Printer cartridges...

[rwsmith]

I've always liked HP products and had many of their printers and yes, I know the ink was expensive.

Now I've got an HP6600, an Officejet product because I wanted a 'serious' printer like one that would be used in a business. I knew the ink cartridges would last because there were four individual cartridges, the three colors and a black. I bought the 'XL' cartridges because they hold more ink, so they should last even longer.....WRONG!!!

Even if you print in b&w, the printer still uses color cartridges. When a cartridge runs out the printer freezes and says to put in a new one. You should be able to print in grayscale or black only, but selecting those options doesn't do any good. So I go buy a cartridge (yellow for explanations sake) and replace it. As soon as you replace it the printer says to replace the cyan cartridge and won't print until you replace it. The next trip to the store I buy a complete pack of all the cartridges and replace the rest of the cartridges. Finally, I can print.

Now, why does HP make a supposedly quality printer that is not only user-unfriendly, but downright hostile? Do any of you know of any good printers that DON'T try to run you crazy or into bankruptcy?

 

[Steve in Vermont]

I have an older HP and gave up using color ink. I buy only black, much cheaper, and it lasts a long time. For print photos I burn them to a CD and go to the local printer. They have a self serve printer, insert the CD, select the size and number of copies, and out comes a pic as good as any printer can make...only much cheaper.

 

[Ogandydancer]

I have an HP printer also. Uses 5 cartridges and it eats black ink like I drink iced tea. They also hiked the price nearly two dollars per cartridge about a year and a half ago. This printer is now retired and only used for scanning and faxing when needed and, all my main printing is now done on a Brother laser printer even tho the toner is a bit more expensive it is much more economical to print with. I have been using the original toner now for 6 months and it's still going. HP ink is a real rip off.

 

[cmort666]

1. You need to look at the property settings for the printer to see if indeed it can print PURE black and white. I print a lot of grey scale 4x6 photos on my Canon S750. In gray scale mode it uses small amounts of other colors for shade and tone.
2. Make sure that you have the latest FULL version of the driver installed, if one is available. I've seen problems where the Windows default driver doesn't support all of the functions of the printer, and doesn't provide a lot of the available settings in "properties". The first black and white Canon I bought printed like **** until I called Canon and they asked me if I was using the Windows (95) driver. They directed me to one of their download sites in GERMANY. After I installed the proper Canon driver, it printed great.

 

[cmort666]

I would NEVER use an inkjet printer for general printing duty of more than a trivial quantity.

I have a Canon S750 for printing photographs.

For everything else, I have a Brother HL1440 laser printer. I've had it for years. It's fast, gives good quality, and if you use the extra capacity toner cartridge prints FOREVER.

At Christmas, I got my mother's later network capable Brother laser printer because it cost less to buy her a Brother all-in-one inkjet than to replace her external wireless print server which died. She only prints bank statements and the occasional set of Mapquest directions, so an inkjet is economical for her.

 

[snubbyfan]

We have an ancient Lexmark Z32. We only use black ink in it for printing documents and we refill the cartridges for a fraction of the cost of a new cartridge. I couldn't tell you how many years we've been using the same black ink cartridge.

 

[vytoland]

have an Epson NX415 that has given me very good service for several years. it uses four ink cartridges and only requires that the empty cartridge be replaced.

replacing ink cartridges is quick and easy. I buy non oem ink cartridges on ebay and the average cost is $2 per cartridge. the cartridges work well and are compatible with my printer.

 

[Jessie]

Oh, never mind. I thought you were talking about making cartridges on a 3d printer or something.
Wouldn't that be nice with .22s?

 

[Mcwsky09]

Laser printers will generally be far less expensive overall even if you get color laser. Yes the initial purchase and supply items are more expensive but the cost per print is way less and the problems are way less. I have laser printers that have been in operation for more than a decade. I have one that is about 20 years old and still works but no longer have any computers capable of printing to it, actually have one even older than that I forgot about.
I have installed and serviced a number of brother laser printers and they are quite good, and generic supplies can be purchased for less than brand name supplies. There are also a couple companies that sell refill kits for most laser printers, some require you melt a hole in the cartridge. I have some cartridges that I have reloaded a dozen times. The brother generic supplies tend to be not much more than the refill kits so maybe no worth the trouble of doing refills.
I did have an HP office jet 6110 all on one with fax that lasted about 10 years but finally had too many issues.

