And you think gas is high??

[tilerite]

I'm in the market for a new all in one printer and as I do with most products I'm considering purchasing, I'm scouring the internet for reviews and comparisons so that I can get the best product for the money. Pricing for printers is lower than ever but the cost of replacing ink is ridiculous.

According to "Inkjet Prices, Printing Costs and Consumer Welfare" a 51 page report by Larry Darby and Stephan Pociask, available in pdf format, the cost of ink is far higher than it should be.
They write;
<<to put this price increase in perspective, consider that the overall level of prices, as measured by the bureau of Labor and Statistics' US Consumer Price Index, for urban consumers (all items), increased by 21.9% from 1999 to 2007, while sample cartridge prices when adjusted for cartridge fill and expressed on a per ML basis, have increased roughly 360% during the same period.>>

To put ink costs in perspective with other costly liquids, here are some comparisons;

Liquid costs per millimeter:
Gas = $ 0.01
Dom Perignon champagne (1998) = $ 0.17
Prada Atomizer Parfum = $ 1.19
Black inkjet cartridge = $ 3.33
Multicolor inkjet cartridge = $ 5.14

Folks, I have seen the future and bleeds black, yellow, magenta and cyan.

http://www.aci-citizenresearch.org/Inkjet%20Final.pdf

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[ceramictec]

thats why I refill mine at Office Depot !

[Saldibs]

I have an old HP Descjet 990c Printer, it is about 5 years old. I always refill the cartridges my self. it costs just a few dollars to refill them with a kit that I get at Costco. I refill each cartridge 3 or 4 times before i junk them and will continue to do so as long as the printer lasts. This way I can print as much as I want with out breaking the bank.

[tilerite]

Yeah, I'm gonna have to try that.

[scuttlebuttrp]

Did you ever try
www.cnet.com
They do great product reviews on lots of techy type stuff. Found a great camera for my wife and a great all in one printer for me by reading their reveiws. The printer was a Canon MP530. All the ink colors are seperate instead of a few in one. The cartridges are about $15(?). Costs the same to refill at officemax. Printer was about $150-$175.

[tilerite]

Yeah Royce, I've been using both cnet and pc world, along with half a dozen other sites. Getting reviews isn't the problem. Its getting comparisons on costs per page, thats the problem. Seems though, based on what I've learned so far, that Canon printers may be among the most efficient. I'm currently looking at a Canon model all in one, Pixma MX 300.

[Saldibs]

A good place to buy almost any tech stuff on line is http://www.newegg.com/ I have an account there and buy stuff often.

[MHI]

I'm sick of hearing this argument about what other stuff costs per gallon, compared to the price of gas.

I'm not using over 40 gallons a week of the other stuff.:)

[tilerite]

C'mon Matt, nobody's bothered about gas prices. Same number of speeders now as when the price was 2 dollars a gallon.

[Chris the Rep]

I have been thinking about a reply to this post, based on my own past purchases, but first I'm going to ask a couple of questions...

Why an all in one machine? Space concerns? Convenience?

Do you use/need all of the functions? Think twice about this question..

What is it that you're printing the most? Documents? Photos? Copies?

Chris

[tilerite]

Hey Chris
I've never owned anything more than a basic printer. We don't use the copy function often but when we need one, it would be nice to not haver to run to Ginkos. As for the fax, which I use for my business, I hate the one that came with my computer. Its not like we must have those other functions but being that the machines are so cheap these days, I figured I would upgrade to an all in one, if that makes sense.

[Hamilton]

I have a Brother all in one. MFC 210c. probably already outdated. Can
still get ink for it and those are all seperate cartridges. Havent tried refilling
them, but i may after reading this. What i hate most is the fact there always
appears to be at least 10% ink left in a cartridge when i get a message
telling me it wont print because there is no magenta! At a 360% increase
the ink binnis sure would have been the place to stuff a few dollars into
eh? Anyone know why ink is so expensive or why they dont have different
versions for each machine? I dont need ink that can save me from a radiation
wave after a bad solar flare. No really, it seems all the inks are premium
photo quality ink that make great pictures. Do they really think we are all
photographers with print shops? When i walk into Big box pc stores i never
see any basic black ink printers... is there a special place to buy one for
a binnis that only needs to print estimates and tax records, and is that ink
any cheaper?

[tilerite]

Jack, have you read the 59 page report that I linked in the first post? Its takes forever to read, and I have trouble understanding the technical jargon, but I believe they are trying to explain why the costs are so high.

[Chris the Rep]

I ditched the inkjet stuff long ago. They're like razors, initially cheap, but the consumables cost a fortune. I bought one to print photos, but I can't even to begin to print pics for what I can get it done elsewhere. My grocery store will let me e-mail them my digital pics for pick up next day for 15 cents apiece.

I have a plain paper fax machine that I use for a copier. Generally I've found if I need a bunch of copies of something, it is of a document that I created (or received in an e-mail), so I can print it on my printer. If it's a hard copy of something I received and need more than 10 or so, it's off to any number of places close by that do copies for a dime a piece or so. The fax machine cost me $60 new. Ink ribbons for the fax machine are $11, and will make about 100 copies. I think I buy 2 per year.

I use an old laptop to receive faxes, since I find I need very few of them printed out. The software I use will let me call in from a remote location and retrieve received faxes, or it can be set to receive faxes and immediately
e-mail them to me.

As for printers, I have a couple of HP LaserJets, (one of them in my car powered with a cigarette lighter power inverter), and an Okidata color laser printer in my office. I bought the color laser (paid about $400 for it, but it is office quality) when I was doing a lot of promotional mailings, and the cost per copy was still a lot cheaper than the print places. Black toner cartridges run around $45 and usually do about 4000-5000 pages of printed text. I don't print a lot of color anymore, but nice to have to highlight text or put a small pic in the body of a letter. (or print "AMOUNT DUE" in RED)

As a contractor, you probably fax a lot more than I do. So, for fax and occasional copies, and if you can sacrifice color, I'd look into a laser fax machine or a laser based all in one machine. Initial cost is higher, but print quality and per page cost is way lower. You can get a laser fax for a couple of hundred $$$, or a laser all in one for maybe a hundred more. I'd check with the office equipment places; some good high capacity, high volume rated stuff comes in off lease that you may be able to buy at a decent price.

A printer in the car? You bet! I do a lot of written correspondence that gets mailed while I'm on the road, so carrying a printer isn't that difficult. A pal of mine uses an online fax service. eFax.com, myfax.com, fax.com are the three big ones. With a wireless card in his laptop, he can retreive faxes anywhere online. Often they only require a signature or initials or the like. He prints them out in his truck, makes the changes, and pops into wherever is convenient if he has to fax back a hard copy. A dollar a page at the local grocery on the way is frequently cheaper than a trip back to the office. Some faxes don't have to be printed out, if changes can be made on screen (like a Word document) he makes the change and sends it back through
e-Fax.

Because of my fax volume these days, I am seriously looking at going to one of these services. 300 pages a month for around $10 per month is cheaper than my dedicated phone line alone. I can always plug the regular fax machine into the office phone line if I need to.

Just my thoughts,

Chris

[Saldibs]

One thing you can do to save ink is to print everything in draft mode. I do this with my printer and the documents look fine, although all printers are not equal. Doing this alone will save you a ton of ink, plus I refill them myself and ink don't cost me much at all.

[tilerite]

Great suggestions, guys. Thanks.