Inkjet Cartridges - Replace or Refill?

Thanks to John/January 28, 2006 for his comment on the difference between the two black inks in Canon BCI-6 and BCI-3. All of my BCI-3 cartridges have turned into total disasters, and that's probably the cause. I've been using the BCI-3 ink as universal. Now I've got black ink EVERYWHERE!
Re: Print Heads crapping out- After some difficulty, I've managed to clean mine and gotten it back into production. Canon heads are easy to remove. Then I flushed the ink out with tap water, then soaked the bottom of the head in rubbing alcohol for 6-8 hours, then flushed again with tap water to remove any remaining dried ink, then soaked it a few more minutes in alcohol to speed drying. Leave it out to dry. So far, so good. It's worked great for two days of hard use - we'll see.

I just bought a new Canon PIXMA MP800 thinking I could get refills, other than the over priced Canon cartridges. Guess what; they've gone and put a chip in the new cartridges. I can't find anyone selling a cartridge for it but Canon at about $14 bucks each times 5.

EDITOR'S NOTE: A chip resetter might help. Check on Ebay or Google.

This is a late addition to an old discussion, but nobody seems to have mentioned the environment. One big advantage of refilling, or buying recycled cartridges, is that it reduces the massive production of plastic carcases which will mainly go into landfill sites after a very short life indeed. And as for buying a cheap printer, then throwing it away or passing it on to someone else when it runs out of ink...that's just expanding the problem enormously. When will green campaigning agencies target the printer manufacturers and persuade someone to bring out a "green" printer which might cost a lot more upfront, but will offer an easily refillable ink tank and long-life print heads?

DELL printers are in mostly re-badged Lexmark printers, and as such can accept standard Lexmark cartridges. The cartridges do however need a slight modification before they will fit into the Dell printer carriage.

I'm not sure where you can find out which Lexmark model corresponds to your printer but I am sure a web search will provide an answer. I found details recently when I was trying to find Mac drivers for a Dell printer. The driver part was not easy. Finding the equivalent Lexmark model was.

I've been trying to print having refilled using a jettec inkejet refill kit and the print quality is quite poor with some pages too ink heavy and others too faded.. I've followed the instructions. Any advice as I have purchased several of these kits and don't want to waste any more money if I don't have too.. (The ink did seem to oouse from the bottom of the cartridge initially even after cleaning)..

EDITOR'S NOTE: Sounds like bad quality ink to me.

Hi, I work in a cartridge refilling company. Since my career circles arount refilling, I gravitate around the cartridge industry. As a personal oppinion, it has been my experience that most of the price of ink from the origional manufacturers goes into R&D to prevent refilling. Most technology invented for cartridges are designed to inhibit refilling, and advertised as advancements with the consumer in mind. There is also the "warranty war" where printer companies were misinforming the public that refilling voids your warrenty. Thats like GM voiding the warrenty on your car because you used Shell gas.
Now this goes into economics, which I'm not an expert, but if a large percent of your money goes into making your product more disposable, then buying the product only insures that it becomes more expencive and less reliable. I haven't mentioned the company I work for, because I'm an environmentalist first and an employee second, but refilling isn't just a respectable enviro-practce, it's a way to keep the economy and market free and un-monopolized. So I don't care if you go to my store, or the other guys, because the other guys haven't spent your money to try to use industry leverage to put me out of business. Anyways, I'm starting to sound grumpy, so I'm going to get off the computer and stare outside for a bit. Its a beautiful day.

I want to replace my HP7130Xi with an HP officejet or other model like Canon or Okidata but must have all-in-one capabilities like the one I have now that have tried refills twice with not much luck returned both of them. HP told me the printheads being separate was not their idea but the outsourced other manufacurer that did this model for them changed the design. HP claims the new model the printhead is included so get a new fresh one each time change their ink.

The ink is in only a few stores (wholesale stores) but even then the price ia about 65.00 for 2 color and one black! Would like to get into a good fast all in one that is much cheaper to use and can refill the ink without trying to reset chips! Any suggestions?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Including the print head with the ink cartridge is why the price is so high. It's generally seen as a move by printer makers to boost their profits. The Lexmark P4350 may suit your needs.

I have a dell 720 printer. I had the original black cartridge refilled several time by Island Ink-jet several times, and bought a new one from Staples when they said they could not refill another time.
I had that one refilled and when I tried to install it,I they installation window, that asks which cartridge is being installed and if it is new, did not have the advance arrow highlighted, and th eprocess could not continue. Same error when I just entered a print command. I bought another from Staples, and the same things happened.
I wonder if any readers have had such a thing happen. I don't know if it a printer problem or a software problem

I had a Lexmark 2 cartridge refilled for my x3480 printer and was told I needed to reset it for the printer to accept the cartridge as being full but as much as I have tried I can't seem to figure out how to do it. It keeps telling me I'm out of ink still. Any suggestions on how to fix this?

EDITOR'S NOTE: What have you tried? Some cartridges require a chip resetting device.

The refilled cartridges should be have original HP inks.because HP’s inks are likely to be more fade resistant and have a greater color. If nothing else, the HP print drivers are developed for use with HP ink components, and the refilled color cartridge is unlikely to be an exact match, so photos may look better with HP ink.