Printers keep us hooked on expensive ink
pirg.org
pirg.org
Inkjet cartridges are sold at an absurd markup. Black printer ink can be purchased wholesale for $1.18 per fl. oz., while functionally the same ink in a cartridge costs $118 per fl. oz.
Americans could save $10 billion per year by using remanufactured (refilled) ink cartridges. Refilling rather than manufacturing single-use plastic cartridges could save the plastic equivalent to 4 million single-use plastic grocery bags per year.
Printer restrictions are the poster child for the growing conflict between common-sense ideas of ownership and restrictive copyright claims.
People overstate the benefits of third-party ink, tests show that it is frequently awful in performance
http://www.wilhelm-research.com/epson/WIR_Epson3rdParty2007_...
the OEM ink is expected to last 100+ years but some of the third party inks fade in 0.2 years, none exceed 3 years.
Inkjet printing is a serious hobby for me, I print a large number of “three-sided cards” which are intended to be displayed bare (no frame, no glass in front). These are super-low cost (no frame!) so I do expect to replace them frequently, but one ink/paper combination I used faded notably in three months, which I could not accept.
I am always reading accounts of people attempting borderless printing and having inksplosions and often third-party ink is involved. Major vendors are concerned about the VoC content of inks which has an impact on office air quality, cartridge refillers certainly are not. (Isn’t PIRG compared about air quality, health hazards, etc?)
I’m not against third-party ink in principle, but it needs quality standards. Modern inkjet printers produce excellent output if you use quality materials (e.g. fancy coated paper, not “plain white”) and personally I’d never use third-party ink unless I had strong evidence about quality.
In terms of the quality of third-party ink, your experience isn't entirely uncommon. Some folks have great experiences, some don't. There's a lot of variability by brand. For aesthetic/craft printing, that variability might not be tolerable.
The biggest problem I had researching consumer tips for inkjet ink is that there are NO universal quality standards for third-party brands. Other consumer groups like Consumer Reports don't test third-party ink because the industry is too volatile. The market is confusing, which is a shame. The industry rumor is that the remanufacturing trade group is implementing a certification system at some point, which is sorely needed.