
Smart chips in cartridges will also be able to terminate this savings. Once a cartridge is detected as empty, the chip can refuse to recognize it again as full.
It's called "lock in." Many tech companies are looking for ways to lock their customers in, to make it difficult or impossible for customers to
switch to using other suppliers in the future.
Of course, they don't advertise it that way. And many of their engineers and marketers may honestly not believe it that way.
They'll talk about the quality of the ink they make. How it's as much a part of the printing technology as the hardware and software. How you need all three working together to get the full performance. How they want to protect
you from bad prints, and the clogged inkjet tubes and broken printers that cheap ink can cause.
And you know, they're sometimes right. Cheap ink can make cheap-looking prints. No-name ink can clog those tiny jets in your printer.
But shouldn't you be the one to make the decision about which to use? Do you want the company "protecting" you ag
After a bit of researching I also picked up a canon (i550 model). How refreshing to see the ink cartridges are just that - not cartridges + printheads + drm chips.
The print quality is very good for the price (US $110 or so for the 550) and the inks are sold separately _for each color_ to save you money if one color runs out faster than the others. If you are really a cheap bastard you can use third party ink refilling kits without worry, but I've found the quality to be slightly better using the real canon inks.
Best part - a manufacturer original black ink cartridge costs $15 at normal retail. Try finding that for your lexmark or xerox or hp. There are third party knockoff cartridges even cheaper, but they may not print as well on e.g. glossy photo paper.
The i550 is slightly cheaper than the real "photo quality" ones that have special photo color inks in addition to the regular cmy ink. If you are a real photo quality nut you probably want one of those.
I would buy another one in a heartbeat. Screw all those greedy customer screwing "but look how cheap the printer is" bait and switch bastard manufacturers.
Lexmark, Ink. (pun intended) should be beaten with a rubber hose until they drool on the floor.
I have a old Canon BJ-200, that while the quality is not of Lexmark on its best day, I could plug it in right now and it will work - the carts never dry up. Ever. I am fully confident that the fossil record will show this.
I also have a old Panasonic KX-somthing or other that is noisy as hell but will print my obiturary, I'm sure. Which will most likely be soon, as I can't afford food after buying Lexmark supplies.
Anyhow, if Xerox and Lexmark are using similar carts, that is pretty much a big flag to avoid both companies like a strip bar named 'Fish n' Chips'.
Oh, you might be tempted, but there is something they're not telling you.
also she said that the damage was probably caused by
... and the repair turned into being a freebee (except for my time and effort, of course).
our use of third party wax ink cartridges
Reminds me of the time I installed a non-Factory radio in
my new car. The car wouldn't start, so I had it towed back
to the dealer. Bad solenoid in the starter, but then they
claimed that my new RADIO caused an electrical fault in the solenoid. I thought it sounded VERY fishy, and since I had a roadtrip to make in the next two days, I told them to "just #$((# replace it".
I had them replace the starter and I -KEPT- the core (old part) for
personal inspection.
After opening it up, I saw that the pushrod of the solenoid was manufactured a little suished - like a press mistkenly whacked it and distorted it - clearly a manufacturing error. Wrote a nasty-gram with a photo of the part
Lesson learned: if someone tells you it's not covered by warrenty because YOU did something wrong, don't believe them.
You are incorrect; Europe does have DMCA laws.
For the record: the DMCA laws on "protection of rights management information" originated with the WIPO Internet Treaties in the late 1990's: the parties to the treaty must implement provisions in national law to comply with the terms of the treaty. The US implemented DMCA. The EU implemented the Copyright Directive. The UK implemented changes to the UK CDPA 1988 to comply with the Copyright Directive.
So, (A) the EU does have a DMCA style law, and (B) the EU laws do apply to any type (not necessarily electronic / digital) technological measures relevant to any rights management information used to protect copyrights. However, for other reasons, it is unlikely it could be used in this particular case because you're not violating copyrights by altering a good that you've already purchasing (quite simply: there's no act of copying involved).
I have an older Epson Stylus 860 that does the same thing - if the color cartridge is empty, you have to replace it before you can print anything, even if it's black text you want to print. And it does that even if only one of the colors in the three color cart is empty. Used to drive me up a wall until I discovered, quite by accident, that you can take the empty color cartridge out, shake it vigorously for 10-15 seconds, and then replace it. Check the status monitor, and it appears that the empty cartridge is actually full.
I have no idea how this works, but I am guessing that the little bit of residual ink is coating the sensors and fooling them into thinking it's full. Of course, you can't actually print color docs, because there's not really any color ink in there, but it's saved me from many an unnecessary trip to buy a color cart I don't really need in order to print out the text that I do.
ABSURDITY, n.: A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own opinion.
"No warrantor of a consumer product may condition his written or implied warranty of such product on the consumers using, in connection with such product, any article or service (other than article or service provided without charge under the terms of the warranty) which is identified by brand, trade or corporate name
Simply put, the warrantor can not void a warranty because of the use of an aftermarket part. Furthermore the warrantor must show that an aftermarket part caused the damage in question that they wish to void the warranty over. While this act was passed to protect automotive aftermarket part manufacturers I'm guessing it could be applied to this situation. Maybe someone with Westlaw access could check.
Check out "Understanding the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act" for some more information.
Of course getting a manufacturer to obey the law and not try to weasel out of their obligations is something completely different.
"And a voice was screaming: 'Holy Jesus! What are these goddamn animals?'" - HST
I echo the endorsement of Canon as a company that plays more fair than the competition. For one thing, when I bought my Canon inkjet, it had full-use cartridges included, unlike HPs which have special partially-filled ones. They also have separate cartridges for each colour, so you can buy the individual colour when it runs out with no problem. Finally, the printer seemed to be a cut above the competition in durability.
But I have no trouble finding/buying Canon printers. Fry's, Best Buy and CompUSA all stock them, no problem.
Incidentally, I highly recommend my HP Color LaserJet 3500 - it's much cheaper per page even though you eventually have to replace the toner cartridges at huge cost.
D
I would like to also chime in with a note that Canon ink cartridges are made of a clear plastic, which means you can be assured that when the ink monitoring software warns you that you are low or out of ink, you can trust it. If you don't, just raise the lid and take a look for yourself.
Another thing, I think, that makes the price of newer Canon ink tanks cheaper is that there are no electronics on the tank itself. The printer doesn't actually "talk" to the tank. The printer uses a detection scheme that uses light to figure out when the tank is low/empty. Without the electronics involved, production has to be cheaper.
All this also makes it easier to refill the tank with 3rd party ink.
The reason your ink counter reset is because you removed the cartridge. Newer cartridges would not reset on their new line; they have a chip that meters ink usage. The reason they do this is quite simple; if you use the printer without ink it will ruin the head. Epson uses a micromechatronic head system consisting of a diamond attenuating in a pressurized chamber. If you run their ink system without ink "which acts as a cooling agent and a lubricant", you will fry the head and/or the quality will degrade considerably. The reason it refuses to print after the color is empty, even if you are just printing b&w is due to the fact it primes and cleans the heads before use, which uses both cartridges. If you do that without ink, you will hurt and/or fry the head. I've seen many of their old systems get fried because of this; fortunately their new system isn't as susceptible to this workaround of the protection system.