Printer Ink

[msmama]

2 questions:

1. Do most printers come with some ink?

Santa is bringing me a printer for Xmas but wrapped it before I...I mean he...checked to see if it came with ink (it's an Epson printer/scanner/copier) if that helps.

2. Where is the best place to get ink?

Any place that regularly has coupons or something? I know Costco has a ton but are the prices any good? Refill them myself?

Thanks!

 

[vicki_c]

Yes, there will be a starter cartridge(s) or more in the box.

We just retired an Epson printer because the cartridges were so expensive and ran out so quickly (Artisan 800 I think) well and because it was effectively dead (see below), but the best price I found was LD Products - an Internet seller someone here recommended - those were refilled cartridges I think (sorry can't remember).

I hope you have better luck with your printer than we did - it only lasted about a year before it said it needed some kind of "pad replacement" which I learned would cost more than purchasing a new printer (and it was a $300 printer). And that was after spending probably 2x the price of the printer in ink cartridges for the year we had it - everytime I turned around the cartridges were empty and we didn't print very much.

(Sorry I know I'm a downer - just my bad Epson experience.)

Came back to edit just to add - in case anyone's wondering, we did use the OEM cartridges purchased from Epson for most of our refills, so it wasn't using the non-OEM cartridges that caused our problem. After a year of buying OEM cartridges at $100/set (!!), I broke down and got 2 sets of the non-original ones. I never even got to use more than 1-2 of them before the printer died. I should have researched it on Consumer Reports, because when I started looking up the problem with the pads - I found a million terrible reviews about the ink consumption and the pad issue. So I thought I should just come back and say that in case someone thought the problem was caused by the cartridges.

 

[Purseval]

Cartridge World sells cheap replacements if there is one in your area. Lasermonks sells generics and right now they are offering 50% off if you pay with Paypal. I just ordered four cartridges for my Canon printer and save over $50. The code is PAL50

 

[andycat]

Most printers will come with at least some ink, although some come with only a small "starter" cartridge. Consumable supplies like ink and print heads are how the manufacturers make money - the printer itself is almost a loss leader. So if Santa hasn't chosen your specific gift yet, you might look through the reviews for the "cost per page", which should give you an idea of how much you'll be spending on ink.

Something that can really help cut down on ink cost is to go into the printer configuration and change the default to use black ink only instead of color (some printers call this, "use all available ink). I just got back from a trip where we needed to print tags for our luggage. Ours were of course in black only, but I saw lots of people with bright blues and yellows on their luggage tags - what a waste!!

One other thing to check is to make certain your printer comes with a cable (unless you're connecting wirelessly). Many printers don't come with a cable.