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Subject:Re: High cost of print cartridges? From:Samuel -dot- Beard -at- tdcj -dot- state -dot- tx -dot- us To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 29 Jan 2003 10:14:14 -0600
Peter
<pnewman1 -at- optonline -dot- net> To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Sent by: cc: TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
bounce-techwr-l-117504 -at- lists -dot- Subject: Re: High cost of print cartridges?
raycomm.com
01/29/03 09:57 AM
Please respond to Peter
ID Number:
> Geoff, one way that they can make it stick is because most of them, I
> believe, use a proprietary ink formulation. Thus, if they were to receive
a
> warranty claim on a printer that used out-of-spec ink in generic
> cartrridges, then they'd be able to tell by that and would choose not to
> honor the warranty, most likely. In addition to getting those spectacular
> results with the photo-quality printers, these inks serve this purpose,
as
> well.
Myth. Myth, urban legend. Remember their business is based upon the
razor blade model: sell the printer cheap and lock you into the high
profit inks.
It may possibly be a myth. But, from the research I've done and the
articles and such I've read, it's not a myth. At this point, it seems
mostly anecdotal, but I've heard NUMEROUS references to the use of generic
inks clogging printheads, as well as producing less-than-stellar results in
comparison to the OEM inks. Granted, there are some brands out there that
are almost as good as the OEM inks. However, most of them are getting close
to the prices of the OEM inks and many people look only at the price and
tend to go with the cheaper generic inks.
I recently read a review of generic, refill, and ink reservoir systems
in a digital camera magazine. They did state that one of the reservoir
systems performed fairly well, but the refill and generic systems caused
leaking and clogged printheads. Their recommendation was to stick with the
OEM inks for critical work. YMMV.
This also doesn't take into consideration the issue of the chip inside
some cartridges that inform the computer and printer of a low cartridge.
Refill kits DO NOT take this into consideration. For those printers that
simply use it to inform you of a low cartridge, it's not such a big deal.
However, if I recall correctly, some printers will not work without a
signal from the cartridge that the ink is actually there and I haven't seen
anything about a work-around for this. Doesn't mean there ISN'T one, just
that I haven't heard of it.
Sam
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