Do people buy ink or replace printer ?

[lordvader88]

Are ink cartridge replacements really almost as much as a new printer ? Do people really just replace printer instead of buying ink ?

[ruffy91]

Not this discussion please.. You know that you don't get full cadtridges with a new printer but only some "demo" ones right?

A typical HP printer has ink for about 100 pages with it.
If you buy a XL ink kit you will get 1400 pages out of it.
If you buy a new printer each time you pay about 15 times more than if you just replaced the cartridges one time.

Also if you get an inkjet alway leave it connected to power. It will use a small amount of ink from time to time to keep lines and nozzles from clogging, but WAY less than if you  left it unplugged, ink dried somewhere and it has to run a cleaning cycle which can use multiple ml of ink to get it working again.

Edit: I fell for the troll. See his other posts.
This question is just like the question if bread can be deep frozen without negative consequences...

[langwadt]

Are ink cartridge replacements really almost as much as a new printer ? Do people really just replace printer instead of buying ink ?

isn't the cartridge that comes with the printer tiny? compared to a replacement?

and why ink at all?

[Red Squirrel]

I only buy laserjet now days, the toner lasts for years whether you use it or you don't and it's cheaper per page and you get way more pages per toner.  Bubble/inkjet cartridges are so tiny and can only print so many pages and they're like 60 bucks a pop.      I'm still on the same toner that came with the printer 10 years ago.  I kinda want to upgrade to colour so I might end up buying a new printer but only because I want to upgrade.  Hard to justify as I hardly print though... but I really like the quality of laser colour from what I've seen in the past.  Could be cool for making custom signs and front panels and stuff.

If you go inkjet it's probably best to use one of those retro fit kits that let you use large reservoirs, probably way cheaper to operate.  Think you still run into issues where the heads clog up though as the ink dries and you also get dust etc in there.

I'm speaking mostly for SOHO here.  In the industrial stuff inkjet tends to be more common, like printing presses etc.  They use large reservoirs and can support large format paper.  Not sure if laserjet tech is used in those applications, like plotting etc.  Might be a limitation of the tech.

[bob91343]

Years ago I stopped using inkjet printers.  They are expensive and unreliable, and the ink isn't waterproof.  I still have some generic ink but refilling the cartridges is a messy PITA.

I now only use laser printers.  They do a better job and so far I haven't had to buy toner.  By the time I need it, someone usually has given me a free printer that still has toner.  That, however, has resulted in a stash of laser printers that are out of toner.  And one that has failed.

I also have a few old inkjet units but have no intention of ever using them again.

[Ampera]

What kind of question is this? When I run out of ink, I just get a new printer, that way I have TWO printers without any ink. 

Of course I'm joking, I just get a new ribbon, it's not that expensive.

[Towger]

One of my best purchases was a HP4250 off eBay. The kids print like mad, everything is printed. Years later I am only on my second 20k page cartage. 

[Electro Detective]

Once I realized what a money pit Jet Printers were/are    I gave the 'refill kit' thing a go (on recommendation from a very clued ink and cartridge seller at a computer swap meet years ago  )
and get at least 6 to 10 good runs from a black cartridge. 

Still rolling with a usb Lexmark Z series, and run the printer when needed from an old but gold XP loaded Dell PC

Once I get printers, their drivers, and PDF/Doc programs to co-exist and behave, I leave as is on a dedicated PC or laptop,
and transfer files over to it for printing, so no more 'conflict' dramas    and or 'critical security update'    breakages   

fwiw, I gave up on refilling the color cartridges, a total waste of time and ink if you don't use them often enough,
the three eventually begin to dry out, and or at random and or cross contaminate somewhere in the chain,
and a right royale pita and mess to sort out. 

Black is good enough for most stuff here 

and Officeworks is just down the road for anything else   

Once it finally claps out I'll look at a decent cheap laser job that sports a decent 'ocassional use' shelf life,
and bug free drivers and software 

[dcbrown73]

I quit buying ink jet printers.  I bought a $300 HP color laser jet printer.  It printed a ton before I had to change the cartridges (more than any ink jet)  I spent a good amount on the replacement color toner, but I've printed a ton of great color (even images look great) and I still have tons of color toner left.

Never again do I fall into that ink jet printer trap.

[SiliconWizard]

Ditto. Inkjet printers are a rip-off. They were a solution back when laser printers were still very expensive. These days, small laser printers can be had relatively cheap and are way better than inkjets in every way. Toner is pretty resistant too, whereas inks are not at all (too easy to smear them with just the touch of a finger...

[SilverSolder]

There are some things ink jets are better at (e.g. photo quality printing, or even making PCB artwork on absorbent film for prototyping), there are some things laser printers are better at (fast, massive quantities, long life toner cartridges, etc)...  if you like printing, you end up with several printers of different types as a result.  Doing that without going to the poor house is an art form in itself!

[james_s]

I gave up on inkjets about 12 years ago and got a color laser printer, never looked back. Recently it was starting to get worn out so I bought a HP M254dw for under $300 and it's been great. I'm still on the toner cartridges that came with it but when those are empty I'll replace them with aftermarket cartridges. I haven't really seen much difference between those and OEM.

[Brumby]

I'm not a fan of inkjet printers - but I do have a Canon PIXMA PRO 100.

Why? You ask:

1. A3 capacity
2. Photo quality printing
3. Straight paper path for printing on thick stock
4. Cold printing process which allows printing on thermally sensitive materials

One of the jobs I do is printing on a magnetic backed plastic material which is not something I would even try to send through a laser.

One thing though - I would have been better off sticking to the original Canon "ChromaLife" ink than using cheaper generic replacement cartridges.  The ink fade from those is terrible.  In a room that does not have strong sunlight with the print nowhere near direct sunlight, the fading is terrible after only six months.  I have prints using the ChromaLife ink that came with the printer that are six years old that still have strong colours.  For my next cartridge purchases I will be going back to the overpriced manufacturer's product.   


