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What's your experience with 3rd party color inkjet ink replacement?

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mouser:
I've always been skeptical of the 3rd party ink refill stuff..  I guess mainly because I do so little color inkjet printing that it seems hardly worth the bother.

But recently I had to buy a new inkjet printer (canon ip4820, $80 dollars cheap) and the extent they are going to gouge you on ink is getting insane -- cartridges getting smaller and smaller, getting chipped and opaque to make it harder and harder to tell whats going on, etc.  I feel like i'm getting fed up with this and am ready to investigate 3rd party ink, maybe the refillable stuff.  And maybe time to stop being such a sucker and embrace more the spirit of tinkering and hacking these things.

So my question is not about price or the steps involved.

What I'm wonder is about ink quality and shelf life.  I print very rarely -- so when i do i want a good quality glossy print.  Does anyone have any good experience comparing original vs 3rd party ink who can let me know how they compare in terms of color/appearance/smudging/longevity.  Lest i give the wrong impression -- i don't use these prints for serious stuff, and my sense of color is not very good, so i'm not likely to notice or care about tiny differences.  And then lastly, anyone have any idea what the shelf life is on this 3rd party refillable ink? Will it go bad after a year or two?

mouser:
Just found a nice article here:
http://www.consumersearch.com/printer-ink/review

nudone:
For everyday use, I always use cheap compatible cartridges - they are a too cheap not to use - less than a quarter of an original's cost, maybe less than a fifth. You can't tell me an original will last five times longer when printing.

Maybe the original's ink will survive longer after a nuclear holocaust - which I'm not too concerned about.

Printing seriously for photography, then you'll need to worry about your paper too - but that doesn't sound like your issue.

Stoic Joker:
Independent inks and a user replaceable print head on that ain't such a bad deal. Many of the ink printers require a service center to (reset the code...) replace the print head - So they get junked most often.

If you really print that infrequently, have you ever considered a small laser printer? Cost per page is much cheaper, and toner doesn't dry out Ya know...

I bought an HP C4680 (Print/Copy/Scan) for (about $85) the wife - 'cause she had to have one - And have only had to buy ink for it once in a year and a half. It's a tri-color cartridge ($30), but the print head is built in. So If I went generic and it clogged the print head it don't matter.

Either way, if you go generic the only thing on the printer that can get "damaged" is the print head (Yours is $30 - $50) ... So it's not really going to scrap/brick/destroy the device to experiment a bit. ;)

mouser:
i use a laser printer for daily printing and it gets lots of use.  the inkjet is only for color photo stuff.

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