Ink Tank Printers Just Another Scam ?

[Judge]

Stands to reason that the same manufacturers of outrageously expensive inkjet printer cartridges would produce an alternative (ink tank printers) that equally cost consumers outrageous amounts of money.

In particular it was disturbing to learn of some printers with some kind of absorbent material inside the printer designed to soak up all the ink that is inherently wasted in booting up or deliberately cleaning the print heads. Something I've seen documented in many YouTube videos, and not just this one. But in this presentation, it is being claimed that once that absorbent material becomes saturated with that precious ink, in the case of Epson Ecotank printers, that it forces the printer to shutdown. Where the only way to make it operate again is to replace this absorbent sponge-like material.

I once thought about buying one of these printers, as I feel perpetually robbed using my existing print cartridge inkjet printer. But dayim...I might be better off sticking with this one than using a tank printer where occasional use might actually clog the printheads. With my existing 7-year old HP printer, the printheads are built into the cartridge with the ink reservoir. So when the ink must be replaced, so is the printhead. Absurdly expensive, but it does ensure quality printing for the most part, and when I truly need it. Though it continues to be damn finicky about what photo paper I use.

Color printing for PCs continues to be gambling where the house always wins big. Clearly manufacturers are never going to give us a break.

So glad to have a laser printer that still uses toner conservatively. Go figure.

 

[Forest Cat]

I have many times wondered about the price on printer ink. 5 mililiter cartridge, 29 dollars. 5 mililiters is almost nothing.

I found cheaper cartridges that had been refilled, so I thought great and bought those. Turned the printer on and then a message appeard, "You are using off-brand cartridges, we strongly recommend you use only our brand cartridges". I think my printer threatened me.. Subtle intimidation. Then it stopped working.

 

[Judge]

I have many times wondered about the price on printer ink. 5 mililiter cartridge, 29 dollars. 5 mililiters is almost nothing.

And much of it is inherently wasted by design, rather than in actual intended usage. And the use of these sponges to soak up so much wasted ink....disgusting. They really do exist in Epson Ecotank printers.

A heroin addict gets a better deal in comparison.

 

[Forest Cat]

And much of it is inherently wasted by design, rather than in actual intended usage. And the use of these sponges to soak up so much wasted ink....disgusting. They really do exist in Epson Ecotank printers.

A heroin addict gets a better deal in comparison.

People tell me to invest in gold. I think I'll just buy printer ink. It seems to be more valuable than gold.

 

[Judge]

I have many times wondered about the price on printer ink. 5 mililiter cartridge, 29 dollars. 5 mililiters is almost nothing.

I found cheaper cartridges that had been refilled, so I thought great and bought those. Turned the printer on and then a message appeard, "You are using off-brand cartridges, we strongly recommend you use only our brand cartridges". I think my printer threatened me.. Subtle intimidation. Then it stopped working.

I'm convinced that if I use non-HP ink, my printer will in all likelihood malfunction by design. No differently that watching it stuggle with Walmart photo paper while it doesn't skip a beat using HP photo paper.

 

[Forest Cat]

I'm convinced that if I use non-HP ink, my printer will in all likelihood malfunction by design.

Yeah mine just stopped working. It worked for a little while, it printed just fine but then it stopped. Replaced the cheaper cartridges with expensive brand ones and then it worked fine again.

 

[Luca]

I'm going to ask @Angular Chap to provide some insight on this, since we have discussed scams before and he's very knowledgeable. This isn't exactly my area of expertise, but I think he would be a huge help!

But, yeah, in this case I'm also going to stick to what I know, which is conventional cartridge printers.
I used to sell printers at my old job before I got promoted, and I really wanted to be blunt about how much of a waste of money most printers were, but that obviously wouldn't have looked good on the company. Ironically I performed very well in sales.
Even so, I constantly got berated by customers who couldn't find compatible ink.

 

[Judge]

But, yeah, in this case I'm also going to stick to what I know, which is conventional cartridge printers.

