Third Party Inks: This is an interesting article along with the comments. I've also added a second link from Wilhelm Research that you should find interesting:...

The Watcher

This is an interesting article along with the comments. I've also added a second link from Wilhelm Research that you should find interesting: http://askbobrankin.com/the_truth_about_discount_ink_cartridges.html
http://www.wilhelm-research.com/hp/NonGenuine-3rdPartyInkRefills.html

N4646W

Hope you will do some more research and post on this topic. There are a lot of factors involved in this. Should be of interest to an awful lot of folks.

rjaywallace Loc: Wisconsin

How is this helpful? One article says go ahead and use third-party inks while the other article (with a large segment redacted) says third-party inks don't work well. So we are damned if we do and damned if we don't. Thanks so much for settling the issue once and for all.

N4646W

rjaywallace wrote:

How is this helpful? One article says go ahead and use third-party inks while the other article (with a large segment redacted) says third-party inks don't work well. So we are damned if we do and damned if we don't. Thanks so much for settling the issue once and for all.

Well, for the Wheilhiem(sp) article, looking into it, it's research is for museum archival quality. That brings in a whole set of factors which we probably will never have to deal with. If you delve further into it, it will give you information on getting longevity and quality out of your prints. True, some of it is so nit picky that it is, just nit picky.

Next, how many printer manufacturers, manufacture their own ink? I have tried my darndest to find out. There are major manufacturers of inks. Are they subcontracting to formulas set up by the printer manufacturers? If so, whom else are they supplying ink to?

Next is the type of printer. Ink jets are based on the old bubble jet. Heat the ink to cause it to spatter through a port. The exception is Epson. Epson uses, for simplicity sake, a plate which when charged, forces the ink through the port. Then you get into dye or pigmented inks and how they are formulated to function in their specific environments and substrate to which they are applied.

There is a lot too this, and I wish I had the time, and ability to delve further into it.

Don Fischer Loc: Antelope, Ore

That ask Bob was great! I tried after market ink in my iP100. Printer didn't recognize when the cartridge ran out and I got several bad photo's trying to figure it out. I wondered how much ink was really in the cartridge so checked it and an OEM cartridge. Canon told me but the after market didn't.

Myself I don't think ink is that expensive to start with except in the all in one color tanks. Even then it's not that bad, at least in my iP100. Who cares how much the OEM make's off their ink so long as you can pencil it out? Using Canon ink in my Pro 9000MKII, ink cost's me about .01 cent's per sq inch! That's $2.47 for ink for a 13x19 photo! add a couplee buck's for the paper and the print come's out around $5 +/- and what does a 13x19 sell for? I get $20 for mine when I do sell them and I think that cover's a lot of ink!

The Watcher

rjaywallace wrote:

How is this helpful? One article says go ahead and use third-party inks while the other article (with a large segment redacted) says third-party inks don't work well. So we are damned if we do and damned if we don't. Thanks so much for settling the issue once and for all.

Here's the full report with nothing redacted.
Have a look at their main site, you will find it interesting.

http://www.wilhelm-research.com/hp/WIR_HP-3rdParty_2012_09_24.pdf

http://www.wilhelm-research.com/