GA Russell Posted February 13, 2012 Report Share Posted February 13, 2012 I have an Epson printer. Last night I looked at replacement ink cartridges, and the Epson brand was pretty expensive. Are the competitors' cartridges good enough in your opinion, or are they likely to screw up and foul my printer? By the way, I put one set of cartridges on my wish list last night, and now there are two ads for it showing up when I visit Drudge. Talk about Big Brother! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Tapscott Posted February 14, 2012 Report Share Posted February 14, 2012 I use an H.P. printer. I'm no computer guru, but I will say that I've had only moderate success with the ink refill services. Sometimes a refilled cartridge works Ok, but other times when I re-install the cartridges the computer doesn't recognize them (though it was fine before the refill, go figure). I then have to buy new replacement cartridges. I tend not to buy originals, but the knock-offs. They have always worked fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.:.impossible Posted February 14, 2012 Report Share Posted February 14, 2012 I've had horrible luck. Wish I could say otherwise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted February 14, 2012 Report Share Posted February 14, 2012 The best way to avoid surprises is to buy the manufacturer's brand. Do you overpay? Sure. But do you like surprises at your printer? I don't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnS Posted February 14, 2012 Report Share Posted February 14, 2012 On my old Epson I used compatibles. Didn't work bad but I always seemed to cleaning the head. On my current Epson I'm using their own brand and there's no doubt they are better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Wheel Posted February 14, 2012 Report Share Posted February 14, 2012 (edited) I've had horrible luck. Wish I could say otherwise. Same here. I was given a cheap Epson from a friend and did not feel like plunking down the money to replace all 4 cartridges (yes, they do magenta/cyan/yellow/black all in separate cartridges ) so I bought a knockoff black cartridge in Chinatown from a shop that looked not-completely-dodgy. Unfortunately one or both of the following happened: -I bought an inferior cartridge and it sucks at printing cleanly -Epson actually takes steps to recognize and may even deliberately sabotage non-manufacturer cartridges. Most of the time now the printer software gives me a "this is not a proper cartridge" error and refuses to print. The cartridges contain some kind of circuitry that identifies them as legit to the printer/printer software, and I'm kind of surprised that the Chinese factory that made/smuggled out the knockoff hasn't yet figured out how to circumvent it yet. Edited February 14, 2012 by Big Wheel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GA Russell Posted February 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2012 (edited) OK, I guess you guys are the bearers of bad news! I had hoped that you would all say that it makes no difference. I guess I'll have to spring for the Epson cartridges. Thanks for your input. Edited February 14, 2012 by GA Russell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Gould Posted February 14, 2012 Report Share Posted February 14, 2012 I guess I'm too late for GA but my experience with re-furbished cartridges has been uniformly positive. Never a problem but on the other hand I am not even sure which brand printer I have, I want to say HP but it might be Epson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr jazz Posted February 14, 2012 Report Share Posted February 14, 2012 use OEM while the warranty is in effect. After that, try Carrot Ink items. I've had no issues with their cartridges and they always send you discount codes. Excellent CS as well if you need a human. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Beat Steve Posted February 14, 2012 Report Share Posted February 14, 2012 (edited) I use a HP Laserjet 2300 at the office and am very, very pleased with the refill cartridges that we use, both with the price, the yield (pages) and the printing quality, including in the case of difficult jobs (example: b/w printouts of high-res pictures such as those on the Shorpy website). However, you have to shop around and have a bit of luck on your side too. We used to use a different refill brand from another supplier (more or less same price, i.e. same savings vs. genuine OEM items) which were quite OK too for more run-of-the-mill printouts (more text, not so many images) but the printout quality on full-page high-res photos was not up to par as lighter horizontal streaks appeared and the contrast tended to suffer once the cartridge had seen a bit of use. OTOH with the ones we have now been using for some time, no problems whatsoever at all, including with photo printouts from page 1 and almost to the end of the useful life of the cartridge. Edited February 14, 2012 by Big Beat Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clunky Posted February 14, 2012 Report Share Posted February 14, 2012 (edited) I'm not if this is the same State side but here in UK Canon's own carts will cost me around £44 for a set, versus £14 for generic carts from an online supplier in the Jersey tax haven. I have little doubt that the Canon carts combined with Canon paper ( critical) provide really outstanding results but at a cost that cannot be justified for school project and travel documents that the printer needs to churn out on a regular basis. So I use cheap carts such as these on the family Mac but nice Canon ones on my photoprinter. Edited February 14, 2012 by Clunky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GA Russell Posted February 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2012 I guess I should have mentioned what I use my printer for. I use it only rarely, only when I have to. Never to print photos or anything where quality counts. Just to print documents. My concern is in screwing up the machine. As I recall, the printer was on sale for $69 when I got it two years ago. It's a Workforce 310. At the price Epson wants for its cartridges, I think it would make more sense to buy a new printer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clunky Posted February 14, 2012 Report Share Posted February 14, 2012 I guess I should have mentioned what I use my printer for. I use it only rarely, only when I have to. Never to print photos or anything where quality counts. Just to print documents. My concern is in screwing up the machine. As I recall, the printer was on sale for $69 when I got it two years ago. It's a Workforce 310. At the price Epson wants for its cartridges, I think it would make more sense to buy a new printer. I have a real problem with landfill that binning a working printer equals. It cannot be good for the environment. I've had a generic cart flood the print head ruining a machine just once but the cost saving still is tilted in favour of the cheapo generics iMO, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.:.impossible Posted February 14, 2012 Report Share Posted February 14, 2012 In that