The Truth About Discount Ink Cartridges - Comments Page 4

I use high capacity cartridges from internet-inks.co.uk for my HP7280 Photosmart all in one. The cartridges last a lot longer than the HP high capacity cartridges and give excellent print quality and durability. I save around 80% on my printing costs and have used this printer (and these inks) for 6 years and it shows no sign of failing yet.

I've used remanufactured inks from 123Inkjets.com and SimplyInk.com for several years and have had no problems with them. Currently, they are providing remanufactured LD Inks. 123InkJets.com also provides prepaid envelopes so I can recycle the old cartridges. LD Inks does not provide this service any more. The last time I used SimplyInk.com, they, too, did not provide a recycle envelope.

I tried DoubleInks.com (also using LD Ink cartridges), which is good if you do a lot of printing. The first one printed quite well and lasted as long as the OEM product. The second one had problems - clogged jets and would not be recognized by my Lexmark Z515. Unfortunately, the first one lasted so long that the warranty expired. If I did more printing, though, I would still recommend DoubleInks.com. They would have quickly replaced the defective cartridge if I had used it within the warranty period. DoubleInks.com did not provide recycle envelopes.

I too have used the remanufactured inks mostly from clinkinks..they didn't have any for my Epson 420 for a long time, finally did and I had nothing but problems, cartridges wrong for printer, printer wouldn't recognize cartridges,and their return policy is "outrageous", I have been waiting now for 8 wks for a return on my last order,with all the excuses, and I used Paypal to pay , which they got "immediately" so needless to say I don't use them any more..

Bob, just so happens I just purchased online a replacement color ink cartridge from LD.

My HP all-in-one printer is several years old and it's the first time I'm using a "recycled" cartridge. But when I went to Staples and Costco (didn't have my color cartridge)to buy one, Staples price was approaching $60 for it, PLUS tax. And thus the search for something more reasonable price-wise.

Just so happens I found online the LD product through what used to be called buy.com. Now the company is called Rakuten.com (weird name, right?). The PRICE: $18.99 total including free S&H,and no tax. What a difference!

I haven't used it much since I got it in the mail this month, but everything appears to be working fine with it. My only complaint is that when I opened the package and took the plastic sleeve off the printing head area to install it in my printer, there was some ink that had leaked from the cartridge onto the sleeve during shipping I suspect and thus found its way onto my hand. Other that that, everything has been great, with vivid colors.

I'm glad I found that the replacement cartridge is from LD and I found it by doing a search online for the cheapest one called for in my HP printer. And now you tell me you've used them for years. Makes me feel better, for I have been reluctant to used recycled cartridges all these years and now I find out that I should have been saving big bucks all these years.

I now have saved BIG! ($19 vs. $60+) And hopefully I'll continue to do so.

We purchased a set of remanufactured cartridges from eBay for our Canon Pixma all-in-one. Still kept getting the "low ink" and then "no ink" warnings popping up. Eventually the printer insisted it was out of ink and stopped printing.

Since I knew this was not the case, I began researching on the net. One suggestion was when the warning appeared, hold the START button down for about 5 seconds. It worked! The printer is still going strong despite the warning messages. For some reason, holding that button for a few seconds got the printer going again.

Just our experience, YMMV. But it's worth a try if your printer stopped printing and you know there's plenty of ink.

We have a local business that refills and guarantees most cartridges. All work fine on our Dell AIO 926, with the exception of Dell's warnings; ink level and wanting to print an alignment page each time. Is there a way to reset this? It is very annoying and wasteful.

I also have used LD ink cartridges for over ten years. I have an Epson and I get my ink from Ink Jets o Us. I have never had any problems, Always good quality.

Just my 2 cents: The last Ink Jet HP printer I purchased I ruined in less than a year with generic ink. Apparently, HP began using a separate Print Head from the Ink Cartridge. Some generic inks(I do not know about all of them) will dry out and clog the Print Head( a $60 expense). Earlier HP printers had the Print Head built into the Ink Cartridge, and thus was new with each new Cartridge ( off course this was much more expensive). I have since went to color toner printers( Xerox). I ruined several print rollers (Black and cyan) using generic toners( only ONE time). After careful examination, I discovered that the OEM toner was much finer and "slicker"( like silicone) than the generic toner. I eventually had to replace the Imaging Unit at $140. An expensive lesson trying to save money. From now on, I only use OEM Ink( Canon IP100) and Toner( Xerox MFP6110).

