re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I agree Keith as i am still re- filling mine since my last post on this on 09/12/2008 and still using the original cartridges that printers came with.

Upside :, i find this cost effective.

Downside:, can be messy and its quite easy to destroy a cartridge if you dont know what you are doing.
Frank n St31n

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I have been refilling my ink cartridges for years (Canon 3000, 5200 and 4600) using ink from inkbank.com.au and never had a problem. I am a Photographer and sell prints up to A4 size done with their inks and have never had a complaint about colour quality. I have prints over 10 years old hanging on my wall with no sign of fading. Due to the minuscule size of the tanks on the new canon printers I will be ordering the CIS unit for my printer after Christmas

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

Hey everyone , I think if you have a cheap printer why not but if you have an expensive printer such as one that is worth Thousands then strongly suggest using the real deal.
Pass experience is always buy the best ink possible and if you are doing photos then i wont buy refill , Had photos printed off and few years down the track they went Pink and also some photos did not hold their colour.. But cheap printer all the way with refill..
Of course quality will only ever come out of a laser printer

(You had me for a minute Ryan. I agree about original inks for quality prints, but I've yet to see a colour laser printer that produced comparable quality to inkjets. -PZ)

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

If refilling was bad then why is Cartridge World one of the fastest growing franchises in the world but I do it myself and get my refills from www.bizco.com.au, they seem to have the best kits with all the tools inside to make refilling easy and their Inktec inks seem to last the longest against fading for photos.

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I`ve been re-filling my ink cartridges in my Canons and HP Printers since 2001 and have never looked back.

Over this time period it has saved me hundreds if not thousand+ dollars with rarely a failure of the cartridge.

Admittedly, i only print with the basic colors as i dont need photographic quality prints, but even then some of the prints have been quite stunning even on plain paper.

The drawback ...be prepared to read the instructions carefully and have heaps of newspaper and gloves at the ready as it can be quite a messy job.

NOTE:..there is the possibility that some cartridges cant be refilled and or wont work due to some protection, or have been let run dry or the contacts damaged during refill.
Frank N stein

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

In NZ there is a move for printer manufactureres to offer "Green Recycling" They collect or you send the old cartirdges to them.
This has two advantages for the companies.
1 It gets the cartridges out of circulation so that refill marketers are deprived of supplies of refillables.
2 The companies can refil, rechip and sell as new with increased profits.
Someone worked out here that in NZ, printer ink is the most expensive liquid ever, around $1000 plus per litre.

(Don;t get me started Mike. Over here in Oz there's a *%$^$ scheme to "recycle" cartridges. It's the same idea - get them out of circulation. I can't convince people how nasty it is. Making park benches - PTOOI! -PZ)

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

An up date on my 2005 post.
Still refilling now also for an Epson R230 as well as a new HP. My wife actually does the HP now - no troubles. I refill a Samsung 550 Laser too but change the cartridges every couple of fills and regularly reset the chips. Saves heaps.

(Thanks Trev. A pity they didn;t design them that way,. -PZ)

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I have a Canon PIXMA MP760 printer, this I found at a local dump, both of the scanner lid hinges were broken, and dirt inside. Tipping the dirt out and fishing out the broken plastic hinge bits freed up the works and got it going.

Now, since this was a "cheepie", I decided to reink by using "QUEEN" food colouring, (at .95c a 50ml bottle) yes, after a few sheets to clear out original ink, it behaved as new. Blacks and colours excellent.

I have managed to print about 10 - 12 reems of paper = 5000 to 6000 sheets. Reinking was no problems.
Just drilled a access hole into the top of the clear plastic in the middle, screw in a tapping screw to seal it up.
I had about 20 refills.

Then last week I noticed the black had stopped and the red also.
I had begun a large print session and the ink ran out before the end of the session.
I have soaked the print head on a blotter soaked in hot water without avail, I think the black jets may have failed, but for the price, it dosent matter.

The life of this machine is about 15,000 sheets, but not knowing how much work it had previously done,
I couldnt know if it was at the end of its useful life.

Only a new print head would tell.

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

Anyone who does not do refilling of their ink cartridges simply is throwing good money away. Know your printer, know the "tricks" to the particular cartridge(s) it uses, and "ink it up"! Saves a small forture and the quality is there is you are paying attention to what you are doing.

(Great wisdom there Dan. -PZ)

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I have been purchasing compatible cartridge for my printer MP360 since day one from 123inkjets.com.au
No problem what so ever, can tell the different anyway. The black was only $4.95 each with buy 3 get 1 free! cheap as chips.if i use genuine cartridge for the pass few years, it will cost me arm and a leg!

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I have a canon ip4200 that has been running with a continuous ink system for around 6 weeks now with no noticeable difference. I used to have trouble with colour cartidges I filled in the past but this kit was a breeze to install.

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I have cannon IP 5200 printer and for some reason cannot refill my cartrige. I have filled it with ink and my printer still registers it as empty. DOes anyone esle have that problem or knows a solution please help.

(Check this Whirlpool thread, or Google for help. http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies-archive.cfm/492224.html -PZ)

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

It is definitely good after refilling these for more than 16 years. Sometimes the cartridge's head fails like for HP and you cannot refill but most of the time it works it's worth trying especially for black ones. Canon, I agree are the best and most easy. I actually have problems with the HP 78 or HP 23 only one or two colours work, does anyone have a solution?

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

Don't go near "remanufactured" toner cartridges
Tried one for my HP 4MP, it leaked, and cost of repair of the printer was over $500.00!!

