Do you want to cut your printing costs by up to 50%? There are many ways you can do this. Here are some tips to help you can started.

1. Buy Re-manufactured Cartridges - Purchasing re-manufactured cartridges will generally cost you less than purchasing new cartridges. Re-manufactured cartridges are printer cartridges that have been used at least once and then disassembled, cleaned and had worn parts replaced and refilled. Typically, remanufactured cartridges can save you from 30 to 50 percent off the price of new cartridges, or more.

2. Purchase refilled ink-jet cartridges or self-refill kits. These kits come with all the tools and instructions necessary to refill your own ink or toner cartridge. Purchasing these cartridges saves money and is good for the environment.

3. Buy in Bulk - You can save more money by purchasing printer cartridges in large quantities. You will save a lot more over the already discounted cost on new cartridges. If you frequently do a lot of printing you, can save even more by purchasing recycled or re-manufactured printer cartridges in bulk.

4. Purchase a compatible inkjet cartridge or toner cartridge. These are cartridges made from new parts and manufactured to OEM specifications for you exact printer. If you cannot find a compatible cartridge for your inkjet printer, you may want to consider remanufactured inkjet cartridges.

5. Buy ink and Refill your Cartridges whenever possible - Whether you’re printing documents, photos or web pages, refilling your empty printer cartridges can save you up to 50% compared with buying new. You don’t have to spend a fortune on inkjet cartridges and printing costs.

There are many other ways to save money on printer cartridges, but shopping around before you buy can also make it easier to get the best value. When shopping around for the best prices on printer cartridges, use shopping bots (Froogle, Dealtime), bargain sites, Coupon sites and Auction sites (eBay). Shopping bots are essentially search engines for gathering prices for products from a variety of vendors. They allow you to quickly search for merchandise across a wide variety of sites. They are an effective way to quickly get a feel for the available deals. Bargain or Discount sites get excess merchandise from other retailers and sell the merchandise at bargain prices.

Copyright © 2005. Clive Chansa writes for the Discount Printer Cartridges Website at: http://www.discount-printer-cartridges.org.uk/ and he’s also a regular contributor to the Power Batteries Website at http://www.power-batteries.co.uk/

Junk faxes waste the resources of every business. It is estimated that they cost businesses tens of millions of dollars a year in wasted paper, toner and fax machine maintenance. There is nothing more aggravating then coming into the office each morning to find a pile of junk faxes promotion everything from mortgage refinancing to septic tank solutions. I don’t even have a septic tank!

Junk fax companies have been fined by the federal government and sued repeatedly, but has anyone noticed a reduction in the number of junk faxes? I certainly haven’t. The question for most businesses is whether there is a practical way to beat the daily waste of resources caused by junk faxes? Many businesses are using the fax-to-email solution provided through online unified messaging systems.

What is Unified Messaging?

Unified Messaging is a highly flexible communication system that ties all of your communications together. It has the capacity to centralize your voice mail, faxes and email messages in one online area through an email address and single phone number. These systems use their own phone lines and provide you with a separate number, so you don’t have to tie up your own or have an additional line installed.

Fax to Email Conversion

One of the best aspects of Unified Messaging systems is the fax-to-email conversion feature. You are provided with a phone number where people can send you faxes and leave voice mail messages. The beauty of the system is that the faxes are then automatically converted to text files and emailed to an inbox.

So, how does this save you money? You simply delete the junk faxes unless, of course, you need to “maximize the potential of your septic tank.” You then read or print out the faxes that are germane to your business. No wasted paper, no wasted toner and no smoke coming out of your fax machine!

An added advantage of the fax-to-email conversion element of unified messaging is the flexibility it gives you. Since the faxes are available to you online, you can print the ones you need at any location. You no longer have the frustrating situation where you are working at home, but need to see a fax that was just sent to your office. You just access your inbox and print it out.

The cost of using unified messaging is very low, particularly when compared to the cost of wasted paper, toner and fax machine maintenance. Depending on the service you use, you may be charged a monthly signup fee, by the minute for phone line usage or both. The best option for your business is entirely dependent upon the number of faxes you expect to receive each month.

