Home inkjet printer with OE refillable ink cartidges

[mtbdudex]

I'm going green at home.

Been using only rechargeable AA/AAA batteries for past year.

Now is the time to get a inkjet printer with OE refillable ink cartridges.
By this, I mean Canon/HP/Epson design refillable, not 3rd party kits.

Suggestions appreciated.

Should be basic home use, not those tube/feed things I've seen.

 

[MacNut]

Don't do it, all refill ables suck and will never get you the quality you want. Plus they are not worth the refilling mess.

 

[Zh2]

I second that!

The quality is 'oribble. They make a mess and its just not worth it IMHO.

Regards.

Z

 

[mtbdudex]

Both you missed my simple point.
(and I do agree the 3rd party ones are a mess, etc)

I specifically said not 3rd party, but developed and designed as integral part of the printer business model by the big printer OE's. Canon, Epson, HP, etc.

Simply, how much landfill space do we really need to delegate to these plastic ink cartidges?
If this was available:

Win = environment
Win = consumer mindset
Win = $$ saved by consumer

The print maker who comes on board and does this will truly have a win-win.

However, is there truly a reduction in ink usage due to tablets/iPhones, etc, so this is becoming a non-issue....I'm not sure where the sales data shows for that.

It's also clear there is no consumer inkjet printer on that market right now that fits this bill.
I'd bet some of the market surveys by Canon/HP/Epson does show some consumers would like this, if they had a choice.
Total cost of ownership could dramatically go down.

Remember what happened to Kodak.......digital replaced film...now screens replacing paper....seems good leadership could provide nice innovation for home usage.

Ok, I'll get off my soapbox.

 

[mtnbikemama]

Both you missed my simple point.
(and I do agree the 3rd party ones are a mess, etc)

I specifically said not 3rd party, but developed and designed as integral part of the printer business model by the big printer OE's. Canon, Epson, HP, etc.

Simply, how much landfill space do we really need to delegate to these plastic ink cartidges?
If this was available:

Win = environment
Win = consumer mindset
Win = $$ saved by consumer

The print maker who comes on board and does this will truly have a win-win.

However, is there truly a reduction in ink usage due to tablets/iPhones, etc, so this is becoming a non-issue....I'm not sure where the sales data shows for that.

It's also clear there is no consumer inkjet printer on that market right now that fits this bill.
I'd bet some of the market surveys by Canon/HP/Epson does show some consumers would like this, if they had a choice.
Total cost of ownership could dramatically go down.

Remember what happened to Kodak.......digital replaced film...now screens replacing paper....seems good leadership could provide nice innovation for home usage.

Ok, I'll get off my soapbox.

Hey, Mtbdudex! I totally agree with your idea. I work in my kids school library (A LOT) and ordered a refilled cartridge for the printer. It was refilled by Office Depot, but it was a Canon cartridge. It wouldnt work. An error message came up saying it wasn't the right cartridge. It looked exactly like the one I took out and said Canon right on it. It was returned and we got a new Canon cartridge and it worked fine. I thought this was a bit odd, but then I thought Canon doesn't want cartridges being refilled because they don't make money on it. So then...why don't they provide a refill service? It seems like, in this day of "going green" every printer company would jump on this bandwagon.

Thanks for sharing your soapbox! Incidentally, our school has a cartridge recycling program. I'm not really sure how it works, but our school benefits in some way, and cartridges don't go to landfill.

BTW, completely unrelated-new bike (finally) Trek Fuel EX8. I'm loving it!

 

[MisterMe]

... It seems like, in this day of "going green" every printer company would jump on this bandwagon.

...

The fact is that this day of going green is not in the Year 1989. The economics of inkjet printers is upside down and inside out. Today, many buyers never replace their ink cartridges. They buy the printer, use the bundled cartridges, and then toss everything when the cartridges expire. This is because the replacement costs of the ink cartridges is more than 50% price of the printer. Inkjet printers are not the only ones competing for our money. Today's laser printers and solid ink printers are now priced lower than inkjet printers of a few years ago. Color laser printers are now competitive with high-end inkjet printers. Some are actually cheaper than high-end inkjet printers. In the case of solid ink printers, there are no plastic or metal remnants to dispose of. Laser printers and solid ink printers produce crisp dry impressions a cost substantially lower than the cost of the wet runny impressions produced by inkjet printers.

