Good bye (and good riddance), Lexmark

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Good bye (and good riddance), Lexmark

March 03, 2005, 07:57:26 PM

Well, I've finally gotten tired of getting raped every time I needed an ink cartridge. My Lexmark was a very nice printer (had scanner/fax), had excellent print quality, and was pretty quick, but DAYUM, Lexmark ink is expensive! It wasn't bad enough when it was $40 for color and $35 for black, but after Christmas there was a price increase - $45 for black and $55 for color! Since I use my printer a LOT it was just too much. I even once bought a cheap printer that used the same cartridges for $60, took the cartridges out, and threw the brand new printer away. It was cheaper than buying just the cartridges! Refilling worked for the color (I could refill 'em two or three times before the nozzles would go bad) but the black was not refillable. I tried several different refill kits, and every one would result in the black nozzles plugging up within hours. I think Lexmark must put something in their ink to prevent this, while allowing all other inks to do it. I have had enough.

I went out today and bought a Canon all-in-one. I checked before buying it, and the cartridges are $15 for color and $9 for black! I've just spent a bit playing with it, and it prints about as good as the Lexmark, but noisier. I can put up with a bit of noise for cheap cartridges, though...

Re: Good bye (and good riddance), Lexmark

Reply #1 – March 03, 2005, 08:20:58 PM

I have a lexmark printer / fax / scanner / copier, and it seems to work ok on an aftermarket carterage called "Print Rite". They are avaliable from the real canadian superstore. But yes, the lexmark ink is expensive.

Re: Good bye (and good riddance), Lexmark

Reply #2 – March 03, 2005, 08:49:40 PM

Did y'all ever think about getting the genuine ink for your printer via eBay? I have two Epson printers (C80 and C84) and both have the 4-tank system with Durabrite inks, which are supposedly good for 70 years. It's hard to use anything else after them, but I refuse to pay full price at a store. I've been doing eBay ink for about 5 years now...lovin' it. Prices are way cheaper. For all 4 tanks for the C84, I'd pay about $60-70 US at the store. I paid $30 with shipping via eBay. Yeah, I have to wait a week for delivery but with two printers, it's not an issue for me. Just wondered if you'd considered it.

I also know some printer companies were getting sneaky with ink cartridges, like if you didn't use their genuine inks then the printer wouldn't work, or it reports you back to the company...some B.S. like that. Is that still going on in the PC world?

Re: Good bye (and good riddance), Lexmark

Reply #3 – March 03, 2005, 09:21:50 PM

I dunno about reporting you back to the company, but I'd sure love to have Lexmark call me up and say "you're using illegal ink". It's my printer and I'll put whatever the hell I want into it, thankyouverymuch. If I want to put cat piss and dog shiznit into those cartridges I will.

I do know that Lexmark does something that makes it so that if you try to refill their black cartridges you'll screw 'em up. I've experienced it personally (as noted above) but I've also heard several other complaints about 'em.

I'd considered eBay, but when I need ink, I need ink NOW. With this new printer, with ink being so cheap, I wouldn't even bother with refills or ebay.

Re: Good bye (and good riddance), Lexmark

Reply #4 – March 04, 2005, 03:14:04 AM

theres a place in the local malls here that will refill cartriges for cheap. Before that my dad would get a new printer when the ink ran out. He would get the old models on clearance for cheap (usally for less then $40 bucks) and then when the ink ran out he took it to a computer store (the used kind) or sell it to someone at his work for the same price that he would buy them for. Some times he would even make money at it, telling people the truth( I bought this on clearance for $40 bucks at walmart, used the ink and now I am trying to sell it)

Re: Good bye (and good riddance), Lexmark

Reply #5 – March 04, 2005, 10:51:56 AM

I've got an HP Deskjet 952C. The ink for it is about $30 for color and $20 for black. Had a Lexmark before that and got rid of it for the same reason. There is something wrong when you can buy a whole printer and it's cheaper than buying the ink. Did you hear about what they are doing now? They've started marketing a "low yield" ink cartridge that is cheaper but contains less ink! So you end up paying even more for the ink in the long run. I've read that Lexmark ink, ounce for ounce, is more expensive than Dom Perignon.

Re: Good bye (and good riddance), Lexmark

Reply #6 – March 04, 2005, 11:15:53 AM

Quote

If I want to put cat piss and dog shiznit into those cartridges I will.

