Cheap printer ink here!

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bssc Instead of buying cartidges, I found an HP inkjet on sale and bought it instead. Turned out to be cheaper.

Many of those come with 'starter' cartridges - low fill. Might not be the deal you thought it was.

I'm tempted by the newer color lasers also, but every time I look, they are HUGE - won't fit on the shelf I have mounted on the wall, and would probably tear it out of the wall from the weight if it did fit. Hope they get smaller and lighter soon.

-ERD50

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

The new ink-jets have chips in their cartridges that make it impossible (as far as I know) to refill them. Even Canon, I hear.

I can't see buying an HP again. I have not been hearing good things about them. Built too cheap, cost too much.

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ed_The_Gypsy The new ink-jets have chips in their cartridges that make it impossible (as far as I know) to refill them. Even Canon, I hear.

Yes, I wish I could get my hands on a few more of these older Canons, the i350, iP2000, iP1500, i455 - the carts are VERY cheap ($1.50), but these printers will eventually die.

It kills me to think of all the people that have said ' I threw my old printer out and just got a new one, it was cheaper than new carts'!

I want those old printers! You can get new printheads for the canons for ~ $35.

Those old canons are going for a good price when you do find them - some people have realized the true value of the printer when you can get $1.50 carts for it.

-ERD50

[Texas Proud]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ed_The_Gypsy The new ink-jets have chips in their cartridges that make it impossible (as far as I know) to refill them. Even Canon, I hear. I can't see buying an HP again. I have not been hearing good things about them. Built too cheap, cost too much.

I bought some ink to put in my cartridge... but for some reason it just gets real messy... and does not work..

HOWEVER, the instructions told you how to override those chips etc... place tape over this lead.. place cartridge in printer.. do something... take out, place another over blah blah... etc... and THEN your chip says it is a new cartridge ready to go....


I also think the COST of a 7ml cartridge or even 5ml (not mine... mine is 7, but three colors in one so the color goes out QUICKLY)....

Sooo, I do not pay $25 to $30 just to print in color.... and got a cheap ($80) laser that has printed 3 reams of paper so far... I should get one more...

I would like to find carts for only $5 to $10...

[chinaco]

Anybody have any expereince with the HP2600n Color Laserjet.

It is on sale at Compusa for $279. Apparently it comes with full toner cartridges. In fact a full set of toner replacement cartridges is listed at $289. Apparently the printer is free??

[tryan]

Gave up triing to print photos ; now use the photo printer at Walmart (50 cents for a 4X6" !).

Everything else is black n' white on a 15 year old HP Laserjet (one cartridge let).

[Leonidas]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chinaco Anybody have any expereince with the HP2600n Color Laserjet. It is on sale at Compusa for $279. Apparently it comes with full toner cartridges. In fact a full set of toner replacement cartridges is listed at $289. Apparently the printer is free??

Got one a little less than 2 years ago. Don't recall what I paid for it, but I think it was a little more than that. I've been pleased until I had to replace cartridges.

Cartridges never go dry when it is convenient. They are designed to run out when the kid's homework assignment is due, or you need to print out your boarding passes for a flight in the morning.

The black one went out at one of those mission critical moments on homework about 6 months ago, and the sticker shock on the cartridge made me realize I needed to research some alternatives. But I forgot until the mission critical travel moment ("Did you print out our boarding passes for in the morning?). All three of the color cartridges were allegedly empty.

But they felt like there was still a significant amount of toner in the cartridges. Shaking them, as I have always done with other laser cartridges, had no effect. "REPLACE SUPPLIES" the damn thing insisted.

I have since found out that the printer has a setting, which you can change, that sets the "REPLACE SUPPLIES' level in the printer at some ridiculously high percentage in order to "maintain a high print quality."

But I didn't know that at 7 PM on a Sunday night right before the big spring break ski trip. And, I didn't know that all three color cartridges were at such depleted levels that my high print quality was in danger. In fact, the way it worked out, once I figured out what "REPLACE SUPPLIES" meant, it only indicated one color cartridge was low. And so I believed, until I replaced the Magenta cartridge and closed the door only to see "REPLACE SUPPLIES" message taunting me. WTF? A few buttons pushed to get to the correct menu "CYAN CARTRIDGE LOW", and I was, in the words of a former co-worker, a "hot mooch". Luckily, I speak fluent profanity and was able to articulate the cause of my disgruntlement.

I was beyond thinking rationally at that point and flew back to the Office Depot before they closed to spend more money. Bottom line, I paid out $280 to print out my damn boarding passes.

I have full cartridges now, and learned some valuable information from the local Cartridge World store. Refilled/remanufactured cartridges are about $30 cheaper (apiece), and how to reset the internal controls that make the printer go on strike whenever the toner level gets low and my precious "high print quality" is endangered. Plus, "some people just buy new printers because the price is so low."

Other than that, it has been a great printer. And, with my current supply of toner and the knowledge of how to milk the cartridges until they are truly dry, I should have about two years of printing before I have to re-consider my printing needs. If history is any guide, there should be an even better printer available at a lower price.

[Jeb-NY]

I have been buying ink for my Canon for 4-5 years from BestPriceInk.com and the same i350 printer keeps on going.

Bought a cheap Brothers B/W laser printer that connects directly to the net to do big jobs. Even factoring the starter cartridge having less copies, the total per copy cost was less than I pay at the library, so I just scan and print when I need a copy of something. Picked up a second cartridge on sale and figure I can dump the whole thing when that runs out and be way ahead if the next cartridge is to expensive.

