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Printer Ink - it's like liquid gold, only more expensive
CptHamilton
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
My inkjet printer recently ran out of cyan ink. This was the sort of event, apparently, that required a complete cessation of all activities and abject refusal to do anything besides beep at me and vomit advertisements for Genuine Epson Ink all over my computer monitor. I happened to need gas in my car the same day; turns out that replacing all of the printer cartridges (so that I do not subsequently run out of Everything Except Cyan) costs about $5 more than a full tank of gas.
Tell me, oh wise internet, what's the most cost effective way to put words on paper with my computer? Clearly it is not Epson inkjet printers; I can't even frequent one of those cartridge refill establishments on account of Epson's clever inclusion of custom ICs on the cartridges which track how much ink it claims is left.
Are lasers worth the price? Is there a brand of inkjet that I can buy and not be raped on ink costs over time? I don't think I've actually printed anything in about 6 months, so it's not like I need a super fancy printer.
Tell me, oh wise internet, what's the most cost effective way to put words on paper with my computer? Clearly it is not Epson inkjet printers; I can't even frequent one of those cartridge refill establishments on account of Epson's clever inclusion of custom ICs on the cartridges which track how much ink it claims is left.
Are lasers worth the price? Is there a brand of inkjet that I can buy and not be raped on ink costs over time? I don't think I've actually printed anything in about 6 months, so it's not like I need a super fancy printer.
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I have an HP, but if I had to buy a new one Brother seems even more economical, and they usually review well.
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1) Never buy Epson. My mom has been telling everyone this for like 10 years since they started sucking (they didn't suck when they first came out), and I completely agree with her. I've never heard anything good about an Epson, and I constantly hear about them breaking down or not being detected by people's computers anymore or whatever. HP isn't always that wonderful, but Epson's printers are awful. I've seen several people in the printing industry say the same.
2) If you're only printing text, check the printer options before you print for a "Black ink only" option and use it. This will keep you from wasting color ink to print pure black for no reason whatsoever (unless you do a lot of photo printing, I'm guessing this is why you ran out of cyan). I also tend to turn off HP's "Real Life Technologies" because I presume it will save ink as well.
3) Yes, laser printing is totally the way to go, especially if you mostly print text. Inkjet cartridges also tend to dry out after long periods of disuse. If you go laser, Brother seems to be the best brand from what I've gathered.
Awesome and cheap laser printer, if your only doing monochrome printing.
a new toner cartridge costs about $45 and will do about 1200 pages from it, or about 4 cents a page. Can't get much cheaper than that for a printer.
and the great thing about a laser is that if you don't print anything for months, there's no ink to dry out and become useless.
That being said, as someone who very rarely prints from home: Kinkos will let you submit print jobs online. And if they're small, they're generally really fast about getting them done. I live about half a mile from a Kinkos, so the handful of times in the past several years I've really needed something printed, I've just submitted it to them, then picked it up later. There is a $2/job minimum.
If for some reason you don't feel like buying a new printer right now or you want to go the economical way about future printer refreshments, you could try one of the refill stations. I am not sure about the US, but here these places are opening all a cross town and they will refill a 50 Euro toner cartridge for 20 Euros or so. I have never tried so can't speak for the quality but at least one of these places is part of a chain and seems pretty legit,
I also know that my dad used to refill our inkjet cartridges himself, which usually worked just fine but sometimes got a bit messy, I don't think he does it anymore, but if you are really not willing to pay for a new cartridge(I know they can be horribly expensive, especially Epson) that might be another alternative.
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better
bit.ly/2XQM1ke
it's the model up from the 2270, adds an lcd screen, and a scanner. But it looks to be even cheaper on amazon, so go with that one I guess. Can't see it being any less reliable, and you get a bonus scanner/copier out of it
meritline.com is my go to place to buy my canon and brother inks. I pay about $3 bucks for a bundle. Just take note if your ink cartridges need a chip buy the third party brand with new chip. Don't reuse old chips because its annoying. The only downside to this is quality of photographs is not great. Then again what you saved on inks you can take pictures to photo lab to print.
I have been doing this on my Canon for 6 years and only one bad ink cartridge from the whole experience.
― Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You'll Go!
The problem with this, at least when I looked, is that Epson doesn't have a 3rd party equivalent. There exist places that sell 're-chipped' cartridges, but the process for flashing one of the chips seems non-trivial and of questionable legality. I'm not entirely willing to trust my credit card info to random online "off-brand ink for cheap!" marketers hocking hacked ink chips. The local ink refill place just shook their heads sadly at the word 'Epson'.
But I don't do photo printing at home and can't remember the last time I even needed color for anything, so B&W laser seems like the way to go. I wasn't aware that laser printer prices had dropped so low.
My girlfriend and I both have Brother HL2270DWs at our homes (it's awesome using the same cartridges and the same printer drivers each laptop) and I buy HL5370DWs at work when somebody needs a small desktop printer.
The tape trick works.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
Basically you want to block the sensor target, preventing the printer from knowing when it's running low on toner.
And it's easy to find cheap ink for the popular Brother printers. I've had good luck getting non-oem ink to work very well. Some people have horror stories with off brand ink, but I paid about $12 for toner that lasted over 2000 pages.
Warframe: TheBaconDwarf
1 - Laser is better. Like, seriously. Part of the problem is that you're dealing with pieces that, by the very nature of inkjet printers, have to be wet. Are you using your printer all the time? If not, then as wet things are prone to doing, the ink will dry at the front of the part of your printer that normally jettisons it (usually called the printhead). These are expensive pieces usually using electrical charge to heat the ink causing it to expand. If there is no moisture to keep that part cool and pull away that heat, they will scorch and burn and become ineffective.
2 - Laser cartridges cost hundreds of dollars, but deliver thousands of prints. A small laser cart is usually good for 1500-2000 normal page usage (you can find these guidelines with a little digging). An ink cart, depending on manufacturer, usually delivers 200-300. The math is pretty easy for determining value.
3 - If you decide to go with inkjets, Epson is actually pretty good. So is Brother. I like Epson more because their carts are generally well designed and hold a fair amount of ink. Brother carts, lately, have become more skinflinty and awful, even if the colors do tend to do pretty well. Color laserjet carts, from what I recall, however tend to favor Brother more. I like their colors better, anyway.
4 - It is totally legal to reset the Epson chips. If you knew half the shit I did about ink cartridges you'd quickly come to realize that those chips exist solely to screw you, and that resetting them is one small way to fight back against that. That said, be very wary about who you purchase from. Sourcing from China and similar often means that the chips have come into contact with electrostatic charge that'll cause the chip to reset again (this is also true of new Epson chips, touching them is bad).
A chip resetter costs like 15 buck, uses watch batteries, and lasts for thousands of resets. It's easy-peasy. Hacking your own epson carts is, similarly, easy to do for probably all but the very brand newest carts, assuming you have a drill, a glue gun, and some instruction (as well as a chip resetter).
5 - The tape trick works. It's another method to avoid mechanics used to screw you out of using the most of your carts.
If you have any other questions, lemme know and I'll do what I can to answer.
Thanks again all.