(Hi Dave. I've been using remanufactured cartridges for 15 years at least and only ever had one dud - it seemed to cake up while sitting on the shelf for 6 months. If your cartridge was manufactured by an ACRA member, you should be able to make a claim. www.acra.asn.au -Paul Zucker)

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

My recommendations ....
1. Buy a new one.
2. Buy a refill kit....Use it after the new one has run out of ink.
3. After the refill kit is empty go back to buying another new one and another refill kit.
4. Repeat the process.

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

We refill our fax and computer cartridges for the company I work at all the time and we find we are not losing any quality and are saving, at times, quite a lot of money. We refill through Cartridge World to avoid making any mistakes and it is very cheap, only about $25, so much cheaper then a new cartridge!

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I've just re-read this post and have come across a post of mine from 2003- Since then I have only just pensioned off the S400 printer I was using back then. My viewpoint on re-inking has changed, too. The Canon S400 has be re-inked by me many times in the last 3 years using Calidad inks with no problems. My reason for pensioning it off now? I want to print on DVD's, I've found that they just don't like sticky labels. So my new machine is a CANON PIXMA MP500, which PCUser has made some very glowing reports on. I can thank "She who must be obeyed" for that, she said, "will it do what you want?" I said, "Yes....but", she said, "We're buying it!" End of discussion. My but was could I justify the expense. At the end of the day. I LOVE IT! I have yet to re-ink it, so time will tell.

My son is to inherit my old S400, and my sister the Epson C43UX I bought and used once because I couldn't find ink for my Canon. I've kept it on the shelf for many months now, so should really dispose of it.

(It sounds like we should turn this thread into an article for the magazine, eh Leigh. -Paul Zucker)

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I responded to this poll on 10/07/2003 and I still have the Canon BJC-6200 as the work horse. The waste ink pads were changed last year but no other problems.
I needed a faster quality printer than the Canon S820 so I now have a Canon Pixma MP760. The quality is more than adequate for my needs. Photos are printed on Ilford Printasia Premium Photo Glossy Paper. If I have photos that I want to last for many years and that are able to take a bit rougher treatment they are printed at the lab.
I still use New Reality Inks and refill myself.
If the printer gives up in six months I will still be ahead due to the money I have saved on ink.
I will continue to refill my own.

(Thanks for the new feedback John. -PZ)

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I have a Canon S900, using OEM carts (and paper) it prints excellent photos. I bought some ink from a QLD company to refill the carts but results were not good - nothing like the OEM colours.
I have bought ink from another company in QLD which is better but I have had to tweak the printer settings or the photos come out too yellow.

I also have an HP cp1160 that uses No14 carts - they are expensive! Up until now I have always bought OEM, but as I only use the printer for day to day printing I have just placed an order for ink from a Sydney company (named on this poll) so will see how it goes.
I have sucessfully refilled carts for other printers in the past so it (generally) works for me. I haven't had any problems with print heads, except once with an Epson Stylus 800 a few years back where I had to get it serviced, but the techs cleaned it OK.
One of the things that will affect print quality is the paper you use, so if you are getting crap results try different (good quality) paper.

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

Its bloody great.
I have a epson r210 photo printer and they have the pressurized cartridge system. I was some what dubious about refilling these but I have and it works just fine, no loss in colour, better if anything than the original inks. I purchased the all 6 colour inks (125ml), replacement cartridges and a chip resetter for around 150.00. The instructions were a little dodgy but not rocket science just need to read very carefully.
Now if i can recharge a pressurized cartridge and reset the chip and get it to work I fail to understand why people cant refill hp,cannon and lexmark type ones that are a lot less complicated.
INK REFILLING IS GOOD AND NECESSARY!!!!

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

For me it has been very good. I've been refilling my own for many years now for a couple of printers but mainly a HP OfficeJet G85. It costs $75 for a new black cartridge but only cents to fill it.

I've bought most of my ink from the US and normally buy in quart bottles. My G85 says it's printed 39,590 pages and I guess that's right but many have been heavy ink or A4 photos. I guess the fact that I am nearly out of black and have bought more than 6 quarts gives an indication of usage.

In the early days I made some mess and mucked a few things up but with some of the gear available now it is so easy. I can refill a black cartridge in a couple of minutes - out of the printer and back in printing. It takes a little longer for colour, not a lot but I am careful. When I first started it used to take half an hour for black.

Over the years I have had to replace cartridges but the amount of money I have saved must by now be enormous. I wish I could do the same with my colour laser!

You are mad if you do not give it a go. Using the right ink you will not pick the difference from the original.

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I have refilled many HP 78 and 45 cartridges for my HP 990. The 45s which use black ink usually work, but sometimes leak, so be careful to tape that bottom hole tightly.

I have wasted a lot of time refilling the 78s and only a few refills have actually worked right. Most of the remanufactured ones I buy over Ebay don't work right. And this is even after priming them, and soaking them, etc.

So I have been forced into buying new HP cartridges, which always work for me.

If I every buy a remanufactured one again, I will buy it locally at Staples or Office Depot so I can return it easily if it does not work. I think a lot of remanufactured cartridges have questionable print heads, and they sell them to the public, anyway.

I have thought about buying the less expensive 19 ml new 78s and filling them up at that time with more ink so they will last as long as the large 78 cartridges.

Mike

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I've had a canon bjc 3000 for about 6years with photo head refilled photo cartridges never had to clean or replace them. The colour is not the same as original but once you adjust settings photos look the same. I fill in the machine it's easy. I buy from www.newreality.com.au delivered no problems have used their teck support helpfull
want to upgrade to to ip 5200 if refil ink is availible $25 each for genuine means too dear

I see most anti-refill didn't really try it. I ruined the original standard printhead by putting geniune photo ink cartridges in then when I found I needed photohead pulled that head out and left it for too long between use dried up now won't print, my fault not ink.
I have more trouble with printer not feeding premium photo paper but printing anyway leaving ink on rollers, does anyone know where I can get cleaning sheets from.