 

[mtnbikemama]

... Today, many buyers never replace their ink cartridges. They buy the printer, use the bundled cartridges, and then toss everything when the cartridges expire....

I don't know anybody that does this. This brings up a whole new issue...Where are these printers going after they are discarded? That is a disturbing trend if it's actually as prevalent as you suggest. I do understand your point, as I just recycled an old fax machine myself because the replacement cartridge was almost $150.00. I picked up a new fax machine for $35. Fax's are mostly obsolete & I nearly didn't buy a new one, but need it about 3 times a year for business. For us, buying new cartridges for our existing printer is less expensive than a new printer. For now. But I can see a time when printers, like fax machines, are mostly obsolete. Wasn't the hue & cry of yesteryear "Imagine the paper & ink we'll save by using computers!" Perhaps we're finally, actually getting to that point. (But probably not in my lifetime.)

 

[mofunk]

I recycle my ink cartridges at the store.

 

[mtbdudex]

My first time doing ink refill as DIY Jan-23-2012.
Color bottles - check, black bottles, check, magic "chip reset-er", check, drill - 18v DEwaltt - overkill but check, paper for spills - check.
It worked!! I won't use this printer for photos, but everyday color usage.

>>Kids school projects, basic prints, etc, things that are used for short time and thrown away.

Only incident, my 7 year old boy was circling the kitchen Island on his new rip-stick skateboard, bumped the table, and the used cleaning solution with the ink in it spilled.....quickly cleaned it up and by sheer luck it did not stain the wood floors and missed the chair cloth seats....

So I do agree with the "messy" feedback above, but even so with care anybody can do this.
For next refill, all I need to do is remove the orange plug, inject more ink, put orange back in, and re-set the chip.

Now, why can't Canon/HP/Epson simply MAKE their ink cartidges with these ink plugs in them from get go??
Is there some industry collusion or " verbal agreement" not to do so - to keep it outta the public eye of course, to keep everyones profits up?
Surely, if 1 did it others would be forced to follow suit.

mtnbikemama - cool on the new bike! It's been crappy winter here in Michigan, no snow, so no skiing, yet no trail riding either. Getting itchy being cooped up.

 

[Captpegleg]

It does seem like it's the tail wagging the dog and manufacturers giving away consumer grade ink-jet printers just so they can sell ink. If the profit they make on ink cartridges is what keeps their boat afloat and allows them to keep improving the printers for the next 20 years like they have in the past 20, good on 'em.
I remember paying about $6,500 for a 300 dpi laser printer from Apple. Of course, it was just black. I don't remember how long it took to coax a page of print out of it but it was by no means quick. Now it's so easy to print a full color near-professional grade photo from your kids printer.
As for me, I wish Epson would adopt the same marketing stratey on their pro-level printers I know I can afford their ink, if I could just figure out a way to park one of their 9,000 series in my driveway.

 

[Mac_Max]

Not so much tail wagging the dog as it is the *real* version of blades and razors as practiced by razor companies. Gillette and friends sell cheap handles (Schick actually mailed me one on my 18th birthday and gave me a second one at my university) so that you'll pay $15 for three replacement blades. When they need something more profitable, they come up with another widget (or another blade) that has an incompatible handle so you now need to buy that too!

Printers companies do the same thing. When the current generation of HP printers came out they all switched to a Cannon style ink cartridge and offered XL sized cartridges and a three times the normal capacity text-black cartage along with a photo black. It was a really really nice feature. Now they have nixed the extra capacity text black and sell only this thin "XL" text black that delivers about half the pages.... for the same price as the old cartridge. I believe their brand-newest printers (the ones with web print, mobile device printing, print via an email to the printer) can't use the old XL text black either. Bastards .