HP INSTANT INK

[Senior Paper Monitor]

With some considerable regret have just added an HP 9010 ink jet all-in-device to the office set up (primarily due to the two small Xerox laser printers failing within weeks of each other and the warranty replacement of one quoting 10 working days for delivery).

I have always had a horror about ink jet costs (and when we ran four similar [older model] HP machines we eventually lost the battle to keep control of the machines out of HP's hands and use 'good quality' compatibles). Since then they have apparently continued to wage war on the possibility of using compatibles with more and more 'upgrades' etc and some very determined to 'register you' software.

I have a natural mistrust of HP (or frankly most tech companies) and can't really understand their limited information on their 'instant ink' proposition - currently promoting a 6 month trial (is this actually free up to 700 pages pm for 6 months?).

My guess is that our usage (as soon as our laser printer(s) is/are back and running) is probably going to be around a 1,000 pages a month, maybe less - what do they charge for extra pages?

How easy is cancelling ? I assume that once you have signed up for this, even when you cancel the use of compatibles is no longer possible ?

Has anyone used this and analysed their costs compared with simply buying OEM or compatible cartridges ?

Any opinions, comments or suggestions welcomed.