Be advised that I have been using compatible cartridges/ink ever since I changed over from a dot matrix unit to ink jet ones over 10 years ago. At present I am using a Canon photo printer with refillable cartridges and B.S. standard inks. To refill a cartridge costs me about 50p and I have never, ever had a printer problem which I can put down to the use of non-manufacturer's inks. The difficulty has always been to defeat the elaborate mechanisms that manufacturers introduce to prevent users from using third party cartridges.
Of course the market requires the manufacturers to charge peanuts for their printers so they have to (try and) make their profit by selling ink.
P.P.