Why is HP Ink expensive?

[Silver_Pharaoh]

Seriously, my dad just bought some ink for out HP Officejet 6600 and it cost him $63.94 CAD before taxes.

$26.01 for 933XL Cyan Ink
$44.93 for 932XL Black Ink.
Total discounts were $7.

We got the HP OfficeJet 6600 for free but the head was malfunctioning. I found a head for $90 so we just went out and bought a new OfficeJet 6600 instead for $115 at BestBuy. That was 3? years ago.
So either this printer is already outdated thus ink somehow becomes expensive or we are getting ripped off badly.


Is there a cheaper place to buy ink? He bought them at Staples in town.
Maybe some other brand of printer that's cheap on ink for years to come?

 

[Janus67]

Laser printers offer the cheapest per page ink prices. You can generally buy refilled cartridges for significantly less.

 

[RollingThunder]

There is little profit in the inkjets themselves, they get you with their proprietary
ink cartridges as you have learned. As you can see a few color refills add up to
about the cost of the printer. Janus is correct in that the cost per page for the
color laser printers is cheaper but the initial cost for the laser is much more.
Good refill cartridges are available and most do work quite nicely.

 

[KharmaKazi]

better of using a constant ink supply, been using these units for a few years now on different printers and very good quality print outs and they also give me less dramas than using the cheap refillable cartridges.
http://www.rihac.com.au/product_info.php/officejet-6500-series-ciss-chipped-p-629 "not sure if this one will fit"
plenty of others on ebay though.
http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_...IS+.TRS0&_nkw=HP+officejet+6600+CIS+&_sacat=0

just be careful because some of the el cheapo ones arn't real good, so go for a quality one with A grade inks.

 

[Silver_Pharaoh]

I thought about re-fills, just not sure where to find someone to do it.
Wonder if I could refill myself?

better of using a constant ink supply, been using these units for a few years now on different printers and very good quality print outs and they also give me less dramas than using the cheap refillable cartridges.
http://www.rihac.com.au/product_info.php/officejet-6500-series-ciss-chipped-p-629 "not sure if this one will fit"
plenty of others on ebay though.
http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_...IS+.TRS0&_nkw=HP+officejet+6600+CIS+&_sacat=0

just be careful because some of the el cheapo ones arn't real good, so go for a quality one with A grade inks.

Interesting... Not sure how it works though. Do you leave that big reservoir on top of the printer?

 

[KharmaKazi]

Interesting... Not sure how it works though. Do you leave that big reservoir on top of the printer?

the res needs to sit next to your printer, you "can't" put it above your printer.
after using this system on a cpl of printers now and a few years i would never go back to refilable cartridges.
i know the RIHAC ones are really good quality and quality inks. you would need to research any other ebay etc. cheaper ones ?

 

[Joe88]

you can buy the off brand replacement ink carts for usually $10 or cheaper on ebay

 

[Silver_Pharaoh]

the res needs to sit next to your printer, you "can't" put it above your printer.
after using this system on a cpl of printers now and a few years i would never go back to refilable cartridges.
i know the RIHAC ones are really good quality and quality inks. you would need to research any other ebay etc. cheaper ones ?
View attachment 173207

Ahh I get it now! Thank you!

you can buy the off brand replacement ink carts for usually $10 or cheaper on ebay

True, but I'd feel more comfortable refilling the OEM cartridges myself if I can.

Looking at a few videos on how it's done, it seems like a straight forward procedure.
I'd like to try it at least. Need to find a refill kit...

Is there like a known good brand for re-fill ink?

 

[caddi daddi]

the printers are sold at a loss to a slight profit, all the money is made in the ink.

 

[Joe88]

I guess the solution is just to buy a new printer every time you run out of ink

 

[knoober]

I guess the solution is just to buy a new printer every time you run out of ink

View attachment 173208

True Genuis. Sell the old printer to offset the cost then you'll really be in the money!

 

[Alaric]

the printers are sold at a loss to a slight profit, all the money is made in the ink.

This^ Quite similar to what Mr. Gates did to IBM. LOL

 

[trents]

One reason HP ink cartridges tend to be so expensive is that many of them have the print head built into the cartridge: electronics, nozzles and all. They aren't just ink reservoirs. The advantage of this is that if the print head goes bad you just replace the cartridge and you get a new one along with the ink. But it is very proprietary technology and you won't find inexpensive third party alternatives apart from remanufactured stuff that started life as HP.