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

My family and i refill, and we have done so for many years now... With a 16 year old and a 18 year old student, we need to refill. We have a 12 year old too who prints everything and anything, so thank goodness for refills.

If you don't refill, or at least try it once, your mad. If your on a budget, just refill...

Kay Hunt

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

Well i refill, and i love it !

I have refilled everybrand over the years and now i use Canon ip5000 and a ip4000 and i 'to date' have never had a problem.

With all my family using my printers, and having 3 boys 5, 8 and 10, they give my printers more use than i do...

I think refilling is the way to go... Buy great ink, and save thousands. I tries some from my local supermarket and it was crap, went back to my regular guy.

Best Wishes

Frank N. Stein

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I tried doing the refill thing...
For the last 4 years I have been refilling my canon S300 and havent had any issues using the same refill kit I bought on ebay for $25.

I figure I have saved hundreds of dollars. My print heads just went bad I think(yellow stopped printing). I figured I would just by a new printer as they are so cheap and better than the one I got 4 years ago.

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

After reading this page i can say that it has to be the person(s) refilling that's the problem. If you buy good ink, then all should be well...

Sample: My friend and i bought a Canon ip5000 at the same time, then i went to my usual ink supplier and bought ink and so did my friend.

I have refilled for 4 months some 20 times with not one problem, yet my friend has had many. I refill for him now to help him out and it works great, when i do it, but when he does it, troubles happen. So it goes to show, same printer, same cartridge, same ink and mine works a treat and he has some troubles when he tries it.

Canon are the best to refill and i suggest you refill if your a person who prints photo's, flyers or runs a home business! I do....

Refilling gets the ole "2 thumbs up!"

PD

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I love printing my photos. I also enjoy printing things of the internet like recipes or timetables and even the newspaper.
Origonal Ink Cartridges can cost quite a bit. I have gone through a few different types of machines.
I had a HP for a while, had cartridges refilled and bought new. Refilled worked quite well. The cartridge would some times not work when I took it to the refill shop, so I would buy a New Brand one. One time a New Brnad one failed in my printer, and I had to Send it too HP, Such a drama, I had to wait 4 weeks to get credited for a new cartridge. By this time I bought a CANON, one that has the seperate Inks in it. This worked well for a while, the refill shop I go to had Generic Cartridges at almost half the price of a CANON. I tryed them they worked fine. About a year later I bought a new computer from a Big Store and it cam with a Free Lexmark Printer. It printed ok. I went to my refill shop, they said they don't like LEXMARK becasue the fail? I didnt understand and new ones were more than the machine would cost me if I bought a new one.
I Went back to my Canon with the seperate tanks and use Generic Carts just fine.

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I search for ink information and find this poll. I find it funny that peoples who have the same printer as my say refills dont work, or they are bad, i love refilling.

I save as my cartridges are $35 each and i use 11 a week. They always work and i feel the inks are better than the original. I buy new every 6 months to get a fresh cartridge to refill and so i have spares ready to go.

There is no way i could run a home business spending money on new cartridges. If refills don't work, it's must be the filler or the ink.

Refilling are perfects and i will never buy from anyone but my current guy. I read the other text about getting in trouble for mention the name so i won't... but search for 'ink refills sydney' on google and you should find them.

A pleased re filler MS

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I have had nothing but trouble using refilled ink cartridges. I use HP and my cartridges are $50 each (C & B/W) but the refills are a different colour so customers aren't happy with business cards being different. I think $50 is a lot but I'd rather pay that than lose customers. (I run a business from home and only use a normal inkjet printer

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I have been refiling for 5 years and have 3 printers a Can*** and 2 x Ep*** and they work great. Never had a problem and that's the truth.

I get my ink from a place on Sydney's northern beaches. Won't mention there name in case i get in trouble.

There is no reason why your results shouldn't be as good as mine. No smudges like the lady says and all my prints are still looking good, i don't print many, mostly flyers on regular paper. I refill for all my friends and family too, i charge my friends and make a little money from refilling theirs.

I guess some people just have no luck.

GG (The Happy Saver)

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

DebbieM

Yet another victim of poor quality ink. You know Australia's leading franchise uses the worst inks of all. One such is moving into my building and is going ride on my tail.

I have a printer similar to the 915 and my photos are still good after 5 years and text on plain paper still good after 10. And no smudging!!!

Been interesting to see what is happening to you poor people and why the ink refill business has gotten a bad wrap!

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I have an epson styls photo 915.

Purchased ink, by taking in my empty cartridges and receiving refilled ones.

The chip was replaced

I am still using the first refilled cartridge.

I have noticed,

the printer still works, the ink smells different, the ink smudges and on photos, fades after a few months....unlike the brand name genuine cartridge.

I am going back to the genuine, once this cartridge is empty. I want my photos to last and my documens not to smudge.

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I have never found the need to refill cartridges as i just buy generic ones at a cost of $5.00 each for color or black. They are cheap and i have never ever had a problem with them. They dont quite last as long as the original but still more economical than paying the huge price for the brand name. I am currenly using a canon mp110 and they work great.

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

i have to disagree with most of you. when my cartridges run out, i just buy new ones and throw the old ones into a recycle bin as i leave a shop. at $30.00 for both b/w and color i could not care less. it's too much of a hassle for me to refill and what if i do stuff my printer trying to save a few bucks. the best thing here is to go with what you like, cheers Andy :) :)

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

Good to see people are adding comments.

