Printer ink cartridges

[eggrolls]

My 8-year old printer finally broke and I bought a new one. The old one used HP 45, which contained 42 mL of ink. The new cartridges are HP 92, with only 5 mL.

Do new printers actually use less ink, or are they just giving us less ink per cartridge?

Can the HP 92 cartridge hold more than 5 mL of ink? I want to use a compatible refill kit, but it comes in 3x30 mL syringes. If the cartridge only holds 5 mL, would there be any problems refilling the same cartridge 6 times using the same syringe?

Yeah.. I've never done this kind of thing before. Any comments appreciated

 

[Butterbean]

Well 8 years ago you usually bought one cartridge that had all the colors in it. That's the way my Epson from 2002 was. Now most printers sell colors individually. Printers can have 4, 6, 8 colors and cartridges. These cartridges are smaller since they are one color. My Canon i1860 has 5. I think most of them drink ink no matter what form they come in. I learned not to print my own pics. I needed ink all the time and its not worth it compared to pro services.

 

[AncientPC]

Some people have been fine with buying generic cartridges or replacing the ink using a syringe. I've had horrible experiences (at best the printing was crap, at worst it broke my $250 all-in-one and I had to get it RMA'ed) so I tend to just suck it up and buy the expensive OEM cartridges.

On the other hand I have a FAR laser printer that I use for black and white printing so I haven't had to buy an ink cartridge in years. Plus I believe ink heads / cartridges go bad if you don't use them on a regular basis (like most home printers).

 

[pkme2]

Thank goodness that my older Epson printers are still working. The cartridges are affordable.

I'm surprised at the newer printers replacement cartridges. Those high prices combined with smaller reservoirs doesn't make for economy in printing.

I've been fortunate in finding affordable inkjet cartridges for my Epson and HP rigs. There's still older versions available as refurbs, hence the cheaper ink replacements.

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: pkme2
Thank goodness that my older Epson printers are still working. The cartridges are affordable.

I'm surprised at the newer printers replacement cartridges. Those high prices combined with smaller reservoirs doesn't make for economy in printing.

I've been fortunate in finding affordable inkjet cartridges for my Epson and HP rigs. There's still older versions available as refurbs, hence the cheaper ink replacements.

Printer companies really piss me off. They sell crappy printers at almost no profit, then rape you over time buying overpriced ink. I'd rather pay big money for a well made printer that'll last for years, and get the ink for what it's worth. That way you know what your really paying for. For low end printers it's almost better to throw them out when the inks gone and buy a new one. The price isn't that much different than getting oem ink cartridge replacements.

 

[AncientPC]

It's just different styles of profit. For example regular shavers are priced really cheap but the replacement blades are pretty expensive.

If you would rather pay a lot of money up front for a well made printer than get a laser printer. They'll be cheaper than ink printers in the long run.

 

[eggrolls]

Well... the HP 45 and HP 92 that I mentioned are both black cartridges. But 42 mL versus 5 mL of ink, and at similar prices too? Man.. those prices sure went up over the years, or so it seems.

How do generic and self-refilled cartridges mess up a printer? I'm assuming this can happen even if you filled the cart per the instructions?

 

[bruceb]

They can mess things up if say the printhead is too worn out or if they are Overfilled.
I do my Lexmark X73 cartridges once in a while myself, and the only one that almost
always works is the Black ..Color refills are trickier as you need to pop the cap off
to see and access the sponges. For the Lexmark black, you just poke the needle
thru a hole in the top. And of course, depends on how old the cartridge is. I do not
suggest refilling more than 2 times. And you need to refill it, before the ink that is
in the cartriidge fully dries out. So, as soon as you start to see a noticable change
in print quality / color, then it is time to refill or order new ones.

 

[Bill Kunert]

My HP uses 56, 57, and 58 carts. I buy ink from MIS Supply and have great luck with it. They formulate ink for each specific application, not one size fits all. Color match to HP inks has been, at least to my eye, perfect. I geta an average of 4 or 5 fills per cart before they go south. If you do refill they are a good source of ink and they do specialize in Epson.

 

[Roguestar]

Unfortunately in my experience, generic and refilled cartridges are either not filled entirely or are of shoddy quality and end up leaking. I've had the toner hoover out for a crap, third-world cartridge too many times now to use anything other than the eye-gougingly expensive manufacturer's ones. And yes, you're right. They are stiffing us in price. Colour printer ink, for example, is more costly per gram than solid gold.