printer ink-RANT-question

larry merlau

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Location
Delton, Michigan
we have a epson nx625 printer thinking epson a good brand seeing as how we used there stuff in the printing industry,, well it rn out of ink and the better half decide to get a off brand that was supposed to work in there for less than some other store price well after a half day of trying to get it to work she called tech and they both worked on it and it wont accept there cartridges..they are going to return our money good for them ,, but here is first gripe the ink is half of what the printers cost these days,, and it doesnt make sence to replace printers after they run out of ink.. so is there anyone that has got a reliable source for ink refills that is reasonable or another insight on what printer to get that doesnt charge half of a printer for replacement ink?????
 
t here is first gripe the ink is half of what the printers cost these days,, and it doesnt make sence to replace printers after they run out of ink.. so is there anyone that has got a reliable source for ink refills that is reasonable or another insight on what printer to get that doesnt charge half of a printer for replacement ink?????

I hear ya, Larry.

If you find a good printer that takes inexpensive ink, PLEASE tell me. I spent some time looking around a few weeks ago, but eventually gave up in frustration.

I picked up a 2nd hand HP 1012 laserjet (surplus @work, b/w) and I try to use that for most everything. Laser toner can work out to less per page than inkjet ink. It ran us in the $60 range at Costco, and lasts a good long time. The problem is that we still end up needing colour print fairly regularly. We have a Lexmark x4876 multifunction (scan, copy, print) for colour printing, and buying a black and coloured ink cartridge are about $50 each!! And they do NOT last that long.

I tried 3rd party refilled ink once on this thing and it was a bad experience. Got my cartridges refilled at "island inkjet", which is a chain around here in the malls. It did not print well, and leaked a bit. It was NOT a good use of money.

I would like to find a multi-function printer with cheaper ink, but I have not been able to. I checked out the colour laser multifunctions also, but didn't find anything there that seemed worth the price either.

...art
 
The printer is the loss leader. The ink is the profit center. I rarely need a color copy, so I gave up on color printers. Use a Brother Laser printer - bought for the cost of the refills, purchased on-line.
 
I've actually had bad luck with the ink refills on one printer in the past. Used some ink refills and the dang thing soon stopped printing.

I have a canon now that I like well enough. When it's time to get a new printer I'll start experimenting with ink refills again...
 
Like Brent, I've not had good luck with the refills. I've got two Epsons, but use the epson cartridges, which are the individual color ones, so they are at least less expensive than replacing the all-in-one color cartridges, only have to replace the color that ran out. I've had a couple of canons and would get them again, but prices really aren't any cheaper than the epson cartridges.

So what type of things do you mostly print? Flyers? Photos?

I try to manage my printing and limit it to B&W if possible, try to remember to set the output options to grayscale if I'm printing something that is for reference. For large numbers of photos we've got the photobooth dye printer, which does 4x6 prints for about $.05 per print vs. printing on the inkjet, which averages $.35 per print (though I'm not counting the cost of the dye printer itself which was about $1200 vs. the $100 inkjet). Another option for lots of photos is to send them to Walmart.com, CVS, Walgreens, etc., they can print them cheaper than one can with their own printer. Same with large quantities of flyers.
 
In my experience there is no inexpensive way to go. Refills and off brands have always proven to be bummers for me. Some day, hopefully, somebody will produce a good inexpensive ink cartridge for home printers. I once shopped for a high quality printer that takes the big cartridges hoping bring the per page cost down. Guess wat? :eek: The cost per page is about the same, no savings at all.
 
Like Darren, I have moved to only black prints. I didn't use the color in the shop enough before it dried out or went bad, what ever happened to it. For prints, Cheryl uses CVS. If you do enough, you start getting coupons and they get really cheap.

One thing I did once, was hit the sales. Black Friday was the bomb. I could buy several printers, same models, cheaper than refills. When I needed ink, I just opened a new printer right out of the box and tossed the printer. Not very enviro friendly, but sure helped the wallet.
 
Larry, I have used several different printers both for general home use and for printing photo prints for customers. The one thing I do know is the refillable cartridges do not work 90% of the time. My mother calls me all the time with problems with her printer and it is always because she bought a refilled ink cartridge that does not work properly. The store is usually happy to refund her money but that requires another trip back to the store to return it. Ill bet most people just throw them away and write it off.

I have a nice Canon printer and only use Canon ink in it. The key here is like Steve mentioned above is to buy on sale and in bulk. Look for sales either online or in stores. Look for coupons or discount codes. Manufactures do not make money on the sale of the printer....only on the ink.