Despite the lawsuits and fines issued by government agencies, there is little doubt that junk faxes will continue to bombard your fax machines. Unified messaging provides an inexpensive and practical way to eliminate the cost of junk faxes.

About The Author

Barry Waxler is the President of http://3in1box.com - your unified messaging solution. Visit http://www.3in1box.com to get your FREE unified messaging box or contact Barry at BarryWaxler@3in1box.com

First a little history….

In 1938, the first invention that would lead to the laser printer and toner cartridge was patented. The process, knows as "electro photography", used a dry printing method, not that different than today’s laser printer. It was 1948, however, before the commercial application of electro photography because available.

In 1959, the first automatic reproduction machine, the Xerox 914, which used a dry printing process. In 1978, the fine tuned technology was applied to the computer printing needs of business and private citizens. Physically large and with a large price tag as well, the Xerox 9700 laser printer that used a toner cartridge wasn’t affordable by individuals except the wealthy.

Everything changed in 1984 when Hewlett Packard began to market the "LaserJet" printer. This printer came with a replaceable toner cartridge that was not difficult to change, although it could sometimes bit a little messy. The really problematic part was that people who used the LaserJet had stacks of expensive but empty toners stacked in the storage room or wherever they could find to store the toner cartridges.

This problem was quickly resolved by environmentally aware designers by re-manufacturing the laser toner cartridge. This significantly reduced the cost of using laser printers.

What’s happening today?….

Nowadays we have the luxury of having a laser printer on our desk at home if we want that type of printing. The as well as the initial outlay for the printer has become quite affordable and provides a unique, very professional looking print out.

Today, laser printers are manufactured by many companies and the price tag is only slightly more than the common ink printer (though colour laser printers are still quite expensive the gap is getting smaller). The laser toner cartridge costs have been reduced so that it is reasonable to use the laser printer at home as well as at the office. In fact the toners are usually much cheaper when you take into account the larger number of pages you get for the amount you pay (the industry uses the terminology ‘cents per page’ or CPP)

Basically there are 2 types of cartridges, originals and non-originals and there are 2 types of non-originals being compatibles and remanufactured (this goes for inks also as does the information below). Otherwise known as non genuine, after market this is how they work:-

- Compatibles are actually a brand new cartridge manufactured to work in the same way (without breaking the trademark, copy protection laws) as the same original cartridge with the same machines. The benefit you gain from these is obviously cost savings with at times massive savings up to around 50%. The downside is they are not as environmentally friendly as remanufactured toners and there are the occasional failures and complaints about lower quality (though failure rates for the top companies making these are within industry norms and not significantly higher than those of the original manufacturers themselves)

- Remanufactured toners however are a little different as they take an empty original (it should have only been used ONCE) and fill it with toner. As long as you buy from a reputable retailer it will have also been checked to determine if parts need to be replaced as well as toner refilled. You also get good cost savings as you do with compatibles but the environment wins out big time as you helping ‘close the loop’ by reusing an empty original. Once again the same applies as above with quality and failures (both negligible in my experience as a retailer in this industry).

NOTE: Its worth making a special note here that disposing of empty toners is a problem worldwide as the plastic they’re made of takes so long to break down and the toxicity of the toner inside. In many countries today there are programs available where you can get rid of your empties without just throwing them in the bin. In fact if you hunt around you’ll probably find a company will pay you for them as they need a constant stream of empties coming through so they can remanufacture them.

Something to keep in mind….

When purchasing a re-manufactured laser toner cartridge, be sure to read the box carefully and ensure you are selecting the right toner cartridge. The first time you purchase a re-manufactured toner cartridge, the box may look entirely different or very plain because these inexpensive toners are often not packaged in fancy, colourful boxes like the name brands. But then they don’t cost what the name brand toners do, either.

The bottom line….

If you use a reputable retailer for your home/office supplies they should have a clear policy in place not only about faulty toners but what happens if a cartridge has somehow caused damage to your machine (this would be very unusual by the way). Under these circumstances this policy should give you a full warranty to have the equipment repaired ASAP at no cost to you.

With my clients when they ask what I suggest I always recommend they try a non-original to see for themselves the quality etc. In any case the trick is to be able to make an informed choice with someone you trust so at least if something goes wrong the people you bought from haven’t skipped the country.

