Analysis | Printer ink is a scam. Here’s how to spend less.
Analysis | Printer ink is a scam. Here’s how to spend less.
Americans waste $10 billion each year on name-brand ink. So we tested low-cost options including remanufactured cartridges, ink injection kits — and even making our own.
Washington Post: Americans waste $10 billion each year on name-brand ink. So we tested low-cost options including remanufactured cartridges, ink injection kits — and even making our own.
My advice: get a mono laser printer. Printing is handy but relatively infrequent for a lot of people these days. If that's your use case, mono laser is the way to go. Toner does not dry out or go bad.
I use my HP printer infrequently enough that every time I booted up my inkjet, I had to put it through a printer head cleaning cycle. I'd be surprised if I got more than 20 sheets of paper for each cartridge do to the wasted ink, and the dang thing malfunctioned frequently even after cleaning (streaks, blots, complaining about missing colors when printing b/w, etc).
After switching to a Brother mono laser, I haven't had to do any maintenance in 3 years and it's still on the original toner cart which it came with.
This is the way.
Also using a Brother laserjet, it's lasted ten times longer than any inkjet I've ever had, and still going strong. Although I rarely need to print, it hasn't failed me yet when I do need it.
This is the way.
I love my mono laser printer. It's an older Canon I got from a retired lawyer, so it has probably printed a million pages already for all I know. Haven't had to futz with it since I popped in a new toner cartridge that was ~$40. If I need to print color, I go to the local copy store, but that's rare anyways. Been recommending the same for all my friends and family.
IMHO, inkjet printers as a whole are a scam. That is, unless you buy a really high end one for professional photo printing.
From 15 years of experience in IT, and with home printing:
Many inkjet printer manufacturers will refuse to print if you insert non-oem cartridges. Just because one model will allow you to dismiss a warning doesn't mean they all will. I've seen people waste a lot of money doing this.
The ink injections are also tricky. What I've seen is that the ink ends up leaking all over the inside of your printer, or worse, the printer will refuse to print it because it knows it's been tampered with.
Also, unless you have a specific use case for an inkjet (design work, photo prints, etc), just get a cheap laser. Or if you don't print that much, just throw your documents on a flash drive and go to your local office supply store. Or library.
As for re-manufactured cartridges, especially for laser: stay away. I've seen them time and time and time and time again burst in the printer and spill toner all over the place. This kills the machine. So the $50 you might save on a cartridge will end up costing you hundreds or thousands in the long run.
The whole damned industry is predatory, built for lock-in, and designed to fuck you over. It really sucks. But there's no reliable way around it.
What are your thoughts on ink tank printers?
I haven't had much experience with them. Seems like they never got very popular
There are also lots of knock off cartridges for most laser printers too.
I have a brother laser printer copier - it works with budget cartridges that cost around $25.
One caveat: there were some reports of health effects of inhaling toner fumes, so make sure wherever you keep your laser printer is reasonably ventilated.
Commercial printer here! There's some validity here, but health risks for at-home printing would be minimal in my opinion unless someone is printing a lot. Toner machines tend to release ozone from the corona wires that are used to charge the drums.
Toner machines tend to release ozone from the corona wires that are used to charge the drums.
I'm doing my part to plug that hole in the ozone layer!
There is a safety concern that you shouldn't clean anything involving toner with ammonia-based products (window cleaners, etc.) It reacts with the plastic in the toner. Isopropyl alcohol can be mixed with a smaller ratio of water to use as a cleaner. I do agree with the original message and always recommend people buy laser over inkjet for most tasks.
I’ve got a Canon Pixima 5000 series. My family tends to print a good percentage in color (because thankfully I don’t have to print many documents in this day and age). It uses individual color cartridges (C, M, Y, K and a second large K), so if one goes out you just replace that color. I generally pick up the off brand refills on Amazon for fairly cheap. Last time I got a 5 pack of sets for $20. It’s lasted us 2 years at this point. The ink carts are literally JUST ink and a foam block. No electronics or drm like HP. Highly recommend.
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This is good to know. I had no idea toner is so bad for the environment. It's yet another reason to use ink tank printers.
Another for the get a laser printer train, I got a Xerox color laser printer 8 years ago for a ridiculously good deal (like $130). I finally had to replace the original toner last year, and it took my off brand cartridges just fine at a cost of like $50 for the full set of four. Came with Linux drivers even! Having color is nice too, means I don't have to think about using another printer. We keep my boyfriend's inkjet printer around solely for scanning things at this point.
Some of you should try ink tank printers. Low ink prices and lots of ink in each refill. They come out of the box with thousands of pages worth if ink! Only problem is they sometimes get clogged.
Glad someone made this point. My next printer will definitely be a tank printer. It's basically flipping the business proposal back to "pay for the printer up front" instead of "pay for the printer whenever you buy ink". My current printer was cheap enough that I basically spend enough on ink to buy a new printer every few years, given degradation of cartridges when they're left after opening.
Some of you should try
I think by "some of you" you mean "heavy printer users", and if so I agree.
The typical use case for most folks is infrequent (maybe print 100 pages 1 month and 1 page each month otherwise or less) and works when you want to use it.
The two features you describe do add value, but are anti features when an in
- lots of ink paying for more than you need
- sometimes gets clogged
lots of ink paying for more than you need
You pay less for an ink refil on an ink tank printer than you do a toner refil for a laser printer. This is despite the fact that the ink refil lasts longer.
I agree with the idea that infrequent users should consider laser printers. The main issue I have with them though is the cost. A colour laser printer is more expensive than even a tank printer which is expensive to begin with. It also can't do photos very well which is something a lot of people use printers for. Greyscale laser printers are only good for text.
