My friend Lisa was describing her agonies of doing the refillable ink cartridge thing in one of her latest blog posts. I just have this to say: never buy or use refillables! It isn’t worth the savings, sooner or later (usually sooner) you’ll run into trouble with them.
What harm can refillables do? Plenty:
- They can damage your printer head, voiding your printer’s warranty.
- They can leak all over the insides of your printer, creating a really big mess.
- Their ink quality is usually inferior to that of genuine OEM inks.
- They might not show up in your printer’s status monitor. For instance, my Epson CX3900 AIO has a status monitor showing how much ink is left in each cartridge before printing. Put in a non-genuine cartridge, and it shows up as empty.
And so on and so on. The moral of the story here is this: before buying an inkjet, ask about the cost of its replacement cartridges. From experience, I’ve found that genuine HP and Lexmark cartridges are the most expensive, which is why I steer clear of their printers. Canon and Epson sell their replacement cartridges at a more reasonable price, which is why I’ve been using Epson inkjets for years and years. And the after-sales service is excellent (thank you, Mr. Lau, if you’re reading this)
I also have a Samsung ML-1610 mono laser printer, which is perfect for times when I don’t need color copies. This model has now been replaced with the ML-2010, which is still cheap. Moreover the cost per page is far less than printing on an inkjet, as one laser toner cartridge can print around 2000 pages. Laser printer prices have also been decreasing, which makes them a viable addition to your computer printing needs.
Tags: Canon, Epson, HP, inkjet, laser printer, Lexmark, refillable ink, Samsung
Ohh, thanks for that, Philip. My friend was just saying that refillable (she refilled herself) buggered her printer. As you know I ordered the Canon MP600R AIO. Should get it on Monday. I am excited.
I also want a colour laser to use it on items such as home made cards, calendars, postage labels etc, as inkjet smudges when wet, which isn’t all that good when you are creating postage labels (I normally clear tape over them to prevent that!)
Can’t believe the cartridge prices over there though. Nice! I will have to ask very politely for some when I am in need to be send over *wink*
You’re welcome, Lisa. And thank you for inspiring me to write that post.
So this would be a good excuse to tell your hubby that your next holiday should be in the Far East: “because I want to buy my Canon ink cartridges.”
Thanks for the information. I used to own a Lexmark color printer but I gave it away. Now, I am using a Canon laser printer LBP2900. The cartridge is less than RM200. No need warm up.
And I would say you’re much better off!