The annoying thing, though, is that I do not use this printer very often and the amount of ink I suspect gets wasted when it goes through its "awakening dance" is more than I care to feel comfortable about.

[MrMobodies]

I have heard that argument before in being requested to purchase cheaper compatible or refilled laserjet cartridges.

It was for quality prints that were needed quickly and on demand in bulk.

I warned what might happen but I wasn't believed until there were smudges on the print or the print didn't look good with the new compatible cartridges.
We were sent out others but had the same problem and it was a matter of trying to find better compatibles.

Then they said "so we gotta pay more than what the printer is worth on these four cartridges."

I said you can't always have it both ways.

You want quality and performance on demand and if you want it cheaper we'll just have to find a more toner efficient Laserjet that is just as fast and reliable.

[CJay]

One of my best purchases was a HP4250 off eBay. The kids print like mad, everything is printed. Years later I am only on my second 20k page cartage.

Yeah, have to agree, the 42/43xx HP lasers are superb workhorses.

[CJay]

I have heard that argument before in being requested to purchase cheaper compatible or refilled laserjet cartridges.

It was for quality prints that were needed quickly and on demand in bulk.

I warned what might happen but I wasn't believed until there were smudges on the print or the print didn't look good with the new compatible cartridges.
We were sent out others but had the same problem and it was a matter of trying to find better compatibles.

Then they said "so we gotta pay more than what the printer is worth on these four cartridges."

I said you can't always have it both ways.

You want quality and performance on demand and if you want it cheaper we'll just have to find a more toner efficient Laserjet that is just as fast and reliable.

Regular problem, when I was a field tech we had a couple of clients who insisted on using dodgy refill cartridges or knock-offs and then logged print quality calls every week.

I refused to return to one site that were using Xerox cartridges in HP printers and insisting the printers were faulty, it was a simple matter to after demonstrate that a genuine HP cart worked perfectly yet somehow the person in  charge of stationery and printer consumables denied it was the problem.

Another site I spent an hour demonstrating that *every* 'compatible' or refurb cart they had on the shelf had one or more faults.

it got to the point where immediately I had a call for print quality issues and I found a non genuine cartridge, I made the call chargeable.

[tooki]

If you buy a cheap printer, the ink or toner will cost more than the printer. If you buy an expensive printer, the ink or toner will be cheap. The difference in cost between inkjet and laser has evaporated -- if you buy a $99 laser printer, the toner will be just as expensive per page as on a cheap inkjet.

In fact, the lowest print cost available today is now with high-end inkjets. (Which kinda makes sense, since ink is easier to make than toner.)

It's a shame most people only buy cheap printers and thus think inkjet has to suck. It doesn't, if you spend a little more up front.

With that said, I still actually agree that for most consumers, especially those who print infrequently, a laser printer is a better choice.

[Psi]

1) Buy a good aftermarket continuous ink system for your printer. (check ebay/aliexpress)
2) Problem solved.

[Rerouter]

Found a HP laserjet with network interface for free on gumtree, brought it home with about 5% left in the toner, used that for years, eventually ran out, bought a new 15,000 page toner cartridge for $70, still at about 88% and suspect It will outlive my next few pets.

Mainly use it for final check over of PCB layout, it can reliably print 6/6 layouts with minimal edge artifacts providing your using a somewhat decent paper. could even likely get away with the same for toner transfer if I tweaked in the settings.

[Marco]

After 2008 there were so many office class laserprinters available second hand ... hell there's probably still stock from back then left.

[rdl]

I never owned an inkjet, had to use too many of them at work and knew how much trouble they could be. In 1999 I acquired an HP Laserjet 4p, heavily used but free, from work. It finally wore out and I thought about buying some kind of inkjet, but bought a Brother HL-5250DN instead. The built in networking and duplex printing proved far more useful to me than color. The Brother is one of the best printers I've ever used. I don't even know how old it is, 12, 14 years? It has never jammed and the original cartridge lasted until 2015 and I'll probably never use up the replacement.

[ptricks]

Own laser and inkets.  The inkjets are brother models that use the LC103 cartridges. 2 black and all the colors cost $8 to refill using aftermarket cartridges vs $56 oem.

[james_s]

If you print frequently, inkjets are probably fine. I often go weeks or months without printing anything though and when I had an inkjet I remember putting in a new set of cartridges and printing a few pages then often by the next time I wanted to use it I'd find the thing all dried out and clogged up.

[tooki]

Depends on the model. Epson printers from, say, 1998-2005 were notorious for clogging if you didn't print several times a week. On the other hand, my Canons with individual inks have almost never clogged, no matter the interval. (My current one is from 2008, and in the intervening 11 years, I've only had to clean a clogged nozzle once, last year. 2 deep cleaning cycles and it was good. I got a ton of original Canon ink from the local classifieds for next to nothing, so I don't need to worry about ink use any more!)

[james_s]

Oddly enough I had an Epson Sylus from around '99-'00 that never clogged on me, it was missing the paper feed tray though so I replaced it with a HP Deskjet and that thing clogged all the time. I eventually replaced it with a newer HP and that also clogged, never had a Canon for whatever reason.

Whatever the case I'm happy with the HP Laserjet I have now. It's not as good as a good inkjet for printing color photos but for a laser printer it does a remarkably good job and when I need better photos I can have those printed professionally just a few blocks away. The laser toner can sit for years without problems, it prints nice glossy black text on cheap plain paper, I can do toner transfer PCB etching, and the prints are also waterproof. Most inkjet prints I've had run or smear if they get damp, even just a few raindrops walking from the house to the car.