Absolutely, I got inkjet printers for years between ~1990 and ~2010, ink is expensive, dry, smear, etc. I bought a Samsung color laser wifi printer in 2012, more than 10 years ago, I changed toners a few times, it still work perfectly fine. I'll never again go to inkjet.
I bought an used color laser printer meant for business. Drivers made by manufacturer for Linux and Windows are bad as always, but CUPS for Linux works really well.
I wish there was a right-to-repair and privacy friendly printer, which required only Creative Commons drivers in Windows, and no bs, poorly made drivers + control software as always. Luckily rgb is becoming standardised.
Lasers are definitely a great option, but we got a printer with liquid ink and it's been great. Much cheaper than proprietary cartridges and they don't go stale if you don't print anything for a few weeks.
If you have a small space and don’t print a lot, I love my thermal printer. It’s the size of a sturdy, old-fashioned 3-hole-punch. Portable and battery-operated. There is no ink. The special paper’s kind of expensive, but it doesn’t dry out or send you codes saying you can’t print when it obviously can. And they make BPA-free thermal paper now.
Been on the laser printer bandwagon for almost 10 years. Bought a mono Samsung and it's been my ride or die ever since. I think I've gone through two toners in that time, maybe 3. My only regret is not getting a color one but that'll be my upgrade if this one ever dies.
HP bought the Samsung printing business and kinda ruined it FYI. If it ever breaks, you have my condolences.
Can't say I'm surprised by that. I've seen Brother highly recommended so the future isn't too bleak if I can't get another one ☺
Maybe I'm naive, but what's holding everyone back from living a paperless life or at least attempt to? Other than printing out the occasional return labels for Amazon stuff I return (they offer label free drop offs now), I can't think of anything else I would use it for as most things have gone digital.
Signatures, people not wanting to rely on phones, paper requires essentially only literacy while phones require more, more privacy with paper, honestly the list is pretty long.
We use it mainly to print coloring pages for our kids :)
I get wanting to go paper free, but I like to have paper copies of important docs in my file cabinet.
Also i have an eight year old, so its fun to be able to print out papercrafts, patterns, exercises etc ... having a printer is a good thing to have for a kid.
Student here, journal articles are a lot easier to read on paper than on screen. After the first hour or so of screen reading my eyes get drier than the Sahara and I feel dizzy. I tried reading on my e-reader, but journals like to cram as much text on a page as possible, which doesn't work well on a 6" reader.
Kids in school was the primary reason for a printer, but the need has definitely decreased over the years. Our family is at about 5 prints per year at this point, which is exactly why a laser printer is so valuable. The same Brother printer ($150 in 2012) has worked for us for going on 11 years now with minimal expense on replacement toner. It just works when needed and never dries up or has issues.
But as much as you would like to be paperless, things come up. Some companies insist on wet signatures, other things need to be mailed in, etc. It's certainly becoming less and less necessary year by year, though.
I'm not sure if I would replace this printer if it fails, but it sure is nice to have around when I need it, without the hassle of going out to print something at a shop.
I bought a Brother color laser printer in 2020 after deciding I was fed up with buying ink cartridges. The Staples guy was annoyed I wasn't buying toner cartridges also. He said "These starter cartridges don't have much toner. You'll need a new one before you know it!". I told him I'd take my chances and come back if needed. Three years later, I print regularly and haven't replaced anything at all yet. I would have bought a number of ink cartridges over the last few years. Great investment as far as I'm concerned.
I have been using laser for so long, while so many people use ink. I could always understand it if you needed to print photos on photo paper genuine photo quality, but laser - both monochrome and color, has always served me well. I could never understand why people went with ink, except maybe people so tech illiterate they just went to the store and bought what they were recommended (by a sales representative who knows they make a much higher markup in the long nrun by selling inkjets).
In 2005 I bought an inexpensive black-and-white HP laser jet for $99. To this day it still prints flawlessly after sitting idle for months or years. The toner never “dries out” or goes bad. Nor have I ever once needed to print in color. If I ever do, I’ll go to a print shop.
I think I’m on my 3rd toner cartridge since 2005. Highly recommend.
Commercial printer here. I have 60" wide printers of pigment, latex and UV inks currently and can answer whatever questions you might have about this industry. I but 700ml cartridges for the aqueous and latex inks, and 1L bottles for UV pour over. Feel free to AMA. :)
As a former tech associate at Staples; I can easily attest to how annoyed my bosses were that I always pushed people to buy laser printers.
Their reasoning was simple; the bosses hated the volume at which we sold toner; and literally nothing else...once I had paired all of their problem customers with drama-free laser printers that would stay in operation for at least 5 years.
Nobody who bothered to ask my professional opinion on printers and actually took it seriously bought anything but a Laser Printer. Many of the shitty DRM riddled Inkjets actually collected dust on those shelves unless they were sold by someone more clueless than I.
I bought a cheap Canon inkjet and have started refilling it with cheap off-brand ink. It's not particularly as good as the original ink, but for my purposes it works great.
Hell yes! Love my laser printer. I have paper to last a lifetime, and I have no qualms about printing stuff out because I can alwasy recycle the paper (make more paper, art projectsz scrap/scratch).
Honestly people, if you don't have one, go to your local Staples or Office Depot (or lets be honest, Amazon) and get yourself one.
I know so many people who do not even own a printer, which is insane. Driving out to Kinkos or FedEx to print out a few pages is dumb. They can be found in thrift stores, and ink or toner can be had for a fraction of the price if you go third-party.