Own-brand ink cartridges vs. "premium brand"

[Rhys W]

I need some cartridges for my Canon Pixma and "premium brand" (i.e. non-Canon) sets cost about a third of the "real" ones. My natural cynicism leads me to think that the manufacturers are running a cartel, raising prices on the cartridges to subsidise hardware prices and lock the customer in to their models. However, my printer hasn't been working so well recently on Tesco own-brand inks - I don't know if this is because the inks are crap or that my printer is past its best (it hasn't really seen any heavy use).

Can anybody convince me either way that there is no real difference, or that the cheap ones don't really work so well?

[Mr Arch]

I have a HP colour laser and I use cheap Ebay refilled toners and it works fine at about £100 for three colour and two black toners instead of about £80 per toner.

I used to have an Epsom photo printer with their four colour cartridges.  I tried non branded cartridges from Staples and it died.  Even replacing with costly Epsom cartridges wouldn't bring it back.  The printing is rubbish, smeary and streaked.

[Jaded]

However, at least you won't get indigestion using it.

[GraemeMcC]

I'm at the banging the head on the wall stage with my Epsom (think it's a D88 or D90 or summat like - I'm not at home to confirm).

But even buying alledgedly genuine Epson (teddy bear) cartidges from Tesco/Boots/Staples, the printer software still keeps telling me that I'm using non-genuine Epson ink and tries to throw wobblies. 
Then, it reports "ink low" when there is only 10% left. OK, fair do's for the warning/reminder, but not for every goddam print being done that day! 
When it does report "out of ink", then what's the stuff sloshing around inside the cartridge then? Scotch Ink? (mist) 
It's all a con / rip-off.

I've tried Tesco own-brand ink and never again.  Smears!
I haven't ever tried re-filling my own cartridges - anyone managed with success?

[LEE]

My natural cynicism leads me to think that the manufacturers are running a cartel, raising prices on the cartridges to subsidise hardware prices and lock the customer in to their models.

I don't think this is such a big secret.  Ink is where the profit-margins are.  It's more expensive than CHANEL perfume by volume in some cases.

You can buy a printer for £30 but the refills cost twice that and many don't even have a print-head as part of the new cartridge, it's just a plastic box with an absurdly small amount of ink inside. 

Go figure you where the profits are:

1) A big bulky printer full of precision moving parts, motors, leds, wires, power supply that needs shipping in a big cardboard box full of polystyrene = £30

2) A tiny plastic box with a small amount of ink in it = £18

An advantage of my HP Deskjet is that the cartridges are comparatively large and last over a year usually.

[Rhys W]

I didn't think it was a big secret, I was more interested in people's experience of 3rd party inks. Reading around some reviews they seem to give their fair share of problems (not recognised, poor quality, smearing etc.) I baulk at forking out £35 for the Canon name, yet the £12 alternatives never seem satisfactory.

Pretty sure this will be my last inkjet though. They're great when they're new but seem to reach a point when they're more trouble than they're worth. Their original appeal (printing photographs at home!) isn't relevant any more.

[Biggsy]

2) A tiny plastic box with a small amount of ink in it = £18

And a precision nozzle* and an integrated circuit.  Still overpriced though, of course.

* Except when the nozzles are in the printer rather than the cartridge, like the Epson R800 I had.  It's possible that the third-party ink I used helped to block them up.  But when the nozzles are in the cartridges (like they are with most printers, I think), all there is to lose is the cartridges, so you can experiment without very much fear.

I'm delighted that my Canon MP250 printer/scanner/photo-copier only cost £30 cos I don't use it very much!  The old HP LaserJet does the donkey work.

[Valiant]

What you want is CISS. Cheap inks killed my S9000 but then I brought it back by steam cleaning the printheads.

[Biggsy]

What you want is CISS.

Yeahbut with what ink?  I used some that was claimed to be made of rare German caterpillars and angel sweat, but was really rubbish.

[Ham]

If you want to get decent photoreal colour out of your printer "real" inks are the only way to go, choose a printer with individual colour ink is the way to go, so you don't throw all out when one is empty. The great thing about inkjet printers is that you are replacing the head at the same time, so you can use cheap cartridges when it doesn't matter, and decent ones when it doesn't. AFAIK, it shouldn't screw up your printer.

[LEE]

The great thing about inkjet printers is that you are replacing the head at the same time, so you can use cheap cartridges when it doesn't matter, and decent ones when it doesn't. AFAIK, it shouldn't screw up your printer.

That depends on the Inkjet printer. Some have fixed print-heads and you risk permanent damage if you clog them up with unsuitable ink.

(Yes, you can get them serviced but that will cost you more than a new printer in many cases)

Manufacturers are also getting very canny about swapping cartridges.  Many cartridges are "chipped" and printers will reject cartridges under certain conditions "to protect the printer from inferior products" (ahem.....or to force people to stump up £18 for a teaspoon of ink).

[fred the great]

I refill my Pixma cartridges about three times until the printer says enough and fails to print nicely requiring me to buy new cartridges which the Printer accepts gracefully.

Printer cost about 20 quid three years ago and seems to be in good health

[Auntie Helen]

I use 7dayshop's fake Epson ink and so far it has worked really well and not clogged up my printer. Mind you, I'm not trying to print out photo quality stuff the whole time, it's just printing documents really, but at under £4 for a set of four inks it's a no-brainer (to me) and so far hasn't bunged up the printer and I've been using these inks for several years.

[Bledlow]

My HP laser is happy with any old toner, & re-manufactured cartridges - and a good thing too, as HP cartridges  cost several times as much as what I buy. Refilling kits are more expensive than AnyOld remanufactured cartridge, so I don't buy 'em.

When I had a bit of driver trouble with Windows 7 & my ancient printer, I looked at alternatives, & found that there are great differences in both the price of original cartridges, & the availability & price of alternatives. This is likely to be a major factor in any future decision on which printer to buy.

[Manotea]

I've always used HP printers, and the amount of HP ink I've used is statistically insignificant.