The Great Printer rip-off scam.... (1 Viewer)

Scrums · Oct 27, 2004

Hiya all,

As I've posted.....gotta get a new printer - 'cos I've bugg*d up the head using 'compatable' cartridges. (Canon i550)

I've been doing some checking up on replacements: I quite fancy going back to Epson, which I've always used......

I can get the r300 @ £95, but it comes with card readers and pictbridge that I don't need.
I can get the r200 @ £80, which seems to be the same thing, but without the bits I don't need....

Both obviously, come with ink tanks - 6 in all. The best price for original cartridges that I can find is £11 each !!

It doesn't take a degree in maths to see that at £80 for the r200, you're getting a 'buy a pack of genuine cartridges and get a printer for £13' offer !!

My long laboured point is this: I've seen compatables for this model at £12.99 a set ! - should we just start using both inks AND printers as consumables?

Obviously the ink quality and therefore the end result won't be as good, but a year or so down the line - chuck it all out and start again.

Your thoughts please, Ladies & Gentlemen....

Chris.

Mike Pennington · Oct 27, 2004

Scrums said:
Hiya all,

As I've posted.....gotta get a new printer - 'cos I've bugg*d up the head using 'compatable' cartridges. (Canon i550)

Obviously the ink quality and therefore the end result won't be as good, but a year or so down the line - chuck it all out and start again.

Your thoughts please, Ladies & Gentlemen....

Chris.

Same as mobile phones. They gave 'em away and made thier money on the calls.

Printer are sold at cost, more or less. the companies make profit from the cartridges (they have to make it some way).

FWIW I have very bad experiences with compatible catridges (they wreck the printer and don't print properly) and always use originals but you could just buy a 'disposable' printer and use cheap cartridges I suppose.

KC Foggin · Oct 27, 2004

I do know that printer prices are unbelieveable low as they make their money in the ink cartridges. We refill our cartridges at work here but I wouldn't attempt to do this with my printer at home.

Here in the USA, the manufacturers of these printers are starting a drive to remove all the refillable cartridges in existence and are promising schools bonus prizes for every lot of turned in ink cartridges. I'm assuming a non-refillable cartridge is on the horizon. Then watch the prices of ink cartridges rise.

Andrew · Oct 27, 2004

I am looking into printers too and trying to find the cheap cartridges first then the printer to keep costs down and it seems the Epsons are the best on offer as with separate colour cartridges if the yellow runs out you don't have to replace the whole colour cartridge.

I shall look into the models you mentioned. I need a front paperfeed though as I keep my printer in a space under the desk and a back feeding system won't fit in there.

Scrums · Oct 27, 2004

Sorry Andrew,

Both of those are top/ rear entry feed.

Andrew · Oct 27, 2004

Yes, just seen that. They look pretty nifty as you can print photos without switching the computer on!

normjackson · Oct 27, 2004

Managed to sidestep the OEM/compatible cartridges dilemma by getting an Epson C84. Found it gives pretty good results for an Epson on uncoated "Art" papers and has apparently good permanence too (probably not as good a photo printer as R200/R300) but ONLY if use Epson Durabrite pigment inks.
Chris, the R200/R300 cartridges are available for a little less than you state here :
http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/default.php?cPath=777_2_201_20101&sort=2a&&page=8

Scrums · Oct 27, 2004

Thanks for that Norm,

Always been a bit wary of 7 day shop in Jersey/Guernsey wherever.....(...we ship less than £18 a time - which is VAT free....)

Their price is £8.70 + £2.95 p&p per order and might take 7 or 8 days to arrive by their own worst estimates.

normjackson · Oct 27, 2004

True, Chris, delivery speed ain't the fastest; so not the best choice for an urgent order. For me printer cartridges are the sorts of things to stock up on so, to date, haven't been kept waiting. The £2.95 covers total postage although your order of six cartridges, say, may arrive in several smaller packages rather than one large one. I've yet to rue the day I first saw them recommended on BirdForum (touch wood).
Of course, these price differences probably won't be sufficient to help solve the OEM/compatible cartridges conundrum...

Norm

P.S. Guess it's really time to remove your snipe photo from my photo host site. Ah well.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v319/normjackson/snipe.jpg

stanacko · Oct 27, 2004

Hi
Re the compatables I always use printrite been using them for about last 3
years and allways get Epson printer at the moment I have the R300 which
uses 6 cartridges and they cost any where between £18-£20 for the fullset
which I think is good.The paper which I use for all my photos is 260g gloss
quick drying all obtainable from computer fairs I never have any trouble with
my printer or the photos.
Stan

scampo · Oct 27, 2004

Scrums said:
Hiya all,

As I've posted.....gotta get a new printer - 'cos I've bugg*d up the head using 'compatable' cartridges. (Canon i550)

I've been doing some checking up on replacements: I quite fancy going back to Epson, which I've always used......

