# Inkjet Cartridges.



## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

Most manufacturer branded inkjet cartridges are hideously expensive, I know, I used to sell them.









I use a Canon BJC i475D, I don't print photos but I do print quite a lot of text etc.

There are horror stories of blocked heads (on t'internet) that have been leveled at third party cartridges but in the last WHICH report, Print-Rite cartridges came out top for good quality and low price (or so I'm informed).

Does anyone use third party cartridges and if so which ones have you found to be good?


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## Running_man (Dec 2, 2005)

Wouldn't touch them with a sixty foot pole Stan. Every time we get a fault call for an inkjet that isn't recognising new cartridges, it's always down to these. We advise genuine branded ones and it always fixes the problem. These refilled / recycled ones always seem to leak too. Horrid, horrid, horrid.









To be fair, Print-Rite cartridges are ones I've yet to see but I'd be very cautious.

The manufacturers need taking to task on the extortionate prices of their cartridges, it disgusting what they charge.

There will be people who've used 3rd party ones for a while without problems but I believe it's a question of time before they leak and cause a mess inside the printer.

Andrew.


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## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

I have tried several third-party cartridges .... I have found the quality of the ink is inferior as well.

The price of brand name cartridges is extortionate IMO, I have considered complaining to the Office of Fair Trading .... maybe several of us should do it.


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## Roger (May 17, 2003)

This week in our local Wilkinsons.....they had Lexmark A4 photo printers for Â£19.....cheaper to buy a new printer than OEM carts.

I have refilled Epson "chipped" carts umpteen times.....the black is 100%....colour has been problematic at times.....also, you need the little re-programmer to reset the chips fitted to each cart.

My current Epson takes 6 seperate carts...you only need to replace the ones that are empty

Roger


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## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

Thanks Andrew,

I wouldn't fancy using re-manufactured cartridges in an inkjet printer, only new ones. The Print- Rite ones do seem to be brand new (at least for Epson and Canon printers  ) but I doubt the WHICH tests were long term and won't reflect possible damage over a period of time.

The Print- Rite factory seems to be modern and well accredited (lots of ISOs) but I suspect there is only one way to find out how good they are?









This is the site: -

http://www.multiunion.com/index.html


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## Mrcrowley (Apr 23, 2003)

Colours for my HP are around Â£23. Next!


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## pg tips (May 16, 2003)

I had a Lexmark and was getting crippled by the cart costs. They don't last long and you can only seem to get away with one or two refills before they stop working.

I went into the local refill places and the guy (well he was a snotty youth actually) advised I swapped to canon. PC world had a deal on a i560 at the time, cost less than the color and black carts for the lexmark!

I'm still on the original canon carts some 2 years later, just re fill them (cheap ink off ebay to boot) and away you go.

I must have saved more than 5 times the price of the Lexmark carts.


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## Running_man (Dec 2, 2005)

It actually works out cheaper to get all your digital photographs printed out at Boots or Jessops and buying an entry level laser printer (e.g. a Brother HL-2030 for less than Â£70) for occasional black and white stuff. The only downside to this is that somebody might need colour documents, e.g. a student for their coursework.









Andrew.


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## Roger (May 17, 2003)

FWIW,

Right from the early days of inkjets....my experience has been that heads WILL clog with BOTH OEM and re-made carts...

The answer, I have found, is to run the "test print" utility at least twice a week...this seems to be the answer to clogging, especially if you dont print all that often.

Our saltmine printers are always run on remade carts and never give any trouble....but they run for hours each day.

Activity is the answer IMHO

Roger


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## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

It seems that if you don't use a printer for critical stuff such as photos the best thing to do would be to buy a cheap printer and then use well known third party ink refills or cartridges until the thing packs in?

That's why I got rid of my last printer (HP), a black and colour cartridge cost Â£54! You can buy a printer for that.









I think JoT has a good point, maybe it's time for a load rant?



Roger said:


> FWIW,
> 
> Right from the early days of inkjets....my experience has been that heads WILL clog with BOTH OEM and re-made carts...
> 
> ...


That makes very good sense Roge.


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## Running_man (Dec 2, 2005)

Our printer engineer says that modern inkjet printers should be left on constantly to avoid clogging. They'll periodically go through a cleaning cycle when left.

Andrew.


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## Mrcrowley (Apr 23, 2003)

Try www.7dayshop.com

My mate & his work use them. Never had a problem so far.


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## Roger (May 17, 2003)

Has anyone seen/used one of those outboard system that are available...

ie a large external tank and feed pipes that fit where the normal carts usually go?


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## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

I tried cheap patterned carts that my local PO sold, they were garbage









I found genuine HP ones in Tescos cheaper!!


