My experience is pretty much the same as reported in the Consumer
Reports article that Don Polvani mentioned. Third party cartridges are
false economy and can be downright troublesome. There has been one
exception, which I will describe last.
I have tried various 3rd-party cartridges for HP ink-jet printers. I
have tried refilling HP ink-jet cartridges. These experience have all
been bad. Either the print quality degrades immediately (i.e. the
3rd-party or refill never matches the quality of the HP cartridge), or
the quality does not last (quality degrades as the cartridge is used,
frequent cleaning cycles are required), or the ink just runs out too
soon (false economy).
I have also had similar results with Epson ink-jet printers. There was
one company that provided pretty good refills that gave good results,
but they never lasted as long as genuine Epson. This company was Carrot
Ink. I didn't have problems with them compared to genuine Epson other
than lifetime, and therefore the economy was a wash. I think this is
essentially what Consumer Reports found for Carrot Ink.
The major exception is a third-party system for some Epson photo-ink-jet
printers that uses a continuous inking system. Epson photo printers
don't have the ink-jet nozzles as part of the cartridge. The cartridge
is not the print head... it is just the reservoir. Media Street makes a
system in which you put big bottles of ink next to the printers, and
connect the bottles to the print head using very-flexible small-diameter
tygon tubing. The system costs $260 for my printer, and then a package
of 8-ounces of each of the 6 colors of ink costs about $88, for a total
cost of $348 for the first 8 ounces, then $88 per 8 oz after the first
time.
An Epson color cartridge costs about $28, and 8 ounces of color ink will
be the equal of at least 20 Epson cartridges costing a total of $560.
The Media Street kit saves you over $200 for the first 8 oz, and saves
you nearly $500 per 8 oz after the initial investment... And that is not
counting the black ink which is also included in the Media Street
package. If you print a lot of photographs, you have to check this out.
Media Street does sell replacement cartridges for Epson and Canon, but
not HP. I have not tried the individual cartridges. The continuous
system is wonderful. I've been using it for nearly two years without a
glitch, and the pictures look great, and last great (no fading yet). I
am an advanced amateur photographer and I print a lot of pictures. If
you don't print a lot of pictures this system probably doesn't make
sense for you. But if you print a lot of pictures, this system is
definitely worth it from my experience.
Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D.
Professor of Chemistry and Physics
Bluffton University
Bluffton, OH 45817
(419)-358-3270
edmiston@bluffton.edu
_______________________________________________
Phys-L mailing list
Phys-L@electron.physics.buffalo.edu https://www.physics.buffalo.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys-l