Before you buy a new printer, search your brand and model for the continuous ink system. You will save hundreds on ink. There are lots of suppliers on ebay, it's the only way to go.<span id="INSERTION_MARKER"> <span id="INSERTION_MARKER">
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Before you buy a new printer, search your brand and model for the continuous ink system. You will save hundreds on ink. There are lots of suppliers on ebay, it's the only way to go.<span id="INSERTION_MARKER"> <span id="INSERTION_MARKER">
One time I went into the store to buy ink and noticed a printer was actually cheaper. Since it came with ink, I walked out with a new printer instead. (:
I only use a Mono laser.
Ink Jet Cartridges are too expensive and the printers clog up if not used every few days.
I have a Lexmark Platinum Pro905 All-in-One and they have $5 black ink cartridges. I have my printer defaults to always print in black only. Those rare times that I need color I simply edit the settings at print time. At $5/cartridge, I can afford a LOT of printing!
All,
Our software product, PretonSaver, helps reduce your toner or ink consumption by anywhere from 30 to 50% without visible impact to print quality. We support ink, laser and solid ink printers, locally attached or networked. Right now we are running a limited term promotion for the home edition, download it from http://www.preton.com. For the enterprise edition please contact us at info@reduceprintcosts.com and we'll be happy to build a custom ROI statement for you, free of charge or obligation.
Disclosure: My company, go-ESI, LLC is the US representative for PretonSaver Enterprise.
Haim Toeg,
Founder, go-ESI, LLC
I tried your software on my Windows 7 64-bit laptop and when I try to launch it with command in start menu, nothing happens.
I have been buying Epson printers for years. I have used continuois ink systems or refillable cartridges.
Presently I have an Epson 800 all in One. Prints 9 ppm. This is an all-in-one HD printer with one of the best ratings.
Refillable cartridges and bottled ink bought on Ebay
$25 with ink (6 refillable cartridges very easy to fill) They also have an automatic chip resetter
100ml ink bottles (6) about $30 - these will refill all the cartridges about ten times)
This will last you for years
don't buy a new printer, buy a new ink system, or, if there isn't one for your printer, buy a printer that has one available for it.
I got one for my Brother MFC-5860CN, and it works awesome.
for about $30 bucks I got the ink system, 4 100ml bottles of colored ink.
replacement black bottles are about $7, and a set of all colors is about $11.
as far as I'm concerned this just can't be beat, it was easy to install, took just a few minutes, and I can't see any difference in print quality, but I sure love not spending $15 dollars a cartridge for less than 1/10th the ink.
Allison,
I still run Windows XP Professional and Microsoft Office Professional for almost all my needs. I also use Adobe Photoshop CS2.
I'm not a "techie" but I print a LOT. I am a realtor and do flyers, contracts, etc. I have one old HP2000C and two HP2250's. I buy and use expired OEM ink and printheads on Ebay and have never had a problem. My 2000C has 165,000+ pages printed since new. Page count on both the 2250's is over 100,000.
I just bought an HP 8500 wireless for scanning and copying. It isn't too bad but for just general everyday printing, it is not nearly as cost effecient as the older models since I pay more per ml for the ink. I have always used only OEM ink, no refills.
About once a month I clean the pick rollers to keep them running up to par. Otherwise no maintenance. They are a little noisy but I can buy OEM ink cartridges REALLY cheap. I calculate my cost at about 3 cents per page.
Good Luck!
Joel
I too was sick of paying these ridiculous prices for ink. I got a Kodak 6150 printer. Ink costs are cheap in comparison. 9.99 black cartridge 19.99 color ( they just raised there prices, used to be 16.99 for color). That gives you 420 pages. Quality is good. I set mine to draft print.
As the owner of a very expensive HP Photosmart 3310 all in one printer, I can say this:
At least HP has been taken to court for intentionally rigging their machines and software to refuse to work because one of the cartridges was out of ink (even when they still had some left)or saying that the cartridge was too old and not usable any more (something that was not really true)or intentionally misleading the users about disabling the use of color ink when printing black and white, just so you will have to buy their small and expensive cartridges.
This is Litigation #16439325, that in itself is a joke, because the only thing it offers is a credit to buy HP products from them at their own expensive prices.
