Cost of Ink

[craig7501]

Had to buy more black ink so went to a shop to get some for my printer.

Shops manufactured HP 301 ink for HP1050A £11
Genuine HP 301 ink £11

Thought the re-manufactured ink was supposed to be cheaper than the Genuine, needless to say I got the genuine

[Maelbrigda]

It is HP 301 ink that I use and I usually buy it in the Shop that advertises with scarecrows. £11 for black and £14 for colour. I also sell my used cartridges on another auction site and get around £5 for a pair which I offset againgst buying the new ones.
For years I used Epsons with compatible ink and the printers lasted just over a year. Ive had this HP for 3 years and it is still going strong so i suppose there is something to be said about using originals

[billsstamps]

I bought a Kodak because of the price of ink.

Seems to last a long time and not cost much to buy/1

[rokins_toys]

I've been using Epson printers for years now and I switched to using compatibles one year and within a year my printer was knackered. My current Epson printer has been with me for 4+ years now and I only use official Epson ink carts. Luckily I can usually find a good deal on Epson inks if I shop around. I have recently bought the 4 pack of Epson inks over on FeeBay for around £22-£25 depending on sellers, some are still over £30 with some sellers.

I would advise against compatible inks though for the simple reason, there is a lot of research and development that goes into inks to prevent clogging etc. which can lead to failures in the printer, nozzles etc. which compatibles do not have these "chemicals" or whatever to prevent such things. Obviously ink is expensive, and has been reported to be more expensive than champagne which is true in a lot of cases. I would never use compatibles again because it was cheaper to buy a new printer than get my old one fixed! But I got for the 3 in 1 printers, printer, copier and scanner as I need all three functions.

I am curious about the Epson ink cart recycling though. I always send them my empty carts, so was curious if they just refill them, re-code the chip and sell them at full price again in a new set lol..

[Gill]

When comparing prices on printer inks always compare the millilitre (ml) too.

[Juliebabe25]

I used generic ink on my Canon colour ink jet for years, with no worries. (saved me hundreds) more than enough to buy one or two new printers if I wanted to.

Don't be influenced by the manufacturers claims.

[Juliebabe25]

.

Shops manufactured HP 301 ink for HP1050A £11
Genuine HP 301 ink £11

Thought the re-manufactured ink was supposed to be cheaper than the Genuine, needless to say I got the genuine

Craig did you make a typing error there both inks were 11 pounds.

[Maelbrigda]

Julie, I think that was Craig's point. Both the compatible and the original were £11

[craig7501]

Craig did you make a typing error there both inks were 11 pounds.

As maelbrigda has stated, there was no error both were listed at £11

[Brunwulf]

Had to buy more black ink so went to a shop to get some for my printer.

Shops manufactured HP 301 ink for HP1050A £11
Genuine HP 301 ink £11

Thought the re-manufactured ink was supposed to be cheaper than the Genuine, needless to say I got the genuine

You can refill them HP inks for about £3 for black and about £7 for the color but i would recommend filtering any bottled refill ink kit.

We have 4 canon printers and have only used the cheap 3rd party ink cartridges and not had any problems , our first printer is over 4 years now, cost per printer for a refill is about £1 - £5 for a full set of cartridges with new chips in bulk.

Using cheap sealed ink cartridge will unlikely damage your printer what's more likely is the unfiltered refill bottles or continuous ink systems will cause problems with particles clogging the nozzles, Also the firmware programing on printers actually shuts down the printers after so many hrs use even though the printer will work for years longer due to the non replaceable purge ink sponges filling up,

There are so many other factors that could contribute to printer failure that in the majority of cases its just pure coincidence the printer failed after using cheaper cartridges.

I personally don't expect a printer to last over two years with fair use ( less time if used less due to dry out and less if used heavily due to wear and firmware shutdown ) so if you get longer it's a bonus to me, and i'm getting over 4 years .