 

[Gunslinger808]

In many cases, it's cheaper to buy a printer w/new cartridges than replacing the ones that are low.

 

[rwsmith]

That's probably true....

In many cases, it's cheaper to buy a printer w/new cartridges than replacing the ones that are low.

That's probably true for anybody except HP. When the printer was new it had 'starter' cartridges that ran dry in a week.

I've never felt so ripped off by HP.

 

[goldenlight]

I just use a B&W laser printer. Ink jet printers just cost WAY too much to run. Laser toner cartridges are expensive, but you get a HUGE number of pages out of one. Mine are rated for 2500 pages of text. a black ink jet cartridge is good for a few hundred, at best. Plus, laser printer print WAY faster, and the printed pages look way nicer, too.

 

[Qball]

I had a friend who had a computor shop, he said that the printers are cheep for a reason,
and they don't make any money selling them.

The big buck is in suplies

 

[Engineer1911]

Don't buy new printers

We have a "printer repair" store in town that sells used printers. They do not sell computers. The store will sell you a lazer printer that best meets your needs at a significant discount. They kept my HP LaserJet 2 running for 10 years until the power supply died and there were no parts available.

I now have an OKI C1500 that just keeps printing in B&W mode. I think it will require a service call this year at a cost of about $75 to $100. It will be good to go for another 10,000 pages per B&W toner cartridge. I don't want an HP printer even if it was free!

 

[wheelgun28]

I gave up on ink jet equipment.

At work printed bills or documents always looked poor, streaks and lines etc.

We no longer buy printed bills or letterhead. Also had several ink jet fax machines. They were miles better than the roman scrolls of thermal paper. After a while the fax was used so infrequently that the ink would dry on the tip of the cartridge. It could not be cleaned and a new cartridge would be needed. Then repeat the process. A simple laser machine made life better and cheaper to.

For a printer I jumped full in about ten years ago. I bought a big HP color laser network printer and the extra paper tray. It has toner four cartridges and can hold a ream and a half of paper. All of the computers on the network,wired or wireless can print to it and it makes very nice documents. I think they say it can do ten thousand documents on the cartridges.

I had to replace the cartridges on the shelf at the office supply, easy to install, all is good.

Last year I needed to replace them again, go to the office supply with the numbers and shock sets in $ 150 each! I was kinda POed about buying $600 worth of stuff for the printer. I looked online and found aftermarket ones for around half the cost. I can live with that. I am not sure if the printer will survive past these carts as HP no longer supports the drivers. The older driver works on newer versions of windows but who knows with newer versions.

Yes it prints great targets too!

 

[johngalt]

I will never buy an inkjet printer ever again. I don't print much, I was constantly buying new cartridges because they would dry up and clog long before being used up. Bought an hp laser printer close to 10 years ago, still using the original toner cartridge. I may need a new one, hope they still make it. It is printing light, but the printer reports it still has 30% left.

 

[blujax01]

We had a significant reduction in force several years ago and The Brain Trust decided to throw away desktop combo laser printer/FAX/copiers that belonged to the dearly departed.

I took home a half dozen of them. When the toner gives out, they go in the trash.

Now that I'm retired, and down to the last two, I may need to rethink whether I really need to print out some of the things I do.

 

[vytoland]

I will never buy an inkjet printer ever again. I don't print much, I was constantly buying new cartridges because they would dry up and clog long before being used up.

if you don't use your printer much, turn it on/off a couple times a week. this will help prevent clogged/dried up cartridges.

 

[steveno]

Office Max has their brand of ink cartridges that are about $10 to $20 cheaper than HP and they work just fine

 

[wbraswell]

I will just reccomend that you stay away from anything Ricoh.