[nicesites]

You know, seriously why do you need a multi million dollar testing facility?



Use the Dag Gum refilled. You save money and i helps the environment. Are you people printing smithsonian exhibits? I doubt it. The truth is, even if it does fade, you can always reprint!

[scottspeer]

I have tried 3rd party inks in the past and have always had similair results to those mentioned in the article. However, I am sure that many, if not all, were either the imports or the "drill and fill" you mentioned.

Please email me your contact information so that I can try your product.

[nierlich]

I wonder if in the first comparison Walgreens' ink does poorly because of the quality of the cartridge rather than the ink. Also if the manufacturer's would lower their prices, they would have much increased sales -- the trouble and failure rate of refilling is a significant "cost" to be factored in.

[A72CUTLAS]

Bartylby said:

You have got to be kidding me about using Walgreen's inks in this test. They simply squirt more ink in without cleaning or emptying the old inks! What ink they use is also suspect. I remanufacture my own line of inkjets using state of the art equipment and ink, replacing internal components and test printing every inkjet before it gets packaged. OEM, by its own admission has a 2% failure rate straight from their factories. I have less than 1% when I remanufacture mine! I would gladly send you a set of mine for the comparison including an entire line of HP's if you'd like them. But then again, the OEM's are quaking enough and I think you might have different results using professionally remanufactured inkjets vs. "drill and fill" or illegal knock offs from overseas passed off as OEM by unscrupulous companies here in the US. No one here has mentioned the illegal clones that are inundating the market and ruining peoples printers. No one here has mentioned that the large OEMs are being pounded in overseas EU courts for misleading information and bad business practices. Buyers need to be wary of all the different recycling methods and choose a company with good products and customer service. Thanks.

How would a person get in touch with you, not to buy refills, of course ;) , but to get more in-depth info RE: ink cartridges.

[Bartylby]

There is plenty of info if you Google "dreamcaster00" (no quotes of course) and persons could Google my nick "Bartylby" (again no quotes) and look closely at the SERPs (about the
4th or 5th page). Don't mind all the car stuff...just look for Contact Information. I hope that helps. :o)

[nopcbs]

OK, so who are you? Might give your product a try.

[Chetw]

I don't mind to pay the OEM's price for better ink, however, to add insult to injury, their ink cartridges have "pre-mature" empty features which renders the cartridges useless. Most printers also require that you replace the cartridges with their own brand of ink otherwise you will get the message of "unknown cartridge type", which again renders your printer useless. Epson is one of good example of how they pre-maturely show their cartridges are empty but still has sufficient ink left to print several hundred more pages. In fact they loss a class action case a couple of years ago in which they had to pay in form of discount coupons to future ink cartridge purchases. They are still doing the same thing today even though they loss the class action suit.

You should look into this kind of practices and report them in your magazine. The laser toner printer makers are doing the same thing. Most toner cartridges cost on the average of $150 each and only yield 10-20% of what they claim. I know the find prints claims the number copies yield is based on 5% coverage. Since when does anyone with a laser printer prints documents with 5% coverage?

[Prankmonkey9]

First, I want to thank PC World for doing this article. I have yet to read
the article, which I will do right after this post, but I have seen the test
pictures that helped them draw conclusions. What type of paper stock were they printed
on? And why the prevalence of Lexmark printers? These printers have known
issues with print quality, even with their own brand of replacement ink
cartridges. The few examples from other printers are from manufacturers that
are not very good, at least in my experience. Granted, some people like Kodak,
Epson and others, I prefer HP and Canon. These printers are simply stunning and
print quality is first rate. I've owned all the mentioned printers, and HP and
canon are hands down the very best, IMHO.
My Pixma MP610 just blows me away with its ease of use and extraordinary
quality. But as others mention, the replacement cartridges are simply too
expensive, so I have to go the 3rd party route. I do have pictures of my heart
and soul Ethan Isaiah (my first grandson) which I printed with my Epson RX620
AIO printer with 3rd party replacement cartridges, and they are fading (luckily,
I still have the pictures archived to reprint again because I believe in the
old adage, backup, backup and then back up again!!). But I blame that in part
to the horrible printing of the Epson, which cost me around $400.00. When it
would print without problems, there was lots of banding, washout, etc. using
the supplied Epson branded cartridges. Needless to say, I would not buy another
Epson.

So what are we to do? I know several people who actually buy a very inexpensive
printer and then throw it away when the ink runs out and simply buy another.
Very good for the environment, right? But they are proving a point - just doing
it the wrong way. I refuse to go that route; but again what are I, and you, to
do? I guess the one idea that makes the most sense for me now is to buy another
printer, a Canon or HP photo dedicated printer to use in conjunction with my
MP610. But that still begs the question - why the high prices on consumables
the printer manufacturers know we will have to buy? If they lower the prices by
just $10.00 per cartridge, they would still make a killing. Seems the ink jet
manufacturers have been given free rein to charge whatever price they want. I
hate government to get involved in anything, but when such things as the
Internet and printers, which used to be luxuries, are now a necessity (at least
for me and 95% of my family and friends), and then maybe some action needs to
be taken.

Just my 2 cents worth, and to Epson, Kodak and Lexmark owners, I mean no disrespect,
but both have performed miserably for me. Prank BTW, excellent forums you have
here PC World!!

[dmd0705]

Hi,

What is your website? I'm interested in a good quality ink that doesn't cost a fortune. Thanks