[nicesites]

Canon Considers the printhead to be a consumable. The canon printhead is touchy indeed, and there are many many baddies out there willing to sell you garbage. However, NO using refilled cartridges, DOES NOT VOID YOUR WARRANTY!



Had you pressed the matter, you would have gotten a replacement. Regardless, I won't try to sway you any longer. Go pay full price and get hosed all you want. I know the facts.

[zepper]

Actually it was a Polaroid lawsuit that protected the use of competing products - say competing film in a Polaroid camera or a compteing camera with Polaroid film.

Canon has to Prove that the 3rd party ink caused the problem - OTOH, you have to be willing to force their hand on the issue.

.bh.

[Beatkat]

"Canon Considers the printhead to be a consumable"


Actually Canon does not consider this....HP does because you throw the print head away everytime you change a cartridge - the Canon printhead is 3/4 of the cost of a new printer to replace, that doesn't equate to a "consumable".


"there are many many baddies out there willing to sell you garbage"


Not sure what you mean there either, Canon is rated consistantly as the top inkjets out there, I have owned several, and several HP's, and an Epsons. as well- hardly Garbage.......now Lexmark on the other hand......


"Had you pressed the matter, you would have gotten a replacement"- no I wouldn't have...perhaps if I blatantly lied, but I was trying to prove a point, to Staples as well...and their disclaimer on their aftermarket ink cartridge boxes is no longer there. After speaking to Canon themselves, they (Staples), replaced my printer.....what does that tell you?


"Go pay full price and get hosed all you want. I know the facts."- the difference in reliability, performance, and quality of the genuine article, versus the very small savings you might encounter in an aftermarket cartridge, (maybe 20% of $14), with questionable ink, is hardly "getting hosed"..removed


If your aftermarket ink ruins your printhead on your Canon, YES, it VOIDS your warranty!! If after a year, your aftermarket ink ruins your Canon printer, THERE IS NO WARRANTY ANYWAY. Stop this rediculous argument and CALL CANON and ASK THEM...I know the facts because I've been through it....



Edited by MPHEnterprises - Let's Please Keep This Civil

[richshirl7]

I have purchased hp deskjet 4160 and when you print a picture you have to change the black cartridge or it will smear. Also there are no cheap cartridges to buy at this time. We seem to be going backwords instead of forward with our printers

[larrystell]

I got so few up with high ink prices and lousy 3rd party ink that I bought a Xerox Phaser 8560 Laser Color Priter that uses solid ink. Then I buy solid ink from Rhinotek.

[free2speak]

I will stick with the manufacturer's ink. Sure it is pricey, but it is also better just like the manufacturer claims as you can clearly see in the slideshow. Do you really think some small manufacturer can do the R&D to outperform HP, Canon, and Kodak? I don't think so.

I have used inkjets since 1987 with the HP Paintjet which lasted until HP discontinued the ink. Today I have an HP Deskjet 952c, and I only buy cartridges a couple times a year. I outgrew the I must print everything novelty a long time ago. The difference is I only print what I need so I don't waste ink or paper. My print quality is high, and it doesn't rapidly fade away. I have also never had an ink related failure with HP ink.

[rroberto18]

Though LD is listed in 3rd party suppliers, I didn't notice any of their cartridges used in comparison tests....I have found LD for Canon to be superior in every way and I save close to 80%, more when they are having a sale.

LD came highly recommended to me by a friend and you might want to try them even if no one has mentioned them to you. They ship quickly, deliver as ordered, and package contents always in perfect order. Cartridges have only improved my printer's performance.

[coastie65]

Hey free2speak, I'm with you. I'll stick to the HP inks. I don't find them all that expensive compared to the Lexmark I previously had. I do print a lot of pictures from my camera which does tend to use a little ink, but even then I go through the things and don't print the ones I don't particularly want. I certainly don't print out every e-mail that comes in. I do use it to make copies at times though. coastie65

[Anysia]

I have been using 3rd party ink in both my Canon printers and my HP Photosmart for years and guess what? No problems. I overfilled one Canon cartridge once, it leaked, I cleaned up , and other than inkstains on my fingers, all was well. Photographs and letters printed with the 3rd party inks are just as bright, sharp, colorful, and haven't faded.
This "will void your waranty" started becoming the mantra when printer and branded (Canon, HP etc) cartridge manufacturers saw their bottom line was dropping. WIth the amount of printing I have done, I have bought three or more of the printers with the amount of money I have saved by using 3rd party inks. And the Canon printers are still going, as well as the HP Photosmart, without a hitch.

