Remanufactured v Compatible Ink Cartridges

fleetingmind

That expensive time has come when I need to change the ink cartridges in my HP Officejet Pro X551DW printer. As i need 4 different cartridges (Black, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow) it's going to be costly esp if I buy official ones.

So i'm going to go cheap and wondered what the best option was between re-manufactured and compatible ones and where the best place to buy them from was.

I saw some compatible ones from Toner Giant for about £100 and also some Manufactured ones from Stinkyink for similar money but not sure of the quality difference or the companies.

I don't want to buy incorrectly and mes sup my printer.

Any ideas? Thanks

arciere

Compatible/remanufactured cartridges have a slightly higher percentage of failures compared to original ones, but normally they do cost a lot less.
So, unless you need 100% colour fidelity, I would buy compatibles from suppliers that offer a guarantee that if something goes wrong with the cartridges and damage your printer, they will cover the costs. It's happened to me a couple of times (ink and toner cartridges leaking inside the printer), but I managed to clean the printer myself without damage.

AndyPix

Also be aware - that depending on the manufacturer of your printer , any software update could render the pattern ones un-usable ..
Some OEM's have started to add chips to their cartridges that can indicate the cartridge is empty when it isnt - after a set number of prints, and also allow the printer to detect copies

arciere

Having had a look on Stinkyink, they seem to have quite good reviews and also seem to cover the warranty-aspects.

As AndyPix has also mentioned, double check with them if there is any compatibility issues with your specific printer (sometimes even firmware), in some cases you can use non-original cartridges by ignoring the alert messages, but the printer could also refuse to print with them.
I would ask them, they normally know in advance if you can expect problems (at the current time), worst case you can return the cartridges.

fleetingmind

arciere wrote: »

Having had a look on Stinkyink, they seem to have quite good reviews and also seem to cover the warranty-aspects.

As AndyPix has also mentioned, double check with them if there is any compatibility issues with your specific printer (sometimes even firmware), in some cases you can use non-original cartridges by ignoring the alert messages, but the printer could also refuse to print with them.
I would ask them, they normally know in advance if you can expect problems (at the current time), worst case you can return the cartridges.

Thanks. Stinkyink seem to only do the re manufactured ones. You reckon that would be ok if the company confirm they will be fine?

On chat StinkyInk replied - As long as the firmware is up to date there shouldn't be an issue

arciere

fleetingmind wrote: »

Thanks. Stinkyink seem to only do the re manufactured ones. You reckon that would be ok if the company confirm they will be fine?

As I said earlier, you normally get a higher percentage of failures or faulty cartridges with non-original. So while a company can be more reliable than another, you will never have the certainty that you always get good quality cartridges from them. The main thing is that you get cover for your printer (and it looks like they do offer it).
If you are happy with them, great. If you start experiencing a decline in the quality or get more faulty cartridges than normal, it's probably time to look for another supplier.

arciere

fleetingmind wrote: »

On chat StinkyInk replied - As long as the firmware is up to date there shouldn't be an issue

Sometimes it's actually the other way round
Cartridges work fine until HP decides to launch an upgrade that prevents non-original cartridges from working. Then it may take them days or weeks to find a workaround.

DoaM

FWIW I've been using HP364 compatible inks from Jarbo (via Amazon) with my HP Photosmart printer without any issues.

Example

No idea if they do inks for your printer though.

interstellaflyer

AndyPix wrote: »

Also be aware - that depending on the manufacturer of your printer , any software update could render the pattern ones un-usable ..
Some OEM's have started to add chips to their cartridges that can indicate the cartridge is empty when it isnt - after a set number of prints, and also allow the printer to detect copies

All inkjet cartridges are chipped these days, Brother were the last to to produce non chipped cartridges but that changed about 4 years ago and now all their machines take chipped cartridges, that said, we get very few issues as we only supply cartridges with latest version chips on them, we find Epson and HP are the worst offenders when it comes to scary messages but in reality these messages are empty threats aimed at worrying those who are nervous about technology, basically the scary messages is only asking for you to push a button to confirm OK. Best practice is to never accept firmware updates, most manufacturers give you the option to turn off updates when installing the printer you'd also be surprised at how many dud OEM cartridges we send back.

arciere

interstellaflyer wrote: »

Best practice is to never accept firmware updates, most manufacturers give you the option to turn off updates when installing the printer you'd also be surprised at how many dud OEM cartridges we send back.

Still worth reading the release notes, IMO, some updates cover security flaws

DoaM

arciere wrote: »

some updates cover security flaws

Such as?

A printer isn't (usually) given unfettered Internet access; but even so, unless a hacker knew the name/IP address/whatever of the printer I can't see how a printer would be a target vector into someone's network.