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The Kitchen Table

Ink cartridges are so flippin' expensive!

18 years ago

I switched my printer default to print in "Draft" mode. The ink cartridges seem to last quite a bit longer and you can't even tell a difference in the print quality unless I'm printing out color pictures!

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Comments (8)

kframe19
18 years ago
It's getting to the point where it's getting cheaper to buy a whole new printer every time the ink runs out.
bigack
18 years ago
I recently got a couple of HP cartridges on Ebay, I use no. 57 and 58. Gotta be careful not to buy reconditioned ones, these were new and quite a bit cheaper.
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Credit to everyone who is trying to recycle their ink cartridges, but I still have concerns about these printers and their consumables. Ink jet printers are just plain hard on the budget and the environment, and the cartridges can't be refilled indefinitely, many only once and very few more than two or three times. Many applications don't really need an ink jet, I see lots of these printers being used in places where a laser or dot matrix would be much better suited to the job. Often people buy them because the initial printer cost is very low, frequently because it's heavily subsided by the expensive cartridges, sometimes the printer is sold for less than a full set of cartridges. However, when you consider the price of ink and special paper, it's multiple times cheaper to take your digital photographs or images to a shop and have them use their state of the art printer worth thousands to print them for you. No need to clutter up your house with another printer, no need to change cartridges or anything. Best of all it's not more work, you can either go out to the store to buy cartridges or you can go to the store to have your pictures printed. The only major difference is price and quality, both of which are better. Some places do it mail order or over the internet now, so you could have your prints sent to you. Of course some people do need a colour printer at home or in their office, there are genuine needs, but then it's fair to point out that the price of colour laser printers has dropped a lot now, and they're much better suited to high volume applications, but also don't dry up if not used for a while. They also work out much cheaper in the long term. Anyone who can justify their need for a high quality colour printer, for example a high volume of prints being made, can probably justify the initial expense of a colour laser as it will save them so much money in the long term.
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I have an HP all-in-one printer with 6 cartrides. Sometimes, I do change when the low indicator pops up, but not always. I use the build-in features of the printer to see how low the cartridges are. I may print a report or just look at the printer's graphics display. If there is 8% to 10% left, I'll print a bit more; If its down to 5%, its change out time. I not sure how the modern printers manage the ink supply these days. Before I retired, I had bad experiences with early ink jets, noteable, a Tektronics printer. If this one ran dry and any air entered the supply side of the print head, the pulse pump would loose its prime and would not oeprate again until primed. It could not re-prime itself as it needed to re-establish surface tension with the ink supply. It required a service call to get it going again. Paying a tech over $200 just to prime the print head was too much. Obviously, this printer was replaced during the next office equipment upgrade cycle. These comments apply to printers with fixed ink jets and with cartridges that hold only ink. [On some printer models, each cartridge has the print jets built into the cartridge, and on these, you can run those to empty without any prine problem.] Because of past, but very old experience, I do not run a fixed print head dry of ink. I do not wish to take a chance of loosing prime and having to re-establish it, although, I suppose the new printers have addressed that problem - I simply do not know and it is not explained in the instructions that comes with the printer. The instruction is: Change the cartridge when indicated.
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Chemocurl zn5b/6a Indiana
18 years ago
If and when I ever have to get a new printer/scanner/copier, the cost of the cartridges will indeed be a big determining factor...that and the size of them. I'll likely ask at Computer Help forum just which one is the most economical to use, after the initial investment of buying it. I too use draft, and often just print it in black to save some on the color.
The next time I run dry, I'm going to try and fill the black one myself by drilling a tiny hole in it, filling with one of those needles, and sealing the hole with a small piece of tape or glue. I figure it won't hurt to try.
Sue
kathi_mdgd
18 years ago
That's why DH got me a new Kodak printer/scanner for xmas last year.It cost 25.00 for both the black and the color.

With my old HP it was costing me 80.00 for ink.I print quite a few pictures out for the GK's and one of my sisters that doesn't have a computor.

I have the Kodak 5300...............love it.
Kathi
pattico_gw
18 years ago
I got lucky a couple months ago...Someone had the same 3 in 1 printer that I have and must have ordered inks in a multi package. Their printer quit on them so they sold me three brand new color cartridges, one brand new black and a partial used black for $25.00

Then for my other printer I got both the color and black cartridges filled for free last week.

So I'm good for a couple of days...hehe

patti
chessy
18 years ago
you may be able to have your empty cartridge refilled if you have a Walgreens nearby.

Here is a link that might be useful: Walgreens
nan_nc
18 years ago
I got lucky. At my PT job, there were a couple of HP cartridges in the supply closet which just happen to fit my printer at home (there is no longer an HP printer at work that can use them). Asked boss lady if I could buy them...she said she would GIVE them to me, and then came downstairs from her office with a whole armful! Brand new, I can't imagine why there would be so many. I am equipped for at least several years! As so many of us have, I have spent more on cartridges in the last few years than I did on the original printer.
janie_ga
18 years ago
Susan, what was the sellers name? Maybe they will have some for the rest of our printers. I like to order from people who have been "tested", LOL

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