[Anysia]

Maybe they should just keep a spare 'legit' print cartridge on hand, because if their printer breaks down they can put it in.

[JohnT]

I have been using an HP Photosmart 2610 AIO for 2.5-3 years now and is still running flawlessly. Never have I bought third-party or "second-hand" ink cartridges and don't plan to anytime soon. I've heard some good things and many bad things about them and personally I don't think they're worth the few extra bucks you'd be saving. I buy my HP cartridges (usually the larger ones that last me nearly half a year) at Staples whenever they are on special (doesn't happen too often on ink) or a promotion is going on. I print maybe 2-3 times a week, a few sheets on average. So really, I'm not spending who knows how much money on ink.

[Anysia]

A few extra bucks? If it was just a 'few extra bucks' maybe. But I have saved HUNDREDS of bucks. Enough to have bought three or more printers, and the ones i am using are still running strong.

[Bartylby]

I AM a remanufacturer of inkjets and have a successful business with thousands of happy customers with 75% repeat buyers. I have professional printers and photographers use my inks and love them! I REMANUFACTURE the cartridges using state of the art equipment and processes. I replace internal critical parts, test every cartridge and seal them for delivery to my customers at a price that's less than a big box store DELIVERED TO YOUR DOOR. It's not hard to gas chromatograph OEM formulas and purchase inks that will give the same results as OEM. I have customers tell me that mine are better, more vivid, give more copies and last longer. The "One Time Use Only" baloney to sell more ink is over. Studies show that e-waste is a serious problem and businesses like mine are green. Cartridges that do not pass my stringent testing are broken down and recycled. Walgreen's is NO comparison in this test as their machines simply squirt more ink in. I too smell OEM bias all over this article. Thanks.

[Anysia]

I am wondering of the majority of the reports that 'it ruined my printer' were from getting the wrong ink for the printer.

Different inks have different delivery systems, and different viscosities. If you get one that is too thin for your inkjet, it will run. If you one that is too thick, it won't print bright enough. It won't ruin your printer, but it will bollix up what you are trying to print.

My BJC 240 I had in the states for years (I gave it away before I moved, and from what I hear, its new owner is still using it) , and the BJC 2100 I got when I moved to another country, along with the MP30 and my HP Photosmart have all been refilled with 3rd party inks. As I said, with the excpetiong of ME overfilling one once, I haven't had a problem.

[SkipPlummer]

I buy it in bulk by the pint. Have for years and no problems...

[BLINDLIGHT]

If U guys think that Lexmark and Cannon are representative printer and that Wallgreen Ink likewise is representative that PC world fold live in a world that hurts. I have an Epson Printer notorius for requiring its own brand and I use any ink that is compatible and I buy it as low as possible. No issues of the type you desicribe. You article sucks big time.

[Anysia]

Maybe I should mention my best buddy also uses an Epson, and has been using 3rd party inks for over 5 years. Guess what? No problems, and excellent print results. But again, Lexmark or Walgreens? Not a chance.

[kshuck2]

I agree, this would solve a lot of problems.

...but what do I know, I'm only a part-time printer technician.

[djollota]

As a leading independent testing company in the imaging industry, we were surprised at these test results as they are quite different in the areas of quality and reliability than what we have seen in our years of testing.

We've found that remanufactured and refilled cartridges fail as often as 20% of the time and can print up to 50% fewer usable pages than OEMs. This article did say there were failures, but lacked detail. Failure rates this high ?will cost you?.

I suspect we tested more cartridges and printers in our studies. ISO 24711 requires that 9 cartridges be tested across 3 printers (in a controlled environment with defined test targets) and that all failures are reported. Also, in a recent quality and reliability study we performed for an OEM, we tested more than 700 remanufactured and refilled cartridges from 13 different brands, and nearly 70 from the OEM. You can compare these findings with our test results on our website.

Dave Jollota
QualityLogic

[MarkSullivan]

Hello, Mark here. I edited the story. No it wasn't a bug, it was a coding error that replicated throughout the document. Sorry to interupt your reading pleasure.