Eric, do they send you new tanks or do you keep re-using the same ones? I have an Epson CX6600 4 in 1 setup and the cartidges are about $45 a pop. That's for the color and black which are both separate.
My wife is a school teacher in NYC and she goes through a TON of ink. She saw this service where you mail off a set of old cartridges and they mail you back another set filled with ink for $30 for both instead of close to $90. Just wondering if your service is the same setup or not. I keep telling her to do it, but she's just not sure.

Re: Good bye (and good riddance), Lexmark

Reply #7 – March 04, 2005, 11:27:33 AM

Hmmm...well, the ones I get are brand new genuine Epson cartridges (the auctions have to specify that they're genuine, or else I won't buy from them). Never really thought about having a refilled one though. The Epson cartridges are very, very sensitive to ink because the openings are ridiculously tiny. I'm not sure I'd trust a refilled cartridge because of that. However, if it's just for general purpose printing and not for archival quality (like, if you're printing photos on glossy paper) then I don't see why the other ink wouldn't work out. If you're looking for genuine stuff, use this link: http://search.ebay.com/Epson-CX6600-genuine_W0QQsofocusZbsQQsbrftogZ1QQfromZR10QQsatitleZEpsonQ20CX6600Q20+genuineQQsacatZ-1QQcatrefZC6QQftrtZ1QQftrvZ1QQsadisZ200QQfsopZ1QQfsooZ1QQcoactionZcompareQQcopagenumZ1QQcoentrypageZsearch

BTW, it looks like we use the same cartridges--the CX6600 uses the same ink as my C84.

Re: Good bye (and good riddance), Lexmark

Reply #8 – March 04, 2005, 11:37:34 AM

Thanks! I'll let her know. :)

Re: Good bye (and good riddance), Lexmark

Reply #9 – March 04, 2005, 12:00:12 PM

One thing... new printers don't usually come with full charged cartridges, they come with a "starter cartridge" which is probably why the Lexmark I worked on last night called for a 16 OR a 17 black cartridge. I've heard, also about how Epson cartridges have become non-refillable, thanks to a chip in the cartridge. But, as with society today, a reprogrammer can be had on ebay for cheap.

Por ejemplo...

Re: Good bye (and good riddance), Lexmark

Reply #10 – March 04, 2005, 01:54:01 PM

Uh, the lexmark cartridges are very expensive there, right ? I have the Printer-Copier-Scanner 1150 and prints very good, but the ink that comes with the printer is very low. The 16 cartridge costs here less that 40 U.s and the "refilled" cost 20 U.s. Is cheap. considering that i had an epson printer and only last 4 months (and is right the thing with the chips that need reprograming...) and a HP 656 and the cartridges cost near 50 U.s. The only disanvantage with the Lexmark is that is "relatively rare" in my city and finding the cartridges is very hard.....

Re: Good bye (and good riddance), Lexmark

Reply #11 – March 04, 2005, 05:29:22 PM

MexCougar: $40 US works out to about $50 Canadian. That's actually more expensive than the $45 that I was bitching about (my Lexmark took the same #16 cartridge). Before Christmas that same #16 was much cheaper, and then after Christmas they started selling #17 (half-empty) cartridges for the price of the #16's, then they raised the price of the #16's. I would not buy a refilled Lexmark cartridge for the reasons outlined above: Only Lexmark ink seems to work with Lexmark cartridges, and anything else seems to plug them. This is true for the professionally refilled cartridges as well - I know a few people who have bought them (same cartridges, too - #16 and #26 must be popular) and had them last only a day or two. From what Eric says it looks like Epson may have the same problem.

That's only for black, though. I have had great success filling the color. I can usually get five or six refills out of a color before the print head wears out. Then I just buy a #27 (a half-filled #26) and refill it repeatedly. Or I just buy a new printer, such as I just did :D

Re: Good bye (and good riddance), Lexmark

Reply #12 – March 04, 2005, 05:33:53 PM

All this makes me wish I had the ColorLaser I have sitting next to my desk at work.

Re: Good bye (and good riddance), Lexmark

Reply #13 – March 05, 2005, 12:32:31 PM

The 17# and 27# costs original less , like 18 U.s and about using "refilled" cartridge , maybe you are right. I bought for my brother the #16 "refilled" for his Z23 and wont work nothing, but i bought for the 1150 another refilled 16# and works very fine. I prefer to buy the originals, but in my case it´s not possible to find it, and buying the refilled ones it´s risky for the quality of the printings (sometimes they have inyectors clogged, fixed printing with more quality for a little...)

Of course, the price of the cartridges there is too high, i heard that the canon have excelent quality....