Printer Toner

By Martin McAllister

Sales of small photo printers were higher in November & December 2005 than the rest of the year combined, helping them to account for 32% of all printing devices sold in the UK over that period. According to marketing agency GFK (www.gfk.co.uk), sales of these printers have remained strong in 2006 with a +18% year-to-date rise in volume. With all the major manufacturers heavily promoting their respective ranges, a bumper Christmas is in prospect.

Each of the five major manufacturers: Canon, Epson, Lexmark, HP and Samsung currently hold over 10% of the overall market each, and with around one in five of all small photo printers having a retail price of less than £50 the cost has now reached the point where replacement ink cartridges and paper can equal or exceed half the value of a new printer.

Of the major manufacturers, Canon, Epson and Samsung have all developed cartridge and paper packs which are unique to their respective models of photo printers. Unfortunately, these packs tend to be very restrictive, as no choice of type of photo paper is allowed. Epson and Samsung only have one size of paper available, and although Canon has a range of three sizes of photo paper, all are sold in packs complete with cartridge. HP & Lexmark utilise inkjet cartridges and paper that can be used in other models of printers across their ranges and there is a variety of paper available for use in these models.

Cheaper, compatible cartridges are already available for the more recent models of HP branded printers and it is anticipated that compatibles for Lexmark will be available on the market in due course. Compatible cartridges for Epson, Samsung and Canon, while on the market, are less widely available.

The major manufacturers recently launched a range of printers onto the market, including the Canon Selphy ES1 which has been heavily advertised on TV; Epson Picturemate 100; Lexmark P350 and the HP Photosmart 335. Samsung entered this market in the autumn of this year; however Samsung dealers have been plagued by short supplies of consumables since the launch.

There are many online-based firms, such as Cartridge Concept, who provide low cost compatible ink cartridges and photo paper. While the best prices for compatible consumables for your particular brand and model of printer can be found via the internet, such websites can also often provide an insight into each printer’s performance and can help to calculate the running costs involved for the latest models of printers available from the major manufacturers.

Martin McAllister is a freelance online journalist. He lives in Scotland.

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By Frank Bolsom

Buying things on the internet can save you a lot of money and printer ink is no different. Because they have less overhead than a traditional store, often with no physical location to pay for, many internet retailers can sell for quite a bit less.

The drawback to this, of course, is that you can’t go and look or test something before you buy it. If you’re buying the original brand of cartridges for your printer, this doesn’t really matter since they will be the same no matter where you buy them.

If you’re buying discount cartridges, however, there could be a big difference in print quality from one brand to another. Not being able to see a sample of the results ahead of time might make it harder to know which ones you can rely on.

The most important thing to check when buying your ink on the internet is what kind of guarantee they offer. Reliable ink companies will give you a full money-back guarantee in case you’re not happy with the results.

The guarantee should cover you whether there is actually something wrong with the cartridge (eg. it won’t print) or if you’re simply not happy with the results.

Because print quality is partly a matter of taste, what some people consider perfectly fine might not meet your standards. If that’s the case, you want to be sure you can return the ink and get your money back.

Another thing to watch for is compatibility information. Different brands and models of printers use slightly different types of ink, and you need to be sure your cartridges are compatible with your particular printer.

Many discount ink companies offer a generic “one-size-fits-all” ink that they claim will work in any printer. This just isn’t possible, and these generic types of ink usually don’t work very well in any printer.

The best companies have specific cartridges or refills for each brand and model, and they will make it clear which ones are compatible for any given cartridge.

You can get just as good results by buying your ink online – while saving a lot of money – but be sure to check the website against these tips so you’ll get the results you want.

Frank Bolsom offers advice for buying HP, Dell and Epson printer ink on the Inketeria website. For more helpful tips and tricks for saving money on your printer cartridges, visit http://www.inketeria.com

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By Frank Bolsom

Printer ink refills can save you a lot of money compared to buying new cartridges every time you run out of ink. They can cost as little as 10% of the price of an original ink cartridge.

There are a few things you need to be aware of, though, if you’re going to use refill kits.

The first thing to keep in mind is that each brand and model of printer uses slightly different types of ink. If you use a “generic” refill kit that claims to work for any printer, chances are it’s not going to work very well on any of them.

