ink and toner saving

11 Small Ways to Save Big on Ink

Printers are cheap but printer ink is pricey. One-time and day-to-day adjustments can help prevent waste and save money. Try these techniques to lower your office and home cost of ink.

1. Change the font type

Change the default font (often Times New Roman or Arial) to a lighter font, such as Century Gothic that uses less ink. According to an Associated Press article on Yahoo.com, the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay is adopting Century Gothic as the font of choice as a major money-saving move. To change your default font on MS Word, go to Format >> Font, select your font, and save as “Default.”

2. Reduce the font size

Reduce the font size to 10 or less — as long as you and your audience can read text comfortably.

3. Use draft setting

Choose the "draft" or "econo" print setting that uses less ink (making the overall print lighter.

4. Use copy services

Take major print jobs to the copy center at your office or nearby office supply store, where you can get cheap prints for significantly less per page than standard inkjet printing.

5. Get refills instead of buying new

Getting refills cost less than buying new. Be on alert for ink refill days at Walgreens. This year, on Earth Day, April 22, 2010, Walgreens will refill cartridges for $1 with a coupon — check your weekly ad circular for the coupon.

6. DIY refills

DIY refills are available from your favorite warehouse club or eBay. According to my dad, a DIYer, this approach can be messy but cost saving.

7. Recycle cartridges

Recycle cartridges by selling them to companies that buy used cartridges, selling them on eBay, or getting credit at Staples, putting money in your pocket or saving on future purchases. (Staples no longer gives immediate credit but rather gives credit through its rewards program.)

8. Buy remanufactured

Years ago, I tried and then stopped using this approach because my prints were essential components of a finished product and needed to be perfect; remanufactured cartridges dispensed uneven prints, hardly detectable to many but not acceptable quality-wise for me. So test this idea for quality, and make sure you are getting as many prints per cartridge as other options.

9. Use it up

Keep printing on nearly-empty cartridges until there is absolutely no ink left. And, instead of replacing cartridges or refilling ink immediately, change the font color to a color for which the cartridge still has ink (you won’t technically save on ink but you’ll delay spending).

10. Don't print

Use the Document Image Writer or a similar device to create electronic files of receipts rather than printing hard copies. Scan, rather than copy documents. Use a program like CutePDF to create PDF files instead of printing for your records.

11. Print selectively

Print only the information you need by using PrintWhatYouLike or software programs such as GreenPrint or EcoPrint2 as recommended by Nora as an eco-friendly way to save money at the office. Or, you can adjust print settings yourself or copy only the information that you need to a blank document, make adjustments (remove photos and extra lines), and specify print ranges to make sure that you print just what you need and no more.

Another idea: spend more on your printer, less on ink. Some printers may have more economical print settings, wasting less ink than cheaper models. Check prices of printers and ink refills before you buy.

best ink saving fonts

Font has different shape, space between letters, bold or not, and so it can makes a difference. Actually one font is quite popular but isn't free anymore, it was ecofont

looking on internet, I found some articles ( including wikipedia article ) , and Century Gothic seems to be a modern looking and could save 30% of ink.

but to be able to implement a on-the-fly font replacement of the pdf file with greencloud printer, I had to look at more tools and review

someone reported this link but it is dead now !
http://www.inkfarm.com/Recommended-Ink-Saving-Fonts---

the quick conclusion is this

"Our first choice of ink saving font for body type is Century Schoolbook, which the University of Wisconsin just picked for its publications because it uses less ink, and which the U.S. Supreme Court requires for readability. It is an excellent font and it is no wonder that it is the standard for such prestigious organizations."

I wonder if it would make sense to implement in greencloud a little tool to compare the % of ink covering the page, so it could be used to review different font based on the pixel values all over the page ?

since my last post I found more sources and valuable tool to decide what font to use for your document, we are considering to be able to add an option to our green printing software to switch the font to a saving-one on the fly. for that, we are using review about the ink coverage factor
http://blog.colortonerexpert.com/cost-effective-fonts/ according this one the best choice would be Garamond

if you want to calculate and compare the ink usage of your current font I recommand this excellent online tool :
http://www.inkfarm.com/What-the-Font

another source from an article of Cnet
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20001913-93.html
in case you look for more data you can also refer to this source
http://blog.printer.com/2009/04/prin...-a-difference/

and another software to calculate ink coverage , I didn't try it

http://avpsoft.com/products/apfill/

inkfarm really does a great work in providing accurate calculations of any fonts ink usage consumption. You can use it to know how much you ought to spend when changing font,it also calculates how much you can save..