So, what happens if like me, you got so sick of these machines that you just got ready of them? Well, you are out of luck, but so are they because I will never buy any HP product again regardless of how atractive they may be.
Reading these posts I realize that not only HP does this, and my recomendation to all is to send them a nice letter explaining this to them.
All we can do is to hit them were it hurts, in their pockets.
Here in New Zealand I use bulk ink tanks, each colour holds 100 mls of ink and all colours cost the same, about $8 to $10 NZ dollars per 100 mls, after installing the tank system you don't need any more cartridges just buy the ink in bulk bottles an re fill the tanks without re charging them. I have 4 printers all working like this and I print out newsletters by the dozens. One of each colour should do about 4 or 5 newsletters of six pages each, hope this is of some help. Itmaybeme.
My wife needed a new printer/scanner/copier so I bought the new Kodak 5150 printer.
It claims to use less ink.
The ink comes in two carts, color and black.
Use gray scale when possible.
Hope this helps
d_may
Alison: I use an Epson Stylus all-in-one machine that has 6 separate ink cartridges for the different colors. Epson tried to make them non-refillable, but there's a solution. There are several different refill kits on Ebay, and they have new replacement cartridges that have special chips in them to override the blocking software. It cost about $30 for the kit, and I bought large 6 oz bottles of refill ink. I spent less than $50 for the whole shebang, and I have been printing A LOT for almost 3 years without having bought ink yet. The system I use is called E-Z Ink, but I couldn't find it on Ebay just now. Here's a link to a similar product. I never even stop to think about using too much ink, it is SO inexpensive. You can get pint-sized bottles that hook directly to the printer, and supply a continuous flow to each cartridge. That way you don't have the mess of refilling the cartridges. I just wear rubber gloves and carry on. Here's the link: <span id="INSERTION_MARKER"> <span id="INSERTION_MARKER"> http://cgi.ebay.com/Dye-ink-Refillable-cartridges-Epson-R800-R1800-w-ARCs-/320691962804?pt=BI_Toner&hash=item4aaabb03b4#ht_2027wt_905
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I have a Dell 1600n that I use professionally and I replace the cartridge about yearly to every eighteen months. It's a BW inkjet and cartridges can be a little pricey but I pick mine up on Ebay ensuring I only buy Dell and they are brand new not the refill type. Cartridges run about $40-50 on Ebay and $80 or so directly from Dell. Compared to the $20-30 cheapie cartridges and printers out there I consider it a bargain especially at the volume I use my Dell. Love the printer and the customer service from Dell.
My Dell is a laser not an inkjet. Best darn printer and still going strong after four of hard work. I highly recommend it.
I have recently switched from using MFR brand name inks (OEM), to using high quality bulk refills. I have three similar Canon Pixma single function printers, and have found that Image Specialist and Hobbicolors inks are a good substitute for the OEM formulas. Yes, I do have to setup the color blends from time to time, because an eight color Pixma IP 8500, and a five color Pixma IP4700 don't use exactly the same ink formulas, but as long as I don't try to use the pigment in a dye based tank, or vice versa, I can usually get good enough results to satisfy my high volume printing needs.
I have actually reduced my yearly ink bill from $1,000-$1,400 down to $90 to $125 per year. I buy my inks from a Canadian based Ebay source, and so far, things have gone pretty swimmingly.
Part of my costs, that I haven't accounted in the above numbers are two different chip resetters, for the two of my printers that require the chips to be reset... but they totaled less than $35 for both resetters. I also bought a handful of syringes from Ebay, and a hot glue gun and a handful of glue sticks from Wal Mart for a minimal cost, all things considered. These items will last for quite a while, and will not add much to the yearly total. I have reused two each empty tanks of each color in each printer, so I can maintain a backup set of inks.
If you wish to do something like this, there is one particular forum you can access to learn all you need to know. It took me a little while and some minimally problematic mistakes for me to reach the point where I am happy with my printing output, but I have learned one valuable lesson in all this. I actually enjoy the minor trouble of doing my refills, one to two sessions a month. Realizing that I am filling as many as 8 to 12 tanks for the same price as purchasing one pigment OEM tank, makes me feel a little gleeful, and so I look forward to my refill sessions.
