Cheap printer ink: Easy savings or bad investment?

Wed Jul 30, 2008 2:27PM EDT

See Comments (91)

Last month I looked into toner for my cheap Samsung laser printer and was shocked to see price quotes well over $100 for a simple black cartridge. (The printer itself costs only $160.)

Expensive printer ink has long been one of the biggest tech scams running. (The Register long ago noted it was seven times more expensive per milliliter than Dom Perignon champagne.) Fortunately, third-party vendors have come to the rescue with offers of private-label ink and toner, often for half the price of an "official" cartridge offered directly from the company. But, as expected, the printer manufacturers have fired back, claiming that off-brand toner and ink isn't as good as what you can get from the manufacturer. In at least one case, a company sued an off-brand cartridge maker to try to stop them from manufacturing cartridges, citng the DMCA. (On appeal, the cartridge maker won.)

Legalities aside, the question remains: Is off-brand ink really as good as that put out by HP, Epson, Canon, and the like? I bought the cheapie and ended up saving $60 on the price of a printer cartridge, but if the quality is going to be worse, was it really worth it? That's an especially important question if you're printing color photos instead of simple B&W paperwork.

This is a long way of pointing the way to PC World, which recently produced the most in-depth look at manufacturer vs. third-party ink that I've ever read. (Only inkjets were tested, however, not lasers.) The bottom line surprised me: In virtually all of its tests, "official" ink substantially outpaced third-party cartridges, both in original print quality and in resistance to fading under exposure to UV light. Only one printer, an HP PhotoSmart, had results showing prints made with third-party ink as generally as good as the manufacturer's ink. Don't believe it? Check out the slide show showing some of these prints side by side. A few of the examples are outright shocking.

The bright spot is that cheap ink, in addition to being, well, cheap, will often get you more prints from a cartridge, too. In scenarios where quality is not important (like printing simple text for personal use), third-party ink might make sense. The problem, of course, is that you never know when something you might actually need to look good will come up, and who wants to swap ink cartridges in and out?

If you're pondering an off-brand ink purchase, check out this piece immediately.

LINK: Cheap Ink: Will It Cost You?

Comments on Cheap printer ink: Easy savings or bad investment?

Post a Comment

Join in the discussion. Here you'll see the comments in the order they were posted.

  • 6 Posted by rogueist on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:49PM EDT Report Abuse

    We have found that it's a mixed bag - some printers also do not like non-manufacturers ink and do weird things. So we test each unit. A lot of the newer units also have seperate cartridges for photo vs regular, so we can put the cheaper ink into the general slots and put the manufacturers photo ink into the photo slots. This way we both save on regular printing and get the best quality for photo prints - and both sides are happy because they both get sales.

  • 7 Posted by jercog1 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:32PM EDT Report Abuse

    I don't think pc world magazine is the best choice for the test. Most of it's income is from advertising.

  • 8 Posted by robert_e_barber_iii on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:45PM EDT Report Abuse

    I've been very happy with the inks that I've gotten from MIS inks for Epson printers. There are some other good ink producers around, too, like Piezography. I think that part of the problem with the PC World article is that they tested some of the cheapest inks around. There is a happy medium between paying full price for the manufacturers cartridges or buying the cheapest slop that you can find in the discount bin.

  • 9 Posted by daijobu1929 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:34PM EDT Report Abuse

    Be very careful as some printers have software that will not accept the refills.

  • 10 Posted by carlosjdeleon on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:18PM EDT Report Abuse

    I have a HP laser printer. The HP original equipment manufacturer cartridge costs me $77.00, including sales tax. An office equipment business here has a refill shop which also replaces internal cartridge parts when these are worn and they charge me $39.00 including tax for refilling the empty HP cartridge. They work very well and they have guarantee that if they do not perform well the shop repairs it. These refills last the same and sometimes a lot longer than brand new HP cartridges and the quality is the same. So I am saving #38.00 each time I refill...plus I am recycling...Great!!

  • 11 Posted by amenpastor6 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:52PM EDT Report Abuse

    I have an Epson Stylus CX4800 and was paying 60 plus dollars for ink. I went to Inksmile.com (through my FHTM website) and got the same quality ink cartridges for 32 dollars. The quality is as good or better for less money. I get quality printing and more copies for less money. It makes sense that the manufacturer is going to say their expensive product is better because they want those precious dollars.