Want to Save Money? Change Your Font

MILWAUKEE – Here's a way you might save $20 this year: Change the font in the documents you print.
Because different fonts require different amounts of ink to print, you could be buying new printer cartridges less often if you wrote in, say, Century Gothic rather than Arial. Schools and businesses could save thousands of dollars with font changes.

Data on the subject from Printer.com, a Dutch company that evaluates printer attributes, persuaded the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay to make a switch. Diane Blohowiak, coordinator of information-technology user support, has asked faculty and staff to use Century Gothic for all printed documents. The school also plans to change its e-mail system so it uses Century Gothic.

"The feedback we've gotten so far has been positive," she said. "Century Gothic is very readable."
The school of 6,500 students spends about $100,000 per year on ink and toner cartridges. Although students and staff can change the default font to something more ink-intensive, Blohowiak said the university expects to save $5,000 to $10,000 per year with the font switch.

When Printer.com tested popular fonts for their ink-friendly ways, Century Gothic and Times New Roman topped the list. Calibri, Verdana, Arial and Sans Serif were next, followed by Trebuchet, Tahoma and Franklin Gothic Medium. Century Gothic uses about 30 percent less ink than Arial.

The amount of ink a font drains is mainly driven by the thickness of its lines. A font with "narrow" or "light" in its name is usually better than its "bold" or "black" counterpart, said Thom Brown, an ink researcher at Hewlett-Packard Co., the world's top maker of printers.

Also, serif fonts — those with short horizontal lines at the top and bottom of characters — tend to use thinner lines and thus less ink than a "sans serif" counterpart.

But while using less ink at home can help you buy roughly one fewer printer cartridge each year, it's not necessarily better for the environment.

That's because some fonts that use less ink, including Century Gothic, are also wider. A document that's one page in Arial could extend to a second page if printed in Century Gothic. Blohowiak said her research suggests that ink comprises the main cost of a printout, but the environmental costs of paper are probably higher.

"Maybe the individual characters use less ink, but if you're using more paper, that's not so green, is it?" said Allan Haley, director of "words and letters" at Monotype Imaging Inc. in Woburn, Mass., which developed Century Gothic.

Also, Century Gothic was designed for limited blocks of text such as titles and headlines, not for full documents, said Haley, who describes fonts as his "children." Despite Printer.com's research and UW-Green Bay's experience, Haley said he still recommends Times New Roman or Arial for their readability.

The standard advice for trimming printing expenses still applies: Print in "draft mode," if you can. Use both sides of a page and do a print preview to make sure you're not printing pages with useless text such as a copyright line. Using an ink-saving font is just one more technique to consider.

And the greenest way to save on ink is not to print at all.

That's the philosophy Microsoft Corp. said it uses in deciding which fonts to include in its Outlook and Word applications. The more pleasing a font looks on the screen, the less tempted someone will be to print, said Simon Daniels, a program manager for Microsoft's typography group.

That's why the company changed its defaults in Office 2007 from Arial and Times New Roman to Calibri and Cambria, he said.

"We're trying to move the threshold of when people hit the print button," he said.

Changing Font To Save Ink

MELISSA BLOCK, host:
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Melissa Block.
MICHELE NORRIS, host:
And I'm Michele Norris.

A university in Wisconsin has decided to go gothic, but not in a medieval or ghoulish kind of way. The school changed the font in its email system, saying the move could save thousands of dollars in printer ink. From Wisconsin Public Radio, Patty Murray reports.

PATTY MURRAY: University of Wisconsin-Green Bay biology professor Matt Dornbush got an idea when he opened an issue of National Geographic and read an article about something called an eco-font.

Mr. MATTHEW DORNBUSH (University of Wisconsin-Green Bay): I thought, well, this is an easy solution that we could try to implement to our campus and save some serious money.

MURRAY: The eco-font uses less ink because each character, instead of being filled in, has lots of tiny circles. Printer ink adds up. A typical cartridge costs $30, and that translates to about $10,000 a gallon. So, Dornbush took the article to the school's computer technicians, but they found an even better solution: Century Gothic. That font uses about 30 percent less ink than the old Arial setting used for email.
Mark Simonson(ph) is a Minnesota-based type designer and font developer. He says Century Gothic is a good overall choice because it has a thinner print line, but he says the letters can be a bit wider.