The Canon doesn't owe me anything either bought that on sale for $40 and saved more than that on the first batch of BestPriceInk.com ink. I buy a years suppy at a time so one of these days it will die and I will have left over ink.

Jeb

[RonBoyd]

I have found that Atlantic Exchange has the best online pricing on OEM inks.

Epson HP Canon Printer Inkjet Photo Papers Ink Cartridges ATLEX.COM

And I purchase a lot of ink; primarily for photography but quite a bit for our Canon ip6700D -- my order last week was over $600. (It did include a couple packages of paper, however.)

[CuppaJoe]

I recently paid $66.93 from Amazon.com (no tax, free shipping) for a 2-pack black and 4-pack (color and one black) for a new Canon MP 560 which was thrown in with a laptop purchase for about $50.00 (after a $100 rebate). The ink tank purchase was covered, in part, by a "rewards" certificate from my credit card. I decided to bite the bullet and buy these extra supplies now as I suspect I will be a real tightwad after retirement. The consensus in Amazon customer reviews is not to stray from the Canon brand.

OTOH, for our w*rk HP LaserJet II (about 20 years old), a guy who is in the business of repairing printers has been re-filling our cartridges all these years. I remember only one really bad refill which he replaced without a fee, although occasionally (rare) some get iffy after a while. The cartridges he uses are HP-compatible. Better "green footprint"?

[Sue J]

Ok, I just placed an order with Carrot Ink. I bought just the single color cartridge that I need. They have nice discounts or free shipping with a larger order, but I'll try this first one and pay the shipping before I do a larger order.

Thanks for the recomendation.

[Bestwifeever]

I print mostly Word documents and set the printer to "fast" and "gray scale" quality--they look fine--on a Canon inkjet. I do miss my old b/w workhorse laser printer so much.

I buy refilled cartridges from a franchise store called Cartridge World (buy 10 get one free!). My Canon doesn't recognize these cartridges as now being full, however, so I have to ignore the "warning! dangerously low" message every time I print. I cannot figure out how to manually tell the printer that the cartridges are not "warning! dangerously low," so I keep an extra black cartridge on hand for when the print quality deteriorates.

The refilled color cartridge is not very good so when that goes I will start using the Canon version.

When this printer goes (which will probably never happen) I'll get a color laser printer as a replacement.

[TromboneAl]

Quote:

They have nice discounts or free shipping with a larger order, but I'll try this first one and pay the shipping before I do a larger order.

But be warned: Another mistake I made was to save money on shipping by buying several year's supply of cartridges. Problem is that they have a limited shelf life -- perhaps the cheap cartridges are worse in this regard.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I keep an el cheapo b&w laser around for non color work to preserve the color toners. My last two cost me under $50 delivered. Only starter cartridges in them that will barely do 1000-1500 pages, but that lasts me a couple of years.

Al...one of the printer manufacturers actually put some drop dead dates hard coded into the cartridges. I think they got sued over that and lost.

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chinaco Anybody have any expereince with the HP2600n Color Laserjet. It is on sale at Compusa for $279. Apparently it comes with full toner cartridges. In fact a full set of toner replacement cartridges is listed at $289. Apparently the printer is free??

We have the HP Color LaserJet 2605dn that cost $583 fully-loaded at Costco a year ago. So if I were you I'd buy the 2600n right now now. Ours prints every time, has never had even a paper jam let alone a real problem, and is worth its weight in rejects inkjets. We make photo-quality plain-paper 8"x10" color prints for family that are suitable for framing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leonidas I have full cartridges now, and learned some valuable information from the local Cartridge World store.

Yep, Cartridge World rocks, and they know the print-setting tricks on almost all models. FWIW the 2605 gives plenty of advance notice on which cartridge is getting low.

When you buy one color laser toner cartridge for $79, our Cartridge World owner will take the order by phone and drop it off at your house on his way home that night.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Nice little b&w laser from staples, $69. Even nicer the replacement toners are only 36.99. Thats CHEEEP!

Staples.com®. that was easy®.

Heres a color laser for $199 after rebates, comes with 1000 page toners. $50 for a b&w and $58 each for the three color toners. Not too bad.

Staples.com®. that was easy®.

[youbet]

Inspired by this thread, I tried refilling an HP inkjet cartridge using a kit from InkTec. Carrot Ink had them on sale the last time I ordered, so I got one just to see how it worked out.

Surprise. No issues. The kit included two bottle of ink, a holder which the spent cartridge snaps into to seal the output during refilling, a syringe used to inject air to equalize internal and external air pressure and some gloves. Took about fifteen minutes. No mess. I'd do it again. BTW, I was refilling a cartridge that I had purchased as "remanufactured" so won't do that one again.

It does seem high risk. If something went wrong, like it leaked when you put it back in the printer, well..... big problem. But, beninners luck or not, this first time went smooth as silk.

[thefed]

this may be out of place...but for $100 you can get a nice brother laser printer (b+w) which will print 2k pages on the test toner they give you...and 5-6k on a $50 replacement toner. and it prints fast. i think mine is the 2040 model

[thefed]

oops...looks like the cute uzzy bunny beat me to it

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Heres a $20 off orders over $150 at staples, use code 59759 at checkout. That'll work on that color laser I posted above, or on several other models that are for sale.