Anyone have experience with generic ink?

[bpetruzzo]

I've got a Canon printer that I bought with my MBP last year which has finally run out of ink. I was wondering if anyone has experience using generic ink in their printers. I only ever use it for printing documents. Almost never print color, and when I do it's not crucial that it's accurate.

So being that generic cartridges are literally a quarter of the price, I'm wondering if anyone has some experience with them that could advise me.

 

[geoffreak]

Why not just buy the Canon ink cartridges? If they lasted you that long, I'd say they are worthwhile investments.

 

[redwarrior]

You will be taking your chances. They have worked fine for me for the most part. The ones I got that I didn't like required that I remove the chip off of the old cartridge and use two-sided type to apply it to the generic replacement. It was hard to do, and I had to keep removing and reapplying the chip until it worked. I found some that did not require this, and have only had one cartridge that would not work in my printer.

I think it's worth a shot. You may find a company that provides a high quality generic, but it may take a few tries.

This is where I got mine.

 

[Darth.Titan]

In my experience, aftermarket ink charges are not worth the "savings".

Yes you may save a few bucks, but they never work quite as well as OEM. Especially if you plan on printing photos.

My $.02

 

[-Ryan-]

In my experience, aftermarket ink charges are not worth the "savings".

Yes you may save a few bucks, but they never work quite as well as OEM. Especially if you plan on printing photos.

My $.02

Agreed. I've never found an aftermarket cartridge that has just worked with any printer. In saying that, I think it's wrong that printer manufacturers deliberately hold a monopoly on their supplies, but that's life. Even worse route to go would be to try and fill up your old cartridge. That is hell if you try and do it yourself.

 

[redwarrior]

In my experience, aftermarket ink charges are not worth the "savings".

Yes you may save a few bucks, but they never work quite as well as OEM. Especially if you plan on printing photos.

My $.02

I've been happy with mine, but, I don't print many pictures. The OP said that he prints mostly B&W docs though, so he may be happy with generic.

 

[bpetruzzo]

Yeah, a refill of all the cartridges on my printer comes out to about $80 if I buy the cartridges separately. I found a supplier that was fairly well spoken of offering cartridges including chips for a little less than half the price. About $30 for the whole set. So I thought I'd take a stab at it. If it works it could be a significant savings because they can also be bought in bulk for even less.

I suppose I'll try it out and let everyone know how it goes.

 

[socrates35]

Ink cartridges

I would suggest ink refurbed cartridges from www.inkplustoner.com. They are half the price and will print just as well as the oem. For your stated printing purposes they will work great for you and be very cost effective.

 

[danny_w]

The only time that I ever tried generic ink cartridges they completely ruined my (then almost new) Epson printer (leaked all over the inside of teh printer). I will never chance them again.

 

[keith-o]

I bought a syringe refill kit for my canon pixma 2 years ago and I am still refilling it using that same one. It works great (though refilling can be messy). Its ridiculously cheap. Before that, I used generics for my epson. Was happy with those as well.
I feel like it might fade faster than OEM but not sure since there are other variables at play for me over the past year such as heat and paper. Color fidelity is exactly the same. The paper you print makes the biggest difference.

So, to sum up - I like a refill kit best as its so cheap and Id never go back to theOEM monopoly - there is simply no benefit.