re-fill ink carts? ANYONE?

[Toaster]

Is it worth refilling ink carts? I've tried in the past with BAD LUCK and equally bad results.

I just bought a new photo printer (HP Photosmart 7660) to go along with my 5mp digital camera... The prints come out amazing, even 8.5x11- outstanding.

The cartidges are freakin' TINY. And are expensive... About $60 to replace with new carts (1-photo, 1-tri-color). And I saw online a deal where it claims you can refill each color 12 times for $22 a cartridge, so for about $50, it claims I can refill these 2 cartridges 12 times? Even has directions on how to reset the memory counter chip in the cartridge.

Just curious if anyone here messes with refilling ink cartridges on a HP printer, or just buy the new ones?

THANKS
-Toaster

 

[AVB]

The wife tried it on a Lexmark Z series. It worked but the colors weren't as bright and crisp. For everyday use I guess it was fine but after a 2 week period of no use they clogged up completely.

 

[Roseysman]

I use to with my old HP960C worked ok for what I printed, but with the new photo printers do ya really wanna chance gumming up the jets?
I know use a cannon with 4 individual ink tanks costs me around $10 a tank to replace which ever color is needed.

 

[other1]

I've never found refilling to be worth the trouble. If you want to save money I would try third party ink cartridges. I've used Meadiastreet's (mediastreet.com) but I'm not sure if they make HP cartridges.

 

[txmatt]

I have refilled my black cartridge in my HP DeskJet 5550 (cartridge #56) 3 times since I got the printer. It is by far the easiest to refill cartridge I have run into.

The cartridges in my previous Lexmark printer were another story. They do their best to make refilling hard. Lexmark even tried to sue one of the refilling outfits for DCMA violations (the catch all end all lawsuit for anything electronic it seems); and lost. I was able to refill the black Lexmark cartridge, but it required a whole lot of priming/cleaning cycles once refilled to print properly. I tried refilling the color one also, but didn't have success; 1 of the 3 heads stayed clogged. Since 2 new cartridges were more expensive than a newer model of this printer, I just ditched it once the 2nd color cartridge ran out.

HP makes refilling relatively easy and even encourages it as it saves waste. Usually you just need to peel a sticker (instead of the case cracking and drilling with Lexmark). This is why HP got my printer purchase this year.. I see no reason to replace the damned printer heads when I am just out of ink.

Matt

 

[JOE.M.]

Check out this place >PrintPal Been using them for a few years and have had no complaints about any of the products I have used. :thumbs:

 

[Maggs44]

I've never found refilling to be worth the trouble. If you want to save money I would try third party ink cartridges. I've used Meadiastreet's (mediastreet.com) but I'm not sure if they make HP cartridges.

I have never been able to find generic replacements for HP carts. Carrott (and others) have remanufactured units and refil kits. For Canon inks, I found they have the best prices on generics when they have sales (which they have often).

From their website re" HP

"Carrot Ink's goal is to offer the best value in inkjet printing to our customers. As you may know, due to patents on the design of Hewlett Packard ink cartridges, high quality compatible inkjet cartridges are not available."

Im not with Carrott, just a satisfied customer.

 

[DaveWF]

FWIW, I can get you genuine HP cartridges for your printer.

Black #56 $20
Color #57 $25
Photo #58 $30

Let me know if you're interested

Dave