Head-to-Head: Printer Manufacturers' Ink vs. Cheap Third-Party Ink

Head-to-Head: Printer Manufacturers' Ink vs. Cheap Third-Party Ink


from example 2:

Printing Charts: Lexmark's Own Brand vs. Walgreens Ink

In the upper pie chart image, Lexmark's own ink produced colors--especially the yellow and the green--that are strangely dull and sickly looking. Some vertical color banding is evident as well. In the lower pie chart image, Walgreens' Lexmark-compatible ink created brighter and truer colors, but these are marred by a very noticeable level of abrupt vertical banding.

About vendors

If you're dealing with a vendor that you haven't used before, ask questions. A reputable online ink retailer will provide names and contact information for the ink manufacturers that it buys its supplies from.

Cheap Ink: Will It Cost You?

Cheap Ink: Will It Cost You?


Razor-blade makers sell consumers the shaver at low prices and then make a killing selling replacement blades. Printer manufacturers do the same thing--selling their printers on the cheap and then making bank on expensive consumables like ink. It's a time-tested practice that's inspired a lively aftermarket of cheap ink from third-party suppliers.

The printer makers--the original equipment manufacturers, or OEMs--claim that their ink is worth the premium prices they charge for it. OEM ink, they say, creates images that are more accurate and color-rich, and longer-lived. Third-party suppliers, on the other hand, say that their inks are just as good but cost a lot less. For example, HP charges $18 for a black ink cartridge for its Photosmart C5180 printer, but the same cartridge remanufactured by Cartridge World costs only $8.75.

Who's telling the truth? To find out, PC World teamed up with the Rochester Institute of Technology, a respected research university known for its top-notch laboratory for testing imaging products. Using popular ink jet printers from Canon, Epson, Hewlett-Packard, Kodak, and Lexmark, we ran side-by-side tests of brand-name and third-party inks to compare image quality and fade resistance. We also tracked how many pages each cartridge churned out before running dry.

Our tests show that all of the third-party inks in our test group yielded more prints per cartridge--on top of costing less--but that, with some notable exceptions, the printer manufacturers' ink we evaluated usually produced better-quality prints and proved more resistant to fading. Of course, our conclusions apply only to the printers we tested. We couldn't test all of the printers that are available (partly because you can't get third-party ink for all of them), so we picked a set of mainstream inkjet printers from recognized brands as a way of taking a snapshot view of the ink market.

Where and How to Buy Cheap Ink

Where and How to Buy Cheap Ink

The aftermarket for printer ink can be a tricky place to shop. Third-party cartridges cost less than the manufacturers' brands--which is why people buy them. But it can be a lot harder to tell whether a third-party vendor sells high-quality ink products.

One time-tested method is to shop at an established retailer (online or brick-and-mortar) that guarantees the quality of its products. There are obvious examples that include office supply chains, all of which carry third-party ink cartridges.

But finding third-party ink for your specific printer model can be a challenge, particularly if your unit is very new, very old, or not very popular. Before driving around town to find the right cartridge, do a little homework online. At today's insane gas prices, you could end up spending $20 on fuel just to save $10 on an ink cartridge.

Save Money on Inkjet Printer Ink

Save Money on Inkjet Printer Ink


I'm not happy with the inflated cost of inkjet cartridges. I also despise the games inkjet manufacturers play to get you to replace cartridges that may still have ink inside.

Two issues: First, the sleazy way inkjet printer manufacturers trick users into dumping still-good cartridges. Second, the absolutely outrageous cost of those inkjet cartridges.

This week I'm passing along a few work-arounds, an alternative for high-cost cartridges, and a bunch of useful articles that'll tell you how to squeeze more out of your printer.
My Cartridge Won't Work

A couple of months ago George Siegel, a buddy of mine, e-mailed to complain about an old HP Business Inkjet 2230:

<blockquote>I bought it maybe three years ago for a specific project, but ended up leaving it in the box for 18 to 24 months," he said. "When I finally installed it at home, the black ink cartridge died after about a week. I figured it was empty (undersized cartridge) and replaced it. Then about a week later the cyan cartridge died. I knew I hadn't done much color printing so I got suspicious.</blockquote>

I've had e-mail from readers who have refilled their inkjet cartridges encountering the same situation.

