[Born Conservative]

I tried 3rd party replacement cartridges once, and they did not perform nearly as well, and they did not last.

I'm equally disgusted with the "trickery" of Epson with my current printer. It gives a graphic image of the supposed level of ink remaining in each cartridge, and then warnings each time I print that I need to purchase a new cartridge. I have purposely not changed it, and still am able to print, despite the graphic showing no ink remaining in my black cartridge.

[Huck]

I use an epson for a little business venture, but I was able to purchase a special bulk ink cartridge system that feeds the cartridge from bottles through little tubes. It's special ink. Maybe they have such a contraption for regular ink?

[rdb3]

Why Do Ink Cartridges Cost So Much?

Think Gillette and Bic. There's your answer.

[steplock]

They're expensive because they GIVE you the printer!

Pay me now -or - Pay me later. Old saying but still is true. I can get you a brand new 1200 dpi ink jet for $9.99 and $40/refill
OR
you can go the better way and buy a laser - big bucks up front - lowest cost/page overall

The last I checked (it's been a while) a laser printer would cost ~$.04/page whereas the color inkjet could run upwards of $0.30/page.

[stands2reason]

I knew before reading this that Lexmark was the worst. Their ink is 40$, 20-30% higher than other makers.

[Junior]

Go paperless.

[JimVT]

I bought the IMS ink refill system which looks like a ten year supply.

My only complaint was that the particular HP cartridge instructions I needed were not in the manual so I gambled on a "similar" cartridge. Bad idea!

When I went to the IMS web site there were the full instructions for the HP 20 cartridge...so next time I'm ready.

Screw HP and their $50 cartridges.

[Willie Green]

I have purposely not changed it, and still am able to print, despite the graphic showing no ink remaining in my black cartridge.

That's a violation of WTO agreements.
Mexico can sue you personally for reparations.

[chachacha]

I've been filling HP color and Black cartridged for years. For $100.00 you can purchase (3-Pints color + 1Pint Black) enough bulk ink to refill cartridges at a small business for over a year. I've filled the Black cartridge seven times before repalcement of the cartridge is necessary and the color five times.

Very cost efficient.

[Wright is right!]

I'm printing right now with an Epson that cost 79.95 and uses two $30 carts. It ALMOST makes sense to replace the entire printer when the ink runs out, since a new one comes with two new cartridges. There was a story on FR here not long ago about a store that was selling inkjet printers in the $40 range. Ink for the color printers cost more than that. And customers were doing exactly as I'd mentioned - when the ink ran out, they just bought a new printer.

Michael

[Atlas Sneezed]

They are the companies' ink cartridges. let them price them the way they want to. (Or need to, considering the immense R&D investment to provide the goobers out there with $100 printers that make fast, quiet, durable images,)

[Dan(9698)]

>>>...still am able to print, despite the graphic showing no ink remaining in my black cartridge.

The trick to refilling cartriges, is to refill before they are completely empty.

If they get completely empty they get a bubble of air in the bottom and that "plugs" them up. You have to then put them in a jig and suck the air out the bottom.

That works, but sometimes you have to do it more than once.

If you refill before they are completely empty they do not get bubbles down where they can cause problems.

After refill, tell your printer that it is a new cartrige and it resets the indicators.

I have been doing that with a Lexmark for about 3 refills each without a problem.

[Publius6961]

You're lucky.
Canon, HP and Epson all have embedded chips on their cartridges to turn themselves off before they're empty.

Oh yes, that prevents third party suppliers from producing cartridges that work. A two-fer.

[lepton]

It gets a bit silly when the printer with cartidges is $82, and the replacement cartridges are $74.

[FlyVet]

What model is your Epson? I'm using a 777 and have had good luck with aftermarket cartridges from this company:

http://www.nvo.com/marlco

If you have one of the newer printers, they may not have the ones you need. Once they sent me a bad cartridge. I called them toll-free, and they sent me a new one free.

[Recovering_Democrat]

Can we somehow blame President Bush for this? Or Microsoft? Please? <\sarcasm>

[Redcloak]

It's the business model everone uses: Sell the printer cheap and make up for the loss in ink sales. The problem is that one can ofter find a new, and better, printer for a few dollars more than the new ink cartridge. So far, we've replaced two perfectly good printers simply because buying a new printer was a better deal than a new ink cartridge. (In fact, one was about $.50 cheaper than the ink cartridge!)

[Buckwheats]

I get the "give away the razor, charge big-time for the blades" marketing thing. That's fine. If people don't like it, just don't buy into it. However, I will never buy anything again from HP as long as I live. They are an extremely consumer-unfriendly company in too many ways to explain. IOW, HP sucks big-time.

[Voltage]

Nobody made you buy those printers! Well in some cases maybe your wife made you do it, but thats another story.

Just view your pretty color pictures on your computer.

For documents use a black/white laser printer...the price is right, a tiny fraction of what it costs to print on an ink jet.

Quit complaining!

[MHT]

I have the same problem with my epson, which really undermines one's confidence about when the ink well really IS empty. It can also mix colors to get a near-black, but goes crazy and will not print if you have black but your color inkjet isn't full. So---you have to buy a color set just to get the black side to work.

I have bought generic replacements from ebay, but have yet to find one that fits right (and have wasted postage money, etc., in the process). However, right now I am waiting for a $10 universal inkjet from bestbuy.com--and shipping was free. Can't wait to see if it works. Sure better at $10 than $23!

[Revolting cat!]

Get the goobermint to pay for your (shaving and printer cartridges. Vote Cruz Bustamante!