You need to be sure to get a refill that is specifically compatible with your brand and model of printer, to get the best results.

Another thing to consider is how many refills you get from a kit. Many refill kits include enough ink to refill a cartridge 3 or 4 times.

While this can keep the price down, remember that a cartridge should only be refilled a couple of times before it is replaced. After that, it will start to malfunction and it won’t matter how good the refill ink is, your print quality will still be poor.

If you buy a refill that has enough ink for multiple uses, you can always buy a new (or remanufactured) cartridge after refilling yours a couple of times and then use the rest of the refill ink on that one when it’s empty.

Refill kits usually have a longer shelf life than cartridges do, often as much as 2 years. If you don’t do enough printing in that time to use up the refill, it may not be the best option since you’ll probably end up wasting part of it anyway.

The other common problem with refill kits is that they can be quite messy if you aren’t careful when refilling them. Companies that refill empty cartridges have specialized equipment that makes it quite simple.

When you’re doing it yourself, ink can leak or spill and it can make a real mess if you’re not careful. Be sure to read through the refill kit instructions thoroughly before attempting the refill – probably a couple of times.

Check the website of the company you bought the kit from and see if they have any special tips or even a video showing how the process works.

It might even take you a couple of tries to figure out how the refill process works, so it’s best not to leave it until you are on a deadline. Having to attempt a refill for the first time in the middle of night before your major project is due is not the time to find out whether you can make it work!

Frank Bolsom shares tips and tricks for getting the most out of your printer ink, toner and other printer supplies on the Inketeria website. For more helpful advice, visit http://www.inketeria.com

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By Benjamin Adamson

In present days printers have become a natural extension of our personal computers. You can’t imagine a PC without the printer and almost every task you have to do is related to the printer: you have to print your pictures, your documents or your kids just have to print the latest Pokemon poster. That is why the ink cartridges run empty in no time. But as we all know, buying ink cartridges for our printer might be a hole in our budget. That is why you can use an ink cartridge refill kit, because it would be a shame to throw an ink cartridge that costs us up to 30 $ because we are out of the red color. Be careful though, not any ink cartridge refill kit matches your printer’s cartridge. Before you purchase one, read carefully the list of manufacturers’ cartridges that can be refilled with it.

The ink cartridge refill kit contains three bottles of ink; red, yellow and green, a bottle of cleaning solution, a syringe and a manual with directions. The refilling process might get messy if you do not take some caution measures and you do not read carefully the instructions from the manual. In the instructions manual you can find a step to step guide on how you can refill your ink cartridge yourself, suggestions on getting the ink flowing, like flooding the ink heads with the cleaning solution. Before you begin, cover the surface of the table with newspapers to prevent the staining. It is recommended to use rubber or latex gloves because you might get ink on your hands and the ink is hard to remove. When you inject the ink into the ink cartridge, be careful not to overfill it, in order to avoid getting ink on the printer’s circuitry. This can lead to a damage of the electronic system and a void of the printer’s warranty. If you have dry ink the ink pathways must be cleared with the cleaning solution.

Some of the ink cartridges may require inserting the ink through the cartridge top and you have to drill a hole in the top of it. It is not a difficult task, but you have to pay attention that you don’t damage the cartridge while refilling it. After you have had the ink cartridge refilled, than print a test paper. If you don’t like what you see, maybe is because the ink has not the same quality as the original ink of the manufacturer’s cartridge and you should stick to the brand instead of choosing alternative and cheaper suppliers.

This technique works great on printers that were made a few years ago, but it might be tricky for the ones that appeared in the last two years. They contain embedded circuitry that makes it impossible to use anything but to buy manufacturer’s cartridges, and the only option is to purchase a new one.

You can extend the life of your ink cartridge and you can reduce the costs of your printer by several refills with this kit instead of buying a new cartridge with up to the point where the ink cartridge doesn’t work any more and it needs to be sent to recycling companies.

What do you do when you require an Ink refill? Refilling your cartridges may be much more cost effective for you in the long term. For much more on this, check out http://www.recycleinkcartridgesnow.com for advice on everything related to ink.

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