Andrew James has owned The Cartridge Specialists (Melbourne, Australia) since 2004 selling ink & toner cartridges, and other printing/office supplies. As a regular author of articles in his industry Andrew can help you save money at home or office and have fun learning about your high tech toys.

Here are your ink and or toner cartridge types and what they mean exactly.

OEM:

Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) is produced by the original manufacturer. Guaranteed to be free from defect in material and workmanship during its lifetime.

Compatible:

Manufactured to the original manufacturer’s specification by other manufacturers. Most resellers guarantee to be free from defect in material and workmanship during its warranty or lifetime.

OEMC:

OEM-Compatible cartridges are manufactured to meet or exceed OEM performance. All drums and working parts are new. Guaranteed to be free from defect in material and workmanship during its lifetime.

Remanufactured:

Original products disassembled and rebuilt with new parts if needed. Guaranteed to be free from defect in material and workmanship during its lifetime.

Refill Kit:

This is a refill kit that is designed to refill your OEM inkjet cartridge multiple times for significant savings. The kits include all tools required, step by step instructions and of course the specific inks for your printer’s cartridge(s).

Generic:

These are basically cartridges that contain little or no chemicals in there ink cartridges. They are water down and diluted with non-absorbent ink. You will find these cartridges mostly imported from overseas or from a domestic private company who are refilling cartridges as part of their business.

*Note: This is very important for you to remember about ink and toner. OEM (original equipment manufacturer) toner cartridges contain both new and used parts.

It matters how many times your current supplier changes the parts after they have been used several times before wearing and tearing of that specific part.

You’re actually paying for is the retail box itself because of the marketing and branding purposes that OEM (original equipment manufacturer) manufacturers spend millions of dollars on so they can brand you into buying their product from the retail store.

You end up spending more money than you should at one of them stores, it’s crazy and in my eyes, it’s unfair. So, don’t be fooled from by the genuine product that you see, it may be a reman after all. You just never know.

In description of, Joseph Mercado is known as The Internet Marketing Tyrant. He specializes in the consumable market involving studies on inkjet cartridges; http://www.InkSecrets.com

Blu-ray is an optical disc format which is set to rival HD-DVDin the race to be the de-facto standard storage medium for HDTV. The HD-DVD vs Blu-ray battle resembles that between Betamax and VHS and DVD+RW and DVD-RW.

Currently, the major Hollywood film studios are split evenly in their support for Blu- ray and HD-DVD, but most of the electronics industry is currently in the blue corner.

The key difference between these new players and recorders and current optical disc technology is that Blu-ray, as its name suggests, uses a blue-violet laser to read and write data rather than a red one. Blue light has a shorter wavelength than red light, and according to the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), which is made up of, amongst others, Sony, Philips, Panasonic, and Pioneer, this means that the laser spot can be focussed with greater precision.

Blu-ray discs have a maximum capacity of 25GB and dual-layer discs can hold up to 50GB - enough for four hours of HDTV. Like HD-DVD, Blue laser discs don’t require a caddy and the players and recorders will be able to play current DVD discs. Codecs supported by Blu-ray include the H.264 MPEG-4 codec which will form part of Apple’s QuickTime 7, and the Windows Media 9 based VC-1.

The BDA says that although blue laser discs and players are already shipping in Japan, they won’t ship in the US until the end of 2005 at the very earliest. It is likely that players will be very expensive initially, compared to DVD players. In Japan, they cost the equivalent of $2000. However, as with all new technology, prices will quickly fall - particularly as Blu-ray will be competing with HD-DVD for that space under your TV.

Kenny Hemphill is the editor and publisher of The HDTV Tuner - a guide to the kit, the technology and the programming on HDTV.

Are you getting tired of the high cost of printing? You’re not alone. Many consumers are up in arms. For example, they believe paying $22 per ounce for printer ink and $150 to $300 (or more) for a toner cartridge is way too much.

Most of the major printer manufacturers have adopted the same marketing model as the razor blade, TiVo and cell phone industry. Simply stated, they sell you the printer for cost or less in order to sell you printer ink and toner cartridges at huge markups. In many instances, they charge seven to ten times what it costs to manufacture these products.

