What are your thoughts about HP Instant Ink?
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@thanksaj said:
@david.wiese said:
@IRJ my dads inkjet was just ruined by using a third party cartridge in his HP printer. All it takes is 1 time and you have your justification to not using 3rd party cartridges.
Exactly. This. Out of 10 batches, only one batch might be bad. But that one batch just ruined your printer.
Sorry AJ, you totally failed on logic here. That one batch that ruined your printer doesn't matter because you just saves nearly $600. I don't know how much money you guys are willing to just throw away, but for me, I'm with the third party ink people. Your own statement here, even though you try to make it a tone of "don't buy third party ink" shows clear as day that it is crazy to buy OEM ink.
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@Dashrender said:
@thanksaj said:
@david.wiese said:
@IRJ my dads inkjet was just ruined by using a third party cartridge in his HP printer. All it takes is 1 time and you have your justification to not using 3rd party cartridges.
Exactly. This. Out of 10 batches, only one batch might be bad. But that one batch just ruined your printer.
But the other 9 batches that didn't already paid the difference for you to purchase a new printer and supplies for the next year. Sure it's inconvenient that you have to run to the store and buy another now, but the savings in your pocket should easily make that worthwhile, unless you're Scott making 7 figures - then your time running to the store is more valuable, and using name brand ink starts to make sense.
Maybe I get offered seven figures because things like "not wasting crazy money on printers just to say I used OEM ink" is something that I actually do financial analysis on
Even for people making gobs of money, the savings here is looking to be enough to justify nearly anyone to buy OEM ink - especially as people can buy a printer via Amazon and have it the next day at home (probably cheaper than Best Buy or Staples anyway) and if you are really into the money you have a personal shopper who costs less per week than the third party ink saves you.There is pretty much no financial situation that leaves you in the position of $600 being so trivial that it isn't worth saving that.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
I don't earn 7 figures but probably two of my top ten most hated things to do are (1) go shopping and (2) setup new printers, so I'm with AJ! Plus, you have take your old printer to the town recycling centre, which is another major ball ache. You can't just bin electrical items here - is it the same in the US?
We rarely "have" to recycle them. I am not even aware of how you would recycle that in most of the US. You can't just bin some things, but printers you mostly can. But let's just say that you want to recycle anyway, you just add it to your pile of normal recycling waste. We deal with that weekly or monthly anyway. Doesn't seem like a big deal, how much do you print? I haven't gone through ten cycles of ink in twenty years. So, on average, it would be like a quarter century between trips to the recycling center for me and after all of that time getting a new printer would probably make sense anyway.
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I may not have read the whole thread but how much are you guys printing at home in order to save $600 by buying third party ink? That sounds like a massive amount of printing. I barely print anything.
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@thanksaj said:
A lot of areas have it so you can't just throw a lot of stuff out. In my area in NY, you have to take stuff to a recycling center. It's a hassle honestly.
But don't you have to go regularly anyway? Or if not, isn't it trivial to have a box of stuff to take and save up until a trip is worth it and/or convenient for some other reason?
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@Carnival-Boy said:
I may not have read the whole thread but how much are you guys printing at home in order to save $600 by buying third party ink? That sounds like a massive amount of printing. I barely print anything.
Which makes ink even less desirable. Unless things have changed in the last few years, I always run into the problem where my ink cartridge dries out, or the jets get gummed up, etc due to lack of printing. This is what makes lasers nice for me.
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@scottalanmiller said:
... But let's just say that you want to recycle anyway, you just add it to your pile of normal recycling waste. We deal with that weekly or monthly anyway. ...
I can't add something like a printer to my weekly recycle pickup, I have to either take it to a recycle place, or in my personal case I can bring it to work and add it to our recycle pile in the office and they take care of it.
Another push back is that most places charge to recycle types types of things, anywhere from $5 for a device to $0.25/lb for a pile.
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@Dashrender said:
@scottalanmiller said:
... But let's just say that you want to recycle anyway, you just add it to your pile of normal recycling waste. We deal with that weekly or monthly anyway. ...
I can't add something like a printer to my weekly recycle pickup, I have to either take it to a recycle place, or in my personal case I can bring it to work and add it to our recycle pile in the office and they take care of it.
