Huey Driver Loc: Texas

Printer Ink

I know most printer manufacturers say to use their ink. In fact I think HP says it's warranty is void if you use something else. Since my HP only had a 1 year warranty and that is expired, I wonder if I should pay their ridiculous prince for their ink. Considering most printers are now expendable rather than fixable (try and get a HP fixed after the factory warranty runs out) I wonder if I should be concerned with which ink I use? Thanks in advance for any comments.

Lucian Loc: From Wales, living in Ohio

Some after market inks are crap and just clog up the jets then you have problems, or some are so poor that the colours are not worth printing on paper. But there are some very good inks that are cheap and after market. Unfortunately it has been years since I was doing that much printing, so can no longer remember the makers of the good ink. Hopefully some others here can give you more info.

stanikon Loc: Deep in the Heart of Texas

Hard to say. I have read horror stories from people who tried 3rd party inks and ended up destroying their printers. On the other hand there are stories from people who have used 3rd party inks for a long time and get very good results, as well as saving a ton of money. I guess you just have to try it for yourself. Good luck.

mrpentaxk5ii

You don't say what model printer that you have or the amount of ink colors that your printer has or the size of your prints or what you do with your prints. I have heard many stories about printers with clogged heads. What model HP are you using and is it a multi printer that you use for every day printing, I ask because the ink on a dedicated photo printer is different than an every day printer. if you are not printing photos than the quality ink won' matter.

Huey Driver Loc: Texas

Officejet Pro 9015. Use mostly for everyday printing but do some 8x10 photos and greeting cards. Just curious if more people did or didn't have problems with other than manufacturers ink. No big deal. Probably there is not a definitive answer to my question?

dannac Loc: 60 miles SW of New Orleans

I've had a Canon Pro 100 since approx 2015.

Within that 1st year I purchased a refill kit from Precision Colors.

No problems. In fact I purchased a new batch of ink beginning of this year.

wildweasel

I have a Canon ProGraf 24 inch wide format printer and after the test cartridges started running out I bought Ink Owl ink cartridges and have had very good results.

DAN Phillips Loc: Graysville, GA

I have the Office Jet Pro 8710 and belong to their instant ink program. I will print between 300-400 8.5 X 11 sheets per month. I never have to worry about my ink supply, it' always there before I need it. The cost is about $9-11/month. See if you can beat that for a deal.

Blair Shaw Jr Loc: Dunnellon,Florida

Don't do it. Unless you like replacing your print head like I did when I got cheap and used after-market inks. They ruined my machine and I eventually had to buy a new copier/scanner/printer. The 2 repair bills exceeded the price of simply replacing the printer. Ink costs a lot of money......sometimes more than the printer itself. The HP printers are usually discounted at sales because their inks are pricey but they do nice work if you use their inks and papers and I still love mine.

foathog Loc: Greensboro, NC

I just had my Canon G4200 give up the ghost. IT WAS ONLY 3 YEARS OLD!!! I was told I need to use it more. Does anyone have and printing I can do for them? LOL I have to figure out how I can use the new one more often.

cfhelz45 Loc: The Villages, Florida

I have also used Precision Colors for my Canon Pro-10. I purchase larger bottles of ink and refill my cartridges using a scale. I also reset the cartridge to show amount of ink in the cartridge. No problems and I have two Pro-10's.

Contemplate Loc: Conroe, TX

For my everyday printer I have an Epson WF-7720 - my third one. Both of the others became useless due to irretrievably clogged print head. On this one my routine is to print a test sheet which uses ink from every cartridge first thing every morning. That way even if I don't happen to print anything else that day the heads are flushed with new ink. I'll know in a year or so if that helps.

I only print documents and a few snapshots in 4x6 on that printer. Anything else goes to a service to be printed professionally.

Skibo Loc: Richmond, Va.

If you use your printer everyday some 3rd party inks are fine but they tend to clog your printer head if not used regularly. I ruined my wide format Epson by trying to save money on ink, never again!

TucsonDave Loc: Tucson, Arizona

I also use the HP instant ink program. They know when I am low on any of the 3 colors and black and automatically send me a replacement. The monthly price is based on the amount of printing you do. I pay $4.99 per month for 100 copies. The greater the number of copies the lower the per sheet cost. Much cheaper than going to Walmart and buying their ink off the shelf.

finnmap Loc: N Illinois

When I was a workin' man (retired 3 1/2 years now) I used to service Canon and HP large format printers (24" to 5' wide). I had several Canon ImageProGraf customers switch to generic inks. Some worked fine but I had a couple of them had issues with the color and with printheads clogging. Printheads for the older machines ran $700 or more. So generic was not a good way to go for them. And you would not believe how much ink one of those printers would go thru trying to clean a printhead. Having said that, I have had a Pixma Pro 100 for 5 yrs or so and have not had any problems with it. Retired now I have been printing more and Canon inks are not cheap as you all know. And it uses a lot of ink but that is necessary (from Canon's point of view) to keep the printheads open. It works. I ran a nozzlecheck last week and all nozzles are firing. Until last year I used nothing but OEM ink. But I was printing so much and since I'm on a 'fixed income' I made the switch to LD inks. Colors are great and no problem with the printheads. Many have had different experiences with non-oem but mine had been fine.