In addition, these major companies spend thousands of dollars trying to convince you to purchase only their products. They strongly criticize printer ink and toner cartridges offered by third party companies. However, did you know that many of these major companies are now selling their own recycled cartridges… and you’re still paying full retail price for them! As someone once said, to get a real education, read the fine print on the label.

With the advent of online marketing, consumer have more choices than ever. There are a large number of reputable companies that sell printer ink and toner cartridges at significant savings. It is very common to save 50-85% when purchasing your printer supplies. In addition to substantial savings, you’ll get a money back guarantee and your order is normally shipped the same day.

Ok, here’s ten ways (plus 1) to save on printer ink and toner cartridges:

1. Purchase a compatible inkjet cartridge. These are cartridges made from new parts and manufactured to meet or exceed the OEM specifications for you exact printer.

2. Purchase a remanufactured inkjet cartridge. Third party companies collect empty printer ink cartridges. They refill them with ink and test them vigorously to make sure you get exactly the quality and quantity you expect from your inkjet cartridge.

3. Purchase an ink refill kit. You’ll get step-by-step instructions, the tools and printer ink you need to refill your ink cartridge in just a few minutes. On the average, you can refill an inkjet cartridge ten times.

4. Your inkjet cartridge will eventually wear out. Instead of purchasing a brand name cartridge, purchase a compatible or remanufactured cartridge. Then, when compatible cartridge is empty, refill it with printer ink just as you did your original.

5. When you’re printing, always use draft mode until you’re ready for your final print.

6. Whenever possible, select black and white print. If you’re final product is to be in color, your draft can be done in black and white until you’ve double-checked everything. Then, print your final copies in color.

7. Purchase a compatible toner cartridge. Third party companies make these toner cartridges from brand new parts. They are manufactured to be equal to or better than your original toner cartridge.

8. Purchase a remanufactured cartridge. Many companies collect empty toner cartridges. They empty any toner waste and then refill the cartridge. They quality check the drum and other parts of the cartridge to insure maximum performance for the consumer.

9. Purchase a toner refill kit. These kits include the tools and instructions necessary to refill your own toner cartridge. On the average, you can refill a toner cartridge about three times.

10. When you toner cartridge is not producing the quality of print you expect, check to see if you can replace the drum, instead of the entire cartridge. This will keep money in your pocket.

11. Purchase multiple ink and toner cartridges if you can. You will save substantially over the already discounted cost, plus you will probably get Free shipping.

By ordering your printer ink, toner or ink cartridge online, you’ll experience the best service, the best warranty, and the best products available, for all your printing needs.

About The Author

Larry Andrew is an educational consultant, author and publisher of www.ez-printer-ink.com. Purchasing printer ink, toner and inkjet cartridges on line should be fast, convenient and cost-effective.

You can purchase an inkjet printer for as little as $39. With a rebate, it may even be less. Not many people would argue about the good deal they got when they purchased their printer. However, the purchase price of an inkjet printer really doesn’t tell you much about your cost of printing. After all, you do need paper and inkjet cartridges to keep your printer printing.

If you go to a local car lot and look at the sticker price of a car, you’d see some of the following items: the base price of the car, the cost for each additional feature or package, the number of miles per gallon for both city and road, and the cost of gasoline for one year under normal driving conditions.

What if you got this same type of information for your printer? Would you still buy the same inkjet printer? How would you feel if you knew you would pay more for gas and oil, in the first year you owned your car, than you paid for the car?

Well the fact is, unless you do very little printing, you will pay more for your paper and inkjet cartridges in the first year than you will pay for your inkjet printer. This is especially true for the low cost inkjet printers. In some cases, the cost of one inkjet cartridge is more than the entire purchase price of an inkjet printer.

If you look at an inkjet printer advertisement, you’d learn about some of the following items: the number of pages printed per minute in text and color, the time to print a certain size photo in black and white or color, the number of inkjet cartridges or tanks the printer holds, the near perfect quality of the photo reproduction, the outstanding resolution you’ll get from (so many) inkjet nozzles and a packaging list of items that come in the box when you purchase it.

