Testing Cheaper Printer Ink

Carl Bialik from the WSJ writes "Computer users world-wide spend $22 billion a year on ink cartridges, and the big companies are getting stingier with the amount of ink they are putting into each cartridge, the Wall Street Journal reports. Entrepreneurs are seeking a slice of that market by undercutting HP and Lexmark with ink prices 20% to 50% lower. The Journal tested do-it-yourself refill kits, cartridge retail outlets and replacement cartridges from online stores to find the best way to save money on ink refills. One major finding: The quality often wasn't as good as with the name-brand cartridges."

Comments

Back in the day

[el_womble]

I worked as an office junior for a guy once who refused to by branded cartridges once he found out about them - in this case Epsom. The cartriges were about 2/3 of the price and when they worked were pretty close to the quality of the original... when they worked. Between increased maintenance, broken printers and destroyed print outs I can't see how the TCO was much less than double the price of the branded inks.

Re:Back in the day

[Technician]

Between increased maintenance, broken printers and destroyed print outs I can't see how the TCO was much less than double the price of the branded inks.


I bought small amounts. What worked I kept using. What didn't I junked.

Here is what works for me. My wife's re-branded Dell all in one - donated to goodwill. I couldn't see the thimble size carts priced the same as half full HP carts as a value. The carts could not be picked up down the street, so S & H from Dell was extra. I found no refilling instructions online. It never got it's first refill.

My HP laserjet III uses refilled carts. I would refill myself except it only needs a replacement once every couple years. Cost to operate is about $18/year in toner.

My HP950 The color carts were not reliable when refilled. Sometimes the printer simply stopped mid photograph. Black refills worked great. Bought black ink by the pint bottle. One time when one color died, I switched to B/W printing to get greyscale prints. Got a lovely purple picture. WTF? It uses color ink to print black and white. Printer now sits in a box on the shelf.
I liked the self alignment it does, so it would make a good networked printer, but cost of supplies retired it to spare status.

HP922c Color refills not reliable. Refills work if running a large batch of photos, but don't expect it to work the next day. Black refills work great. Uses the same black cart as the HP950. I am on my third re-order of ultra black pigmented ink. The twin pack of color carts are less than the price of a single color cart for the HP950. I buy the ocasional twin pack. I do photo printing through my local Costco at $0.19 per 4X6 and $1.99 per 8X10.

Most B/W printing gets done on the laser. Web pages go on the HP722c. I don't home print photos anymore.

All my printers are on network printservers (Hawking). At less than the price of one set of carts for the HP950, a printservers is a good investment. The inkjet printer sits on a shelf in the hall closet so the whole family can use it. This cuts down on problems of dried out carts and supporting a fleet of printers for each PC.

We have the 2 printers online and the HP950 sits as a spare.

wsj is aperently a bunch of morons

[enigmatichmachine]

I work in this business but the trick is really really really, i can't stress this enough, don't buy a cheap printer. I'm suprised how many geeks completely ignore this part of their system, they'd sooner put neon lights in the case than get a decent printing aperatus.

if you're looking to print anything, get a laser, they're built better, and cost less per page. if you must have ink jet, consider a draft printer or commercial quality high volume inkjet, i know HP sells an inkjet with a 60+ Ml black cartridge, that's a lot more than the 19 ml ones they give you in the cheapo consumer units. did a little research and here's a list of printers starting at 150 bucks that use 70 ML black cartridges.

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF02a/1897 2-236251-236261.html?jumpid=re_R295_prodexp/buspro ducts/printing/color-inkjet-printers

also worth noting, don't refill the cartridges for canon or epson printers unless you want to be replacing the printer shortly, it's like putting a bit of suger in the gas tank at every fill up.(hp's the print heads are disposable so it doesn't matter as much, and lexmarks aren't even worth mentioning)

Re:Hmm..

[Biomechanical]

Yeah but forget about Canon if you want to use Linux. As I've been told on the phone, their official stance is that they don't, and will not, support Linux in any way, shape, or form - no official drivers, no disclosure of how anything works, etc.

I've got a Canon PIXMA iP3000. Nice printer, nice functions, fucked support for Linux.

I can use Canon BJC-7004 drivers, or I can pay about AU$50 (nearly half the cost of the printer) to Turboprint.de for a driver they've cobbled together (amongst others) after they signed some sort of draconian NDA with Canon.

Using Windows? Nice printer. Using Mac OS X? Drivers are downloadable but I didn't see all the extra software that is available from Canon for Windows. Using Linux? Get a HP or Epson.

Caveat Emptor, as they say.

Re:Hmm..

[smchris]

If your office is using inkjets, and you have more than 2 employees, then your IT or management are being extremely stupid.

I don't remember ever working in an office that had an ink jet printer. I remember employees _asking_ for one (and being told it was stupid). I've had a home laser since '92 -- and it weighed about 40 pounds.

You want to save money beyond switching to laser: tonerrefillkits.com.

You'll almost always get one good refill for around $20. You might get two refills from a catridge particularly if you have some .pdf manuals to print because the cylinders usually start to wear at the edges. I got a little wild with the soldering iron the first time, but it really does take about 5 minutes when you get the hang of it.

Consumer Reports found the same thing

[JUSTONEMORELATTE]

Consumer Reports did a side-by-side test, as well as simulated UV exposure age tests. They found the same story -- refill ink was OK for drafts, but name brand ink looked and lasted much better.
You get what you pay for, anyone?

Re:Consumer Reports found the same thing

[Jonsey]

I've worked in a print lab that test remanufactured cartridges & toner and the like. One of the largest three in the US, as a matter of fact.

Sure your refill/3rd party ink may look as vibrant, and some actually live up to UV very well, but you drop them into the O-Zone chamber, or mist water over them...

There's a big difference out there, if you have to use inkjet, and you want to keep your documents longer than a month, shell out full price, or move up to a large reliable printer.

Also note, for toner... buy OEM. Trust me... Especially for HP Color Lasers, as non-OEM cyan cartridges tend to explode (I loved that shirt, took me four good washes to save it)