24-07-2021, 01:48 PM
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Printer ink pricier than champagne finds Which?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-57941625Home printers have become an essential piece of kit in homes over the pandemic, crucial for both home-working and home-schooling.
The watchdog surveyed 10,000 consumers who own inkjet printers, half of whom said they used their printer at least once a week. It has done similar surveys in the past, and this year concluded that "staggering cost differences" still remain between own-brand and third-party ink suppliers.
Its findings include:
- Ink bought from the manufacturer could be up to 286% more expensive
- A multipack of colour ink for the Epson WorkForce WF-7210DTW printer cost £75.49 (or £1,369 per pint)
- A multipack of ink for the Brother MFCJ5730DW cost £98.39
- Cartridges for a Canon Pixma MX475 cost £80.98
- Cheaper alternatives can be as cheap as £12.95, saving thousands over a five-year period
It has left consumers confused, said Which?. 56% said that they would only use branded ink, with 39% avoiding third-party ink over fears that they would not work in their printer.
Adam French, Which? consumer rights expert, said: "Printer ink shouldn't cost more than a bottle of high-end champagne or Chanel No 5. We've found that there are lots of third-party products that are outperforming their branded counterparts at a fraction of the cost."
He added that deciding which ink to put in a printer should be "a personal choice and not dictated by the make of your printer".
24-07-2021, 02:10 PM
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Re: Printer ink pricier than champagne finds Which?
Must be a quiet time at Which?.But it's good to see that Which? and the BBC can eventually catch up with what has been widely-known and reported-on (sometimes even by themselves) for years already.
Back in 2014 the Mail on Sunday (*1) said this:
"A £650 bottle of Krug Clos du Mesnil 2000 is decadent, but compared with the cost of essential replacement ink for a home printer it looks cheap – at about 90p a millilitre for the 750ml bottle.
In contrast, the ink in a best-selling 6.5ml HP 300 Tri-colour ink cartridge – priced at £15 on the high street – comes to £2.30 a millilitre. If the champagne bottle was emptied and filled with cartridge ink it would cost £1,725."
Then in 2019, reported in the Mirror (*2) as researched by (guess who?) Which? came this:
"Essential printer ink ordered directly from a leading printer brand’s website comes to £1.89 per millilitre.
In contrast, a bottle of Dom Perignon Vintage champagne at the same price as this would cost £1,417.50, according to consumer group Which?"
This is then it would appear just another of those "old reliable" stories which can be rolled out and re-used whenever inreresting stuff is in short supply.
Oh and never before have these reports made any difference whatsoever to the price of printer ink BTW.
As the new "story" illustrates perfectly.
Quelle surprise.
*1 https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/...inter-ink.html
*2 https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-new...s-its-18457838
24-07-2021, 02:33 PM
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Re: Printer ink pricier than champagne finds Which?
Originally Posted by Silver Tabby
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Was thinking of trying the Epson Ecotank - has anyone used one of those?
24-07-2021, 02:54 PM
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Re: Printer ink pricier than champagne finds Which?
Originally Posted by Silver Tabby
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I used to have a Canon printer years ago and, once it was out of it's warranty, I used compatibles - they wrecked it - have never used them since!Was thinking of trying the Epson Ecotank - has anyone used one of those?
But I'm not sure how tou managed to wreck a printer?
I've used compatibles in two different Canon printers over the past ten years or so without any problems whatsoever and did so with Epson printers for decades before that.
Provided you research into the catridges first & provided you disble Canon's persistant update system which can be capable of upgrading the chip requirements & thus make some compatible chips on cartidges unusable, using quality compatibles should be no different for your printer than using originals.
In fact some companies like the one linked below will go so far as to guarantee your ink cartridge and the printer you use the cartridge in.
https://www.stinkyinkshop.co.uk/arti...inter-warranty
These aren't the people I use BTW, but even here a set of compatible carts. for my particular printer are one-third the price of originals.
There is absolutely no way would I ever use the manufacturers cartridges unless prices become comparable to decent compatibles.
24-07-2021, 02:57 PM
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Re: Printer ink pricier than champagne finds Which?
Originally Posted by Omah
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-57941625For most domestic printer users, the best third-party inks are an obvious choice .....
24-07-2021, 03:03 PM
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Re: Printer ink pricier than champagne finds Which?
It is, of course, outrageous, but the manufacturers get away with it because they can. My last printer, an Epson XP750 I think it was, lasted for about five years and always printed well. I only ever used compatible inks. It eventually died because the waste ink pad was full and, tbh, it wasn't worth paying out to have it replaced. Throughout its life I made a point of never downloading the software updates for fear that there would be something in them somewhere that blocked me using compatible inks!I replaced it with an Epson Eco Tank, which has refillable ink tanks. I filled them when I bought the printer over 8 months ago, and they are all still over half full. Replacement bottles work out at around £8.50 each for the colour ones and £13.50 for the black. They claim to cut printing costs by up to 95%.
The reality is that if the manufacturers were somehow stopped from charging such extortionate prices for the ink, they would simply respond by putting the price of the printers up. It is the ink that they make their money from, not the printers.
24-07-2021, 03:06 PM
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Re: Printer ink pricier than champagne finds Which?
Originally Posted by Silver Tabby
->
I used to have a Canon printer years ago and, once it was out of it's warranty, I used compatibles - they wrecked it - have never used them since!Was thinking of trying the Epson Ecotank - has anyone used one of those?
24-07-2021, 03:06 PM
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Re: Printer ink pricier than champagne finds Which?
My main printer for letters etc. is a laser printer - the toner cartridges last for ages. My other printer that I use for printing photos is a Kodak. They no longer produce printers because that branch of the company was taken over. There's also no support for consumables such as print cartridges - for that reason, I've been forced to use so-called compatibles and thus far, have had no problems with them. It helps when the companies producing them have a good reputation for the product they sell and a good returns policy if they don't meet someone's expectations.| Thread Tools | |
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