HP Printer Ink Costs You More Than Human Blood Or Fine Champagne
HP Viviera Brand Ink
As anyone who owns a printer knows well, printer ink is expensive. But exactly how expensive is it compared to other high-priced liquids?
A Gizmodo reader did a graphical comparison of the prices per milliliter for various liquids (HP #45 black ink being one of them). I was personally fairly surprised to see the results.
Is printer ink more expensive than a bottle of Dom Perignon champagne? What about gasoline, or even the price of human blood?
Remanufactured Cartridges Will NOT Void Your Printer’s Warranty
Your right to buy and use alternative printer ink cartridges is protected by the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act.
A common fear of consumers thinking about purchasing remanufactured ink cartridges is that their use will render the printer warranty void. Many brands of printers include messages that pop up after insertion of a remanufactured cartridge claiming that your warranty may become void, though these messages are primarily there to encourage loyalty to the original manufacturer’s brand (OEM) cartridges rather than stating the legal implications of using alternative cartridges.
The truth is that the use of remanufactured printer cartridges will NOT void your printer warranty. In fact, it would be illegal for printer companies to revoke warranty based on type of cartridge used. As a consumer you have the right of choice when it comes with refilling the ink for your printer, which means you are not obligated only to use OEM cartridges.
4 Things To Look For When Buying Remanufactured Ink Cartridges
Follow these buying guidelines and you will be ensured quality results from your remanufactured ink cartridge.
Remanufactured ink cartridges provide a great cost-effective alternative to buying original equipment manufacturer (OEM) cartridges from the printer producer. Recycled cartridges are disassembled and cleaned, replacement parts added and the ink refilled to produce these cartridges. There are factors to take into consideration when choosing this option, and certain brands and practices will achieve better quality than others.
During the course of remanufacturing printer cartridges, the cartridges are rebuilt by hand meaning they must be checked for any errors following this. Some manufacturers do not test their cartridges due to the costs involved, and for this reason may not be a reliable choice in case of errors in a cartridge. This may not only affect the quality of printout, but also the correct functioning of your printer. It is also extremely important that the components used in the remanufactured cartridge are of high quality: if they are they will provide excellent quality printouts, though the components required will vary according to different printer models.
1. Check The Page Yield
One of the most important considerations when purchasing a remanufactured cartridge is how much you can print before it runs out of ink, otherwise known as the "page yield". The standard test of the yield of a cartridge is by noting how many pages can be printed at 5% page coverage. Some remanufactured cartridge companies may only quote the OEM yield, or will not quote a yield for their cartridge at all, so it is important to be wary when looking at this information.
Compatible Ink Cartridges: Save Up To 300% Compared To Brand-Name Inks
Compatible ink cartridges provide significant cost savings.
A great way to save on your printing costs is to utilize compatible ink cartridges rather than full-price brand name ink. Original Equipment Manufacturer, or OEM, ink is found in office supply stores and sold by the original printer manufacturer in glossy boxes at a high price. Usually, you will hear claims about how OEM cartridges are of the highest quality and will produce better results than any competitive products. In truth, however, compatible cartridges can produce a high quality of output at a much lower cost basis than brand-name manufacturer ink, if you purchase them from reputable online suppliers.
OEM cartridges do often come with warranties and guarantees, but it's much more likely that any defects will occur due to the printer hardware than with any ink refill. The relatively high frequency of cartridge replacement will mean that you'll likely use up your ink before you have any mechanical problems with the cartridge itself; in the rare cases that there is a defect, you will be able to tell upon your first print from the cartridge, and, in those cases, you can usually just exchange the product.
Buying Compatible Ink Makes Sense
Even when OEM ink supplies have a longer life, when adjusted for per unit cost, compatible cartridges are still much less expensive. For example, a black ink OEM cartridge for the HP Officejet 7210 printer currently retails for $22.99 in office supply stores. Online, at retailers like 4Inkjets or 123Refills, a compatible black cartridge can be had for almost three times less, at only $9.95, a savings over close to $13 per cartridge. The savings only multiply when one considers the need to replace separate color cartridges.