Ink cartridge refill kits
 

Does anyone know if these are a good idea? Or should I just go with a new cartridge from Office Max? Or maybe even with tose spam offers of cheap (read: reconditioned) units I keep deleting from my email box?

Brian

Although the prices for new ink are ridiculous, it is worth it to get new, genuine cartridges from the same manufacturer who makes your printer. They specifically engineer their printers, inks, and papers to all work together better than you'll get by skimping.

I tried one of those ink refill kits once, and not only are they a hassle and can be rather messy, I had so many problems with uneven ink, streaking, etc. that I ended up throwing it away and just buying the real deal.

And with those refurbished cartridges, you never know what you're going to get. Maybe try buying one and see how it does? That would probably be OK for printing on regular paper, but if you're printing photos on glossy paper then I'd definitely not go the cheap route.

My Refill Tale
 

I bought a refill kit for a basic black HP cartridge. The first time I did it, it worked beautifully, with nary a spill, and the cartridge performed as well as it did when new.

When I tried to refill it the second time, it was a complete, leaking disaster.

Regarding commercially recycled cartridges such as those you get at Office Max, I used them a couple of times in a fax machine at work (well, when I still had a job, that is), and I found that, while they performed okay, they do not have very much ink in them.

I use HP 23 & 45 cartridges. I sawed one of each open and the filler which I presume is cotton or rayon was only stained from the original filling for the bottom 10 %.
Refilling both types was about 50% successful. When it was successful it worked OK from the git go. When it wasn't, it would start leaving blank lines through the picture or printing. I think it has something to do with the multitude of copper foil strips on the cartridge making contact with the printer pins.
Like Elspode the second filling was always a failure.

Re: Ink cartridge refill kits
 

I'm on my 3rd or 4th refill in my color cartridge and I am beginning to experience some problems. But up until this point I've had decent success with the process. I agree, however, that if you are doing something important with pictures or graphics, color refills might be a problem. Hoever, if all you need color for is to print a map from Yahoo and be able to tell I-95 from US 1, then it might not be a bad choice. Black ink is much easier.

I also wait for sales and try to get my ink as cheap as possible. If I can buy a $10 refill kit with enough ink to refill 3 times, then $3 versus $35 gives me a lot of reasons to try.

Print is dead.

Shit!!! I didn't even get invited to the funeral! :mad:

(I'm not even gonna ask what you think about slide film! :beer: )

Nay, nay. Half the people I know don't have a PC or if they do, only the children or grandchildren know how to use it.
Most teachers won't accept homework assignments on disc.
Besides, curling up with a good PC just ain't the same.
:D