Mr. MARK SIMONSON (Type Designer): It also sits a little bit larger. So it would actually take up more space. So occasionally, you might need more paper for a printout if it pushes the document over a page.

MURRAY: Simonson says the change to Century Gothic doesn't surprise him so much as the fact that people still print emails. The computer lab at UWGB is a busy place, but no one is using the printers. Student Kara Melchert says she submits most of her assignments online and rarely prints anything.

Ms. KARA MELCHERT (Student, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay): I would say I probably print maybe five or six pages a week, just to take notes onto.

MURRAY: She may not be printing much on this campus of 6,500 students but someone is.

Mr. THOMAS HARDEN (Chancellor, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay): We spend approximately $100,000 per year on toner.

MURRAY: UW-Green Bay Chancellor Thomas Harden applauds the switch to a less ink-intensive computer font. Even if the school doesn't see a full 30 percent savings, he'll take it.

Mr. HARDEN: It would be a few thousand dollars a year, which is very helpful in this economy or any time.

MURRAY: Matt Dornbush, the biology professor who got this change started, says that's a good beginning, but he hopes for something more lasting. As students become acclimated to different fonts or even lower thermostat settings in the Wisconsin winter, he wants them to keep those habits when they graduate.

Mr. DORNBUSH: We're training the students who then go out into the workplace, and if they become used to things like that, this here or slightly colder offices or whatever, they're more likely to then implement these into the businesses and so forth when they leave here.

MURRAY: Dornbush acknowledges switching fonts won't save the planet, but if a little thing can save money and resources, why not?

For NPR News, I'm Patty Murray in Green Bay.

Which Fonts Should You Use for Saving Printer Ink

Since ink is still the most expensive component in the print workflow, you can reduce printing costs of documents if you can figure out ways that will decrease the consumption of ink while printing.

Though we are headed towards an era of paperless offices, the pace is quite slow. That ink printer is still an indispensable part of your home office because you are frequently required to print invoices, emails, web pages and other documents on paper.

Since ink is still the most expensive component in the print workflow, you can reduce printing costs of documents if you can figure out ways that will decrease the consumption of ink while printing. For instance, when printing a document in Microsoft Word, you can switch to “Draft output” and the toner will last much longer.
printing fonts

Use a Font with Holes
An interesting option to help you save ink is Ecofont. Ecofont is like the popular Arial font but it has these little holes punched in the letters. These holes aren’t really visible in the printed document (that uses standard font sizes like 11px) but will save money as no ink is required when printing these dots.
Ecofont is available for download on Windows, Mac, and Linux systems. It may not be a good idea to use Ecofont in client communication but you can definitely consider using this font for personal or internal use.

Which is the Best Font for Printing Documents
Now consider the third scenario. You have a document – say some training material or presentation handouts – that you want to print without sacrificing readability.
Fonts like Arial, Times News Roman, Courier, Helvetica, etc. are generally available on every machine but which one among them is the most economic typeface when it comes to printing?

Matt Robinson recently conducted a fairly unique study to determine the ink usage of these different typefaces. They used ballpoint pens to hand draw the same text at the same size but using different fonts and here’s the result. Garamond* followed by Courier turned out to be the most economic fonts of them all while Impact and Comic Sans consumed the maximum ink. This is definitely not a “scientific study” but you still get the idea.
[*] Most Harry Potter books are set in 12pt Adobe Garamond.

Printing Web Pages with Custom Fonts

If you are printing web pages, I highly recommend Readability – this is a bookmarklet that will not only remove images, ads and other clutter from web pages but will also replace the font that was originally used in the formatting of that page.
Readability can sometimes remove sections from web pages that you would like to see in the print version. If that’s also a problem for you, check out PrintWhatYouLike.com – this is also a printing bookmarklet but it gives you complete control over the page layout including the font family that is used for rendering that page .

Both the above bookmarklets require a live internet connection to work. If you are looking for an alternative that will work offline, check out Green Print - they have a free version for Windows though the Mac edition costs a few bucks. Another good option is Smart Web Print from HP but that’s only available on Windows.

Printers: How to buy the best printer

Printer running costs and ink cartridges

A set of ink cartridges can cost more than some new printers.
Choosing the right printer will save you money in the long run, as your printing costs will be kept low.

