Printer cartridges in new printers

[Onan the Clumsy]

Can anyone confirm this?

When you buy a new printer, does it come with cartridges that are only half full? Or are they the real deal?

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Onan the Clumsy,

Some printers come minus a cartridge and others come with sample size cartridges.

Take Care,

Richard

[timbo04]

I do some consutlancy work for a company which sells franchises which refill cartridges and most manufactures sell printers with catridges which are half full - this includes lasers. I wonder why???

[Wing Commander Fowler]

Simply an indication of how competitive the industry is at a guess. Prices are being driven right down and if they can get away with supplying the device with half full cartridges and by thus doing NOT be prosecuted for false claims "cartridges included" then that's what they're gonna do!

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Wing Commander Fowler,

Ink is dirt cheap. The printer makers give their printers away and rape you on the ink. They sell the printers with half ink so you will be buying ink sooner. If you were to take Dom Perignon and sell it by the ounce, you would find printer ink to be 100 times more expensive.

Take Care,

Richard

[Diverse]

Best to get the replacements off the net.

I paid just over a fiver for a black and a colour cartridge for my Canon i455, delivered and including VAT. The cost of cartridges for my old Epson Stylus 480 is a bit over £4 for a black & a colour, that's less than half the price of an epson black cartridge.

I've never had any of the quality issues these cheap cartridges supposedly have.

[amanoffewwords]

And if you don't believe Richard there was an investigation by Which? magazine. One of the findings was:

"Colour HP Cartridge costs £29

This works out at £1.70 per millilitre

1985 Dom Perignon costs 23p per millilitre"


Link

[Wing Commander Fowler]

Would I ever doubt two such esteemed individuals as your good selves.....?

I wasn't commenting on the fact that they save a massive amount on the cost of the ink itself but they ARE placing you in such a position that you will have to buy a replacement cartridge (hopefully for them an original unit) much earlier than if a full one were supplied and still they are NOT breaching any trade descriptions act. Ipso Facto they are getting more income from the purchase of their printer! It's not rocket science really.

Me?? Prefer to drink Dom Perignon than ink any day hehe!

[OVERTALK]

Now Ready for Living again in Living Colour

Whilst we're on my favourite subject - colour printers

A reminder to everybody that EPSON printers (almost uniquely) have their printheads built in and not (like HP and others) on the cartridge itself. So what? (you might ask). Make one small mistake and leave a cartridge in there too long (like over a four week vacation) and you can chuck your printer away. The printheads cost more than a new printer - and there is no way known to man that you can clear a miniature micronised print-head hole. Steer clear of EPSON.

Having gotten that bit of recurring bile off my chest, what's a good make, brand and model for middle of the road colour (individual colour pots and high quality photo printing) - that's not a colour LASER? I've completed my self-imposed 12month color-free penance after the third Epson colour-printer chuckout fiasco - and I'm looking to escape my monochromatic world again.

[Wing Commander Fowler]

Wow - never woulda thought of that one!! Am on my original epson stylus colour 640 which I've had for well some 6 years or more now and regularly leave it for a few weeks between jobs....??? Only ever use cloned inks too! We have some three epson printers within my extended family and similar story HOWEVER made the mistake of getting a one year old C42 cuppla years ago thinking it would be an improvement on my 640 (what with it being latest version and USB to boot) and what a mistake that was!!! Biggest heap of tripe ever connected to one of my ports!

[GARDENER]

As I cannot find a flying job I decided to set up a company..or two! just in case I never get "the" job. My company sources manufacturers in China for companies worldwide and we also import the odd thing ourselves. Well to cut a long story short I was looking for ink cartridges for a customer.(Epson compatibles) As mentioned in previous posts there are plenty of companies supplying ink cartridges....bad news is, after spending some time sourcing a reliable supplier, I found plenty of dodgy products on the market-sometimes half full sometimes empty- the worst ones however are the ones that are full.....of watered down ink. You will generally find this with the unbranded ones who have no name to protect. I eventually found a company based in Dundee supplying a brand called InkRite. Return rate of under 1% and quality as good as Epson originals. I have two printers HP and Epson. Recently bought the Epson as it costs me 5GBP for a pair of cartridges (1 black/1 colour) as opposed to 40-50GBP for my HP. Guess which one I use most?
BTW my sideline is selling these Epson compatible cartridges 5GBP a pair! Fill your boots.