I looking at an LD laser Toner Cartridge in my cabinet right now and have one in my Canon Imageclass Printer. I have been using LD for a couple of years and find that they are great. The company has techs that will assist quickly with any problem.
Last year I received a couple cartridges which were defective (uneven print color (black) tones and streaking. LD payed for the bad ones to be returned and sent new ones which performed normal. Their prices beat OEM and Cartridge World hands down, particularly when they have sales. I concur with Bob re LD.

As much as I dislike Wallmart, ... the Lexmark carts using the Site-To-Store online purchase method is more than competitive with these guys considering you get new factory carts. The "Free" delivery part is a little dodgey,... still can't figure out why I got hit with a 90 cent charge. Delivery seems to be about 7-10 days. So far so good.

In reply to the poster who claims that only Name Brand Carts are any good for color printing is full of Baloney.

I have Colored Photos that were printed in 1999. Many of them are on the wall and hit by sunshine at times. Not a single photo has faded or changed color, they were all printed with remanufactured inks.

On the other hand I have some professional photos printed by studios and they all have faded even when stored in a scrapbook. Many of those older printers would still work if cartridges were available or the software were not for WebTV, or Pre WinXP.

I have used remanufactured inkjet cartridges, for years. I love the savings and my print outs have always looked good.

I have a Brother Inkjet Printer that is multifunction, it is a stand alone FAX, Copier, Scanner, and Printer. I purchased this machine, in Dec. 2008 as refurbished and literally, got it for a song, $29.99. It is still working and has been using the remanufactured inkjet cartridges, for 4 years. Bottom line ... It still works and my printouts look great.

I have been getting my remanufactured inkjet cartridges from a place called Meritline. I have been very, very pleased with the cartridges they sell and the prices are unbelievable!!! I would advise those who use remanufactured ink cartridges, to check out meritline.com.

Very good article. I've tried remanufactured cartridges successfully in the past; however, I discovered that the cheaper cartridges were only 8ml
vs the standard 13ml. So I didn't save any money. Will try the LD mentioned.

A word of caution. I've used third party cartridges for years. One thing I've found with HP printers, specifically Officejet Pro 8000 series. The software ink level indicator does not work with non-OEM carts. If you accidentally run a cart dry you need to replace it immediately or you may damage your print head. I recently lost my magenta printhead because of this. It's advisable to always keep an extra of all 4 colors on your supply shelf. As soon as you install one, order another. I also use LD Products and have never has a problem with their carts.

tried some office depot inks for my HP and they were not recognized by the printer. have been refilling the hp74 and 75 with some success. more than two attemps at re filling and they are not recognized, replace with new hp and everything works fien. sure would like to know how hp determines whether to operate or not.

My bargain Epson cartridge causes the head mechanism to go to the right (cartridge replace position) and it will not print.

Thank you Bob for your newsletters that I always find helpful. Regarding discount generic ink cartridges I have not had a good experience so far with our present printer. Our last printer was a Canon ip5000 and I got the little ink tanks refilled locally. No problems and the Canon functioned well for over 5 years but the print heads wore out and replacements were no longer available. I now have an HP Officejet 6500 all-in-one and with our type of work my wife and I give it fairly heavy use. It performs wonderfully well but HP ink cartridges are not cheap. I have tried PrintPal and 123ink cartridges. PrintPal leaked and made a mess and did not print well and 123 either printed poorly or did not work at all. I buy HP cartridges from Costco as they offer the cheapest price but they are still expensive. I will give LD a try. Thanks again.

I have a Konica-Minolta 1690mf (color laser multi-function - print, scan, fax, etc.). I have used bulk toner refills (magenta, cyan, yellow, and black, plus cartridge chips) from AAAtoner.

Some qualifications, though: bulk toner refills seem to manufactured for HP printer; the colors aren't as true or as crisp as the OEM toner. Also, there's a difference between the bulk toner refills versus third-party remanufactured cartridges - some brands come close to OEM quality.

As far as price, the bulk refills are $40 for 4 colors (prices range from $40 to $70). Third party cartridges run $90 to $190 for 4 colors. Konica-Minolta OEM cartridges run $400+ for 4 colors. Obviously, the savings can be huge, but the trade-off is in color accuracy and crispness (Konica-Minolta OEM toner uses a much finer particle than toner from third party manufacturers).

Several times I tried using refilled cartridges. fully 50% of the time, they didn't work at all. And of the ones that did work, the ink was of an inferior quality to the manufacturer's ink. Very disappointing.

I was asked to include the manufacturer of the terrible "discount" ink cartridges
LD products. They didn't work for even on copy