Sadly I concur. I was stoked at first at the prospect of actually using ink tank printers, but now it seems to be just another way of robbing consumers. The idea of the printer shutting down over wasted ink is just too much.

Truth is though, I don't make prints very often anyways other than for my personal photo album. Still, some 50 4x6 prints at $70 for black and color ink...that's still pretty absurd.

Though I have enjoyed making 8.5 x 11 and 8 x 10 color prints for artwork to frame and hang on my walls.

 

[Luca]

Truth is though, I don't make prints very often anyways other than for my personal photo album.

Same. I do print photos.

I was really baffled when someone (obviously from a younger generation) asked me "Why do you still print photos to put on your wall if you can just look at them on your phone?"
That's like saying "Why put a painting on the wall when you can go look at it in a museum?"

Sigh...

 

[Judge]

Same. I do print photos.

I was really baffled when someone (obviously from a younger generation) asked me "Why do you still print photos to put on your wall if you can just look at them on your phone?"
That's like saying "Why put a painting on the wall when you can go look at it in a museum?"

Sigh...

Some images give me a momentary sense of joy.

So I figure putting them on all my walls is good mental health for people like you or I.

 

[Forest Cat]

I have wanted to print photos for my photoalbum too but the photo paper is expensive and the ink even more so. So I haven't done it. Would be nice to live in a world where you don't have to take out a mortage on your house to buy ink and paper to print photos. A more normal world.

 

[Forest Cat]

Same. I do print photos.

I was really baffled when someone (obviously from a younger generation) asked me "Why do you still print photos to put on your wall if you can just look at them on your phone?"
That's like saying "Why put a painting on the wall when you can go look at it in a museum?"

Sigh...

Because a 6 inch phone screen is far too small to see anything? That would be my answer. I'm a little baffled by people watching videos on their phones. How do you watch a video on a tiny 6 inch screen.

 

[Luca]

I have wanted to print photos for my photoalbum too but the photo paper is expensive and the ink even more so. So I haven't done it. Would be nice to live in a world where you don't have to take out a mortage on your house to buy ink and paper to print photos. A more normal world.

I use a "pocket printer" for printing 4x6" photos because they have a single cartridge and it's affordable.
The Kodak Dock printer costs $136 USD and a pack of two cartridges plus photo paper costs $23.99 USD.
The quality really isn't bad if you're just going to print photos for scrapbooking or putting on the wall.

For larger prints, I use Shutterfly, where you can get large prints for $2 to $10 USD. Unfortunately, there's shipping, but they frequently have promotions where you can get free or discounted shipping.

I sound like I'm selling printers again lol but this is a product that I actually trust and use.

 

[Forest Cat]

I use a "pocket printer" for printing 4x6" photos because they have a single cartridge and it's affordable.
The Kodak Dock printer costs $136 USD and a pack of two cartridges plus photo paper costs $23.99 USD.
The quality really isn't bad if you're just going to print photos for scrapbooking or putting on the wall.

For larger prints, I use Shutterfly, where you can get large prints for $2 to $10 USD. Unfortunately, there's shipping, but they frequently have promotions where you can get free or discounted shipping.

I sound like I'm selling printers again lol but this is a product that I actually trust and use.

I have a lot of pictures I would like to print and put in photoalbums. Hundreds. And that quickly gets very expensive. And it's a lot of work, it's a project. So I just never get around to doing it.

 

[Judge]

I use a "pocket printer" for printing 4x6" photos because they have a single cartridge and it's affordable.
The Kodak Dock printer costs $136 USD and a pack of two cartridges plus photo paper costs $23.99 USD.
The quality really isn't bad if you're just going to print photos for scrapbooking or putting on the wall.

For larger prints, I use Shutterfly, where you can get large prints for $2 to $10 USD. Unfortunately, there's shipping, but they frequently have promotions where you can get free or discounted shipping.

I sound like I'm selling printers again lol but this is a product that I actually trust and use.