I have tried those continuous ink supply systems on a number of occasions and and have not found them to be satisfactory. A great idea that doesn't work as well in actual practice. And as others have said, the alternative to CIS systems, that of refilling OEM cartridges is messy and gives mixed results.

What I have settled on with inkjets is purchasing brands and models for which there are a lot of inexpensive third party cartridges. Even then, you have to be careful as some of the least expensive third party cartridges use inferior ink. Epson and Canon inkjet printers, especially the ones with individual cartridges for each color, tend to have third party alternatives, particularly if the cartridge models they use have been around for awhile and used in a number of their printer products.

Color laser printer prices have come way down in recent years but replacing the toner cartridges is still very expensive.

 

[Silver_Pharaoh]

One reason HP ink cartridges tend to be so expensive is that many of them have the print head built into the cartridge: electronics, nozzles and all. They aren't just ink reservoirs. The advantage of this is that if the print head goes bad you just replace the cartridge and you get a new one along with the ink. But it is very proprietary technology and you won't find inexpensive third party alternatives apart from remanufactured stuff that started life as HP.

I have tried those continuous ink supply systems on a number of occasions and and have not found them to be satisfactory. A great idea that doesn't work as well in actual practice. And as others have said, the alternative to CIS systems, that of refilling OEM cartridges is messy and gives mixed results.

What I have settled on with inkjets is purchasing brands and models for which there are a lot of inexpensive third party cartridges. Even then, you have to be careful as some of the least expensive third party cartridges use inferior ink. Epson and Canon inkjet printers, especially the ones with individual cartridges for each color, tend to have third party alternatives, particularly if the cartridge models they use have been around for awhile and used in a number of their printer products.

Color laser printer prices have come way down in recent years but replacing the toner cartridges is still very expensive.

Do you buy your 3rd part cartridges from a certain/favorite site or store?
Hopefully they might have something for me.

 

[trents]

Yes. Name is: LD Products. Not the cheapest 3rd party ink place around but the cartridges and ink are OEM quality. For Epson and Canon products about half of OEM prices, generally. Used them for years with no issues at all.

 

[Silver_Pharaoh]

Yes. Name is: LD Products. Not the cheapest 3rd party ink place around but the cartridges and ink are OEM quality. For Epson and Canon products about half of OEM prices, generally. Used them for years with no issues at all.

Thanks! Will look to see what they have

 

[psionic98]

I use LD as well for my Cannon printers.. so far I've only had 2 issues, and LD replaced the defectives for me without a charge.

 

[KharmaKazi]

I have tried those continuous ink supply systems on a number of occasions and and have not found them to be satisfactory. A great idea that doesn't work as well in actual practice. And as others have said, the alternative to CIS systems, that of refilling OEM cartridges is messy and gives mixed results.

hmmm, well did you try the Rihac ones ???
i have had 3 of the rihac ones over the years and they have worked flawlessly for me, a lot less blockages if i don't use the printer for a while than using the cheap replaceable or re-fillable cartridges.
printout quality is excellent, re-filling the CISS is easy, and non messy.

i did however fit a cheap ebay CISS to a friends printer for them as they wanted to save a few dollars, this thing was total crap and caused nothing but dramas.
same old story, you get what you pay for...

 

[saturn]

Laser printers offer the cheapest per page ink prices..

Nope. Dot matrix is much less per page. They cost less then a penny vs laser witch can be up words to a dime a page. But dot matrix printers are super slow. You can still buy them new too.

As for ink, well hp printers are name brand and not only that but your buying more then just the ink. Hp ink cart have some sort of chip in them that tell the printer it's a real hp ink cart.

 

[Silver_Pharaoh]

Nope. Dot matrix is much less per page. They cost less then a penny vs laser witch can be up words to a dime a page. But dot matrix printers are super slow. You can still buy them new too.

As for ink, well hp printers are name brand and not only that but your buying more then just the ink. Hp ink cart have some sort of chip in them that tell the printer it's a real hp ink cart.

Yes they do, which is why I apparently need 2 of each cartridge if I refill them myself.

The printer remember the last cartridge installed but it forgets it if I install another cartridge. Basically, it only remember using the last cartridge installed so 2 on rotation should work. I hope....

I showed my mother the LD cartridges so when we run out of ink we will pickup the LD set.
Unfortunately, I only have 2 blacks and cyans so I need to cough up for a genuine yellow and magenta.....