A large number of printer manufacturers across the world will tell you that the warranty on your printer will become void if you use a third party replacement cartridge in your machine. As you may already know, companies like HP, Lexmark, OKI, Canon and Epson sell their printers cheap (sometimes even below cost) and make their money off selling you replacement ink cartridges for your printer; so they will do everything that they possibly can in order to make sure that when you need a new ink cartridge you will go back to the manufacturer and buy their branded cartridge.

Because replacement cartridges from the manufacturer are so expensive, a whole host of third party ink cartridge manufacturers have popped up selling ink cartridges to compete with HP, Lexmark, OKI, Canon and Epson. You will have also seen ads for home refill kits to inject new ink into your old cartridge on the television or heard them on the radio. Publications in the United States like ‘Consumer Reports’ have studied and tested these refill kits to try and determine how well they work and if they really do save you money. Such publications have found mixed results, citing the fact that they are very messy and that you must obtain some degree of skill if you are to do this on a regular basis.

Consumer Reports says that the vast majority of third party inks will work reasonably well for most uses. The problems come in printing photographs which have been shown to fade over time when printed with third party ink. The magazine also says that for most everyday uses though, the third party ink is just as good as the Canon’s or Lexmark’s; or – surprisingly – in some cases even better. The price for the third party ink is typically a third to 50% off the manufacturer’s equivalent cartridge. While Consumer Reports recommends off brand replacement cartridges it does not recommend using home refill kits simply – as previously mentioned – because they are far too messy.

One other alternative to manufacturer cartridges are cartridges that are refilled in stores like Cartridge World in the United Kingdom or Walgreens in the United States. Such stores advertise that you can bring in your old, branded cartridge and their printing specialist will refill them with quality ink while you wait (usually just a matter of minutes) for just a fraction (around 25%) of what you would pay for a brand new cartridge from the manufacturer. Unfortunately, refilling your ink cartridges is not always possible. Some manufacturers build into their cartridges a countdown circuit which tells it to shutdown after a printing a certain number of copies.

When shopping for printer supplies it is important to understand the labeling that is present on third party ink cartridges. If it says remanufactured, these cartridges are actually inkjet cartridges which have been previously used and then refilled. Newly manufactured replacement brands that can be substituted for the big name brands are usually termed ‘compatible’ cartridges.

Author Bio: Oyyy.co.uk are the UK’s biggest suppliers of ink cartridges and other printer supplies, with over £8 million worth of stock available for next day delivery.

Category: Computers and Technology
Keywords: ink cartridges, printer supplies, printer cartridges, toner cartridges