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## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

I've ordered two carts for the Canon, black and colour. They are Print- Rite, so we will see if WHICH is full of it or not.









The black was Â£1.45 and the colour Â£1.95, that's Â£3.40 post paid.









The same carts from Jessops would cost $20.48 for genuine Canon, plus postage (I wouldn't go into the shop would I?














).









I'll see how the Print- Rites do once my Canons run out. I'll report back.


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## joolz (Jan 9, 2004)

I use HP cartridges from 7dayshop and I refill them until they stop working then just buy a new cartridge and start again seems to work ok for me.


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## Roger (May 17, 2003)

> I wouldn't go into the shop would I?


You haven't been banned from there as well......have you??









I know why...just joshin'

Roger



> I refill them until they stop working then just buy a new cartridge and start again


Remember the 9 pin dot-matrix and ribbon days....

when the ribbons went dry...we gave them a squirt of WD40...they would print on for a good few hours more.........ah!! the beloved Moebius loop!!

Roger


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## mattjg01 (Jul 3, 2006)

I've used a number of different 3rd party brands. Some have been good and some poor. I have switched to Print-rite cartridges and they do seem to be good quality and so far no problem at all.

I just find it hard to justify buying the original manufacturer inks for such a high cost and then finding that they have run out of ink really quickly. I also find that the manufacturers cartridges always seem to start indicating they are running out well before they are out of ink. They even try and get you to change the cartridge when there is a reasonable amount of ink remaining.

Matt


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## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

Thanks Matt. 

I've seen a couple of positive comments about Print- Rite that back up WHICH's findings. I also mailed one of my former customers and it seems he has switched to Print- Rite too. He prints a lot of photos and gets good results on Jessops paper with Print- Rite inks.

Must be good ink then?







jk


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## pg tips (May 16, 2003)

Anyone remember the thermal printer on the Sinclai ZX81?


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## Mrcrowley (Apr 23, 2003)

joolz said:


> I use HP cartridges from 7dayshop and I refill them until they stop working then just buy a new cartridge and start again seems to work ok for me.


Good-another positive comment. I'll try them.


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## Roger (May 17, 2003)

> Anyone remember the thermal printer on the Sinclai ZX81?


YES!!!

and the smell of Ozone as it charred its way thru the paper!!

Roger


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## Mrcrowley (Apr 23, 2003)

Ah yes


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## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

I used some of a well known photo stores own cartridges in my Canon S350D printer and whereas before hand everything had been working fine the print head became knackerd and I was quoted over Â£80 for a new one, add on the price of a new set of Canon`s own cartridges and it was cheaper to get a new printer:angry:

Of course it may have had nothing at all to do with the cheap inks


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## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

mach 0.0013137 said:


> I used some of a well known photo stores own cartridges in my Canon S350D printer and whereas before hand everything had been working fine the print head became knackerd and I was quoted over Â£80 for a new one, add on the price of a new set of Canon`s own cartridges and it was cheaper to get a new printer:angry:
> 
> Of course it may have had nothing at all to do with the cheap inks


I did see a few printers that had faulty heads under warranty Mac, on their original cartridges too.









Canons have a plus point (on some printers) that the print head is removeable so as to be replaced when stuffed. Many people have found that if the heads clog they can remove them and soak them in distilled water to break up the dried ink. As most ink is water based it can't do any harm to try this as a last resort.

I'm going to try to print a test page every week, I think that the heads need to be used and kept moist to keep them in condition. Roger seems to have hit the nail on the head with this. 

It seems that people in countries where humidity is low have more problems with head blockage than in wet holes like Britain.









I suspect that even OEM inks will give problems if the printer is left unused for too long?

Use it or lose it?


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## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

I've been using the Print-Rite cartridges for a few weeks and they seem fine, the first few lines of text were patchy when I swapped the cartridge but I would expect a little irregularity even with an OEM catridge at that point.

I have to stress that I don't use the printer for graphics (photo intensive use) and can't do a comparison on that basis but the few photos I've printed compare well with those printed using Canon inks.

Good quality, generic cartridges have caused a lot of problems for OEMs, to the point where they are changing cartridge designs (magic ic chips) and using litigation to enforce patents (that includes the shape of the cartridge?







).

It seems the "fear factor" alone is no longer enough to maintain the $20+ billion market for OEM inkjet cartridges?

Hmmmm.


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## pugster (Nov 22, 2004)

i guess it depends on what you are using the printer for, i refill my own but only use it for text and the odd cd cover and its good enough for me ,for photo quality im sure they wouldnt do ,then again,its cheaper and easier to upload photos to a proper site such as blue yonder photos and get them printed ,you will never compete with a proper photography printers for quality and price, they buy ink by the truckload not catridge.


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