Tired of buying ink

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So a couple months back I was looking at replacement options for my HP ink cartridge. I've used refill services in the past with mixed results. Typically limited sheet count per refill and after a couple refills the printer won't even recognize the cartridge any more. After shopping aftermarket vs HP ink cartridge prices ended up just purchasing a brand new printer for less than the cost of a new XL cartridge. Well, fast forward a couple of months and its running low on ink! Now we really don't print a heck of a lot. Some, yes, but not A LOT.

I am getting tired of this ink cartridge racket. Is it just HP or is it all ink jets? Should I switch brands, go with laser jet or something else all together? I don't want to be replacing ink cartridges twice a year... And honestly color and such is nice but really all I need is a reliable printer/scanner/copier with good durability and longevity. I guess it would be nice to print color when needed but that's almost never...
 
I had the same problem and went with an all-in one printer/scanner/fax that was a laser jet (Brother). It is monochrome, but it hasn't been a problem for home use and I have only replaced the toner cartridge once in the past 3 years.
 
Some printer manufacturers include limited capacity ink cartridges in the box with the printer, which is probably why you ran out of ink so quickly. I agree with the previous poster who suggested a monochrome laser, depending on your usage. Ask yourself if you really need a colour printer at home, or if you could go to Staples or wherever on the rare occasion you need something printed in colour.
 
If you print B&W documents laser is the only way to roll. When I was a student, I had to print a lot of documents and the system at the school was nonsense. Ink jet was out of the question due to cost.

Ink jet printers exist to sell carts, and print colour. The only people who print in colour are students who are trying hard and have rich parents.
 
Since around 2000, printer has switch to a business model of break even printer and expensive ink. HP used to be the best ink jet printer and then all of a sudden they become junk within a few years. Every ink jet printer company follows and there goes the whole affordable ink eco system.

These days you are much better off buying a black and white laser (i.e. Brother) and keep an all in one color ink jet just for color and scanning.
 
I found the cheapest way is to buy a new printer on black Friday. The printer comes with ink and is the same price as a new cartridge.
 
Brother laser FTW.

If you get a Dell printer, it's probably a Brother, and you can put Brother toner in it if you change one gear.
 
I have a Brother ink and a set of color & black cartridges are less than $6 on ebay - never a issue with the ink quality. Ink lasts well over year - not much waste for self cleaning apparently. Not big fan of the brother printers, but ended up keeping this one for like 3 years already - works fine. It is a base multi-function model with very good reviews on amazon.
 
Unless you have a need to print photos, I also recommend Brother lasers. They seem to hold up great and supplies are not terribly expensive.
 
I purchased a HP ink jet for family use. With 3 teens in high school, I was always hearing Dad we're out of ink! Well, later one Saturday I could not find refills for the HP. I purchased a Brother MFC-J870W, I forgot about it until I heard...."Dad the printer is getting low on ink." I went from an HP with over priced ink, to the Brother with cheaper replacement cartridges with a better print quality. 5 years and no issues to date.
 
I went by the Goodwill dedicated computer shop called Computer Works.

19 unopened ink cartridges, $2.50 each...

Retail is $15 each...

Good place for routers too, to use as Access Points when extending a network..
 
Originally Posted by buck91
So a couple months back I was looking at replacement options for my HP ink cartridge. I've used refill services in the past with mixed results. Typically limited sheet count per refill and after a couple refills the printer won't even recognize the cartridge any more. After shopping aftermarket vs HP ink cartridge prices ended up just purchasing a brand new printer for less than the cost of a new XL cartridge. Well, fast forward a couple of months and its running low on ink! Now we really don't print a heck of a lot. Some, yes, but not A LOT.

I am getting tired of this ink cartridge racket. Is it just HP or is it all ink jets? Should I switch brands, go with laser jet or something else all together? I don't want to be replacing ink cartridges twice a year... And honestly color and such is nice but really all I need is a reliable printer/scanner/copier with good durability and longevity. I guess it would be nice to print color when needed but that's almost never...


Laser is the way to go. My Xerox Phaser color laser printer is one fine printer.
 
Epson and Brother have ink jets with refillable reservoirs. They are even cheaper than lasers to run.
 
Originally Posted by das_peikko
What kind of ink cartridges to laser printers use? I've always wondered about that.

they don't use ink.

they use a powdered resin that gets bonded to the paper through heat and pressure.
 
Originally Posted by Subdued
they don't use ink.

they use a powdered resin that gets bonded to the paper through heat and pressure.


WOW!
smile.gif
 
I bought a colour laser all in one Brother and couldn't be happier. Even the non brother toner works great in it and lasts a long time. IMO Brother lasers are the way to go, they have their products nailed down. And their scan/print over wifi works flawlessly from multiple computers in the house. Much better than the nightmare wifi printing of HP's I've setup only to have go missing on the network thereafter.
smirk.gif


Ecotank type printers are a nice thought but it's just a way for the printer manufacturer to regain profitability because they weren't making money selling printers at a loss hoping to make money off of ink cartridges in future with all these refill places and no-name cartridges that fit their printers.

If you add up the cost of the Ecotank printer and the ink it comes with it's still more expensive than a traditional inkjet printer with no-name refilled cartridges that will print the same amount of pages, and both are outweighed in cost per print by colour lasers from Brother at the prices I'm getting for toner refills.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by das_peikko
Originally Posted by Subdued
they don't use ink.

they use a powdered resin that gets bonded to the paper through heat and pressure.


WOW!
smile.gif


And it does not smell like peanuts.....
 
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