I'm guessing you've figured out what the problem was. Yep: The inkjet cartridges had expiration dates.

There have been lawsuits against HP about this (and no, I couldn't find anything recent). As I researched the issue, I saw an upsurge in 2005 of angry users complaining about expiration dates.

Dig This: Artist Chris Jordan has a dramatic--and utterly distressing--way of representing statistics pertaining to American life. [Thanks, Emru!]
Some Expiration Solutions

George's work-around was to reset his PC clock back a few years to see what would happen--and maybe fool the cartridge. It worked and he claims not to have had any problems since.

"Well okay, just one. If I forget to reset the PC clock back to normal time, any new e-mail I receive is buried two years down in my In Basket when using Thunderbird."

Other solutions I found on an array of sites while browsing the Internet range from removing the printer's battery, turning off the bidirectional parallel connection features, using Microsoft's printer drivers instead of those supplied by HP, or fiddling with HP's .ini configuration file.

Dig This: One solution for expired cartridges and not-so-hot HP printer support comes by way of Iraq.
Cheap(er) Inkjet Printer Cartridges

Here's the Bass International printer inventory: I have an old Epson T009 (my mother uses an Epson T007), an even older Brother 1450 laser (the one I use most often), and a Brother inkjet MFC-640CW all-in-one.

You wouldn't have guessed it (ha!), but I wouldn't dream of buying Epson cartridges. SoI did a lot of digging online for a reputable source for replacements. There are probably dozens of Internet stores, and you have your favorites. But I decided on a brick-and-mortar shop because I wanted to be able to wrap my hands around the neck of the store manager if my printer stopped working.

I tried Staples and Office Depot, but their prices weren't low enough. (Costco, my first choice, didn't sell the cartridge I needed.) I choose Cartridge World for a couple of reasons: There's a store nearby in Pasadena and its prices beat the office supply stores.

For instance, at Staples, color cartridges for my Epson ran $25; Cartridge World charged $18. Black cartridges for the Epson were $8 cheaper than the chains. The savings on the cartridges for the Brother all-in-one were about the same as for the Epson.

I also liked that part of the deal was exchanging my old cartridge and putting it to good use. That's because instead of handing my empty cartridge to a recycling center, Cartridge World takes it as a trade-in on a new cartridge. If I didn't have an old cartridge to give them (they call it a "core"), my new replacement would cost an extra $4.

I've used three sets of Cartridge World refills so far, saved some money, and haven't had lick of trouble. The only problem, and this may be a showstopper for you, is that it's a walk-in store only. Check the Web site and maybe you'll get lucky with a store located near you.

Dig This: Whatever kind of mood you are in today, check out the Helsinki Complaints Choir. [Thanks to Eric Bender for this cool video.]
PC World's Smart Printer Advice

I never realized that besides the expiration hassles, roughly 60 percent of the ink in a cartridge is often thrown way. For details, "Study: Over Half of Inkjet Printer Ink is Thrown Away." Just as valuable--and equally revealing--are the reader comments generated from the article.

PC World's Paul Jasper has a lot of advice in "How to Spend Less on Printing and Get Better Results." Read it here. And Kirk Steers tells you how to "Get More Work From Your Inkjet for Less Money."

If you're thinking of buying a printer, we have a cleverly-named article: "How to Buy a Printer." Contemplating a multifunction machine? We have buying advice for those, too.

And if you're having inkjet or laser printer problems, take a look at FixYourOwnPrinter's forums before you call in a technician. Chances are good someone else has experienced the same problem and you might find a solution to yours.