some HP cartridges were date stamped... you could get them to work till the end if you set the calendar on the pc back six months when they quit.
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 ...
1. When buying a basic home printer (it's hard to beat the all in ones today for this purpose) check to see which brand sells it's ink for the cheapest and make your purchase accordingly. Trust me the cheapest printer isn't the cheapest printer. The hardware is pretty much the same across the board as long as you stick with Cannon, HP, Epson, Samsung.
2. When buying an all in one printer/copier/scanner make sure it has a top feeder so you can do multiple page documents at once instead of having to copy a page at a time on the flatbed. It's amazing how many models don't have this feature, although the ones that do aren't priced much higher. This feature increases the usability factor of your printer 200% and I can't imaging living without it.
I defer to you on the photo printing.
Yes, that's one potential downside. With a little TLC, though, that can be overcome.
Helpful tips: Print something on the printer, in color (even a 3x5 photo will do), every few days to keep the ink flowing. Turn the printer OFF when it's not in use. Keep it covered, to keep down the dust.
To un-clog, here are some good links:
Clogged Epson Stylus Photo 820 nozzles
How to clean Epson Printhead Nozzles which are Blocked or Clogged
I took my tri-color cartridge down to Walgrens, they refilled it for $15. Works good so far.
OK, didn’t know about the permanent print heads. The print head is the most expensive part of a cartridge, so it would seem that Brother cartridges are just little containers of ink, and should be cheaper than dirt. I retired from retail sales, got to make a profit, but it should stop at rape and robbery.
I have an Epson CX4800 printer/copier/scanner with the single color cartridges. I like it. It’s true the low ink warning comes on pretty early but the warning also has a message that says something like “you can print xxx more copies at the current settings”. And it’s a pretty big number for a home user like me but it may not be for a business.
Buy refills at independent businesses online for less.
some HP cartridges were date stamped... you could get them to work till the end if you set the calendar on the pc back six months when they quit.
We do the same,,been printing on an empty cartridge for 3 months now,,Lexmark,,good printers,,firmware needs work..
Just like my old Chevy ,,can drive for 60 miles on empty..
This study was backed by Epson. I have never seen an espon made in the last 3 years that still worked before the first set of Ink cartridges ran out. They are just horribly these days. Especially the C84-c85-c86 line.(Every year they bump the model number up by one.) They are crap!!!! My brother bought one of each every year, and they all failed in less than a year. And it was not that they needed new ink. He finally went out and spent the money to buy an HP with separate ink cartridges. Yes they do make them.
Also when many of these printers report that they are out of ink then they will no longer let you print. In the old days you could keep on printing until the cartridge ran dry. The software would not put the printer into and error mode. The older printers were much better in many ways.
Yes, unlike HP and Lexmark who sell you a new print head with each new cartridge, for years most (or all) Canons and Epsons have had replaceable ink tanks and permanent print heads.
it would seem that Brother cartridges are just little containers of ink, and should be cheaper than dirt.
Yes, we'd think so. None of the OEM cartridges are cheap. The Brother, Canon and Epson ink tanks probably just make more money for their stockholders. Can't say I have any problem with that.
My brother had 3 of them. All three together did not last 3 years. They just start printing garbage characters at some point in less than a year old.
Amen to that.
I’ve owned every major brand of ink jet printers since they first came on the consumer market. A few ‘top-of the line models’(of the standard 8.5 wide format... I use the pro graphic printing companies for printing photos larger than 8X10) I usually buy the second or third down from the top of the line.
My take is that they all pretty much suck one way or another. Especially if you run them on third party refills or even refill them yourself on high quality pro ink.
NEVER buy a color inkjet printer that uses one single cartridge for all the colors unless you do refill it yourself. It will cost you three times as much money in the long run.
Generally I have found Canon’s to suck the least. I’ve owned Canons about every other year (going back to the time that my computer was a Commodore 128 and the inkjets were only B&W) They have all been at least decent, if not always great.
The first Lexmark I bought a couple of decades ago was great, lasted me two years even on refilled cartridges. When it finally died, I bought another of the same model. it died in two months. bought another and it died in less than a month before the first set of cartridges was even empty. No more Lexmarks for me.
Had one Brother that was decent for about six months. Another that I took back for a refund an hour after I bought it. I do have a little Brother label printer that has been excellent for years, but it isn’t an inkjet.
HPs can have pretty good build quality, but I never used one that I liked at all.
Then I got involved with photography pretty seriously; Here is what I have learned since then:
Epson print quality can be great, but I’ll never buy another. Every one I ever had was so frustrating, even on OEM cartridges, that it just wasn’t worth it. Never have printers incited me to violence on them like the last three Epsons I had.
My current one is a Canon Pixma, and I made a pact with myself to go ahead and spend the money to stick with OEM cartridges (not that I have much choice because there IS no third party ink for this particular model yet) on it, and so far it has been trouble free.
When my current Canon gives up the ghost (hopefully not for another year or two) I’m going to go to a dye sublimation printer for photos and a color laser jet for color graphics.
When I bought this last Canon, I also went to a cheap B&W laser for text and things that don’t need color. That was one of my wiser decisions, I believe.
That's what I did. But, I got a free laser printer that was rarely used and lasts a long time.
I have laser jet printer but when I print letters (even on stationary paper marked “for laser printers”) the ink gets smeared when I fold it. Also the address on envelopes fades a lot in mail if printed.
I have a deskjet that I paid about $100.00 for six years ago. It is still going strong. The black cartridge holds 41ml of ink and lasts for a couple of years before it runs out. Compare that to how much an ink cartridge holds these days. And there are no TSR’s running in the background slowing your computer down when you are not even using the printer.
I have an Epson ink jet and have always purchased non-Epson ink cartridges (http://www.inkquik.com) at a fraction of the Epson cost.
My memory isn’t super clear on this but it seems I got a notice in the mail when Epson either was found against or settled out of court in a suit alleging there was still a lot of ink in the cartridges when the signal came up showing the cartridge was empty.
Like I said, I have no problem with profits but, neither do I accept being mugged. I suppose it may be the total dishonesty involved, I had some damn fool customers, but never figured I was supposed to take advantage of them.
I never wanted to shoot a sitting duck, either!
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