Save yourself the headache and only use original brand ink. I'm as cheap as they come and if there were a cheaper way....I would know!
 
We used to use Epson printers until the second one quit because of the cleaning reservoir, where the spent ink for cleaning the jets goes, shut the machine down. Tried an online modification where you ran a tube to an external bottle to catch this so it couldn't trigger the sensor, but if failed miserably. Bought an HP Photosmart 8250 and it has been great. We get our HP ink from Staples. They have a program where they buy back the spent cartridges. The kit for one of each of the color cartridges is about 35.00 last time I bought them, and individual cartridges are about 8 or 9.00. There is a double capacity black cartridge. The also run specials at times where they double the price for the used cartridge. They have a program where you get rebate money toward other purchases at a later date. We bought a package of 16 AA batteries at Christmas time, and got the full purchase price back to spend again after filling out an online rebate form. Not uncommon for Glenna to go in with 75 dollars of free purchases. Staples has really helped us. You do have to sign up for this and use a card, but if LOML says it's no problem, then there must not be any hidden issues with it. Jim.
 
Well this subject is one of my pet pet peeves.

It needs mass consumer action in my view to change this industry.

The waste factor alone deserves to have every manufacturer blacklisted as destroyers of our environment. I hate them all for this.

First the printers that get tossed simply because i have found its often cheaper to buy a whole new printer than a set of color cartridges.

But then take a look next time you buy a cartridge of either ink or toner at the packaging that they use all of which is more waste.

I use a color laser from Hp its the 2605dn does double sided printing automatically and i save paper this way. But man each toner cartridge is an exorbitant price like over $114 plus our 13%.
So i tried a refil process off ebay which actually worked for a few times. Trouble is in the case of this printer the majority of the mechanism is in the cartridge so after 2 refills the print quality was so bad and toner leaked and man as per murphy this would always happen when i least needed it to.
I actually ended up with two of these printer when they were being made because I got a second for half the price of a set of cartridges.
Its been a great printer but man cartridges cost quiet a bit.
If i want a photo print i use the stores online for photo prints.

I would totally support a company that breaks away from the current business model.

Sorry no help on the ink solutions. I have tried them and refil etc in the past but it gets stale quickly.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2
 
did anyone mention the kodak line of printers? i have an esp7 for several years now. it has printed 5111 plain pages, 131 4x6 (photo) pages, and 4719 8x10 pages, 240 scans, and 139 copies. it has gone through 18 color, and black cartridges. total cost of ink $576 over the last several years (black $13 and color $19), and it still runs like a champ.
 
Dan, the Kodak computer products I have tried in the past had one common fault. Their software literally took over my computer. It has always been a nitemare. I haven't tried their printer for this reason, I don't want to risk the hassle. That would be hassle, followed by formating the hard drive, followed by hassle trying to return the printer, followed by hassle shopping for a different printer only to find myself back at square one.
Hopefully they have changed, I'm not risking it. I did like their on-line printing service which has now been sold to someone else.
 
frank, i've had this printer and it's software for several years now, and unless it is really really sneaky, i've yet to see it attempt to take over my computer, or my laptop, or my wife's laptop.
 
Carol nailed it. I've read an interview with an exec from HP who admitted they are not in the printer business - they're in the ink business. They sell the printers at cost or below, but consider them to be profitable ink delivery vehicles.
 
I use several printers, both in my business and at home. Like most, I find the price of ink in all of these printers to be high if stuck with OEM.

When looking for a ink jet printer, I first go to www.Cobraink.com and check to see if they have refill cartridges, Epson only. I then buy the qt size of ink and this feeds 2 of my current printers. When I have killed off a laser printer (color) I go to www.ldproducts.com and verify that they have 3rd. party carts. I have had very good luck with the Oki printers and run them until the fuser dies. This is usually somewhere in the 50,000 page range. Then it is time to shop again as the printer tends to be older and suffering from other minor ailments. I'm shopping now for a tabloid color laser printer and this is a new world of consumables.

As we are a digital print shop, we print a lot of different things and use several different printers. Keeping up with the consumables is a pain in the rear, but necessary. My favorite printer to date is the wide format solvent ink printer from Roland that is now about 7 years old and has not needed outside service since purchase and ink is quite reasonable at $55 for 220mil. Of course, that printer was $15k new but has paid for itself several times over.

Doug
 
that cobra site is great doug. so how do you refill the 4oz containers? like it would matter for a very long time 3600 copies would last a home person along time a printing situation then thats another story but the epson printer there showing is only 200 dollars and we spent 75 just ink for this thing we have.. wont do that again, if they still have these printers around..
 
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