Suzi, I am with you. But the latest refill was under $15.00 at cartridge world. Not sure if you have something like that near you...

Moni

My color cartridge went out a year ago. I just hesitate to replace it. It stings, to pay that much for ink.

Gayle

My HP all-in-one uses that Vivera (?) ink, and yeah, I guess they seem expensive but I don't use that much ink. Unless I am printing a photo, I have my printer set to print in grayscale only.

I buy my ink at Staples (almost always with a coupon), and I recycle my cartidges there - each one is worth a $3.00 coupon on anything in the store! I went in the other day with a sack of cartridges and walked out with 9 coupons (total of $27 store credit). Well, maybe not because I used some of them on a purchase that day.

The ink "package deal" for my HP contains six cartridges, so that is $18 off the price if I recycle the cartridges.

I have heard Lexmark ink is high priced. Dell ink is such a rip-off. You can only buy it from Dell.

I have an HP that takes the seperate tanks - it is a photo printer.

It is pretty thrifty on the ink. I can buy a pack of 6 inks for $36 and it usually comes with 100 sheets of photo paper. I am only on my second black tank in over 2 years - but the black tank is quite a bit larger than the colors.

I refilled my Dell cartridges in Walgreens a couple months ago, but some dummy (who shall not be named) tore off the gold paper thing on the end of the color cartridge making it useless. So, we did without color for the past couple of months and finally had to order a new one through Dell. What a rip off. There's no way it cost them $25 to make that teeny tiny cartridge of ink. I'm refilling from now on at Walgreens.

I go to Walgreens too but for THEM to print my pix. Alot cheaper than printer ink!

I've been wondering about the refills at Walgreens. Sounds like they work ok. Anyone have any problem with them?
Donna

Have an hp photo printer and i tried Walgreens and the color wasn't as good and then the second one only lasted a short time. Like it wasn't hardly filled at all.

I tried refilling at a local shop that opened a while ago strictly for that purpose. They do pretty good busines, but I hardly know why. After taking it back twice, the color was awful and even though black was actually darker (more pronounced) than the name brand, it was only half full. I can't afford for either to happen with me trying to get an order done in the middle of the night. So, I never tried Walgreen's refills for that reason. It's just too chancey.

The cost of ink is insane, and the manufacturers practically give it away to the retailers. Their agreement is to charge insane prices for printers for the manufacturer's sake, and then they can charge whatever they want for ink. Screw the consumer from both ends.

I have a lemark printer and it's almost cheaper to just get rid of the printer and buy a new one every time the ink runs out.
The last time I needed to buy ink, I bought a color and black refill kit. It was a lot cheaper, a little messy but it works for what we use it for.

littlebit

I had an Epson 86 that was a real ink hog. In fact, it would show it being low after just installing a hugely spendy new cartridge. The company does have a class action suit pending, for this reason, but I haven't heard anything new about it. I now have an HP 6940 that runs forever on cartridges, even though they are expensive. I am running low now, so thanks for the heads up reminder.

Many brands of printer ink are substantially cheaper at Costco.

Don't know why it's so expensive in the first place.

I get mine at Best Buy and found out that when you buy the cartridges with the paper, they are not as full as buying them without the paper. They are slightley smaller and are filled with less ink.
In my area they are cheaper than Staples, but using Staples own brand seems to work pretty good. I have a HP with a Dell computer.
Be careful going on line. We have been hit twice with idently theft, and my credit card company told me this is one of the most cases of Identy theft--buying thru the Internet. They see hunderds of cases each month.

marie is right about the quantity of ink. The guy at Staples said the cartridges in those "photo packs" that have ink and paper don't have as much ink in them. I stick to what my printer recommends (HP). I tried a generic with my last printer (Epson? Lexmark?), and it was horrible.

About that last statement, though...I saw on a national network in the last two weeks that the majority of credit card fraud occurs from doing business in retail stores and restaurants rather than online. *shrug* Then again, it may be like the medical studies. One week, coffee is good for you. The next week, it will kill you. The third week, you can drink it in moderation.

:-)

We have a Epson that has cartridges that can't be refilled or recycled. A quilting site that I used to go to recommended Carrot Inc. We have been using their cartridges for some time now and have been happy with them and find them much less expensive than ones in the stores. Most places don't even carry the ones we use.
Pat

I bought a refill kit at Wal-Mart, but I haven't used it yet. What's this refill thing at Walgreen's? I haven't heard of that.

"I have a lemark printer and it's almost cheaper to just get rid of the printer and buy a new one every time the ink runs out.
The last time I needed to buy ink, I bought a color and black refill kit. It was a lot cheaper, a little messy but it works for what we use it for.
littlebit"

This is what we've found, too! When DH sees a great deal on a printer (complete with BW and color cartridges), we replace our current printer. Much cheaper than buying the cartridges!

I have my printer set on BW and rarely print color. I'd love to, but it's too $$$$.

I agree with what others said about the Lexmark printers. Maybe that is why their printers tend to be on the INexpensive side -- they plan on making money off the replacement ink cartridges. I junked the Lexmark printer for that very reason and it was working just fine.

It made sense to me when looking for a replacement for the Lexmark to first price the replacement ink cartridges. For my simple printing purposes, I chose an HP Deskjet Model 3745. It is a good little printer, especially since 95% of my printing is with black ink.

Rarely do I use color and still the HP's color cartridges are much less expensive than that Lexmark.

When I worked at the electronics store, we often had printers on sale for 1/2 the price of an ink cartridge. It came with a 1/2 filled cartridge (as all do), so most people would just come in and buy a new printer, and donate the old one to charity.

Two of my kids work for a nation wide stationery company, as does my daughters boyfriend. Anytime I need ink, I ask one to pick one up for me for 40% off.

I have a HP 5770 and love it. I have used it for about 5 years. Yes the ink is expensive but it does a great job.

I just bought DS and DIL a printer for Christmas and I purposely bought them an HP because the ink seems pretty affordable...more so than the rest. I have had an HP for a few years now and love it. My first printer years ago used Lexmark and I swore I'd never have another one that used that ink. Such a ripoff. Costco is about the cheapest I have found it without a coupon. If I have acoupon I go elsewhere. DIL has a Dell also and she said the ink was going to cost her 60.00! Luckily the printer broke and they needed a new one :O)