Ink cartridges, the truth!

[Linda91]

I want to know why ink cartridges cost so much! I mean, soon the ink will cost the same as the whole printer! What is the ink made from that causes it to be $25plus? The old ribbons were cheap & lasted much longer that todays cartridges. Where can I find the truth?

Thank you, Linda

[Richard_Cranium72]

A very good point,

one idea is that the cartridges come with the "print head" .

This is a rather complicated little piece.

On HP's you get a new head with each cart.

On some Epsoms, you don't.
And their price is almost as high as the HP..

hmmm, food for thought.

DrVette

[linux_guru]

Don't know what it's like in the states, but here in Oz, ink jet cartridge refills are really popular. Why pay $60 (AUD) + for a new cartridge, when can get a refill kit for about $30. This does about 12 refills.

[JayMan]

yeh i live in australia, i have a canon printer, cartridges cost about $60 and i get refills for $9, they do 2 refills only tho. The only prob with using the refills is that the print head does wear out, the more it gets used obviosly the lower the quality end print out will be.

JayMan

[BFlurie]

Take your cartridge out, take outside, and shake it good (wip it, wip it good) for a minute. This can help w/the ink.

[thekingofpain]

There are many refill kits, a neighbor uses this and is very happy: http://kalvins.com/

[RenaissanceMan]

Hello.
I am using an Epson stylus color 850 and have been getting my cartridges from http://www.ink-toner.com/
last purchace was $6.00 for black and $8.00 for color. I bought 3 each and no shipping charges. this total is equivilant to buying one color and one black at most retail stores. I have also been using these cartridges for about 1 year and the product is just fine.
not sure if they carry all brands but worth the money for sure.
http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

[randy48]

I use http://www.inkjetrefills.com fast, cheap, and good quality http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

[nunyadam]

these company's make there money on the back end of the deal by selling you a printer cheap,and then selling you expensive cartridges. especially the color cartridge's that hold multiple color's you run out of 1 color and have to buy the whole dang cartridge. also some refill's are very cheap quality so be careful . to save money in the long run buy a quality printer that has individual cartridge's for each color. that way when you run out of red(for example)all you have to do is buy red.

[Barney]

I'd buy the Canon BJC-2000.It has 2 seperate tanks,one black and one with 3 colors and ofcourse a seperate printhead.The quality is quite good,I'd say better than the average.The cartridges cost both about 5 bucks I think.They're really easy to refill,so if you buy a good refill set...
The printer itself can be bought well below $100.

I would defenitily NOT buy a Lexmark,since the printcartridge costs just as much as the complete printer.

Ronald

[Jeff7]

Epson would hate me - I buy generic cartridges, and then refill them. The cartridges in my Epson 600 have lasted through well over 10 refills. I use High Resolution brand ink refills - never had a problem with their ink clogging print heads. I can usually buy a whole big refill kit for black and color for about the retail price of a single Epson color cartridge.

[mudoggy]

Jeff... cool!

What company/contact information?
Thanks! http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

[Long Haired Hippie Phreek]

Canon BJC-6000, great color, 4 seperate tanks, and you can get one refurbished for dirt cheap. And you don't even have to take out the cartriges to refill, just shoot them up from the top!

[Ed_S]

I've got to disagree strongly on Canon products. I had nothing but problems with my Multipass C2500, which uses the same printheads as the BJC series printers. The ink carts are cheap enough, but the printhead is prone to drying out quickly if not used daily. Bad setup for a low-usage owner.

Not just me, either. Several friends have had problems too.

But... Linda's original question wasn't about particular printers, but about the cost of ink carts in general! I think nunyadam's on the right track on that. They sell the unit cheap knowing that most people will buy carts rather than replace the entire printer.

=====
BTW - my solution to the whole thing was to get an HP LaserJet 6Lse. Decided to forget about color in favor of reliability.
Almost two years of totally trouble free usage, still on the original toner cart. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Ed

[Barney]

Some other thing about buying cheaper cartridges.Be careful about what you buy,because there are some companies that collect old,empty (used!) cartridges,refill them,put their label on and sell it again.There's a good chance that you get a cartidge the has been refilled more than once or the head is all dried out.Ofcourse this all counts only for cartridges with printhead in it.

Ronald