However, in most inkjet printer advertisements, you will not see the cost of the premium paper needed to achieve that outstanding photo reproduction. The replacement cost for a black or color inkjet cartridge is nowhere to be found. About the only thing you will see with a dollar sign is the low purchase price of the printer and possibly the rebate. (They also don’t tell you all the steps you have to follow to get your rebate and how it may prevent you from returning the printer to the store if something unexpected happened… but that’s another story.)

Now, if you look at some of the most popular inkjet printers, here’s what you will find about their inkjet cartridges. On the average, a black inkjet cartridge costs between $22 and $30 to replace. A color printer cartridge normally runs between $35 and $60, depending on size.

To get your inkjet printer to print out those outstanding photos that will last for years, you will need to purchase some premium quality paper. Depending on the size, weight and quantity of the premium paper, you can expect to pay from 60 cents to a dollar per page.

As a consumer, you need to know that the major printer manufacturers are selling their inkjet printers at or below cost. They have adopted the marketing practice used in other industries, like the cell phone or razor blade. That is, they sell their initial product at cost or below and expect to make their real profits on the high mark up of their consumable supplies or services.

Now, don’t get me wrong. The quality of the inkjet printer photo reproductions is approaching that of traditional photo processing. The speed of the inkjet printer is constantly rising. The crisp and clear text from the inkjet printer is nearly equal to the quality of laser print. All these are wonderful and welcomed features.

The main point I want to make is this: The real cost of printing is not the purchase price of the inkjet printer. You, the consumer, should be informed of the on-going or real cost of printing. Then, you can decide how much you really want to pay for your printing needs.

If major printer manufacturers were to charge a reasonable price (with profit) for their inkjet printer and reduce the cost of their inkjet cartridges and premium paper, you would realize a substantial savings.

A well-informed consumer is a wiser consumer. If you had a way to estimate the one year cost of printing, depending upon your needs, you’d be able to make a much better informed decision on what inkjet printer would best meet your needs.

Until the major manufacturers change their marketing practices, you can do something about the high cost of printing. There are many reputable online merchants that provide compatible inkjet cartridges and inkjet refill kits that can save you up to 85% on the cost of printing. Five minutes of your time reviewing some of these companies could save you hundreds and even thousands of dollars. That would definitely help you reduce your one-year cost of printing. I thought you needed to know.

About The Author

Larry Andrew is an educational consultant, author and publisher of www.ez-printer-ink.com. Purchasing printer ink, toner and inkjet cartridges on line should be fast, convenient and cost-effective.

Digital photography is taking over the consumer world. People are able to do so much more with their pictures without even leaving their home. To take advantage of this, printer manufacturers are introducing new models by the truckload. Camera owners are snapping these up, printing a few dozen photos but then never doing more. The cost of printing just seems to be too high for them. Enter aftermarket ink. New brands are appearing in display cases all over, offering cheap inkjet cartridges for your home printer.

Depending on what brand printer you own, which model and how many inkjet cartridges it takes, going this route can save you up to half the cost of the printer’s brand. If you shop in the right places a cheap inkjet cartridge may save you even more then that.

A lot of people are skeptical of this option and most of them don’t want to take the chance to find out if their right. After getting used to a couple decades of having to pay up to fifty bucks to refill your printer, a cheap inkjet cartridge costing only twelve or twenty dollars looks rather suspicious. There are still people out there—I was once one of them—who have found it more attractive at times to simply buy a new printer instead of shopping for ink.

The truth of the matter is getting inkjet cartridges cheap doesn’t necessarily mean you’re compromising on quality. For the most part these aren’t being offered up to you because the manufacturers cut a lot of corners. On the contrary; brand name ink is offered to you at inflated prices. That’s how they stay in business. It’s not exactly an industry secret that when you buy a printer from a certain manufacturer, that manufacturer isn’t making a lot of money. With all the mail-in rebates you find around holiday season, the printers are often let go for cost. Much like the gaming industry they count on your follow up business to turn a profit. So it isn’t until you buy a couple of that brand’s inkjet cartridges that they make any money from you.

This isn’t to say the big brands are gouging you on their ink. They just aren’t offering any good deals or alternatives.