Mr. Luke (Harlequin) You trash refilling, you did not say what printer, what cartridge? Refilling works...!!! Not only do i sell ink, i use it too, for over ten years. I know ink refills work! Saying that...Some cartridges are not meant to be refilled! Mostly HP, Lex, Dell & Oki. They can work, but it's 50/50. See my HP comments lower down in other submissions.

John... 255sp. Time to say farewell to it? It is one of the earliest boooblejets. You did well for it to last this long. If it is beeping at you, the circuits have shorted on the cartridge. If still beeping after a new cartridge is inserted the printer is dead. Cost to replace for new $75? Repair would cost $150+ Not worth it.

Most refill problems are caused by poor ink first and poor instructions second, and even worse most have no trouble shooting solutions on them. If you can't get a Canon to work after refilling, you should not be refilling because these are 'childs play'...

No insult to the ladies (or gents) How can a person say the shower cleaner worked great, and another person say the same brand and type was crap and did nothing? Who's right? How can it work for one and not the other?

I estimate i have saved countless thousands refilling since 1993 or so when the bubble jet hit the market. Back when they were $1200 or more and the same type today and better is $75.

In my 10 years of sales i have had only one return, and that wasn't ink related, he mixed it with Kero to make it last longer. I sell my ink because it works. If i was to get returns, complaints and hassles all week, i would find something else to do.

Refilling works, period.

You don't have to buy MY ink, but email me and let me know what has happened or i will check this site from time-to-time and i will help you. If you bought poor quality ink there's not much i can do. www.bubblejet.com.au

P

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

ink refilling is terrible. sure it saves you a few bucks, but it halves the amount of life that you get with the cartridge. i mean, seriously, in the long run, buying a whole new cartridge is better...

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I have an old Canon BJC-255SP color printer. Recently, our printer has been giving us problems. We have checked the cartridge and everything seems to be fine with that. So, what could the problem be? And could there be any solution?

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

Hi

Well i have a solution to the HP empty message and the other latest entries... I know it all...

As for comments: Yes buying good ink, is a good start. But in most cases it's the cartridge, or the refiller that causes the problems. As long as you use great ink, Every printer will work? When say 'every' i mean Canon, then Epson.

If refilling a Canon ip5000 works for 99 out of 100 people, what is **** 100 doing for it to fail?

For some people, you win all the time or you lose always! You have to be a little skilled to refill. Patience is good too:

I hate HP, Lexmark, Dell and some Epson's. Canon is the way to go! BAD news... Next generation of Canon's will have chip's on 'em!

HEY! ... Did you know you lose most of your ink through priming and cleaning. HP are about to release a cartridge that returns ink back to the cartridge and not the waste tank, so 47% of the ink can be re-used.!!!!!

Huge corp's or large business can write of new carts... But i have been refilling since the bubblejet printer was invented. I have not bought a new cartridge in 5 years. I sell ink, and i know how well it works... '10 years total i have sold ink'

I only bought a new cartridge because my Epson failed after 4 weeks and needed repair. Ep just replaced it as it failed electronically!

End Of Story!!!!

Phil:

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

can anyone tell me if there is any special trick on how to refill effectively an HP psc1210 all-in-one printer? or is it safe at least?

(Perhaps contact one of the PC User ink advertisers? -PZ)

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

Would never go otherwise...
I reccomend canon, first canon I got was the i560, that has done about 1.25L of black, and about 800ml of colours through it, 2 sets of cartridges bought with the printer (1/2 of that ink was used in one printing session, litterally 2 of us keeping it going 24hr a day)...
so those that say for continous printing on nongens is bad.. pfft, do not agree at all!

Decided its time to start printing my own photos, so got a i9950, and got a chinese Continuous Ink system for it, done some minor mods to it, and ordered some better ink supply hose (chinese stuff felt to hard) to feed direct from my 250ml bottles I use.
have done about 10 A3 photo prints, and ~70 postcard photo's.. as good as the origionals it came with..

I'm actually now on the hunt for a CIS for my i560 as were about to do another letter drop.. and refilling carts every few hours is quite painful, and fell upon here...

my opinion... well, as a photographer, and someone who helps a mates business to do mailouts, and my non stop no failure..
AND having worked at epson repair center..
no gen carts killed so many epson heads.. notice I said non gen carts.. not refills, i don;t know why.. but some non gens are much worse than non oem inks most people land upon.

why would I go otherwise?
(uses dye inks, on celcast or canon photo paper, for normal printing, whatevers the cheapest a4 at the time :) )

just on another note..
HP 2500CM spent half its life on refills, till network card in it died.. damn refills :P

Epson 1160 (still running (second set of print heads)) runs on a (at the time dear as gold) CIS system with black, and 3 shades of grey for black and white photo's, since it was brand new, don't know where to get more 'grey' ink from anymore (still got small amounts left), so if someone here does please reply :) .

Epson 1520 (second set of print heads died, and cos I don;t work at repair center anymore, out of luck) and only ever ran on genuines.

Epson 640 (dead), ran on a mixture on generic carts, and genuinecarts, print heads died.

Xerox a4 sumthin (alive, in storage), replaced by i560, could never find refill ink for it, pity, I love that printer!

Canon LBP3000, first toner refill now, only prints transperencies.

I see no real 'refills kill printers' line

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

BUY CANON! I have no commercial affiliation whatsoever! But after refilling a canon BJC2000? for over four years regularly without any mess malfuction or stress of any kind I picked up an HP Deskjet. And now I have a machine full of ink that tells me it's empty.