Another push back is that most places charge to recycle types types of things, anywhere from $5 for a device to $0.25/lb for a pile.
If you live in a more populated area then I do you would be surprised at the number of electronics re-claimers who take things on donation. There are three around our NC office.
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@Dashrender said:
Which makes ink even less desirable. Unless things have changed in the last few years, I always run into the problem where my ink cartridge dries out, or the jets get gummed up, etc due to lack of printing. This is what makes lasers nice for me.
I haven't bought anything but a laser for main printing since 2001.
If ink dries out, that makes third party ink even that much more important as it lowers the chance of a jam per dollar spent.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
I may not have read the whole thread but how much are you guys printing at home in order to save $600 by buying third party ink? That sounds like a massive amount of printing. I barely print anything.
It's $600 / per destroyed printer. Could be weekly, could be a lifetime. The $600 is the savings you get, very roughly, by using third party ink over whatever average period it takes to have a printer destroyed by the ink.
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I think the savings of $600 per destroyed printer could be a lot lower if you're one of those rarely print guys and the ink dries out. Now you could have a destroyed printer on the original included ink cartridge, or perhaps the second one. But the point still stands that using third party ink on for the second cartridge would still save you money.
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@Dashrender said:
I think the savings of $600 per destroyed printer could be a lot lower if you're one of those rarely print guys and the ink dries out. Now you could have a destroyed printer on the original included ink cartridge, or perhaps the second one. But the point still stands that using third party ink on for the second cartridge would still save you money.
If the issue is ink drying out and ruining the printer then you have the risk with either type of cartridge and that doesn't really count. That's a different problem. So you might raise your overall cost of printing, but the calculation between which is better, OEM or third party, remains the same.
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@Dashrender said:
I think the savings of $600 per destroyed printer could be a lot lower if you're one of those rarely print guys and the ink dries out. Now you could have a destroyed printer on the original included ink cartridge, or perhaps the second one. But the point still stands that using third party ink on for the second cartridge would still save you money.
3rd party cartridges also raise your cost per page though. You spend less on the ink, but you get much lower yield as a rule. Also, if you're doing general document printing, sure, 3rd party ink works. However, if you're doing anything that needs to be quality, such as photos, you NEVER buy 3rd party. Always OEM. I don't deny the cost savings can be huge, but many 3rd party cartridges don't work every time, they don't last as long, and quality is always lower. It's not just how much you're printing, but what you're printing.
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@thanksaj said:
However, if you're doing anything that needs to be quality, such as photos, you NEVER buy 3rd party. Always OEM. I don't deny the cost savings can be huge, but many 3rd party cartridges don't work every time, they don't last as long, and quality is always lower. It's not just how much you're printing, but what you're printing.
How can printing images at home compare to sending it to Walgreen or something?
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@JaredBusch said:
How can printing images at home compare to sending it to Walgreen or something?
There was a time when printing images at home often made sense but mostly today I agree, if you really want to print photos you normally use a service.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@JaredBusch said:
How can printing images at home compare to sending it to Walgreen or something?
There was a time when printing images at home often made sense but mostly today I agree, if you really want to print photos you normally use a service.
Depends on what you're printing. For 4x6 and 5x7, MUCH cheaper to send them out. However, you doing something like A3+, or 13x19 like I used to do, and it's cheaper to do them home...
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Then again, most people don't print that size...or have the equipment to print that size...however, ask @NetworkNerdWifey about printing that size...it's addicting..
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@thanksaj said:
Depends on what you're printing. For 4x6 and 5x7, MUCH cheaper to send them out. However, you doing something like A3+, or 13x19 like I used to do, and it's cheaper to do them home...
Really? But then you need really expensive printers, right?
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@dominica used to support Fuji printers used commercially.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@thanksaj said:
Depends on what you're printing. For 4x6 and 5x7, MUCH cheaper to send them out. However, you doing something like A3+, or 13x19 like I used to do, and it's cheaper to do them home...
Really? But then you need really expensive printers, right?
Generally. The cheapest printer I've ever seen that does A3+ is between $200 and 300. A good one is $500+. That's full retail of course...