Guide to buying cheap ink cartridges

The cheapest cartridge you see in a shop may not produce the cheapest prints. The true cost depends on the amount of ink the printer uses to print a page and the price you pay for the cartridge.
Different cartridges contain different amounts of ink and produce a different number of printed pages so comparing cartridge prices in a shop won't help.
To get a better idea of how ink costs compare from model to model we calculate running costs by working out how much ink is used to print text, graphics and photo pages. Check our running cost information for the printers you’re thinking of buying in our full printer review.

Shopping for cheaper ink cartridges?

Retailer prices for the same cartridge can vary dramatically, so it's important to shop around for ink - we've seen one retailer charging three times more than another for the same cartridge.
Online retailers offering free delivery are usually the cheapest, but it's worth checking different retailers' prices before you opt for one. We've also found that the cheapest retailer one month may not be the cheapest a month later, so check cartridge prices at a few retailers every time you buy.

Mini and high-capacity cartridges

New printers generally come with a full set of cartridges but they may be starter or introductory cartridges. These contain less ink than standard cartridges and are capable of printing only a few pages before running out.

Check whether your printer is sold with these smaller capacity cartridges and if so, make sure you buy a set of full-sized cartridges when you’re shopping for your printer – you may even be able to negotiate a discount.

High-capacity (or XL) cartridges cost more than standard capacity cartridges but produce more prints, so they’re often cheaper in the long run. That said, if you find a retailer selling the standard capacity inks cheaply, these may prove better value - it depends on the price you pay for the cartridge.
XL inks are easier to find online than on the high street. Not all inkjet printers are compatible with them, so check they’re available for the printer you’re considering before you buy.

With combined colour cartridges you replace all colours when one runs out

Combined and single colour cartridges

A combined colour cartridge contains three inks - cyan, magenta and yellow - in one unit. When you run out of one colour you need to replace the whole cartridge, even if there is ink for the other colours remaining.
This is a particular problem if you print a lot of one colour. For example, if you're photos contain large expanses of sky, you'll use more cyan ink. You would have to replace the whole colour cartridge when the cyan ran out, even if there was plenty of magenta and yellow left. In the long run, this can increase your printing costs.
Single-colour ink cartridges may seem more expensive, as you’ll have to buy three cartridges instead of one, but there’s less waste as you only need to replace the colour that runs out. This may prove cheaper in the long run.

Separate single colour cartridges tend to cost you less money in the long run Separate single-colour cartridges tend to cost you less money in the long run.

Photo cartridges

Some printers will take an extra cartridge known as photo black or photo colour.
These cartridges are used only when you’re printing photographs and are meant to improve the quality of printouts. We use photo cartridges in our testing when they’re available, so this is factored into our running costs.

A few entry-level printers don’t allow you to keep the photo cartridge loaded at all times. Instead, you’ll have to take out the standard colour cartridge and replace it with the photo cartridge when you want to print photos. This is inconvenient and can also reduce the longevity of your cartridges as they can dry out more quickly when not stored safely in your printer.

Our printer reviews state which models require you to swap cartridges in and out when printing photos.

Refill cartridges

Genuine ink cartridges produced by the manufacturer of your printer are the safest bet for consistent print quality. However, you may be tempted to try other third-party ink cartridges or refills with your printer to reduce costs as these are usually cheaper to buy.

We’ve tested kits that allow you to refill your own cartridges and we’ve generally found them messy and inconvenient. We’ve also looked at continuous ink systems, but don’t recommend them as they’re awkward to use and don’t always produce good results.

Paper costs

Our running cost figures only take into account ink, so you also need to consider factoring in the price of paper for your printer.

For manufacturer-branded photo paper, is often far more expensive per sheet than third party paper. We’ve tested branded and third party papers for print quality and water resistance. To help you choose the best photo paper to try in your brand of printer take a look at our photo paper review.

Hidden extras

Paper and ink will make up most of your running costs, but there are occasions when you might have to fork out for additional parts.

A replacement print head for a printer could set you back up to around £50. You can reasonably expect the print head to last three years.

Not all printers have the print head in the printer, some have them on the cartridges - so every time you buy a new cartridge you get a new print head. However, cartridges with the print head incorporated tend to be more expensive, so it's swings and roundabouts.

If you have a laser printer, the drum will have a limited life expectancy of around 20,000 pages – and will cost you over £100 to replace.

Although it’s not great for the environment, it’s often worth buying a new printer when your old one needs a replacement part. The cost of replacing the part can be offset against the price of a new printer, and sometimes it'll actually be cheaper to buy a new one.