This is how the competition’s cheap inkjet cartridges come through. Because they don’t have to make up profit losses from the hardware, the margin on their ink can be considerably less. For the most part the ink is still high quality.

The only problem comes with the fact that each printer is configured to work with it’s own ink. Each manufacturer uses their own pigments. If you are ever able to get a close look at them then you’ll see that a yellow pigment from one brand is a lot different then that of another. This means that when you buy aftermarket ink, you are not likely to get the exact same result as if you used the original.

On the other hand, different isn’t always bad. Even though the final product doesn’t come out the way the manufacturer intended, you may find that it’s actually better. And if you only need black ink for what you are doing then there’s nothing to lose. I think everyone will find that for the few bucks it costs to try out that cheap inkjet cartridges, it’s worth the risk. Chances are you’ll like the quality and will be able to slice the price of a photograph in half. If not, you haven’t really lost much.

Christopher M. Luck has an extensive background in dealing exclusively with the industries leading inkjet cartridge companies and is now offering his free professional inkjet cartridge secrets to the public. If you are at all interested in Christopher’s personal advice, tips, or secrets on inkjet cartridges you can visit his computer tips blog.

Did you know?

Ink cartridges are tiny gadgets with mundane features, which are indispensable to the inkjet printers which suck them dry.

They’re also very expensive, which I am sure you can vouch for that based on personal experience.

Two ink cartridges can be more money (as high as $80) than the initial investment which was your pretty little printer.

Buyers do not always do the research they are supposed to do before actually committing to the sale.

They purchase an inkjet printer and find out about 3 months down the road that the cartridges cost more than the actual inkjet printer.

Consumers don’t always have time to be sure whether cartridge producers are giving them their money’s worth.

Resellers are pratically giving the printers away knowing the future cost of your ink carts.

No wonder why printer divorce is so high, the printer and ink costs can’t keep a cheap relationship. The only one’s cheaping are the birds.

We took a look at a few cartridge secrets, such as page yields and the effectiveness of multiple-cartridge schemes, to see if manufacturers are delivering on their ink promises. You need to be aware of this information.

Ink Cartridge Primer:

Inkjet printer technology became affordable for average consumers roughly about 11 years ago. Color printers used only one cartridge, containing colors CMY (cyan, magenta, and yellow) ink, all stored in separate chambers inside the cartridge.

This was sometimes called a tri-color cartridge, as you may know referred to by Hewlett Packard.

To print text, the printer simply squirted all three ink colors simultaneously, which created a composite (and sometimes greenish or brown) black.

Then each dot would be placed on top of each other in order to reduce the picoliters. The smaller the drop size the more clear vibrant colors and detail images you would get.

Modern printers improve upon the one-cartridge design by supplementing the CMY cartridge with an individual black (or K) cartridge.

Not only does this improve the quality of black, but it also helps conserve the more expensive color inks for photos.

The addition of black cartridges also spawned the C (cyan) M (magenta) Y (yellow) K (black) acronym that you see on many inkjet specification sheets and equipped printers with enough color power to create approximately 16.7 million tones.

More recently, a few photo printers began shipping with light cyan and light magenta for improved color transitions; Canon’s S820, for example uses six individual cartridges to deliver all 6 color schemes.

Manufacturers, such as Canon and Epson, are also implementing four-cartridge schemes, in which each tank carries only cyan, yellow, magenta, or black.

The primary reason this system is catching on is that it wastes less ink. With a three-color cartridge, you’re forced to dispose of the cartridge when one color runs out, even if one or two chambers still contain ink. This can increase your cartridge cost.

The four-cartridge setup lets you toss only empty cartridges, so you’ll save ink, but depending on your printing habits, you won’t necessarily save as much money as you like.

If you print one color more often than another color, your ink costs may drop significantly. Average users won’t see a huge cost reduction by switching to a printer that uses four individual cartridges.

Some of them won’t print unless all four cartridges are sitting and locked into position within the carriage itself.

Ink Sensors & Page Yield:

Of course, to get the most from your cartridges you have to determine how much ink you’ve used. By this, just calculate the amount of pages you print within each month.

