I bought an inexpensive inkjet that costs about the same as the replac

I bought an inexpensive inkjet that costs about the same as the replacement cartridges. Are refilled cartridges okay to use or should I just buy a new printer every time I need ink?
- Leigh

This question was answered on June 24, 2002. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.

The inkjet printer business model is becoming a 'consumables' driven one that has taken a page from the razor blade business Sell razors cheap and charge more for the blades.

Most manufacturers make the majority of their money on the consumables such as ink cartridges and special paper, which is why we are starting to see a large number of sub $100 printers.

I have preached for years that buying the least expensive of any product category is generally more costly in the end and this new breed of inkjet printers illustrates why.

Several studies have been done on the actual cost of ownership on inkjet printers and in most cases the highest cost per page was in the lowest price printers Many provide less ink (in some cases half the ink!) in a cartridge that looks the same, so you end up buying them twice as often In some cases, an inexpensive printer can cost twice as much to use over a 2-year period because of the small amount of ink in the cartridges.

The technology used to deliver ink has an important bearing on whether you should consider 'refills' or stick to new cartridges

Both Epson and Canon use an ink tank approach, which means the actual print head is fixed on the printer In general, these types of cartridges are slightly cheaper and more conducive to refilled cartridges or refill kits.

The 'dark-side' of this technology is that if clogging occurs, it can be difficult or expensive to clean since the nozzles are not part of the cartridge (This is why these types of printers generally run a lengthy 'cleaning' process every time they have been idle or turned off, which also wastes ink!)

If you use your printer very infrequently, you are better off using the technology that Hp and Lexmark use which incorporates the print head in the cartridge This way, if your print heads clog, a simple change of cartridges will take care of the problem.

The trade-off is that the cartridges are more expensive and that refilled cartridges tend to be less successful because reusing them can exceed the intended life of the print head.

For future reference, you will find that a mid priced printer ($150 - $300) is generally much faster, prints better and has a lower cost per page for printing over the life of the printer.

If you do a lot of color printing, look for a mid-priced printer that uses 4 separate cartridges (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) so you are not forced to replace an entire color cartridge because one of the colors is empty.

If you do not have much need for color, you should strongly consider a personal laser printer, which will printer better, faster and at a much lower cost per page.

The bottom line: If you are anything more than a casual printer, stick to a mid-priced printer If you are going to buy cheap, stick to Epson or Canon!

*******Learn more about this subject by visiting The Computer Corner radio show resources from our July 22, 2002 broadcast!******* (click here)