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Is it ok to refill ink cartridges? [ASK MR. NOOBIE]
QUESTION: What is your opinion on refilling ink cartridges? We just had the black refilled at Costco and it seems to be printing fine on our HP Photosmart Premium C309 printer. – Mary Grace from Indianapolis, Indiana
ANSWER: Refilling ink cartridges is really a cat and mouse game between the printer manufacturers and the 3rd party companies trying to make a buck off someone else’s product.
When inkjet printers were first introduced, manufacturers quickly realized the money was in the ink, not the printer. Unfortunately, so did other companies who quickly produced “generic” ink cartridges for inkjet printers.
Printer manufacturers countered by creating matching chips on their printers and inkjet cartridges such that the printer could detect whether or not a “genuine” inkjet cartridge was installed in the printer.
The counter-attack from the 3rd party companies was to let go of the knock-off cartridge business and instead, offer to refill the original genuine cartridge with their own ink thus always tricking the printer into thinking it had an inkjet cartridge purchased from the original manufacturer.
The final blow from the printer manufacturers was to tell you that they will void your warranty if they find out you refilled your ink cartridges mainly due to the risk of your inkjet nozzles getting clogged from poorer quality ink.
3 questions to ask yourself
So where does that leave us? Well, it really comes down to these three things:
- Does the print quality using a refilled ink cartridge look just as good as when you use a brand-new ink cartridge?
- Is it worth your time to drive to the store each time you want your inkjet cartridges refilled in order to save a couple dollars?
- Are you willing to accept the risk that the refilled ink may (notice I’m not saying it will) cause damage to your printer in the long run?
If the answer to each of the above three questions is yes, then by all means keep using refilled cartridges. On the other hand, if you find yourself answering no to one or more of the questions above, then skip refilling and just order new ink cartridges each time you need them.
Do you have a question for Mr. Noobie®? Submit your question here.
My general rule:
1) NEVER (yes never) use non-genuine inkjet cartridges (remanufactured/refurbished/refil/etc)
2) Generic Black toner cartridges seem fine (but for color toner I still prefer genuine cartridges – this is just my preferences, and I assume they are ok)
#1 is based on supporting tons of inkjets that had various, but always low quality, “generic” inkjet cartridges that just made the printers horrible… it was NOT worth saving a few dollars even though it was on about 100 of these printers.
Thanks for answering my question! It seems to me that saving about $20 per cartridge over the long haul is a savings and risk worth taking considering the cost of a printer!
I have just ordered an ipad mini so I may have some questions for you in the future about that! :)
Or, just take that extra step and get a laser printer instead, as the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) even after buying toner cartridges is about half that of the inkjet printers on the market. :)
I couldn’t agree more. In fact, I almost always try to convince people looking for a new printer to get a laser printer. Unless they really need the color or photo features of an inkjet.
also agree… I have multiple printers for specific reasons, but the default is a black/white laser… had the same one for more than 10 years and just sold it this past year just for one that was slightly faster. I bought both of them used. Work horses for sure, dont hardly ever buy toner… always the way to go in my book. (I use an inkjet for printing on CDs/DVDs and for printing the occasional photo)