[QUOTE=ripit;2117134]The never ending game to soak the consumer with unbelievable ink prices (or toner). Why do you think that they have all gone to chipped ink cartridges.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epson_ink_cartridge_controversy
Thats why they give away so many printers for free or sell below cost (they can make it up a thousand fold on the ink).
How bout this ink cartridge for the epson r200/300 etc.
http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/907993/Epson-Model-T048120-Black-Ink-Cartridge/
and its ink cost of 4000USD a gallon!!! And then on top of that, the printer only lets you use some of the ink!!!
How about this lexmark cartridge at 7600$ a gallon!!!
http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/504032/Lexmark-33-Color-Inkjet-Cartridge-Model/
I wonder how much it uses before it stops?
It will be a sad day when my canon ip4000 dies. Refill ink (with ink that has been proven to be about as good as canon) cost me 256$ a gallon (based on 4oz bottle cost). For those that say refill ink will never be as good, it was debated more than you can believe back when I was active on dpreview, and even the experts that claimed it wasn’t possible had to eat a bit of crow when their own test showed it to be good ink (better color gamut, nearly as good fade resistance, similar water resistance, very good color accuracy etc).[/QUOTE]
Thanks for the links. It is a war between the print comps and the refillers. The high cost of carts has dissuaded me from replacing my old Lexmark Z-32, which is very easy to refill. It uses foam type carts and a hot paper clip will melt a hole in the top (above the head side) into which a syringe can refill the ink. I get bulk black for about 1.50 an ounce at Alotofthings.com, - the lowest quality ink i’ve found - which is about how much it cost to refill the cart. The black can be refilled abut 10 times, while color maybe 3or 4. But the older black carts used to have a full foam interior, while the later ones are only half full. Like my first Ford 390, it burns a lot of oil, but under XP and Vista, it never tells me it is low on ink. Just keep the syringe ready.
