Posted on 06/21/2007 1:05:59 PM PDT by TChris
A new study says that on average, more than half of the ink from inkjet cartridges is wasted when users toss them in the garbage. Why is that interesting? According to the study, users are tossing the cartridges when their printers are telling them they're out of ink, not when they necessarily are out of ink.
The study by TÜV Rheinland looked at inkjet efficiency across multiple brands, including Epson (who commissioned the study), Lexmark, Canon, HP, Kodak, and Brother. They studied the efficiency of both single and multi-ink cartridges. Espon's printers were among the highest rated, at more than 80 percent efficiency using single-ink cartridges. Kodak's EasyShare 5300 was panned as the worst printer tested, wasting 64 percent of its ink in tests. TÜV Rheinland measured cartridge weights before and after use, stopping use when printers reported that they were out of ink.
That's the first problem. Printers routinely report that they are low on ink even when they aren't, and in some cases there are still hundreds of pages worth of ink left.
(Excerpt) Read more at arstechnica.com ...
“I have used up an entire set of new cartridges on the C86 trying to clean the heads, and not even a SINGLE DROP of ink has made it to paper. Epson is junk as far as I’m concerned.”
One of the same experiences my brother was having. And Epsons all told him that if he left the printer turned on then it would keep trying to clean itself very often, and use up all the ink.
My HP Laserjet 4MP purchased in 1992 is still chugging along with absolutely no problems. I get my cartridges from a local refiller and they last me for 18-24 months. Truly this machine is a marvel. I have friends who have picked the 4MP up on eBay for $50 and never regretted their purchase.
I keep a cheap HP inkjet around for things that need to be printed in color. But now that the HP color laserjets are affordable, I'll probably spring for one of those the next time the inkjet gives me any trouble.
Your fuser probably isn’t working properly. It isn’t ink... it is more like a plasticized soot, and has to be melted into the paper to remain permanent. If it is smearing or fading, you have a defective printer.
ha,ha,heh...saw this movie. It was GREAT!!!!!
Very true. Lexmark inkjet printers are often the cheapest to buy and—according to a recent Consumer Reports article—carry the highest cost-per-page in use. I can vouch for both.
When Lexmark started including special, nearly-empty cartridges with their new printers, I stopped buying Lexmark printers. Until then, it was like getting a free printer, often for less than the cost of the replacement cartridges alone. But that was when the printers came with cartridges comparable to the replacements.
I bought an HP LaserJet 4 in 1992 and it’s still going strong!! One toner cartridge a year.
The thing is the brother has an easy ink sensor to cheat... the ink cartridges are just translucent plastic tanks that a led shines a light through.. block the light with a piece of paper or black mark on the tank.. an it will alway read full....an keep print with whatever it got .. even no color ink left... just black
Plus brother ink cartridges can be had a 5 to 6 a pop on the net and are a easy refill because there just plastic tanks, no electronics... The brother are dirt cheap to run... if you follow a few tricks
I have a LaserJet 6P that I bought from Goodwill six years ago for $20 and it’s still printing strong on the same toner cartridge.
Nope, the ink cartridge apparently goes stale.
And naturally, I buy the larger, more cost effective toner cartridge to save money.
Yes, I could always buy a printer that has the drum/toner as one unit, but that just seems so wasteful and expensive.
I'm still using dot matrix.
When my cartridge “reads” low, I reinstall it, telling the computer it’s a new cartridge. It doesn’t know any different.
LOL My Epson toner is $70 apiece and it uses 4 of 'em.
“Espon’s printers were among the highest rated, at more than 80 percent efficiency using single-ink cartridges”
And that absolutely stinks. At prices where ink is more expensive per ounce than champaign, 80 percent fails the test.
Thanks all, I’ll probably try a refill kit soon.
Get a Laser Printer color or B&W you simply will save a lot of money and misery. Upfront costs are more..but long term, no comparison.
W
I have a Canon Pixma iP4200 inkjet printer and love it.
Actually, that kind of makes sense;
(warning, I’m far from an expert on laser printers, so I might be a little off on this)
The cheaper paper is more porous; So the toner gets trapped in the pores. The laser paper isn’t as porous, has a special coating that is supposed to work better with FUSED toner... so when the toner is NOT properly fused, it rubs off easier.
Thanks for the tip. I have a Brother and pay $2.95 each for the third-party refills. I've had this machine for a year and a half and have no problems. I do get aggravated, though, that when the printer decides one of my cartridges is empty, it stops printing completely. Now I know the trick to get around that, thanks to you.
The 6P has a much larger cxarteisge than the 4.
In 9 years i’ve printed over 30,000 pages and had just started on the 3rd cartridge when rhe circut board went out.
The oost of repairing it wwasn’t worth it wo I buoght the color lazer.
I wouldn’t have an ink jet for free.
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