Depending on models, printer inks could actually be more expensive than champagne. In fact, regular users could spend more than $300 each year on printer inks alone. People who have been using printers more than a few years could find out that their inks tend to run out faster than before. This could happen because manufacturers add less ink inside the cartridge and also, some printer models could dispense more inks than older models. Some manufacturers even discourage us from using refill ink and they make it very difficult to refill cartridge with third party inks. They do this to encourage us to purchase expensive cartridges, so the whole configuration is designed to maximize profits. Actually, some printers could be quite affordable, but the replacement cartridge can be prohibitively expensive. In this case, we should make sure that our printing solution will remain affordable and we need to avoid using printers that make it very expensive to operate them. As an example, HP45 uses only less than 45ml of ink inside the cartridge, which could print nearly one thousand standard pages. It is quite interesting to know that HP offers a 5ml cartridge for the printer, which can print 200 pages.
So, it is rather obvious that the difference is quite big and we should consider which cartridges could provide us with the most printed pages. In fact, many printer cartridges could require fewer than $1 to manufacture. There are also other things to consider. As an example, it may be necessary to regularly clean cartridge nozzle to make them last longer. We should do this to make sure that the printing result is adequate and excess ink won’t be splattered inside the printer. In some cases, we could clean nozzles by only by using damp absorbent pads and this will be enough to remove dirt. If we clean our cartridges regularly, it is possible that we would save both ink and money. Statistics show that some cartridges could spend up to four times as much ink if they are dirty. If we don’t have a clean and brand new cartridge, we may need to forget getting good quality results. In some cases, we may need to purchase 2nd hand cartridge if we have limited budget. However, we should consider whether these used cartridges could make ink consumption much higher.
In general, it is not recommended to use cartridges that have been refilled more than a few times. However, some cartridges are equipped with their own electronic chips that prevent us from using refilled cartridges, although we are able to physically inject ink inside the cartridge. In general, we should be able to save up to 70 percent by purchasing used cartridges, but we should know whether it is possible to refill them. We shouldn’t ignore any warning shown on labels of the cartridges, because these cartridges may actually damage our printer. Some refilled cartridges could literally splatter a large amount of ink inside the printer almost immediately causing short circuits and possibly, permanent damages. Also, it would be much cheaper to buy cartridges with three different ink colors.