  • 12 Posted by hawk99_97 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:17PM EDT Report Abuse

    What kind of article is this. The author didn't even post his/her experience with it, just other's reports. Plus he bought a cheap laser printer. The cheaper the printer is the higher the cost per page, which means the higher the cost of ownership. Another problem with Walgreen's is that they actually do not do the newest cartridges like the HP 74, 75, or 60 series, plus they have no written warranty on the cartridge refill. If you get a refilled cartridge, first check the warranty to see what it says. if you want information on printer and printer cartridges, check out the blog at oinkinkstore.wordpress.com there is some really interesting information there.

  • 13 Posted by gooddayz39 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:11PM EDT Report Abuse

    Just buy an I-phone it can replace printers and ink cartridges

  • 14 Posted by bobzani@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:10PM EDT Report Abuse

    You think the example in the article is bad? When I went to buy new ink cartridges, the price was $47- for a printer which cost $50!!!

  • 15 Posted by dls4074@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:45PM EDT Report Abuse

    I have a Dell All-In-One printer. We bough the ink cartridges from an "Ink Store". We had nothing but problems. The cartridges did not last as long as the "Dell" cartridges. And eventually, the color one would not even wwork. We went back to the Dell cartridge. And it is only about $5.00 more. I'm happy with the manufacture one. I wwould not go back to the cheap off brand. My son, has told us that the refillable ones are that good either, and he worked on printers and copiers. I would, personally, stick with the originals.

  • 21 Posted by akit.org@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:49PM EDT Report Abuse

    I've refilled my HP 56 cartridge at least three times without hassle, and only had to replace the entire cartridge about once per 18 months because the electronics tend to burnout. Instead of wallgreens, I self refill with the dataproducts refill kit, and doesn't require syringes, but a self contained refill applicator that you just load the cartridge in a clip and slide it down into the system. Then just flip it upside down and it fills up.

  • 22 Posted by dk49202 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:45PM EDT Report Abuse

    I have used "private label" ink and refilled them myself. The best and easiest to refill are HP. I can use them for two or three times before having to trade them in for reman or new. The so called discount places (save up to 50%) have never been even close to that on anything I have checked on. I just bought some for my HP2605dn color laser. I am very happy with them. I should have bought another printer while they were still available. I had found one at SAm's for $189, less than the price of new toner cartridges.

  • 23 Posted by faerie_dragon@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:57PM EDT Report Abuse

    I have a HP deskjet with a photo chip. One time when it had stopped working (only time in 10 years of use) I called HP because the usual trouble shooting didn't find anything. They helped me run a diagnostic, turned out it was their printer cartridge. They FedExed me a new one free of charge. Must be a blessing in combination of same manufacturer for both printer and cartridge. To save money I always buy cartridges in the twin packs.

  • 24 Posted by odessatucha on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:43PM EDT Report Abuse

    I messed up 3 Brother printers with 3rd party ink cartridges from ebay ! Brother print heads got cloged .. My HP psc 2410 didn't work with black refurbished cartridge from office depot ..

  • 25 Posted by baldachin@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:01PM EDT Report Abuse

    It is extremely rare for one to print a document that needs to exist for more than a short time. In addition, most of us do not care if print is exquisite; good is "good" enough. Photos are another subject. A photo altered for fun does not need to last, but much of the time when we print a photo, we want it to stay sharp for a long time. But yet, I ask myself: Why can't the refills be as good? Isn't the quality ink available to all? What is the difference?

Post a Comment

Sign In to Post a Comment

My Tech

Please enable your browser's cookies to activate the My Tech column.

Also on Yahoo! Tech

Computers Home Office Wi-Fi & Networking Phones & PDAs Cameras & Camcorders TV & Home Theater Portable Audio
 

Site Map | Tour | Subscribe to Yahoo! Tech

Question and Answer content at Yahoo! Tech is written by Yahoo! users at Yahoo! Answers. Yahoo! does not evaluate or guarantee the accuracy of any Yahoo! Answers content. For more information, read the Full Disclaimer.

Opinions expressed by the Advisors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Yahoo! Inc. Yahoo! receives no compensation from any manufacturer or distributor nor does it compensate any Advisor for the coverage of any product or service in any Advisor's content.