For information about recycling your old printer contact your local council.

Cheaper photo printing

It’s usually cheaper to get your photos printed at a high-street or online retailer than to print numerous photos on your home printer.

Online processors typically charge 10p or less per 6x4-inch photo and you could save even more by buying
pre-paid credits - bear in mind you'll have to pay for postage too.

comments from

Can I trust cheap printer ink cartridge replacements?

Try yourself and judge.

I buy from Pr*nk. 1 pack of 4 cartridges costs £6.50. 1 pack of Epson cartridges costs £37.41. I don't require my prints to last for years. My photos last long enough for me, and I have never had any problems with clogged jets. So try and judge for yourselves.

Posted by David Elliott, 02 Sep 2012

cheap inks

Hi,it all depends what printer u have,i have an epson S22,and buying cheap inks Im only able to use half the ink,as built into epson software there is something stopping me from using all the ink,when it gets down to half full,the printer stops working,ive asked epson about this and thats what they told me S22 wont use all the ink from cheap cartriddges,and theres no way to rectify it

Posted by Edgar Mills, 03 Sep 2012

Epson

Encountered the same problem with Epson - it's an utter disgrace that they try to stop you using compatible inks, not by being better cost and quality terms, but by sabotaging your use of anything else. I've just replaced my Epson wiht a Kodak and will never go back again.

Posted by Alex Cass, 05 Sep 2012

Cheap Inks

I have always used compatibles since I could save alot of money without losing quality, so why should I have to pay these prices for OEMS. I use Internet-ink no problems and get a reorder discount.

Posted by John Rushden, 21 Sep 2012

Cheap inks

It's simple really. I can put fuel from any supplier into my car, which has injectors (think print head nozzles), and my car continues to run, because the fuel is` manufactured to a standard. So, why can't the "fuel" for my printer be produced to a standard too? With a translucent ink tank the "chip" can also be done away with. All I need is a simple visual check to verify levels. Don't complicate, simplicate. Easy, innit?

Posted by Howard, 09 Oct 2012

Can I trust cheap printer ink cartridge replacements?

A set of ink cartridges can cost almost as much a printer. We investigate the world of remanufactured and refilled supplies

By Simon Francis | PC help | Printer | 02/09/2012

Ink cartridges
Refilled cartridges can save you money - but it doesn't necessarily mean they are the best option

Printers these days are better value than ever but, when the ink that comes with them runs dry, you may be in for a shock. Buying toner for a laser printer can cost more than filling up the car with petrol, while a set of inkjet cartridges can cost almost as much as getting a new printer. It’s no surprise then that there’s a booming industry in cheap, compatible alternatives.

Switching to compatible ink cartridges may seem like a sure-fire money saver but it’s not necessarily the case - these inks might be cheaper but are no use if the result is wishy-washy pictures or leaking ink.

So, can you trust cartridges made by someone other than your printer’s manufacturer? Read on as we examine the arguments for and against using compatibles, and find out whether they’ll leave you pounds better off, or just nursing a broken printer.

A nice drop
In this article we’re focusing on inkjets, so we’ll start with a quick explanation of how these work. As pages are fed through the machine, they pass under a set of print heads that move rapidly back and forth across the paper, spraying it with ink as they go. The ink comes from tanks that either sit directly above the heads and move with them, or are connected via flexible hoses down which ink must pass.

An inkjet’s heads need to be incredibly precise in order to fire ink droplets as small as one picolitre (a litre would contain a million million of these). Heads are made using the same processes used to build computer chips and may be designed to last the lifetime of the printer, remaining permanently in place while the ink tanks themselves might be replaced tens of times. In other designs, the heads are fixed on to the underside of the cartridges, so a new cartridge means a brand-new print head too.

Suppliers of compatible ink cartridges need to take a different approach depending which of these two cartridge types a printer has. With simple ink tanks, it’s possible to make a brand new tank that’s similar to one made by the original equipment manufacturer (OEM), which fits the same printers. This is then filled with ink and sold as a ‘compatible’ cartridge - these are normally available for Epson printers and many Canon models. Generally, third-party manufacturers don’t have the facilities to build new print heads, so cartridges that incorporate them must be collected, cleaned, filled with ink and sold as ‘refilled’ or ‘remanufactured’ supplies. These are most commonly seen for HP and Lexmark printers. Sometimes even tanks without print heads are refilled; a common practice with HP cartridges.

