Ink cartridges: Refill, anyone?

[Kenyada]

A local tech editor recenty purchased over $100 of ink cartridges for his photo printer, and he wondered aloud that, since the cartridges are so high, if we're moving to a point where it will be cheaper to purchase a new photo printer when the ink runs out. I've seen good printers on sale for $49. To replace the ink cartridges would cost a much more than that.

With that in mind, I'm exploring the possibility of using non-OEM inks to refill the cartridges. There are several very good 3rd party ink makers who match (and even exceed) the quality of OEM manufacturers. There was a time when the Canons and HPs, Lexmarks and Epsons would warn that if you pop the hood on their printers you would void the warranty. Well, they've backed off the scare tactics. And now there is a large underground of photo printer owners who are using high quality 3rd-party ink and ink cartridges. If a Canon OEM ink cartridge is selling for $12 a pop, an ink refill from a 4 oz bottle costs less than a buck. It may be worth looking into.

[erichlund]

Epson warranty for R800 copied off their website.

"This warranty does not cover damage to the Epson product caused by parts or supplies not manufactured, distributed or certified by Epson."

I suspect that's about the same as other brands. It's basically their "get out of jail free" card if you choose to use third party inks. Get a blocked nozzle with third party ink and you get to pay for the fix. Of course, after one year, the warranty doesn't matter anymore. So, if you choose to buy one of the more expensive printers, you may want to think twice about using third party inks under warranty.

Cheers,
Eric

[Kenyada]

Epson warranty for R800 copied off their website.

"This warranty does not cover damage to the Epson product caused by parts or supplies not manufactured, distributed or certified by Epson."

I suspect that's about the same as other brands. It's basically their "get out of jail free" card if you choose to use third party inks. Get a blocked nozzle with third party ink and you get to pay for the fix. Of course, after one year, the warranty doesn't matter anymore. So, if you choose to buy one of the more expensive printers, you may want to think twice about using third party inks under warranty.

Cheers,
Eric

That reminds me, Canon has the same catch-all disclaimer, but I hacked their PIXMA iP5000 and now I can print photos directly onto my blank DVDs. These manufacturers don't want you looking behind the curtain, because when you do, you may find a way to cut into their profits. And there's one helluva lot of profit tied into their inks.

There are good, bad, ugly AND excellent 3rd party inks. The trick is to find the paper and ink combo that works best with your printer, and there are websites with tons of info on this subject. This just gives the consumer an alternative to paying through the nose for ink. I don't necessarily recommend using 3rd-party ink on the very expensive photo printers - I haven't tried it yet on my i9900 - but a quality third-party ink will save money without sacrificing quality on most mid- and low price printers. Like I said, it's worth a consideration.

[Spot focus]

One thing to be carfull of I use hp printers which have the print head on the cartridge. Some others dont so if you get bad ink it can clog the print heads and I'm told its cheaper to buy a new printer than replace the print head :( where as with hp you just throw cartrige away and buy a new one. I find I can refill hp 4 or 5 times without problems. Just my 2c worth

[suemccartin]

This is not a shameless pitch for a company I'm associated with, I've been buying ink from them for my i850 and now my pixma 6000D (more recently) for a couple of years, had only one problem with some black ink in all that time. The prints I get with their inks are just gorgeous, not like the cheapie cartridges I was getting off ebay--just wasn't happy with output from those at all. I just upgraded to their "bottle system" that is basically some surgical tubing and some custom tapped cartridges wiith the tubing running into them etc. Now to refill my ink I just fill up the bottle, no more messing with cartridges that won't prime, leaks, etc. because they even thoughtfully included a way to close off the ink bottles when not being used for a few days. Their system is a little pricey at the outset but considering how much printing I do I'm going to save a lot in the longrun and they even sell new printers with the bottle system already installed. An 8 ounce bottle of ink is about 20 bucks and lasts a good while. On the pixma 6000D, the inks used most in photo printing are photocyan, photomagenta and yellow, the other colors are used much less. I've had this system on the printer for a few months and it works flawlessly, it's a little bit of work to install it but once you've got it on there no more hassle, the only other consideration is that you have to have a place to put the ink bottles that is at least 5 inches below the printer (something to do with ink feeding and the printer sucking it up to the cartridge I'm sure).