I tried this before, but didn't stick with it, because I didn't do it quite correctly. A small amount of patience and a degree of desperation at spending so much on printer ink, created an atmosphere that allowed me to succeed on my second try... and I won't be using OEM ink, anymore... unless they find a way to curtail my present activities, with subsequent printer models. Hopefully, my older models will last until I don't print so much.
Good luck.
Hi Allison,
I don't have the time to read all of the replies but here are a some ideas:
Work out the right printer port interface that you need, e.g. wireless, USB or Ethernet
If most of your work is B/W, consider a B/W laser printer
Only use an inkjet printer when you absolutely have to, e.g. for photos
Make sure that if you need to buy an inkjet printer that there are individual cartridges for each colour
Good idea not to use refilled cartridges, most manufacturers will not warrant their devices after refills have been used
Don't buy cheap printers, you get what you pay for in this case as is the usual
Hope this helps.
I have actually three printers, HPinkjet(HP932c),HP photosmart 510a and a lexmark e240n.
I use the B&W laser for normal printing where color is not needed. the other two printers are obviously used when color is needed.
I REFILL both color printers by buying ink from the internet (see links below) along with any one time tools that is needed.
The HP photosmart i bought in January of this year along with a simple device that costs around $5-10 which fools the printer and allows it to continue to print although the ink indexes say no ink left. I have refilled the original cartridges at least three times. There is no reset for this so i see just ? in reference to the level of the five cartridges.
As for the HP932c ,putting some electrical tape on certain places of the print head and swapping out the old cartridge with a new one and doing this a few times and then replacing the new cartridge with the old one, the ink level is reset.
To be honest with you i do not worry about the levels. you can usually tell when ink needs to be replaced by looking at what you are printing.
http://www.misterinkjet.com/
http://www.inkproducts.com/
Hope this helps
You may want to invest in Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500 which is the best selling document scanner for 2011. I hope that this advise will provide you some additional help regarding your printing costs.
I've purchased several HP printers in the past and was generally satisfied with them until I purchased an HP Business Inkjet 1100d.
I seriously doubt that. The type of paper selected determines how much ink is dispensed. If you doubt this, select plain paper when printing on glossy you see a lot more ink on the paper than needed.
I had what was a second-generation Canon inkjet printer long ago. It guzzled ink and had a 2-year warranty. It died after 2 years and 2 days, and that was it, I would never buy another inkjet.
Instead I got a refurbished Konica-Minolta laser for $80, with a half cartridge of toner, which lasted 18 months. I'm still using the printer but I'm not sure Win 7 will play with it. So when I upgrade, we may have to part company. Still, not bad for something I bought in July of 2005. I will never buy another ink printer.
Lexmark has just come out with a new printer and the ink is, to put it bluntly!... Very cheap! Check it out at Lexmark.com
One of the problems that I can see from your question is that, when you print only B/W copies, you should use only the black cartridge. Now some printers don't give you that option. However, Canon printers do! Most of the PIXMA printers have two black cartridges. You can choose to use the black ink, whether you are scanning or printing. I have always used Canon printers and although they do use a lot of ink (color or black), but they do an excellent job, better than any other printer on the market. Stay away from using Laser printers. They are cheap, these days, but their cartridges are more costly than the printer you buy.
Hope I helped.
Mike H.
mhall2385@charter.net
I have an HP c309n inkjet printer. While the printing results are great this printer uses HP's 564 cartridges.
They are small and have never, ever lived up to the number of pages stated by HP. If you buy the XL you will get more and it is wise to do so at least with your black cartridge. Where possible this printer can print on both sides but that only saves paper and not ink. I now have a card from one of the major big box office supply stores where I can get a refund for the used cartridges. They often have discounts as well so it is wise to shop for the best deal. In addition I can also save money with HP's Employee program plan (EPP) from the company I once worked at but overall it is still an expensive proposition if you do a lot of color printing on a high grade photo paper. It would be nice if HP would have a discount for those who use a lot of their ink or simply lower the price.
I avoid using refill ink from third party suppliers. When /I did the quality was never as good as the original.
I have an Epsom SX 515W printer and converted it to a Continuous Ink System a few months ago. The sytem is available on eBay and comes with 100ml of each colour ink. It is not difficult to install and the seller has an excellent on-line video showing how to install.. The system has operated without any major problems and the ink levels now show 'full' . Print quality is also excellent.