Is The World Going Mad???

[david63]

The other day my printer gave up the ghost so I had to buy a new one. The ridiculous thing is that it was cheaper (OK it was on offer) to buy a new printer than it was to buy a new set of printer cartridges!

This totally goes against everything that has to do with being environmentally friendly!

[GillD46]

Yep! We have found exactly the same.

[Happydays]

Same thing happen with us. The old one is out in the garage

[Stephen]

Why ARE ink cartridges so expensive. It's just ink for gawd's sake with a little common as fresh air micro chip on the casing.

[oldbluefox]

Printers are relatively cheap so I suppose they have to recoup their money somehow. Personally I use compatible cartridges which are a fraction of the price and fine unless you want fine art prints. If I want print offs of photos I go down to my local supermarket and get a print from there.
I feel sure there is no need for cartridges to be so expensive. Pity you can't get compatibles with the same quality inks. I did once try refilling my own but that was a messy business and not entirely satisfactory.

[Stephen]

Printers are relatively cheap so I suppose they have to recoup their money somehow. Personally I use compatible cartridges which are a fraction of the price and fine unless you want fine art prints. If I want print offs of photos I go down to my local supermarket and get a print from there.
I feel sure there is no need for cartridges to be so expensive. Pity you can't get compatibles with the same quality inks. I did once try refilling my own but that was a messy business and not entirely satisfactory.

Same here

[Ranchi]

The cartridges in your new printer are not fully loaded so comparison between the cost of a set of new cartridges and a new printer isn’t straight forward. But yes, I agree it does seem wasteful and counter productive to have such a pricing structure.
I used to use reconditioned ink cartridges until I was doing some decorating and moved my printer and put it on the floor in another room. This obviously offended the sensibilities of said cartridge and it decided to spew its content as all over the carpet.
Only use ‘official’ cartridges now as I find them cheaper

[towny44]

My Epsom always objects if I load compatible cartridges and, although I can and do override it, they always end up clogging up the nozzles and causing me days of cleaning the jets and nozzles, so I have capitulated and stick to expensive branded versions.

Towards the end of my purchasing career for a major dyes producer I was involved in sourcing some specialist raw materials for our Ink jet dyes business. We made very little profit on these so I can only assume that not only were the printer manufacturers screwing their customers, but their suppliers as well.

[Whynd1]

My Epson is the same Towny. My old one was also an Epson and I bought the cheaper cartridges and they clogged up the printer. I had to ditch it and buy a new one. So now I stick to the Epson cartridges and try not too print too much.


Lindsey

[oldbluefox]

I use Canon printers which have their printer heads in the cartridge. I wonder if this is the problem with Epson. Are the print heads still built into the printer rather than the cartridge?

[towny44]

If there is a print head in the cartridge then I can't see it, so I assume they are in the printer, but no idea which system is better at preventing clogging.

[oldbluefox]

Years ago we had Epsoms at work and after a while the print quality was awful. In those days the print heads were in the printer and the cartridges just held the ink. The manuals said to carry out a print head clean but that made little difference. For that reason I have always used Canon at home with no problems at all. Every time I change a cartridge I get a new, clean print head.

[Mervyn and Trish]

I use Canon printers which have their printer heads in the cartridge. I wonder if this is the problem with Epson. Are the print heads still built into the printer rather than the cartridge?

Yes they are. But I use cheapie ones and it takes three or four years and several sets for them to clog the heads, by which time the price saving compared to branded is enough to buy a new printer with enough left over for almost a new PC as well!

[Manoverboard]

I have a Canon IP4500 Printer, I chose it in part because it can print on printable CD / DVDs. I have only ever used Canon Print Cartridges.

ps … it's over 10 years old now and hasn't missed a beat

[barney]

I've had an HP Officejet for about five years and use it daily for business.
I must confess to using counterfeit cartridges and the machine doesn't like it, but still works well and prints great.
When it gives up the ghost, I'll probably get similar again.
It does seem weird to get a machine cheaper than the ink ???

[Quizzical Bob]

I've had an HP Officejet for about five years and use it daily for business.
I must confess to using counterfeit cartridges and the machine doesn't like it, but still works well and prints great.
When it gives up the ghost, I'll probably get similar again.
It does seem weird to get a machine cheaper than the ink ???

The cartridges supplied with a new printer are a lot smaller than the replacement ones, which is where the printer manufacturer make their money. New printers are loss-leaders.

[Stephen]

I've had an HP Officejet for about five years and use it daily for business.
I must confess to using counterfeit cartridges and the machine doesn't like it, but still works well and prints great.
When it gives up the ghost, I'll probably get similar again.
It does seem weird to get a machine cheaper than the ink ???

The cartridges supplied with a new printer are a lot smaller than the replacement ones, which is where the printer manufacturer make their money. New printers are loss-leaders.

I think you mean the amount if ink supplied in the cartridges of a new printer is less than replacement ones.

[Quizzical Bob]

I've had an HP Officejet for about five years and use it daily for business.
I must confess to using counterfeit cartridges and the machine doesn't like it, but still works well and prints great.
When it gives up the ghost, I'll probably get similar again.
It does seem weird to get a machine cheaper than the ink ???

The cartridges supplied with a new printer are a lot smaller than the replacement ones, which is where the printer manufacturer make their money. New printers are loss-leaders.

That too.


I think you mean the amount if ink supplied in the cartridges of a new printer is less than replacement ones.

[Stephen]

Well the time has come. The old Epsom XP-405 has finally given up the ghost. Whatever I do it just will not print. I suppose I can't grumble.....but I will as it's at least ten years old.

So, any recommendations anyone, and I don't want to spend a fortune.

I've always had Epsom printers, mainly because I can get non Epsom ink reasonably cheap.

[oldbluefox]

I would go fo Canon any day of the week. Beware buying the cheapest. When I was looking at new printers I was quite taken by how cheap some of the were until I realised they only had two cartridges. Pay a little extra and get one with four or five cartridges (depending on how much you want to pay).
Epsom printers at work were a pain in the neck but I have never had any issues with Canon. Compatible cartridges are cheap and easy to come by. Colour printing is not so vivid but unless you are doing high quality printing I've never found that a problem.

[Manoverboard]

Canon every time.

My aging iP4500-ish machine has five carts where four of them will print very high quality photo prints. The fifth cart is a large black one which is used automatically for black / greyscale printing.

[Stephen]

I would go fo Canon any day of the week. Beware buying the cheapest. When I was looking at new printers I was quite taken by how cheap some of the were until I realised they only had two cartridges. Pay a little extra and get one with four or five cartridges (depending on how much you want to pay).
Epsom printers at work were a pain in the neck but I have never had any issues with Canon. Compatible cartridges are cheap and easy to come by. Colour printing is not so vivid but unless you are doing high quality printing I've never found that a problem.

Thanks Foxy. I don't do that much printing, the odd document or letter and that's about it so no point spending a fortune on an all singing and dancing printer. As long as it has wifi, a scanner feature and does double side printing, which most do, I'm happy. Oh, and I can get compatible replacement cartridges

[towny44]

I would recommend my Epson XP 335 which I bought for less than £30, but I cannot get it to like compatible cartridges, so maybe its a non starter for you.

[Stephen]

I was looking at that model John. It gets good reviews, but a non starter if it won't accept compatible cartridges. I'm certainly not forking out the silly money asked for genuine ones.

[towny44]

I was looking at that model John. It gets good reviews, but a non starter if it won't accept compatible cartridges. I'm certainly not forking out the silly money asked for genuine ones.

The nozzles clog up with the compatible., cartridges I have bought, but Merv has no issues with the ones he buys, so maybe you would be lucky.