Just out of curiosity, what DPI settings do you use on what imaging software to obtain a decent quality 4x6 print?

With my 20+ year old version of Photoshop, much of anything above 400 DPI crashes the program. I have yet to try something higher in Linux, but it might work. Leaving most of my printed images at 300 DPI.

 

[Judge]

I have a lot of pictures I would like to print and put in photoalbums. Hundreds. And that quickly gets very expensive. And it's a lot of work, it's a project. So I just never get around to doing it.

I mitigate the process on a single premise.

Only my best or most cherished images end up in my personal photo album. Where I occasionally purge images that may not be as good as I thought the first time I slide them into the album...lol.

Being mindful of my adult education photography instructor who always emphasized the likelihood of getting one in fifty or hundred photos that might be really good. And in hindsight, in my case he was spot-on. Oops.

 

[Luca]

Just out of curiosity, what DPI settings do you use on what imaging software to obtain a decent quality 4x6 print?

300 DPI in Photoshop (1200 x 1800) is usually the standard.
For anything larger than a 4x6, I usually go up to 600+ DPI.

And it depends on where you print it. 300 DPI is more than enough for a home photo printer, but if you're going to order a print from Shutterfly or have it printed in a camera shop, I would suggest making it slightly bigger in Photoshop.

 

[Judge]

And it depends on where you print it. 300 DPI is more than enough for a home photo printer, but if you're going to order a print from Shutterfly or have it printed in a camera shop, I would suggest making it slightly bigger in Photoshop.

I'll have to try that using Photoshop 5.5 in Linux Mint 21.1. Have no idea if it will work though. In Windows it crashes at anything beyond 400DPI. Perhaps par for the course for using such old software.

I'm guess it has to do with memory management, with my hardware far beyond anything imaginable for circa 1998 software. I'm still struggling to learn Gimp 2.10 for Linux that should be able to do most of what Photoshop 5.5 does.

I never attempt to print anything beyond 8.5 x 11 anyways. Preferring to process it myself rather than farm it out to any third parties.

 

[Outdated]

Stands to reason that the same manufacturers of outrageously expensive inkjet printer cartridges would produce an alternative (ink tank printers) that equally cost consumers outrageous amounts of money.

One of the handy things living next to, or as part of, asia teaches us a few cheap tricks. Many people in this part of the world set up ink tanks for their printers, they've been doing this since the 90s. It's no special tank though, just dish detergent bottles for the different colours, 1 litre each.

Doesn't work with all printers, especially the more proprietary oriented brands such as Canon and Brother. Many asian people swear by epsom printers, not because they're great printers but because they're easy to set up with the big ink bottles.

https://www.en.relenado.com/2015/08/how-to-install-ink-system-epson-stylus-sx130.html

 

[Angular Chap]

I'm going to ask @Angular Chap to provide some insight on this, since we have discussed scams before and he's very knowledgeable. This isn't exactly my area of expertise, but I think he would be a huge help!

Flattered! Most of it has already been touched on in this thread, but here we go:

We all know the standard trick, sell the printer for a reasonable price, but with just enough ink out of the box for a few prints, then price gouge the cartridges/ink.

Then we get to the cartridge trickery. You can try refilling your inkjet cartridges with unofficial ink, but there is a risk of a reduction in print quality, and then there is the technical side of things, printers are designed to detect used carts being reused or refilled and can either block them and outright refuse to work, throw up cryptic errors and beep codes, or nag you with messages about only using genuine carts. You can try looking for workarounds and hacks, but that may be beyond the average user.

So, on to ink tank printers. It looks to me that all they have done here is carry the same old cartridge printer trickery over to ink tank printers, but gone even further: not only do you have to buy price gouged ink, you also have to buy price gouged ink absorbers as well. And just like with ink cartridges, you will probably have issues with cleaning and reusing old ink absorbers, and also have issues using cheaper, unofficial 3rd party ink absorbers as well.