Supplies surprise
Printer manufacturers invest millions in researching and manufacturing their supplies, and they insist that they are more reliable and produce better results than third-party inks as a result. The manufacturers of compatibles say otherwise, so what’s the truth of it all?

Some misconceptions are easy to debunk. Many users think using third-party ink will invalidate a printer’s warranty but this isn’t the case unless that ink causes damage to the printer - such as by leaking over its electronics. To counter this possibility, many reputable ink sellers offer to repair or replace a printer that’s been damaged by an ink they’ve sold. Stinky Ink, a reseller of original and third-party cartridges, has a six-month guarantee (see terms and conditions). We asked the company whether it often saw cartridge-related damage. Marketing manager Matt Bird said: “In the near-three years I have worked at this company, I’ve seen one complaint that was cartridge-related, [which] we resolved for the customer quickly.”

Even if damage is unlikely to occur, third-party inks may underperform in other ways, as we discovered in practical tests carried out for this article (see the next page). HP and Kodak told us prints made with non-original ink could be prone to fading quicker, and recent image-permanence testing by Wilhelm Imaging Research seems to back this up. Using prints made with an Epson printer, paper and inks, the independent testing laboratory calculated that glossy photos framed under glass would last for 40 years without fading. Among the 13 sets of third-party ink and paper tested, the next best result was just 3.9 years.

Martin Hurren, manager for ink supplies at HP, explained the quality and intensity of the dye colourant in an ink had a big impact on the quality of the prints it produced. “We’ve found that certain refill inks don’t use the same quality [processes] we use, and that’s why fading in third-party inks is often a big issue.”

The genuine article
We asked Mr Hurren to explain more about the considerations involved in making original cartridges. He told us that people often didn’t appreciate the science behind firing droplets of ink at a sheet of paper, and the required precision went some way to explaining why they cost more than, say, a simple ballpoint pen.

Mr Hurren pointed out that ink manufacturers spend time testing the way components of ink interact with paper, the print head itself and with the plastic and other components of the cartridge. He cited the example of how an ink’s surface tension controlled how much it would just “fall out of the nozzle”, explaining that, over time, volatile ink components are able to evaporate through the cartridge’s plastic, changing the composition of the ink and potentially affecting its behaviour.

“Liquid and electronics don’t usually go together very well, and we’ve become quite expert at making sure that these two interplay with each other,” said Mr Hurren. “There’s actually a tremendous amount of chemistry involved in making sure [cartridges] work to a high degree of reliability and precision. Things such as purity [of the ingredients] and the cleanliness of the manufacturing area are hugely important.”

If that suggests some third-party ink facilities are not maintained to the same standard, it certainly doesn’t apply to all of them, as the Lincolnshire home of www.jettec.com shows. Established in 1996, the company’s factory has the capacity to produce more than two million compatible cartridges, 700,000 remanufactured cartridges and 100,000 laser toner cartridges per month, and it operates to ISO 9001 quality and ISO 14001 environmental standards. Click here for more information.

Jet Tec is confident of the quality of its products, guaranteeing them and offering to collect, inspect and repair or replace a customer’s printer if they believe it’s been damaged by a Jet Tec cartridge. The company quotes a return rate of fewer than one in 200 cartridges for 2011.

Inky fingers
It’s often said compatible inks have inferior print quality, and the cartridges can leak or cause problems such as clogged print heads, so we tested a few. We asked three big inkjet manufacturers to provide printers for us to use: Epson declined, HP sent a Photosmart 6510 multifunction device (printer, scanner, copier), while Canon supplied a Pixma MG6250, which has a six-ink setup involving two different black inks, a cyan, magenta and yellow ink plus a grey tank.

HP and Canon provided their own inks and papers, while Stinky Ink sent a set of unbranded black, cyan, magenta and yellow cartridges for our Pixma, and an Inkrite-branded grey cartridge. Jet Tec doesn’t make a compatible grey cartridge for the Canon, so we bought a set of two black tanks, cyan, magenta and yellow cartridges, and tested these with Canon’s grey cartridge. We also bought Jet Tec’s refilled cartridges for the HP printer.

