Printer Cartridges

[MikeS]

My Sad Printer Experience

I've learned a valuable lesson about printer ink: There's a big difference among ink jet brands when it comes to economy and it's better to use the brand name cartridges rather than economy brands. When I bought my Dell computer, I took the free Dell (Lexmark-made) printer with it, instead of keeping my faithful and reliable HP model. Stupid move. The Dell was slow, clogged often, ran out of ink faster than my old HP printer, and the refils were expensive. So in a fit of anger, I tossed out the Dell printer, went to (that big box store that claims you can save money and live better) and ended up with a basic Canon model for about 32 dollars.
It's far better than the old Dell/Lexmark printer; it's faster and has better print quality. Plus, it uses far less ink and the cartridges themselves are cheaper to buy.
I have concluded that refilling the cartridges is not my best option, so I now shop around to get the best price for Canon-made ink cartridges.

 

[j2400]

Interesting thread. I've never refilled a printer cartridge, although I have considered it. (I'm cheap.) Plus, I have a feeling that my cartridge may be fade from production before I quit using my printer. The cartridges are now getting harder to find. (I can't really upgrade, since this is used with an older computer, and it's been years since any printer has worked with its operating system.)

I've found some new, sealed cartridges in thrift stores. The strangest time was when I found my first ink jet printer. (An exciting buy, since I'd been "making do" with a "near letter quality" dot matrix printer.) I grabbed it, and two aisles later, I stumbled across a new, sealed cartridge. A good thing, since the cartridge in the printer was almost empty.

Buying in a thrift shop does have the risk of age deterioration. I'm not sure how big a deal that is, but some companies provide expiration dates. I've never had a problem, and these days I don't use the ink jet printer for anything more ambitious than a personal letter or a draft to proof read.

For those with Epson printers, BE CAREFUL with refills. Epson has permanent print heads, and I've been told by owners that they can clog on off-brand ink.

And for those who do a lot of printing, you've probably heard this, but it's worth repeating--get a laser printer. They are the cheapest choice by far.

My roommate has two laser printers--one for fast drafts, and a good color model. Given the amount of printing--especially in color--those printers have probably paid for themselves with the ink-cost savings.

 

[perc-o-prince]

Kodak claims that their cartridges do not cost so much.

Bob,

I was referring to the Kodak ESP 3 and ESP 5 multi-function orgasmatrons when I posted. However, after looking on the Best Buy website, I see that the cart that goes into these two, the #10, is compatible with the 5000 series EasyShare multi-function 'trons, like your 5500!

Black - $10
Color - $15
Combo pack (one of each) - $23!

I'm wondering if anyone has used these printers yet?

Chuck

 

[rolls_rapide]

Epson Printers & cheap ink

I would tend to agree.

The Epson inkjet models use piezo-crystal technology to mechanically deposit ink upon the paper. Other manufacturers use heater elements to boil the ink, which spurts onto the page.

The Epson models print heads are permanently attached to the printer; only the ink section is renewed when replacing a cartridge.

Others, such as HP, have the heads in the cartridge itself, so a brand new genuine HP cartridge gives a new print head, too.

I had an Epson that worked fine on Epson cartridges, but was hopeless on refilled (by me) ones. It also didn't like third-party brands. The shops stopped stocking the genuine cartridges, so I threw the damned thing in the bin!.

It can actually work out cheaper to buy a new printer when the ink runs out, than buying genuine replacement cartridges.

What a sad state of affairs.

 

[neptunebob]

Perc-O-Prince Chuck I will unpack Today's Special tonight and let you know how it works tomorrow (Saturday). Now, don't you wish you had not missed "Today's Special"?

 

[perc-o-prince]

Well, maybe and maybe not. The BB reviews on the ESP series printers say they're a bit on the loud side, and there was some trouble with them initially. A few said they were GREAT, however.

I'll hold off buying one until I hear, firsthand, from someone who's used one.

Chuck
BTW- both models I mentioned are currently under $120 on sale, and come with a free 2MB flash drive.

 

[dirtybuck]

Epson Printers Here...

Epson C86 and CX-9400 Fax All In One. So when I run out of ink, the cartridge goes into the trash. I'm NOT EVEN going to take a chance in refilling it...and don't know if it can be done.

 

[neptunebob]

Oh, oh, the news is not good....

Last night I set up Today's Special - The Kodak 5500 Easy Share all in one printer, and found that it refuses to print in color. I am all ready to ship it back to HSN, but I emailed Kodak and "Eduwardo" sent me a polite email apologising and giving me some things to do to try to make it work. None of it worked, so I am going to call them tomorrow, maybe they will send me a new print head? I'll let you know what happens. By the way, it is a bit noisy, like it is in a little bit of distress.

This is first time I had a problem with HSN: My cell phone and Wolfgang Puck cookwear were Today's Specials and I almost bought Todd English's Green Pans, but I already have the WP pans.

 

[duetboy]

Kodak EasyShare

Funny you should mention...

I purchased an EasyShare 5500 for the Fax/Copier/color photo printer part of it. It's not networked (which we have at the house) so I hooked it up to my PC via USB. I could never get the software installed to recognize the printer. I then hooked it up to Jason's PC (both IBM Desktop Units) and his computer installed/recognized the software almost immediately. I then was able to "share" the printer and I can print to it flawlessly. It's an amazing printer. Fast, Quiet and CHEAP, Kodak figures that the cost of supplies for a 4 X 6 photo (in about 45 seconds) is right at 14 cents on the heavyweight paper and 12 cents on the lighter paper.

It does have a built in duplexer (on the special that I got) which does a good job. The only thing that I did notice, however, was that you can't duplex a 2 sided original (copy job), you can only duplex a print job.

Other than that, it's great. And yes, you can get the combo pack with a color and a black cartridge and usually 100 sheets of photo paper for around $23.00.

If you're not interested in the paper, check out sites such as www.lasermonks.com or www.inkgrabber.com. I'm using LaserMonk's toner in my OptraT616, HP5si and my Oki color 5200.

Jeff

 

[neptunebob]

Well, the new print head came today and I installed it and now the printer is working! I'm glad Kodak came through on this one, they apologized and sent me another set of ink cartridges.

Here is what I printed with the color cartridge, which has a lot of color; the colors are a little dull than on the screen but maybe that becuase of the paper? and it is a lot of color?

Nights in White Satin: The Trip Dark Ride | Sally Dark Rides

The Nights in White Satin: The Trip dark ride (Blacklight IP), developed by Sally Dark Rides, is designed to be flexible in size and confguration.

www.sallycorp.com