"NO YOUR NOT" I keep screaming. But to no avail. Nothing is more frustrating than having a fully functional printer full of precious ink that has simply decided it's empty and refuses to print.

Admittedly the computer printer business has never made one penny from me and so I suppose I've finally got my payback from those clever HP technicians.

My advice. If the price of a cartridge is more than you earn in ten minutes then buy a cheap Canon BJC and refill.

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I have been using a Canon BJC-210 for black and white printing for about 10 years, ive replaced the cartridge twice in that time, once because the orriginal ran out (i didnt know you could refill them) and once because the replacement eventually died after being refilled too many times to count, ive been usind calidad inks that cost around $7 for the refill, the quality is as good or better than the orriginal (that costs like $50) and who say refilling doesnt save? you can run into trouble by using poor quality inks though, but shop around an you'll find a great deal, im astounded by the durability of my dear old BJC-210 that is still going strong, and somewhat disapointed with my new lexmark.

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

FREE TIP: We have many more -)

If you're refilling the older style (Pre Durabrite) Epson all-in-ones like To26, To27, To29, Too9, older style and so on and they play up after refilling, do this:

First have spares: At least 3-5.
Leave for 3 Days unsealed after refilling.
Place in printer end of day to sit overnight.

If they play up, don't do head clean after head clean, your wasting ink and time. Also you will fill the waste tank and your printer will stop and need servicing. (We have the fix if it does this)

Pressure builds up in the cartridge or there's an air pocket. (Like using a straw with your finger over the end) Fully remove and place the same cartridges back in. It will release the pressure and do a prime and clean. This has 99% success and you will save a lot of ink wastage.

We have a link to some great priming and cleaning software if you need it.

We find about once every 2-3 months a bit of head cleaner on the cartridge exit holes and the rest pad help maintain greatness. We have a head cleaner and use it maybe once every 2-3 months. Note: The pad the cartridges rest on can build up some sticky crap. Clean it from time-to-time.

Remember use good ink. Since your saving a fortune refilling, don't skip on refill ink, it will byte you in the ass.

www.bubblejet.com.au

Happy Printing & Saving!!!

(OK. Free tip gets free ad. Thanks. -Paul Zucker)

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I used to work for a printer cartridge refilling company. We strived to get the closest matching ink for the specified cartridge so in the end it cam out exactly the same. It didn't ruin print heads to the best of my knowledge, and the prints in some cases were better than original. For instance, we had a lady who used to make relish and printed labels with the genuine ink and when she washed the label off for jar re use, the ink washed off the label straight away. She used our ink and it was water proof.

there are many pros and cons to it i suppose, one of the major ones would be, cheapness. Reliability was a huge downfall with many customers having their ink cartridges thrown in the cupboard where the print head actually died over the years. re tried our best to revive them. All in all, to save money, for back up cartridges, laser toner, even pigment black text printing, its a very good idea and shouldn't be frowned upon.

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

INK REFILLS WORK ■Update■ (Hope This Makes It On)

Well I■m back again■ ■Final entry in this poll■

Yellow is the most crucial. I have seen yellow that is almost deep orange, some brown and some almost clear with a hint of yellow. One large refill shop franchise use what looks like brown sludge. If the yellow is wrong, you■re out of luck from the get-go! Yellow is needed to make just about every colour or shade of. Too light and you won■t get a good green or pink or orange■ Too dark and all colours will be lifeless, especially with Canon. Too thin or thick and you■re really up the; ■you know what creek.■ It is the most important factor in getting correct photo printing with skin tones.

The gentlemen who said he ■refills 3 times, then buys a new head■ must be buying some shocking inks■ One of my customers is still refilling the same Canon printer that■s 8 years old now and only buys a new head every 2-3 years or so, unless it fails electronically. My flat mate has a 10 year-old Epson 400. Still prints a treat and he has been using my inks for 8 of those 10 years. The first two years buying genuine cart■s.

Now you don■t have to buy my ink, but you should buy quality. How do you know if the others ink is any good? ■Well it■s like playing lotto. Good luck! A $60 bottle of 100ml could be worse than a $25 bottle of 100ml■ How can you tell? You can■t until it■s too late.

You can view my Epson ■Tips ■N■ Tricks■ via our site if they keep my web address in below or see it again here■ www.bubblejet.com.au "Tips are good for all brands" You will find FREE info on how to print, maintain, scan and take pictures better. You don■t have to buy my ink as i survive off regular customers. We prefer to sell to the experienced, but if you feel you can try it and do better with decent inks, let us know. The 'Tips' page will explain what can go wrong when printing, like; Wrong colours, scratchy lines and so on.

Most ink sellers in the land of the Internet buy the cheapest inks to maximise their profits. When it fails they blame you or the cartridge. Either way they win!

Offering graphic design i go through some 5 cartridges per week @ $35 each new, and up to 8 last days of the month for the magazine i work for■ So i need the ink too. I refill for about $5. That■s why i sell ink, since i need it; i also sell it to you to save.

Now you could buy cheaper still, but you will be the many on this site who say ■refills don■t work■ It■s very important to have correct colour shades and thickness to work correctly. We don■t recommend mixing others with what ever you bought before, best start again. BTW: Most refill instructions i have seen are wrong, very wrong! ■We make and test our own and provide in most cases a video CD too.

Let us know if you like our Tips on the web site.

I love this page■ Glad i found it■ A great eye opener as to what happens out in refill land■

Sorry for grammar■ I did this at 3am.

No excuse you say ;-))

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

REFILLS WORKS GREAT !!!!!

