Replacement Printer Cartridges Costing Nearly The Same As A New Printer!

[MaiDong]

My Canon iP1900 printer has stopped working, the local shop reckons the colour cartridge is dead, a new one will cost nearly the same as the printer, what options do I have? Seems ridiculous really!

[thaimite]

This is the case with most printers, however you should be aware that when you buy a new printer the supplied cartridges are often of a very much reduced capacity (50% or less) than the standard refills so the price is not quite as bad as it seems, but it is still extortionate .

I would look for non brand replacement ink cartridges which are much cheaper and I have never found any difference in quality although the printer manufacturer will tell you to avoid them for obvious reasons.

edit

in the unlikely evemnt your printer is faulty, do not even consider repairing it as this will probably cost more than a new printer and still you will have to buy the ink

Edited July 28, 2010 by thaimite

[BWPattaya]

This is the case with most printers, however you should be aware that when you buy a new printer the supplied cartridges are often of a very much reduced capacity (50% or less) than the standard refills so the price is not quite as bad as it seems, but it is still extortionate .

I would look for non brand replacement ink cartridges which are much cheaper and I have never found any difference in quality although the printer manufacturer will tell you to avoid them for obvious reasons.

edit

in the unlikely evemnt your printer is faulty, do not even consider repairing it as this will probably cost more than a new printer and still you will have to buy the ink

I agree with the last comment. The time and money wasted on trying to effect a satisfactory repair would be better spent on a new printer. New printer means new ink, new guarantee, and you will get a printer that works. I am just looking for a new one as my Canon has finally failed.

[Max4243]

Buying a printer is cheap,but to replace the ink is rather expensive. As one poster suggested, go look for a non brand ink and it is as good as the branded one. There are shops that offer to refill for you for a fee, but don't ever try this as they will refill for you at less than 50% of the ink volume and will also cause leakage. So go for the non banded ones.

[hunglikea]

Buying a printer is cheap,but to replace the ink is rather expensive. As one poster suggested, go look for a non brand ink and it is as good as the branded one. There are shops that offer to refill for you for a fee, but don't ever try this as they will refill for you at less than 50% of the ink volume and will also cause leakage. So go for the non banded ones.

I always use a shop that refills my colour and black cartridge for 100 baht each and they have never leaked. The actual Canon cartridges are about 2,000 and last the same amount of time.

[MaiDong]

Thanks for all your replies, I had to buy a new printer, I didn't have time to wait

I actually looked around for non-branded ink cartridges but couldn't find any! I ended up spending B1400 on a new Canon iP2770, I suppose it's just an upgrade on my last printer(iP1980) and yes, the cartridges are only partly full but it's still, as BWPattaya said "The time and money wasted on trying to effect a satisfactory repair would be better spent on a new printer. New printer means new ink, new guarantee, and you will get a printer that works".

On a side note, I have refilled my cartridges before but now the colour one is broken, is this an effect of a shoddy refil or do they only have a life of around 1 year?? Refils for black were B80, colour was B140...

[bangkockney]

Thanks for all your replies, I had to buy a new printer, I didn't have time to wait

I actually looked around for non-branded ink cartridges but couldn't find any! I ended up spending B1400 on a new Canon iP2770, I suppose it's just an upgrade on my last printer(iP1980) and yes, the cartridges are only partly full but it's still, as BWPattaya said "The time and money wasted on trying to effect a satisfactory repair would be better spent on a new printer. New printer means new ink, new guarantee, and you will get a printer that works".

On a side note, I have refilled my cartridges before but now the colour one is broken, is this an effect of a shoddy refil or do they only have a life of around 1 year?? Refils for black were B80, colour was B140...

How many times did you refill? You can't do it forever.

[Eureka]

This is the case with most printers, however you should be aware that when you buy a new printer the supplied cartridges are often of a very much reduced capacity (50% or less) than the standard refills so the price is not quite as bad as it seems, but it is still extortionate .

I would look for non brand replacement ink cartridges which are much cheaper and I have never found any difference in quality although the printer manufacturer will tell you to avoid them for obvious reasons.

edit

in the unlikely evemnt your printer is faulty, do not even consider repairing it as this will probably cost more than a new printer and still you will have to buy the ink

A simple repair before discarding the printer.

Look a the ink cartridge tray, it travels along a (almost clear) plastic strip. If examined closely you will note very fine markings along the strip which the printer uses to align itself.

The first job a factory tech will do is to clean this strip thoroughly as dust and ink splatters will cause the printer to malfunction. The printer may not even complete it's self test on start.

