HP Us inks in UK printer - possible

[David Smithz]

Hi there,

A friend who spends a lot of time in the US likes to buy their inks in the
US and bring them back to UK as they are cheaper in the US.

However they just purchased as HP C6180 photo all in one 6 ink printer
system and wanted to continue doing the same.

I went on the site for HP in the UK and US and they have the same printer in
both places. However, the ink cartridge in the US is HP 02 and in the UK it
is HP 363.

Can I assume these are the same just coded differently?

Is this just to prevent people from buying in the US but really they are the
same product?

Thanks in advance.

David

 

[Pinky & Perky Sing Parsifal]

Hi there,

A friend who spends a lot of time in the US likes to buy their inks in the
US and bring them back to UK as they are cheaper in the US.

However they just purchased as HP C6180 photo all in one 6 ink printer
system and wanted to continue doing the same.

I went on the site for HP in the UK and US and they have the same printer
in both places. However, the ink cartridge in the US is HP 02 and in the
UK it is HP 363.

Can I assume these are the same just coded differently?

Is this just to prevent people from buying in the US but really they are
the same product?

Thanks in advance.

David

Yes, they are the same inks - but HP have introduced regional coding, which
means that cartridges intended for sale in one area (say, Europe, or Asia,
or America, etc) will not work in others, i.e, the machine will refuse to
recognise the cartridge.

 

[David Smithz]

Yes, they are the same inks - but HP have introduced regional coding,
which means that cartridges intended for sale in one area (say, Europe, or
Asia, or America, etc) will not work in others, i.e, the machine will
refuse to recognise the cartridge.

Oh no, Is this really the case. But when one first sets up the printer, it
asks what country you are in and so if I said the US even though it was
purchase in the UK does that mean the UK cartridges would not work?

 

[Pinky & Perky Sing Parsifal]

Oh no, Is this really the case. But when one first sets up the printer, it
asks what country you are in and so if I said the US even though it was
purchase in the UK does that mean the UK cartridges would not work?

Well, that's a cunning ploy , but I doubt if the machine would be fooled
by it - always worth a try if you have a US cartridge handy.

You could always try swapping the chips - but [1] they look very difficult
to remove on the 363 range, and [2] it's sods law that the machine will
remember that particular chip is 'empty'.

Two other options, of course, are compatible inks (available on ebay for
between £10 - £15 per set, or a continuous inks system (also on ebay) for
£48 including postage.

I was tempted by the continuous system - particularly as they use good
quality ink, but it's not HP ink, and that means the .icc profiles will be
all over the place.

Finally, you can get the 363 'value set' ( 6 cartridges & 150 sheets of HP
Advanced glossy 6x4 paper) from PC World Business for 22.67 inc VAT. The
value cartridges are supposed to have less ink in them than the standard
ones (if that is possible!!) but I have done rough comparisons between the
longevity of both types and their doesn't seem to be a great deal of
difference to me.

That being so, the value set seems acceptable - particularly since the
Advanced paper gives rather nice glossy prints, and the HP supplied .icc
profile seems quite accurate when printing via PS or Lighroom

 

[David Smithz]

OK thanks for the detailed input. This is useful information. I now actually
have to tell my client who I said "sure they sell it in the US so it will be
fine" that this is not the case.

Do you know of any links of the HP website (or actually general articles)
that describe this rip off tactic so I can send to my client with apologies?

I'm having a look myself and will post if I find anything good.

Thanks

 

[Ivor Jones]

message
[snip]

Yes, they are the same inks - but HP have introduced
regional coding, which means that cartridges intended for
sale in one area (say, Europe, or Asia, or America, etc)
will not work in others, i.e, the machine will refuse to
recognise the cartridge.

Well DVD region coding can be circumvented, so why not this..?

Incidentally, does the same apply to HP colour laserjet cartridges..? I
have a CLJ 2605dn colour laser and it's £240 for a full set of four..!


Ivor

 

[jasee]

message
[snip]

Yes, they are the same inks - but HP have introduced
regional coding, which means that cartridges intended for
sale in one area (say, Europe, or Asia, or America, etc)
will not work in others, i.e, the machine will refuse to
recognise the cartridge.

I suppose we are fortunate that they haven't thought to region code the
paper! ..yet..

 

[Andrew Gabriel]

message
[snip]

Yes, they are the same inks - but HP have introduced
regional coding, which means that cartridges intended for
sale in one area (say, Europe, or Asia, or America, etc)
will not work in others, i.e, the machine will refuse to
recognise the cartridge.

I suppose we are fortunate that they haven't thought to region code the
paper! ..yet..

Try buying a ream of A4 paper in the US...
At least the rest of the world has one paper standard.