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 ...
ping
“Does anyone here refill their own cartridges?”
Yes. I have an HP printer and have been refilling cartridges ever since I got it 3 years ago.
I use ink refill kits from Mr. Inkjet and I have had no problems.
It works very well unless you let a cartridge run completely dry.
I’ve saved the cost of the printer several times over.
Have three cartridges to run through the memory of two (some don't even have to print)
Get the printer to offer up the cartridges for replacement. Pull the power plug. refill the cartridge and replace in printer. Put the power plug back into the socket.
That line works just fine if you give them the proper TLC. Print something in full color every few days, once a week at least. Turn the printer off when not in use. Keep it covered when not in use. Learn how to clean clogged jets. (Yes, they clog more than other brands, but that's because they have finer jets. See my earlier posts for links on cleaning out clogs.)
Epson stylus printers can't be beat for photo printing in the same price range.
Or the printers that come with no black ink at all.
I gave up on the inkjets last year, They just cost too much. Paper and ink probably run 12 cents and page. I bought a cheap $129 HP laserjet and now the cost runs about 3 cents a page. I still have the inkjet around, but we only use it when we can’t live without the color.
I have an old Epson Stylus Color 880 that was a freebie. The output came out striped so I figured it needed new ink. The new ink it better but it still has sort of a striped appearance. How do you remove the pads to clean?
Wow I remember the Commodore 128. My cousin had one after his C-64 got a little outdated. I remember my first printer back in the day for my Atari 600 and 130XE was a Star Micronics SG-10 dot matrix. Used standard type-writer ribbons. Probably still works like a champ. Been in storage since 1990.
I think the starter cartridge is rated for 300 pages and I know I must have printed more than that by now.
As far as the higher up front costs I got it from Best Buy during "Black Friday" and I think after rebates it was less than $40.
Yeah, I started with a Commodore VIC-20, Moved up to a 64, then a 128 That 128 was a giant leap forward for me. An Amiga a couple of years later. Also had one of those little Sinclairs and an Apple II in there for a while.
I think I had one of those Star Micronics SG-10s too, until I had to start printing professional looking business letters and bought a Daisy Wheel. Man, that thing was slow.
Back in the day on the Commodore and Atari the leading printing applications were Print Shop by Broderbund and Main Street Press or something like that.
And the C88 will mix ink when the black is out.
Ink jets cost 8 cents/page.
Laser printers cost 1.3 cents/page.
I didn't remove the pad(s). I just dripped the Windex on it like the instructions said to do.
If you Google "epson windex" (without the quotes), I'm sure any number of sites will provide you with the instructions you need. You might even try first including your printer model number in the search terms (epson 880 windex), and see what comes up. If that doesn't work, try it without the model number.
The last one(C86)(and 3rd one) that my brother bought acted up in less than a year. He was foolish enough to go out and buy a whole new set of ink cartridges and install them. It did not help. We tried to run the cleaning cycles numerous times. It did not help. I, and the guy at staples finally convinced him to buy an HP(with separate ink cartridges). He has had no problems so far. It has only been about 6 months. In all of the years I have had my HP(with a tri color cartridge) I have never even had to run through a cleaning cycle. Even after not printing for a few months. It still starts right up and prints well.
My first printer was a cannon bjc 610 that had separate ink cartridges. I got that in 1995. I paid over $400.00 for it and it failed in about 3 years. Plus the ink would just evaporate in a couple of months even if you did not print with it. So the HP has been really good to me. I am only on my third set of cartridges with it. I thought I had that for about six years, but I got to thinking it was my second printer, and I just looked it up, and I got it in 1999. So the DeskJet printer is 8 years old. You can’t knock that.
I believe they did. Thee technology isn’t new per-say, but compared to inkjet and laser printing, this one has a lot to go before prices can fall.
I believe one of those solid ink printers can be had for $600 now.
Elsewhere in the thread, I have documented my nightmarish experiences of using third-party ink in my Brother multifunction printer.
Out of curiosity, what Brother printer do you have (or, what cartridge series does it use) and whose ink and/or compatible cartridges have you used in it?
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