case GA, generics will be fine, though much less efficient, and sometimes messy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Garrett Posted February 14, 2012 Report Share Posted February 14, 2012 I guess I should have mentioned what I use my printer for. I use it only rarely, only when I have to. Never to print photos or anything where quality counts. Just to print documents. My concern is in screwing up the machine. As I recall, the printer was on sale for $69 when I got it two years ago. It's a Workforce 310. At the price Epson wants for its cartridges, I think it would make more sense to buy a new printer. Printer companies are really in the business of selling ink, not printers. That is why printers can be had so cheap, their cost is subsidized by ink sales. I have an Epson NX625 that I picked up at Fry's last year for around $60, which is a ridiculously low price considering its capabilities. The "starter" cartridges it came with didn't last long, and I wound up buying a set of high-capacity Epson cartridges from Amazon for about $70 or so. I'm still using those, so I'm not sure yet how much use I can expect to get out of a set of new cartridges, but most of our printing needs are fairly low-volume. The cost of consumables for consumer-grade inkjet printers can get expensive pretty quickly if you do a lot of high-volume printing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GA Russell Posted February 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2012 Well I tell you what. Thanks to mr jazz's suggestion, I went to Carrot Ink, and looked up what they had for the Epson Workforce 310. Their set of five cartridges (which is what mine holds) costs $32.95. They also sell a single large black cartridge for $39.95. I forgot to mention that my printer hasn't been perfect. Despite the fact that I have rarely used it, it often has lines with a blank stripe running through the letters. And then this afternoon I received an email from BJ's saying that they have an HP all-in-one on sale through the 26th for $59.99. I just can't see spending $33 or $40 for ink when a new unit (which presumably works perfectly) costs less than double that. So I'll sleep on it, but at this point I think I'll just get the new HP unit. Thanks again for your advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quincy Posted February 14, 2012 Report Share Posted February 14, 2012 I forgot to mention that my printer hasn't been perfect. Despite the fact that I have rarely used it, it often has lines with a blank stripe running through the letters. Not using an ink jet printer very often can cause problems too. I'm not sure if that's what's behind the blank striping, but as you can guess the ink nozzles (probably not the right term) can dry with long periods of inactivity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GA Russell Posted February 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2012 LOL! I've just read the Amazon reviews of the HP Officejet 4500. There are plenty of five star reviews, but I've never before seen so many vicious one star reviews. "Don't buy this piece of junk" is a common refrain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quincy Posted February 15, 2012 Report Share Posted February 15, 2012 Youtube must have hundreds of videos of people destroying printers. I consulted it for ideas when it came time to send a malfunctioning HP straight to hell. I used a sledgehammer, and no, I did not film it. And yes, it felt good to do it. Real goooooooooooooood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christiern Posted February 15, 2012 Report Share Posted February 15, 2012 I have several printers, so I use several kinds of ink cartridges. I find HP to be outrageously overpriced, so my 3 HPs get little use. One of them is a color laser that needs 4 cartridges costing about $180 EACH! My Samsung monochrome laser printer is fine and not expensive to maintain, and then there is my Kodak all-in-one. I bought the Kodak because their cartridges are quite reasonable—the printhead is in the printer, so the cartridges don't need to contain one. I understand that having to buy cartridges containing new printheads is part of what makes HP ink cartridges so expensive. I also find that I have far less need for any kind of printer these days, e-mail being the reason. As for your original question, I learned never ever to buy the kind of replacement cartridges that require you to physically refill. NEVER! The ready-made ones are not all bad, there are certain brands that work just as well for me as the ones supplied by the printer manufacturer. Epson is priced to eliminate the substitute temptation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GA Russell Posted February 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2012 Thanks, Chris! I have added a Samsung monochrome laser and a Kodak (all I could find for Kodaks were color) to my camelcamelcamel list. If I could buy a printer (I suppose from anyone) that would allow me to just use black ink, that would be fine with me. For my purposes, the color ink is a waste of money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soulstation1 Posted February 15, 2012 Report Share Posted February 15, 2012 I've just started using office max brand ink for my HP printer Just bought the black cartridge and no probs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Alfredson Posted February 15, 2012 Report Share Posted February 15, 2012 I used re-filled cartridges for about two years on my Epson R220. It eventually got to the point where some of the heads would not clean. Whether that's the re-filled cartridges fault or just age is anyone's guess. It worked well when it worked. For the cost of new cartridges you can literally buy a new printer every time. It's absolutely insane. I have a new Epson now, so new that my local refurbished cartridge store doesn't stock the replacements yet. When it does, I'll be using them, no doubt. I tried the cheap off-brand cartridges (not re-filled bu also not originally OEM) and they sucked. Bad color, clogging, and they ruined my other Epson after only a few uses. But re-fills of OEM cartridges is a different story, imo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BERIGAN Posted February 16, 2012 Report Share Posted February 16, 2012 (edited) You can get HP All in one printers for $39.99 to $69.99 at walmart. (they have a wireless one for $49.99 online right now)I usually get the cheapest one, and get a year or so out of it. What's really funny is they put in the HP XL ink, the ones that typically run around $60 for the pair, so it's cheaper to buy the printer than to buy two cartridges! Give the "used" printer to Salvation Army, and get a brand new one! Oh, like Big Wheel said, some printers flat out refuse to work with any refills. Talked to a guy at Cartridge world about that...HP printers just refuse to tell you what your ink levels are when you get your cartridge refilled, so you just run out one day...but they work.. Edited February 16, 2012 by BERIGAN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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