This 10 minute job can extend the life of your printer at no cost.

[lopburi3]

The Canon 1980 uses carts with print-head as a part of the cart so suspect refill usage is further limited by that. The carts cost up to almost 1,000 baht (for color high capacity 41) so not cheap to operate and although the ink is advertised as having great longevity my experience has not been good (even without direct sunlight). It may last longer than off-brand but it is far from what one should expect for that price difference.

HP has printers (ink advantage) using factory 250 baht carts which might be attractive if printer was decent; but most posters seem to have low opinion of HP printers in general, but as technology changes so fast not sure if applicable to current model. At 250 a cart it would seem reasonable to use factory carts for most home use.

[antony77]

This is the case with most printers, however you should be aware that when you buy a new printer the supplied cartridges are often of a very much reduced capacity (50% or less) than the standard refills so the price is not quite as bad as it seems, but it is still extortionate .

I would look for non brand replacement ink cartridges which are much cheaper and I have never found any difference in quality although the printer manufacturer will tell you to avoid them for obvious reasons.

edit

in the unlikely evemnt your printer is faulty, do not even consider repairing it as this will probably cost more than a new printer and still you will have to buy the ink

I have an HP 3 in 1 and I have been filling the cartridges myself for over two years with no problems. Buy the ink that is marked with HP and the model. Its very cheap and economical

[palm]

Thanks for all your replies, I had to buy a new printer, I didn't have time to wait

I actually looked around for non-branded ink cartridges but couldn't find any! I ended up spending B1400 on a new Canon iP2770, I suppose it's just an upgrade on my last printer(iP1980) and yes, the cartridges are only partly full but it's still, as BWPattaya said "The time and money wasted on trying to effect a satisfactory repair would be better spent on a new printer. New printer means new ink, new guarantee, and you will get a printer that works".

On a side note, I have refilled my cartridges before but now the colour one is broken, is this an effect of a shoddy refil or do they only have a life of around 1 year?? Refils for black were B80, colour was B140...

With the Brother range of MFC printers, I use the big plastic plug-in tanks (4 tanks for B, C, M, Y) - they hold at about 20 times the amount of normal cartridges and come as a set in Pantip Plaza for about 900 baht. (4 tanks pre-filled with ink). Lasts for a long long time.

Never had a problem in 3 years of using it. Far more economical than using the small original or copy carts.

Avoid printers that put all of the '3 colors' in one cart. As soon as one of the individual colours goes, your colour cart needs replacing, even if you have other colours remaining.

[MaiDong]

Thanks for all your replies, I had to buy a new printer, I didn't have time to wait

I actually looked around for non-branded ink cartridges but couldn't find any! I ended up spending B1400 on a new Canon iP2770, I suppose it's just an upgrade on my last printer(iP1980) and yes, the cartridges are only partly full but it's still, as BWPattaya said "The time and money wasted on trying to effect a satisfactory repair would be better spent on a new printer. New printer means new ink, new guarantee, and you will get a printer that works".

On a side note, I have refilled my cartridges before but now the colour one is broken, is this an effect of a shoddy refil or do they only have a life of around 1 year?? Refils for black were B80, colour was B140...

How many times did you refill? You can't do it forever.

Once

[redwood13]

The Canon ip1980 printer can be purchased at Pantip or Tukcom (in Pattaya) for around 2,000 baht complete with add-on ink tanks fitted. I've had mine for many months without having the tanks refilled. The colors are not as good as the Canon ink but are OK for my needs.

-redwood

[endure]

If you don't need colour it's much cheaper to buy a little mono laser printer.

[Crossy]

If you don't need colour it's much cheaper to buy a little mono laser printer.

Agreed, after mucking around with assorted inkjets (which tend to dry up when not used) I bought a cheap Samsung laser, just works every time.

On the rare occasions I need a colour document I borrow the office colour laser, for photos a visit to the local photo-shop does the trick.

[Mercury]

If you don't need colour it's much cheaper to buy a little mono laser printer.

Agreed, after mucking around with assorted inkjets (which tend to dry up when not used) I bought a cheap Samsung laser, just works every time.

On the rare occasions I need a colour document I borrow the office colour laser, for photos a visit to the local photo-shop does the trick.

I concur and will head down that road in the future. Only the integrated scanner in the all in one ink jet is a bonus. However, home photo printing is only a short lived extra as the costs are quite huge and there are shops all over these days. I will also be migrating to a mono laser.

[endure]

If you need the scanner you can get mono laser all-in-ones too!