I can get the r300 @ £95, but it comes with card readers and pictbridge that I don't need.
I can get the r200 @ £80, which seems to be the same thing, but without the bits I don't need....

Both obviously, come with ink tanks - 6 in all. The best price for original cartridges that I can find is £11 each !!

It doesn't take a degree in maths to see that at £80 for the r200, you're getting a 'buy a pack of genuine cartridges and get a printer for £13' offer !!

My long laboured point is this: I've seen compatables for this model at £12.99 a set ! - should we just start using both inks AND printers as consumables?

Obviously the ink quality and therefore the end result won't be as good, but a year or so down the line - chuck it all out and start again.

Your thoughts please, Ladies & Gentlemen....

Chris.

There's no way out. I use a laser for school work as it is so cheap to print. I won't use compatible ink as I had two bad experiences with my last printer - an Epson 890. I bought a Canon i865 a month back. It's quite excellent for colour photographs - about 5x faster than the Epson, too. The new Canon Pixma range looks even better and for very little extra cash. I'd go for one of those. Overall, I think that the page cost is still reasonable for the unbelievable quality you get.

Scrums · Oct 28, 2004

Well, think I've finally made a decision. Having been back and forwards all over the web checking out prices and spec's for both printers and inks.

Epson c66 (£52) - a new model giving 5760 resolution and having 3 colour tanks + black.

And strange as could be - best price I can find for OEM inks - Epson themselves ! http://www.buyepson.co.uk/

....just gonna have another look around though.......

Chris

GeoffWood · Oct 28, 2004

Last time that I checked, the price of Epson ink (for a C62) worked out at £1800.00 per litre. More expensive than the most expensive perfume! Not that I wear it!
Epson and other manufacturers do everthing that they can do to tie us into their inks - chipped cartridges, invalidated warranties (if you use compatibles) etc.
Compatible ink manufacturers guarantee the quality of their products to be equal to or better than originals, so if a printer fails, it is a bad printer. The colours produced by comptible inks may be slightly different from originals, but that can be adjusted.
If you bought a BMW car and were told to use BMW petrol at £7.50 per litre what would you think about that?
Ink jet printer inks require high purity and as such will be expensive, but £1800.00 per litre has got to be a rip off.
Do I use compatible inks? Yes I use "Print-Rite" & no problems either, but I don't print many photographs.

Andrew · Oct 28, 2004

If I wanted to print a photo from the computer I would take it to Boots as they do it for 17p a photo which has to be CHEAP!

scampo · Oct 28, 2004

GeoffWood said:
Compatible ink manufacturers guarantee the quality of their products to be equal to or better than originals, so if a printer fails, it is a bad printer. The colours produced by comptible inks may be slightly different from originals, but that can be adjusted.
...Ink jet printer inks require high purity and as such will be expensive, but £1800.00 per litre has got to be a rip off.
Do I use compatible inks? Yes I use "Print-Rite" & no problems either, but I don't print many photographs.

I can sympathise but cannot wholly agree although I've never the inks you use. I did try two different makes of "compatible" inks on my Epson 890 for high quality photo printing and had problems each time. I also believe that so-called guarantees offered by compatible ink manufacturers are, frankly, worthless. I switched back to Epson and never had another problem.

The colour fast qualities of the Epson and Canon inks also seem better than compatible inks. Epson ink on Epson premium paper also always outperformed compatibles for print quality. I wish it were otherwise. The £1800-00 per gallon figure is interesting but not especially useful - look how many folk are paying more for water than they do for petrol these days!

normjackson · Oct 28, 2004

There's a utility here to help squeeze the maximum precious ink from Epson cartridges :
http://www.ssclg.com/epsone.shtml

J_K · Oct 28, 2004

Hi
I started to use jet tec bulk ink about two years ago to refill the cartridges on my epson 810. OK you have to mess about for half an hour at the kichen sink filling and rechipping with the little gizmo, but the money saved is well worth it, must have saved a fortune ( 12 quid for the 5x 30ml colour kit enough for about 4-5 refills). No problems with the printer or the prints, which I store in albums. Print quality, I use Jessops Gloss paper and my prints are viewed by family and friends and tobe honest in the real world nobody can see the differance . After saying all that I am thinking about buying the new R800 but I'll be using third party inks.
Just my two bobs worth.
JK

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