As long as you use high-quality inks, you should have NO problems. Any problems are simply the cartridge dying or the refillers mistake. Mistakes easily fixed in 99% of cases.

Our ink has never damaged a printer of any type, and i too use my own ink... In 3 Epsons and my now out dated Canon's. 3 years filling my 2 Epson 830u models and it has not missed a beat. Some people on this poll talk of heads getting blocked? We have and no customers have ever had head blocks with our inks.

There is no reason why you can't print text, photo's or anything else with our inks. Not sure what people on this site a complaining about. They must be buying some crap ink from someone if they can't print glossy pics.

I have sold ink for printers for 10 years and have had only 1 request for a refund. Then it was not a fault of the ink.

We use what we sell, so we know it's ok. Yes photo prints do take a little longer to dry and Epson paper is the best to use. Remember, buy cheap paper and that can be 80% of the problem right there!!

Yes i run www. bubblejet.com.au ...and i am blowing my own trumpet... But just buy great ink and you should have 99.9% success.
Yes refills do play up from time-to-time, but i feel and have heard refilling with quality ink is better and more reliable than clone cartridges.

Canon's are the easiest and most reliable to work every time!!! Older Epsons's too. Durabrite i suggest CIS for these.

WARNING::::: One person on this site uses Metho to clean... DON'T...Metho is a drying agent and will ruin you print head as it leaves behind a fine white powder.... Use a proper dedicated head cleaner.

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I have a Canon MP700 and i have previously used refill ink (calidad) which has now resulted in me having to replace my printer, as printing photos was hopless, and even at times the black printing (text) is very liney, i hav deep head cleaned my printer and aligned it and everything else but the quality was still very poor until i replaced the printer. My advice, stay away from refills if you want quality prints.

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I have used refills in all types of printers. I find that they work best in Canon cartridges, however a proffessional should be able to satisfactorily refill just about any cartridge available. My current system is an Epson Photo R210 with a Continuous Ink System attached. This system continuously feeds ink into the printer meaning I never have to change my cartridges again. While expensive upfront, it will save me heaps in the long run. I got mine from Ink on the Run, and as far as I'm aware they're only available for Epson Printers. The other reason I use it is because a normal cartridge can usually only be refilled a certain number of times before it gets old and fails, but the Epson print head combined with this ink system hasn't skipped a beat for the 8 months I've had it. Yes, I would recommend it and have come across no traps yet.

re: Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

i have a HP photosmart 1000 have had success before with refilling but the last 2 times not I know i have put the ink in the right locations and my wife even watched me do it .....but the'yellow` is coming out of the resevoir GREEN which to my mind means the resevoir was the actual blue one............could it be that miss labeling the cartridges the company are screwing up refills and protecting the massive profits they surely make on the cartridge????????

re: Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

i have a HP photosmart 1000 have had success before with refilling but the last 2 times not I know i have put the inkin the tight locations and my wife even watched me do it .....but the'yellow` is coming out of the resevoir GREEN which to my mind means the resevoir was the actual blue one............could it be that miss labeling the cartridges the company are screwing up refills and protecting the massive profits they surely make on the cartridge????????

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I bought my Canon BJC 8200 in2001, and apart from the original cartridges and a free upgrade set in 03, I have used New Reality refills with the same cartridges ever since, with no discernable difference between original inks and refills. Take care and there is no mess.

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

Refilling your ink cartridge is a NO BRAINER.

But it does require you to use your brains!

If you are printing a page every day or two (or more) then refilling the cartridge is fine. Inkjets benefit from being used as it allows the ink to move through and not get clogged up. If you are only an occasional printer use the genuine cartridge as you're not spending a fortune on cartridge anyway.

Hear is my tips to say yourself mega bucks.
1 Buy a cheap Sub $100 Canon (Canons are very easy to refill and the genuine cartridges are cheap anyway).

2 Use this printer for you black and white stuff. Use ink refills. I just purchased 250ml of Inktec ink for $35 (online). That would probably work out to less than a cent a page, try getting that kind of value out of a Lexmark!

3 From the money you save on your printing costs you can take your digital photos to a professional camera shop, who will actually run your digital image through the normal developing procedure (same procedure as print films). At less than $1 a print, including photographic paper you will get incredibly high quality photos and tonnes of Black and White printing.

With this option available, it makes people shelling out big dollars for colour printers look a little silly! You'll save heaps of money which you can spend on extra ram, or maybe a PCuser subscription... ;-)

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I use the best source of refillable inks in Australia (New Reality). Between us we have set a standard of not more than 4 to 6 refills for each cartridge regardless whether Black or Colour. I use the 4 tank System since Canon 3000, S400 and now I550. It is great really effective and reasonable in price. The output quality is first class using correct papers. I have found that the real cheap inks do not do their job and are poorly put together. Buy 1st Class ink, specific for your printer.

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I KNOW MORE ABOUT TONER/INK THAN ANYONE,I RUN WWW.TONERNEWS.COM
THE OEM DON'T WANT YOU TO REFILL OR REMANUFACTURE THEIR CTGS,ESPECIALY LEXMARK,DON'T LET THEM TELL YOU DIFERENTLY,REFILLING & REMANUFACTURING IS ALL AROUND A GOOD THING,NOW LET'S SAVE THE TREES THAT ARE CHOPED DOWN SO WE CANNN ALL PRINT !

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

Since I work for a computer store and sell these, I thought I would put my 2 cents worth.

Main thing to watch is that the cartridges dry up a lot quicker than genuine. Original manafactures put some kind of stuff in them to stop this. You will often find that the ammounts of actual prints you get is less than genuine due to all the damn headcleans.