There are two primary methods printer makers use to accurately display ink levels on your screen. Most companies, such as Epson, use a dot-count method.

The dot-count system works using your printer’s driver, which analyzes each image before printing and keeps a running total of the number of droplets sprayed.

Canon claims to have a superior system that uses both dot counting and an optical sensor.

They contain reservoir inside the sponge in the ink tank, [and] the reservoir has an optical ink sensor in it, very impressive.

A light inside the printer shines in the reservoir and the sensor helps determine ink levels.

If the reservoir is empty, the printer estimates that there’s about 20% ink remaining in the sponge below the reservoir, and your PC begins using the dot-count method.

Because cartridge cases are typically opaque, some sort of ink monitoring system is a necessity. But how can you determine if the cartridge will yield as many pages as the manufacturer claims?

Most manufacturers assign yield ratings to black cartridges after draining the tank by continuously printing a 1,500-character document at the default resolution setting.

I decided to test a few cartridges with our own test, which we felt more accurately mimicked real-world use. To maximize your ink yields you need to drop each printer to its lowest resolution.

I also wanted a document that covered the entire page, so my “extreme inkjet test” document contained nearly 3,500 characters.

I loaded our Lexmark Z65 with a new $30.00 black cartridge, company-rated at 600 pages. Our test document printed nearly 694 times before text began to fade, resulting in a cost of about 4 cents per page.

I also subjected the black cartridge in Canon’s S820D to our test. The $13.00 black cartridge has a manufacturer rating of 620 pages. Our test yielded 565 pages of text, approximately 2 cents per page.

You will get your money’s worth from original manufacturer cartridges. Still, it can be painful to spend $30.00 on a new cartridge when you see ads for cartridge refill kits promising to save you loads of cash.

Refill Kit Caper:

We tested a number of refill kits to see if they’ll save money and to compare their output with the results of manufacturers’ inks. For our tests, we gauged ease of use in preparing and refilling two black cartridges and then subjected those tanks to the Extreme Inkjet Test. Further tests took place on the yield potential and color quality of one color refill system.

Each kit works in basically the same way. You apply rubber gloves and pry, slice, or screw your way into the empty cartridge. Make sure you have a good top cutter. You don’t want to crack the plastic.

Then you carefully open a bottle of ink and use a syringe to withdraw a few milliliters of ink. After injecting the ink into the cartridge, you seal it up using the provided tape or rubber stopper. Sounds easy, right? Easier said than done.

Actually, I found it nearly impossible to avoid spilling ink. Be careful not to get ink on your clothes, it can soak your skin, and when covered properly, ink slopped on the table.

After all this, the cartridge produced about 25 full-page photos, which was OK, considering the huge bottles of ink should last for about nine more refills (about 25 cents per photo).

Photos looked remarkably good on both plain and photo paper, but they were grainy compared to photos printed with Epson ink. Worse yet, shortly after printing a few photos we attempted to print black text, and after a few pages, the tank stopped working and ink spewed all over the printer.

The chip resetting software may have caused the malfunction.

In spite of the uncertain cost savings and poor photo quality, refill kits are hot items, flourishing in spite of printer manufacturers’ efforts to convince customers that third-party inks are superinferior.

In spite of advances made by third-party ink makers, printer manufacturers refuse to back down from their claims that such inks simply don’t work correctly with advanced print head technology.

Refill Rebuttal:

Canon, Hewlett-Packard, and Lexmark all use thermal print head technology. Epson uses patented Piezo-electric print heads. The technologies employ slightly different ink cartridges and dissimilar ink formulations to work with the print heads.

In thermal inkjets, a tiny resistor in the print head warms the ink, causing a bubble that forces a droplet out of the print head nozzle.

Epson’s Piezo-electric technology doesn’t heat ink. Instead, a tiny crystal in the print head works like a pump; when a negative charge is applied to the crystal it bends out from the ink chamber and draws in a droplet, while a subsequent positive charge flexes the crystal in, pushing the droplet through the nozzle.

Both technologies have exacting specifications for the inks they shoot.

Inks used in thermal printers are typically dye-based and must be formulated to retain good print qualities under heat stress.

