Printer ink prices

[Puggit]

Now I know that printer manufacturers charge very little for the printer, and too much for the ink to recapture their costs.

Last year we bought a Lexmark wireless printer for £30 from PC World. The ink has run out, and when I visited a local independent shop, he informed me I could only buy the ink cartridges at PC World. I checked on line, and it was £35 for black and colour.

I just drove across town to PC World, and it was £45 for the 2 in the shop.

For £49 I've got myself a new HP printer/scanner/copier - £30 off.

So who wins?

[bonsai]

Puggit said:

Now I know that printer manufacturers charge very little for the printer, and too much for the ink to recapture their costs.

Last year we bought a Lexmark wireless printer for £30 from PC World. The ink has run out, and when I visited a local independent shop, he informed me I could only buy the ink cartridges at PC World. I checked on line, and it was £35 for black and colour.

I just drove across town to PC World, and it was £45 for the 2 in the shop.

For £49 I've got myself a new HP printer/scanner/copier - £30 off.

So who wins?

They do. When you realise the inks that come with new printers are sample kits only with about 30% regular capacity.

[whitechief]

Do new printers have full cartridges in them?

[Puggit]

Well when the sample ink runs out, I can get another printer, and screw the environment?

[condor]

HP ones are reasonably priced via Amazon, I've just paid £14.66 postage free for an HP 11ml black cartridge and the 14ml colour one would have been approx £18 inc postage from a different supplier. I rarely use the colour so would just wait till the old one ran out before replacing it...whereas I keep a spare black one to hand once I've used the previously installed one for a couple of months.

There are cheaper budget versions of those as well, but ages ago I was told that HP cartridges came with a new 'head' that made them more efficient and needed less cleaning. Don't know if it's true, as I'm not that computer savvy

[dtmpower]

Why not just buy 3rd party cartridges, refill or use a remote cartridge system ?

[grumbledoak]

Nobody really wins. But, people are stupid; they will buy the cheapest printer that meets their needs. So printer manufacturers can either do this, or go bust.

[mcflurry]

I would have a look at somewhere like premierinks for the cost of replacement cartridges, and then go shopping

Canons were 99p for b&w and £4 for colour for my last printer

[bigdods]

Tesco sell cheap ink for my Epson printer, but I prefer genuine inks. Ebay is my friend for this. High capacity colour carts (it has 3) are £15-£20 each from the usual suspects. I just picked a set of all 3 colours in high capacity for £20 inc postage on ebay.

[Denis O]

The only time I used non OEM inks I had a problem with the cartridge just not working after about 10 pages. Nothing I did would sort it so it's manufacturers cartridges from now on.

Not sure it will work out cheaper in the long run but my new all in one HP has separate cartidges for black, blue, red and yellow.

[smartie]

I have 3 empty toner cartridges in my HP colour laser which will cost approx £200 to replace, or £140 for a new printer? I thought it was a bit of a falicy about the 'sample' cartridges in new printers and all the ones I've bought have always been regular cartridges and full.

[fatboy b]

We've just bought a new HP all-in-one for £89. The inks are £7.50 a pop. They're individual too, rather than just one for colour.

Edited by fatboy b on Monday 29th March 12:57

[Frankeh]

http://continuous-ink-systems.co.uk/

[Kermit power]

Frankeh said:

http://continuous-ink-systems.co.uk/

That looks interesting, but how does it work?

They sell them for my printer, but there's no space inside the printer to put the bottles, the printer won't work with the lid up, and I don't see that it can work with the lid down, as that would squash the tubes going from the bottles to the cartridges?

That's to say nothing of the notion of leaving little bottles of brightly coloured indelible ink somewhere that the kids can see!!!

[Frankeh]

Kermit power said:

Frankeh said:

http://continuous-ink-systems.co.uk/

That looks interesting, but how does it work?

They sell them for my printer, but there's no space inside the printer to put the bottles, the printer won't work with the lid up, and I don't see that it can work with the lid down, as that would squash the tubes going from the bottles to the cartridges?

That's to say nothing of the notion of leaving little bottles of brightly coloured indelible ink somewhere that the kids can see!!!

I think they give you a tool to simulate the lid being closed. Or just drill a few holes.

[Cheeky Jim]

Why not find your nearest Cartridge World?

http://www.cartridgeworld.co.uk/

[Odie]

My A2 printer at work takes 4 cartridges at £40+ quid each. It is £2k worth of printer tho.

[Tallbut Buxomly]

Pure gold is cheaper than hp ink.

Buy a brother they are cheaper and non branded cartidges are easily available.

[FamilyGuy]

I use a Canon 6 cartridge printer after having made the usual Epson one black, one colour cartridge mistakes. I still feel raped by the ink prices but I do only have to replace each colour as it expires.

[Sway]

I have a good contact who can supply very cheap original cartridges...

PM me if you'd like details.