Also, bad cartridges can wreck the print head and inkjet nossle.

My advice, if its a cheap printer like canon s200, use non genuine - who cares if it ruins it.

If it's a nice printer, eg more than $300, dont skimp.

Also, if you dont print often, dont use non genuine

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

Problems are often caused by the build-up of gunk at the interface between cartridge and printer. This can be cleaned off by meths using a tissue, just wipe in the direction of the little channels Not too much meths either.

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

Love it

I have saved a fortune over the years

Use a Canon BJC 80 for Black and White

printing

Works the same as moistening a dry sponge

Use a syringe to squirt some ink into the sponge and off you go

Use good quality ink and replace the whole cartridge occasionally

Great Magazine by the way

Nice Work

re: ■ Poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

Hi all, i refill a lexmark ink cartridge myself and have had no problems at all with print quality or mess. If mess is a few drops of ink on some paper toweling then yes i have had a mess though personally i wouldn't call that a mess. Printer cartridges can be refilled up to ten times and then they have to be thrown out as the print heads do ware out, thus the quality fails. I get about four refills out of a refill pack so by doing this for just one refill pack you save at least $100 and up to $200 as a new cartridge can cost between $40 and $60 depending on whether it is black 16 and 17 or colour 26 and 27. A refill pack cost less than $20. I say do it yourself unless you have more money than brains.

re: Reader poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I buy Jet-tec generic replacement cartridges for my Epson C-60 from CW, it works fine. However, the latest one I got failed and the ink just bled through. Even though it was new, the printer rejected the cartridge, warning light indicated it was empty. I threw it out. Most times they work.

sometimes good,sometimes bad

it only depend if print head is on machine or on ink cartridge

re: Reader poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

i think i agree with most of you. who can be bothered refilling them when you could make such a bloody mess. cheers andy. :) :) :)

re: Reader poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

Hi,
I have a Canon S400SP and have decided to reink it myself because of the cost. I had a look on the net and found a site that said the original cartridges shouldn't be refilled as something in them breaks down over time and wrecks the head. It said to buy a generic brand first and then refill that as the generics don't have the same problem so I'm going to try doing it like that... I noticed a couple of people here have had problems with the same model with the head clogging so the advice on the site might be right.

re: Reader poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

i have a hp deskjet 5550, and sometimes it works to refill cartriges, but most of the time it doesnt for me, i might be doing something wrong, but i donno.

re: Reader poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

What a co-incidence! The guy that runs printercartridges.com.au is named Mark Harrison too!

re: Reader poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

We use compatibles from this mob - http://printercartridges.com.au

they do the trick perfectly

re: Reader poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I've been using refill inks for almost 3 years now. There's a refill kit available at Big W called




Pelikan-20 ml per colour for only $28.00 better than calidad which is only 9ml per colour & costs about $17.00

re: Reader poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

Mix n Match Cartridges for me!

I have a Lexmark Z42. (Had it since mid 2001).

I have used both "genuine", retail ink cartridges (black and colour) and "non genuine", refilled ink cartridges (black and colour) successfully.

Over the years I have found that refilled cartridges have a higher print yield (They have lasted longer and I can print more) than the original retail version.

I refill my black ink cartridges up to a maximum of 4 refills. I also refill my colour ink cartridges up to a maximum of 2 refills. (Through experience I have found print quality - black and colour inks become "clogged" and/or printing is faded - decreases subsequently with further refills.)



Applying steam to the cartridges to "unblock" the cartridge "head" wil not work...Bye Bye Cartridge.

I, too use C******** W**** . Fortunately I have never had any problems with any of their refills or service. Once a colour refill would not work correctly upon installation (the printing appeared weak) so I took it back. C******** W**** attended to it. It then worked fine and in the future was refilled once more.

I have saved $$$+.



These $$$ have been used to purchase some Top Buys recommended by PC User magazine... Great reading...Great reviews...Great investments..

(Thanks Lucy. Good to hear that you're able to buy some techno-goodies. -Paul Zucker)

re: Reader poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I use a canon s400sp. A new printhead with cartridges costs $85.


I find that refilling about 6 times is OK before the head blocks up. At about $70 for 4 new cartridges I save by buying a new printhead after every 5 refills. Colour is OK but I keep genuine cartridges for photo printing.

re: Reader poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

When I was printing mainly black I used to get my cartridges refilled (by professionals) with good results. Occassionally I had to buy a new cartridge so in the end it used to cost me about 2/3rds of the price.

When I got into photo printing I found the refills just didn't cut it. I tried several places for refills. Poor saturation, slower drying ink, too thin ink which produced larger dots and incorrect colours are all problems I experienced.

now I only buy genuine, they were quite expensive but now I buy from Printzone (http://www.printzone.com.au) and get them really cheap and delivered next day.

By the way, I took 5 cartridges to C******** W**** to try them out and they ruined every single one, and no apology or offer of even 1 new cartridge, so watch out.

re: Reader poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I had a Lexmark X75 cartrige refilled by a company. It would not print one page so took it back and got a refund.

re: Reader poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I've been re-inking my own original cartridges for ages now. I can't see any difference in the print quality. And i've had no problem with the printer either. I say save money and do it yourself.

re: Reader poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

Chris,

I don't have the time nor interest to refill the cartridges in my Canon BJC3000.

I generally buy non-genuine cartridges from a place on Cavendish Road opposite the Coorparoo railway station (just around the corner from you at Wynnum), and they are less than the cost of the original items. Can't remember the name, but it's painted red as I recall.