Epson’s ink developers, however, are free to dismiss heat factors and instead create smaller and more consistently shaped droplets. Pairing inks properly with tiny print heads and nozzles is no simple feat.

Ink chemistry is “very complex stuff” in part because the various characteristics of inks affect the way droplets interact with each other on paper. Because every manufacturer’s papers and inks are so different and multifaceted, there’s just no way can a third-party lab reproduce the original ink quality.

Although refill kits may produce prints that initially look nice, it’s doubtful they have the same fade-resistant or water-resistant properties of original printer inks.

Manufacturers also stress that while using a refilled cartridge doesn’t affect your printer’s warranty, if your printer malfunctions due to a refilled or modified cartridge, the warranty is voided.

Whether you trust printer makers or their refill-kit competition, our opinion of refill kits is that they’re a bit of a hassle to use.

If you print a lot of text, they may save you money. However, we wouldn’t pair third-party inks with expensive photo paper, especially if you want your prints to last for years.

Print Job Complete:

Ink cartridges are complex, sometimes controversial, and always necessary for the users who depend on inkjets for their stellar text and graphics production.

Understanding cartridges and their refill potential will help keep you printing for years to come, and your knowledge may help you save a few bucks, too.

Hopefully this information has been supportive to you printing means and instances that you may have encountered before. You now have the confidence to deal with any printing matters.

“Be in charge of your printer ink; don’t let your ink cartridges be in charge of you.”

These exposed secrets will prevent you from falling into the ink river and printer pit drowning on the retail shore which happen to be overpriced in the first place.

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Forget about emptying your wallets every time you see the blinking light. Quit worrying and start doing it yourself! It’s an easy process that won’t take you more than five minutes.

The following is included in a typical ink refill kit: ink bottles, syringes and detailed instructions. Some kits include an air balance clip for balancing the air inside the cartridge to ensure proper ink flow. Some kits also include hand-drill tool to make a hole in the top of your empty cartridge.

Refilling Process

1. To start the refilling process, fill the syringe with one of the ink colors over the sink or several sheets of scrap paper to prevent any mess. Different printers hold different amounts of ink. In most Epson printers, the black cartridge holds approximately 17 ml and the color cartridges hold approximately 8 ml. See the instructions with your refill kit to see how much ink your cartridges can hold.

2. Before inserting the needle, make a small hole in the top of the cartridge (one for each color chamber). The hole is at the top of the cartridge near the label. Simply push the needle through the hole and press to the bottom of the cartridge towards the outlet hole. It’s important to fill the cartridge slowly so as to avoid the ink from foaming and introducing air in the chamber.

3. You do not need to seal the refill holes since there are already breather holes on the top of the cartridge.

4. Any unused ink can be put back in the bottle. You should clean the syringe with water and dry it properly to do the same process for the other cartridges or for future use. You can also label each syringe for the different colors so that each syringe is only used with one color.

5. Once you place the cartridge back in the printer, run the cleaning cycle 1 to 3 times. If there are any gaps in the printing, run the cleaning cycle again.

Don’t Forget

There are a few things to remember when refilling your cartridge. It should be refilled before the cartridge is completely empty to avoid the chamber from drying out and clogging. Also, it is a good idea to let the printer cartridge sit for a few hours (or overnight) so that the pressure in the cartridge will stabilize.

Some printers, like newer Epson models, have a green chip on their ink cartridges which is visible by looking at your cartridge. They are often referred to as “Intellidge” cartridges. The chip keeps track of how often the cartridge is used and lets the computer know when the cartridge may be low or empty. As long as you reset the chip, refilling the cartridge with ink from a refill kit will not be a problem. A resetting tool can be used to reset the memory on the chip. This allows the printer to recognize the cartridge as being full which makes printing with a refilled cartridge possible.

Refilling your own ink cartridge is easy, good for the environment, and very good for your pocket.

Marisa Pellegrino

About The Author

A recent grad from Concordia University’s English Department, Marisa uses her computer technology skills along side her writing skills to be the webmaster for www.printpot.com. Sharing her interest and expertise about ink jet refill kits has helped convince many of the advantages of refilling rather than discarding empty cartridges. Marissa can be reached at info@printpot.com.