Jet Tec ink, Pixma MG6250
Jet Tec’s compatibles didn’t leak a drop but we found their fit a little reluctant. Design differences to the OEM cartridges mean it’s not easy to see the printer’s ink status lights. Once inserted there were no error messages and the printer correctly displayed the tanks’ ink levels but things didn’t go so well once we started printing. Photos looked almost as good as the OEM results, but on plain paper, black text had a spidery outline rather than the crisp characters formed with Canon’s ink. After printing about 60 colour pages the cyan ink failed. We reseated the cartridge and performed cleaning cycles on the colour heads, but the cyan remained intermittent until we inserted Canon cartridges, which worked perfectly.

Unbranded/Inkrite ink, Pixma MG6250
After thoroughly flushing the MG6250 through with Canon inks we fitted the Inkrite grey cartridge, and the remaining five unbranded cartridges. The grey and yellow cartridges leaked a drop of ink as we unpacked them, but they fitted the printer well and didn’t block its ink status lights. There were no error messages and the printer correctly displayed the ink level in each cartridge. Our initial plain-paper prints (more than 45 pages) were fine but the print quality declined midway through the first photo - a nozzle check showed the grey ink was blocked. After flushing this we repeated the plain paper and photo tests without further issues. The photo results exhibited a slightly different colour balance to those of Canon’s inks but, in one case, the result was enhanced by greater contrast. Plain paper prints weren’t quite a match for the OEM inks, but were fine.

Jet Tec ink, Photosmart 6510
As remanufactured OEM cartridges, these fitted perfectly in the printer, which unfortunately then displayed an error and refused to print. After some research we discovered we needed a scalpel to prise the small microchip from the HP cartridges we’d removed, fitting these to all but the cyan tank, which already worked fine. Though difficult, the trick worked, but the printer warned us the cartridges were ‘previously installed’ and, because the chips belonged to a used set of cartridges, it continued to warn us their ink levels were low. Document print quality was good but, after 60 colour pages, we saw streaks in areas of yellow and black. Over repeated cleaning cycles the results became worse, so we fitted new HP inks and flushed the printer before refitting the Jet Tec cartridges and trying again. However, within just a couple of colour pages it became evident that either all the colour print heads had clogged, the cartridges had run out of ink, or the printer - which continued to warn us that the consumables were old or non-genuine - was refusing to co-operate.

Ink conclusion
On the face of it, there’s no doubt refilled and compatible cartridges can save you money. Using the printer manufacturers’ own inks, calculated with their claimed yields (the number of printed pages expected to be produced by an ink cartridge in normal conditions) and the cheapest prices we could find at the time of writing, our Canon Pixma MG6250 would cost 9.7p per page of mixed black and colour printing - that’s £101 a year if printing 20 pages a week. Manufacturers of compatible cartridges rarely state yields, making reliable comparisons difficult but, using estimated yields based on the ink content of the compatibles, each page would cost around 6.8p - a saving of about £30 per year. The savings using Jet Tec’s Canon compatibles, for example, would be about £33 per year.

Interestingly, using HP’s XL (high-yield) ink cartridges, the Photosmart 6510 would cost about 6.8p per page, while our estimates suggest the costs from using Jet Tec’s refilled cartridges would be no more than 6.2p per page, offering an annual saving of just £6.

For documents that don’t need to last long, third-party inks have an obvious appeal. It’s difficult to give an authoritative conclusion as the experience of readers on the previous page shows. If you want reliability and the best possible print quality, though, we’d stick with original supplies and shop around for the best prices.

Genuine bargains
It’s surprising how much you can save on original ink cartridges simply by shopping around online. For example, at the time of writing the cost of Canon’s PGI-525BK black tank, used by the Pixma MG6250, varied from £10 on Amazon to £14 on some specialist ink resellers. Multipacks, available for the most popular printers, may be a cheaper option, but do check; the cheapest we could find the PGI-525BK twin-pack for was £20.33, more than buying two tanks separately.

Our advice for those sticking with original ink is to check which cartridges your printer supports and, where there’s a choice, always buy the highest-capacity versions. Shop around for the cheapest price on these, remembering that delivery costs can add several pounds. Look for shops that offer free delivery, or minimise the cost by buying several cartridges at once.

What is the most cost-effective way of keeping running costs low?

Every week a Guardian Money reader submits a question, and it's up to you to help him or her out – a selection of the best answers will appear in next Saturday's paper.

This week's question

Our well-used computer printer has died and we need another. Our old HP model was cheap to buy but cost a fortune in ink cartridges. We don't mind paying more for a printer that has lower ink costs. Have any other readers found a cost-effective printing solution.

What are your thoughts?

very interesting comments, please check page

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