Alternatively I have also lately been getting them refilled at Inkjet Toner Refills at Capalaba (also just around the corner from you), and mine cost about $10 each and are done while you wait. You'd have to check whether yours can be done and the cost.

I have been very happy with the performance of both options, although lately the blacks are printing a bit green the first page or so. It maybe time to but some new ones again for a change - maybe I've had them refilled too many times.

re: Reader poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I have a Canon S520
I successfully have used the following:-
1/. Caladid Generic Cartridges at around 2/3's the price of originals. or
2/. I refill the cartridges myself; through the refil point on the top of each cartridge (feel with your finger and you'll find it), with Ausjetinks from www.ausjetinks.com.au This way it costs about .80 cents per refill.

re: Reader poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I use non genuine replacement cartridges on my Epson 580, I pay $10 for a black and $15 for a colour. I get them delivered from www.aumarket.com in Sydney. No problems.

re: Reader poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I have tried a couple of tiimes and it's resulted in a mess. ended up buying originals.

re: Reader poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

Don't do it most are bad quality ,I tried one time and willnever do it again .buy just the black and do your printing pay few dollars and get the origional.

re: Reader poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

There is (or at least was) another solution, but you would need to be doing a lot of printing. I remember finding an ad on line for a set up that had four 500ml bottles of ink linked to a print head, but at (i think) US$800 a laser printer would be a better option.

re: Reader poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I refilled cartridges for my old HP560C for years with no trouble until the poor old thing died. I was advised by a local tech (one who has been around for long enough to trust) not to try to refil Epson carts as they are a pain are far as leaks go. I use generic cartridges in the Epson at less than half the price of the genuine Epsons with no trouble over the last 3 years.

re: Reader poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

i have an Epson Stylus Photo 700. I've used a few brands of the refills and noticed something common to all of them... they clog the heads much quicker, and that means more head cleaning, which in turn means ink wastage. If u use the printer every day, then u wont run into this problem. But if ur not a heavy user, like me, i suggest stick to the originals. Sometimes i print full photos, and i have noticed a very small difference in image colour compared to using original inks. Overall if u want quality over economy, stick to the originals. If u insist on using refills, i recommend the Callidad brand that u can get from Myer.

re: Reader poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

There are lots of tricks to be learnt, depending on the brand and model of printer. For instance, cleaning the nozzles, not letting things dry out, keeping the contacts clean, not overfilling and so on. It's great when you use a little common sense.

DO IT!

re: Reader poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I refill HP 690C cartridges. Cost new in US$29. Cost new in NZ $79.
cost for 3 refills in NZ $14.
No problems with refills to date.
Don't touch the gold plated contacts as finger oil may cause them to stop working.
A Society here uses only refilled Bubblejet cartridges at the rate of 2 to 3 per competition and have done so for a couple of years. The printers do not give problems.
The only problem that refills really seem to have is that they are killing the OEM's Cashcow - that's why the OEM's are chipping the cartridges.

re: Reader poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I first used the New Reality Refill Kits in a Canon 6200 the results were very good quality and economical as I print over a 1000 pages per month at home. Later purchasing a Canon S820 for photographic printing, at home and again changed from genuine to New Reality Refills. For comparison I printed identical photos using both the genuine and refilled cartridges. There is no appreciable difference between the genuine and the refills.

I now buy ink for the S820 (the higher quality printer) in 500 ml lots and run both printers on the same ink. New Reality does not recommend interchanging inks. The reason I did this was to reduce the quantity of ink I needed to keep.

I have lost count of the number of times each cartridge has been refilled. An occasional deep clean via the printer maintenance program seems to be keeping the print head out of trouble.

re: Reader poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I Have re-inked an older HP DJ710C with limited success and my current printer -- a Canon S400 -- also with limited success, to the point that I ended up having to buy a new print head because aftermarket ink would foul the nozzles and would not clear - That said, after buying a new print head I tried washing out the old one under the tap, drying it thoroughly and testing it. It is still working perfectly after twelve months, anyone one need a print head? - I only use OEM (read - CANON) ink cartridges now and never have problems

re: Reader poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

If the cartridge is 3 color in one unit be careful not to overfill. Also you may need to print a full color picture to get the ink to flow correctly. First print may be awful but try again.

re: Reader poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I still use an old Canon BJC 4000 printer and must have refilled the present BC20 cartridge a couple of dozen times using Resolution ink without any complications at all. Printed output is indistinguishable from Canon original. Since the only thing at risk is the cartridge, which is in any case replaceable, the warranty issue seems to be a scare factor only. Only tip would be to feed the ink from the syringe slowly and gently from the top of the reservoir. If you pump it in too fast it seems that you can overpressure the reservoir which means that the print head oozes drops of ink for quite some time which is kind of inconvenient.

re: Reader poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

I have tried to refill a HP ink cartridge and have had minimal success.

The method for refilling a HP cartridge is unbelieveable, well it was a few years ago having to create an air hole and then plugging it with a pin. Just that part was a hassle.

Once the cartridge was refilled, it would work for about 5 days before I kept on receiving two different messages:
1) Replace the black ink cartridge.
2) Blank ink cartridge is empty.

This would happen after every refill. In my opinion, HP cartridges suitable for the OfficeJet's aren't worth refilling. Other brands maybe easier and worthwhile.

(Some cartridges need a certain air-pressure in the cartridge, otherwise the printer senses that you've been fiddling. Sneaky printer manufacturers. -Paul Zucker)

re: Reader poll: Is ink cartridge refilling good or bad?

Yes it saves a lot of money if you do a fair amount of printing,we have 2 canon s300 and have had no trouble refilling the cartridges with ink bought on the net, delivered directly to our home.