For some of us, printer ink is a sore subject. While we don't seem to have the problem of having to replace cartridges that are still full, we do feel the pinch in our wallets every time we run down to Staples or Office Max to buy replacements. Throwing down for both B&W and color cartridges usually leaves us about $60 in the hole, and in these hard times that can be anxiety inducing.
The last time we picked up some much needed ink we got flustered at the cost and decided to talk to a printer expert about why the heck inks are so expensive. What we found out after the jump...
We ended up chatting with Gartner analyst Federico de Silva Leon, who told us there are several factors at work.
- When you buy a printer, they're actually surprisingly inexpensive -- $50 - 200. Manufacturers price their printers below cost in order to hook you into buying their inks. They recoup their losses with premium markups on inks and photo paper. It's a similar set up with cell phone carriers. They mark down phones to the bare minimum to hook you into long term contracts.
- The amount of money that goes into the research and development of ink chemistry and printer head technology is high. To offset those costs, companies mark up ink and paper prices. The amount of money you pay for these items also helps subsidize future R&D. In a way, when you buy ink you're investing in future breakthroughs.
Now what about those third party companies who offer generic ink in cartridges that match your printer for a fraction of the price? Well, Federico says you have to look at your expectations. If you're just printing documents for your own use and you're ok with a slight decrease in quality, third party inks may be a good solution.
When I mentioned that with my previous printer I had used third party inks only to have my printer head die, he mentioned this can be a major drawback to using another ink. According to PC World, clogged printer heads are a unavoidable consequence of generic inks.
If you're concerned about the long term longevity of your printer stick to your brand name ink, but if you're replacing your printer every few years anyway, well you may as well save some bucks on ink.
Oh and this goes without saying. You'll be hard pressed to get stellar photo prints from generic inks. Manufacturers spend a lot of money perfecting ink chemistry in order to give you the best print quality. So if you're looking to archive your memories in a photo album, spend the extra cash on name brand ink.
What has your experience been with third party inks?
Photo: The Selby
We use third party for our BW Laser Printers (All HPs) and that works fine 95% of the time. There are the occasional moments when the toner cartridge is bad and the provider replaces them.
We'd never use third party ink for our Color printers.
view mscot's profile
1st party inks clog heads too - if the printer just sits there unused the head can clog. I have been using 3rd party ink for over a decade in various Epson and Canon printers. There has been a bad cartridge here and there but mostly perfectly fine quality for everyday printing. The newer printers that use microchipped inks can cause new problems such as the computer/printer not recognizing that there is a cart installed - but I've also found that to be fairly uncommon. 3rd party inks are great for me for quick proofing and everyday printing - but I wouldn't use them for anything I wanted to be archival.
view bordjon's profile
I've also been using 3rd party ink for about a decade. I just ordered a 24pk (3 each of the 7 colors and 3 of the gloss optimizer) for my Epson R1800 for $29.99 free shipping. I've bought this set before and had no issues with them. If I had purchase the Epson ones, this would have cost me about $270. Will they last 100 years, not sure but since I probably won't be around then, I'm not too concerned.
The biggest difference I've seen in print quality has come from the paper. I purchased cheap paper before and noticed that it didn't absorb the ink as well as the brand stuff and since then, I only buy good quality paper. The Epson paper is very impressive.
As for clogging, that has happened to me with all kinds of ink depending on how long the printer stays without printing. I read an article a while ago that recommended printing every few weeks, at least a web page or so to keep them from getting clogged. I've also had success in taking the print head out and cleaning it with a can of compressed air right under the nozzle to clear it.
view modernguy's profile
in my old epson i only used 3rd party inks, and never had a problem. It printed really good with them too, and i only dropped 10-15 bucks on new ink instead of 60.
Haven't tried it with the HP all in one i have. it's out and i have avoided buying new inks.
Who prints photos out at home anymore anyways. Economically, when you can get cheap online and professional prints, there's no point.
view jmorey's profile
I think many HP printers used to have the print head attached to the cartridge. So when you replaced the ink you were also replacing the head. Don't know if that's the case anymore, but if it's true that eliminates one potential drawback - there's less chance you'll ruin your print heads with a 3rd party cart.
view sunspot42's profile
can anyone recommend a good 3rd party ink dealer? thanks!
view campari's profile
this is who i always used
http://www.printpal.com/
and you can go here and get a 10% of coupon on top of it.
http://www.printpal.com/coupons/save.html
view jmorey's profile
just looked on there and for my new HP the cartridges are barely cheaper, but on my epson it was like 1/4 the cost.
view jmorey's profile
I did not want to be in the situation of continuously buying inks. I've opted for a laser printer! Dry ink! The cartridge lasts forever! I don't print that often, and I found that with an inkjet I would need to replace the cartridges, essentially, every other time I wanted to print something off.
As the article states, it's cheaper to buy a printer. I bought a laser printer. They are way cheaper than they once were.
view SoSue's profile