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The Inkjet Investigation

Author	Simon Williams
Published	21st Apr 2007

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To test these all-in-ones, we obtained ink from each of the printer manufacturers and from four other suppliers: Cartridge World, InkTecShop, JetTec and StinkyInk. These are all substantial suppliers of cartridges from the Web or through high street shops. InkTecShop and StinkyInk are dealers and importers, who supply cartridges from a variety of different manufacturers, or re-manufacturers, while JetTec makes and fills its own cartridges. CartridgeWorld specialises in refilling empty cartridges that its customers bring to its chain of franchised stores.

One thing you need to realise when considering third-party ink cartridges is that those that are refilled, manufacturers’ cartridges are a bit of an unknown quantity. You don't know how many times the cartridges have been through the re-manufacturing process and, on cartridges with integral heads, how worn the heads might be. In this test, the HP and Lexmark devices use cartridges with integral heads.

Other printers use permanent heads – the Canon and Epson machines in this survey – and here there’s a different problem. If you use a third-party cartridge in these machines which doesn’t give the performance you want, you may have trouble flushing all the ink out of the print heads, so you can use the manufacturer’s ink again.

There are two parts to the printing process: the ink and the paper. The printer makers are keen to expound on how the two parts of the printing system are developed together. The chemistry of the ink is matched to the characteristics of the paper and most papers are built up from several different layers of material, some of which absorb ink, some prevent it spreading and others maintain the gloss in a photo print.

To test this claim of matched ink and paper, we brought in glossy photo papers from the four printer manufacturers and from Ilford, Kodak, PC World and Staples; papers which are designed to work with all the main brands of printer. To test the quality of prints on plain paper, we used multipurpose plain paper from the office supplier, Neat Ideas. This paper is designed to work satisfactorily with inkjet and laser printers, as well as with photocopiers.

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Redtango said on 1st August 2008

This is a really interesting article and very thoroughly investigated - it gives me some reassurance in my recent decisions regarding the original vs compatibles debate.

We are a small business and we have 4 different types of printers including a colour laserjet and a range of other inkjets. We just had to replace a Brother fax/copier/printer combo after 18 months because it decided that the magenta didn't exist despite having put 2 new original cartridges in! The cost of fixing was much higher than the cost of replacing and after some investigation we found that Brother had the best deal again but our model was defunct - the printer arrived and of course the cartridges are different so now we have a cupboard full (slight exaggeration) of Brother cartridges that will gather dust along with all the other useless cartridges left over when our printers break!

I had to ask my colleague why on earth cartridges aren't more standard - I know the answers are obvious but it doesn't help the frustration.

Having bought this new printer we had to purchase cartridges as it comes with a pitifully small supply. Originals or compatibles? ....I thought long and hard. We stuck with originals with the Brother hoping this would mean it would last longer & the quality would be better - that's the natural assumption, plus I think there is probably small print that says the warranty is invalidated unless your use branded ink!

Still, when you think about the costs of buying originals vs compatibles over the years then compatibles are definitely more cost effective. I've always assumed that the branded originals must be far superior in all sorts of ways but your article give me much reassurance that this is generally not the case and I feel much happier that my decision to buy compatible printer cartridges was a good one. We are lucky that we do not need high quality printing and our information would need updating far sooner than the ink would fade so all in all I will feel happier to have a few of these ink cartridges left over when this printer bites the dust.

We've found a good supplier too who we have used before. We got our <a href="http://www.cartridgeshop.co.uk/">printer cartridges</a> from Cartridge Shop who offer really good prices and have some interesting special offers.

This is a really interesting article and very thoroughly investigated - it gives me some reassurance in my recent decisions regarding the original vs compatibles debate.
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