Refill ink + No Brainer

[Irwin Peckinloomer]

I have always refilled cartridges in my printers, and when I bought my
Canon i960 3 years ago, the purchase was based on research in this group
that showed it was very easy to refill. That has worked out perfectly,
and allowed me to print anything I want without concern for the cost of
ink, which was my main reason for going with refilling.
Interesting thing happened today:
I had just run out of black ink, and had topped up all the other tanks,
as is my habit. I needed to print out the instruction manual for a game
I bought (used, manual missing) it turned out to be 320 pages! Almost
exclusively blue graphics & print. Used up my cyan cartridge completely
.... If I was using Canon prefilled cartridges this would have cost me
about $11 for the cyan, plus a little for the black & other colors used
(not much of these, this was a really blue instruction book!)
Since I refilled the cartridge, my total cost for printing the manual
was $0.64 for paper (160 sheets @ 1.99 ream) and $0.21 for cyan ink (6cc
at $24 for 6 4oz bottles)
That's $0.85 to print the manual, versus $11.64 if I had bought a Canon
cartridge.
It's not a matter of a small percentage savings, it's the difference
between it making sense to print something, vs. it being too expensive
to make sense. The same logic applies when you decide to send someone 4
or 5 8x10 photos for almost nothing vs. it costing $5 or so. It's not
worth printing your own if you pay for OEM ink.

 

[Ivor Jones]

[snip]

It's not a matter of a small percentage savings, it's the
difference between it making sense to print something,
vs. it being too expensive to make sense. The same logic
applies when you decide to send someone 4 or 5 8x10
photos for almost nothing vs. it costing $5 or so. It's
not worth printing your own if you pay for OEM ink.

How much would it have cost to print in black and white on a mono laser
printer..?

Using inkjets for instances where you don't *need* colour is a waste IMHO.
I only use an inkjet when I need 6x4 photo prints, everything else gets
printed on a mono laser or a colour laser, depending on whether colour is
necessary or not.

Ivor

 

[Taliesyn]

I have always refilled cartridges in my printers, and when I bought my
Canon i960 3 years ago, the purchase was based on research in this group
that showed it was very easy to refill. That has worked out perfectly,
and allowed me to print anything I want without concern for the cost of
ink, which was my main reason for going with refilling.
Interesting thing happened today:
I had just run out of black ink, and had topped up all the other tanks,
as is my habit. I needed to print out the instruction manual for a game
I bought (used, manual missing) it turned out to be 320 pages! Almost
exclusively blue graphics & print. Used up my cyan cartridge completely
... If I was using Canon prefilled cartridges this would have cost me
about $11 for the cyan, plus a little for the black & other colors used
(not much of these, this was a really blue instruction book!)
Since I refilled the cartridge, my total cost for printing the manual
was $0.64 for paper (160 sheets @ 1.99 ream) and $0.21 for cyan ink (6cc
at $24 for 6 4oz bottles)
That's $0.85 to print the manual, versus $11.64 if I had bought a Canon
cartridge.
It's not a matter of a small percentage savings, it's the difference
between it making sense to print something, vs. it being too expensive
to make sense. The same logic applies when you decide to send someone 4
or 5 8x10 photos for almost nothing vs. it costing $5 or so. It's not
worth printing your own if you pay for OEM ink.

I agree 100%. I can print ANY job imaginable. I regularly hand out
framed 8 1/2 by 11 color glossies for my neighbor's girls. One likes
Japanese anime art; the other, pop stars. I ran off 5 or 6 test copies
of each (on glossy paper/high resolution) until I was perfectly happy
with the color balance/brightness/contrast after remastering them with
my photo editors. It had to be just right or I wasn't happy - and the
job wasn't even for me! So you can imagine how picky I am for my own
color work. I would have easily emptied or half emptied a set of
cartridges at $90 CAD had I used OEM ink. My actual ink cost was pocket
change. As you stated so eloquently, "it's the difference between it
making sense to print something, vs. it being too expensive to make
sense." And how can you say "no" to kids, that it's too expensive to
print in color. You and I don't have that problem.

I'm looking forward to refilling my next printers, the iP4300 or 5300.
I just have to donate my current ones. I already have a taker for my
i860. The person needs a reliable second printer.

-Taliesyn

 

[measekite]

I have always refilled cartridges in my printers, and when I bought my
Canon i960 3 years ago, the purchase was based on research in this group
that showed it was very easy to refill. That has worked out perfectly,
and allowed me to print anything I want without concern for the cost of
ink, which was my main reason for going with refilling.

It is easy to obtain lower costs when you are willing to accept reduced
quality and more rapid fading plus an additional risk of a clogged
printhead.

Interesting thing happened today:
I had just run out of black ink, and had topped up all the other tanks,
as is my habit. I needed to print out the instruction manual for a game
I bought (used, manual missing) it turned out to be 320 pages! Almost
exclusively blue graphics & print. Used up my cyan cartridge completely
... If I was using Canon prefilled cartridges this would have cost me
about $11 for the cyan, plus a little for the black & other colors used
(not much of these, this was a really blue instruction book!)
Since I refilled the cartridge, my total cost for printing the manual
was $0.64 for paper (160 sheets @ 1.99 ream) and $0.21 for cyan ink (6cc
at $24 for 6 4oz bottles)
That's $0.85 to print the manual, versus $11.64 if I had bought a Canon
cartridge.
It's not a matter of a small percentage savings, it's the difference
between it making sense to print something, vs. it being too expensive
to make sense. The same logic applies when you decide to send someone 4
or 5 8x10 photos for almost nothing vs. it costing $5 or so. It's not
worth printing your own if you pay for OEM ink.

When you want quality prints then you need to use quality ink. You get
what you pay for and it is apparent that you did.

 

[measekite]

Irwin Peckinloomer wrote:

snip

That guy must be smoking grass. He can get a brand new IP4300 for under
$60.00 and have real ink.