Is HP instant ink a rip off?

Sportacus

£1.99 for 50 pages a month, that's 4p a page - assuming you use all of the 50 page quota.  Anyone know how many pages one typically gets from an inkjet cartridge?

interstellaflyer

Sportacus said:

£1.99 for 50 pages a month, that's 4p a page - assuming you use all of the 50 page quota.  Anyone know how many pages one typically gets from an inkjet cartridge?

No it works well for some but not others, rip off is such an ugly phrase, you are given the facts on enrollment, it's up to you to decide if it's for you, no-one is holding a gun to your head and forcing you to go for instant ink.  as for how many pages you get out of an ink cartridge? How long is a piece of string?  Different series of ink cartridges have different quantities of ink in them, it's not one size fits all, plus low occasional use will waste more ink than longer print runs because of the machine doing more print head cleans with low use.  

Neil_Jones

Sportacus said:

£1.99 for 50 pages a month, that's 4p a page - assuming you use all of the 50 page quota.  Anyone know how many pages one typically gets from an inkjet cartridge?

"how many pages one typically gets from an inkjet cartridge" is like asking how many miles everybody's car does to the gallon.  It varies.  If you do a lot of printing and they're heavy on ink (like photos for example), it won't go as far.  If you only print letters to Uncle Fred every month, it'll last much longer.  Much like if you do more motorway driving than city driving your fuel will go much further.

in theory you can get hundreds of pages out of an inkjet cartridge, its all about the coverage:

https://www.tonergiant.co.uk/blog/2014/08/how-many-pages-will-my-cartridge-print-before-it-runs-out/

forgotmyname

Print some A4 sized photo's to use up all your ink.  Works for some and not others is it a ripoff?

Seems its only a ripoff if you fail to buy wisely.  Print a couple of 3/4 empty pages a year then
it's probably not worth it. Print 50 full colour A4 pages a month it could well be worth it.

£2 for 50 A4 photo's? is that bad value?

To me it's not a ripoff but not worth it either, my simple solution is not to purchase it.

interstellaflyer

Neil_Jones said:

Sportacus said:

£1.99 for 50 pages a month, that's 4p a page - assuming you use all of the 50 page quota.  Anyone know how many pages one typically gets from an inkjet cartridge?

in theory you can get hundreds of pages out of an inkjet cartridge, its all about the coverage:

https://www.tonergiant.co.uk/blog/2014/08/how-many-pages-will-my-cartridge-print-before-it-runs-out/

Yes and no, the industry tests are based on 5% coverage of an A4 sheet on a continuous run on a medium quality setting, this is what manufacturers base their page counts on, infrequent low print runs ie printing the occasional boarding pass will massively reduce the amount of pages you get out of a cartridge because the machine is using more ink priming and cleaning than actually printing, this is why low users are far better off with an entry level laser printer.

dogmaryxx

interstellaflyer said:

, this is why low users are far better off with an entry level laser printer.

            Totally agree ,   125 pages for £2 is really making the bank nervous.   
   

17/08/2020	Monthly service charge (free) Billed
16/07/2020	Monthly service charge (free) Billed
16/06/2020	Monthly service charge (free) Billed
16/05/2020	Monthly service charge (free) Billed
16/04/2020	Monthly service charge (free) Billed
16/03/2020	HP Instant Ink Service 15 Page Plan Additional page set of 10 pages (includes VAT) Billed
16/03/2020	Monthly service charge (free) Billed
16/02/2020	HP Instant Ink Service 15 Page Plan Additional page set of 10 pages (includes VAT) Billed
16/02/2020	Monthly service charge (free) Billed
16/01/2020	1 Welcome Kit - Shipped (NU010590240GB)
16/01/2020	HP Instant Ink Service Started
16/01/2020	HP Web Services enabled

interstellaflyer

dogmaryxx said:

interstellaflyer said:

, this is why low users are far better off with an entry level laser printer.

            Totally agree ,   125 pages for £2 is really making the bank nervous.   
   

17/08/2020	Monthly service charge (free) Billed
16/07/2020	Monthly service charge (free) Billed
16/06/2020	Monthly service charge (free) Billed
16/05/2020	Monthly service charge (free) Billed
16/04/2020	Monthly service charge (free) Billed
16/03/2020	HP Instant Ink Service 15 Page Plan Additional page set of 10 pages (includes VAT) Billed
16/03/2020	Monthly service charge (free) Billed
16/02/2020	HP Instant Ink Service 15 Page Plan Additional page set of 10 pages (includes VAT) Billed
16/02/2020	Monthly service charge (free) Billed
16/01/2020	1 Welcome Kit - Shipped (NU010590240GB)
16/01/2020	HP Instant Ink Service Started
16/01/2020	HP Web Services enabled

Dont yah just love people who quote totally out of context, you don't work for CNN by chance do you?

Cornucopia

There is a free plan on HP Instant Ink, which is what dogmaryxx's post relates to.   Anyone who is concerned at the possibility of being "ripped off" should clearly start with that to see how it works. 

I think it's a reasonable proposition.   For low-medium home usage, I've always used 2-3 sets of cartridges per year in the past.   £24 per year for 50 pages per month is probably better VFM for original HP cartridges.    My current printer takes a set of 4 cartridges, so Instant Ink is always going to better VFM.  

interstellaflyer

Cornucopia said:

There is a free plan on HP Instant Ink, which is what dogmaryxx's post relates to.  

No, dogmaryxx did the classic react to a part of the previous post which suits their agenda, if they had bothered to read through the thread they would've known that I'd already said some people like instant ink but it doesn't suit everyone, I'll add, for various reasons, some people, no matter how daft it may seem, don't want to sign up to a contract with HP, I work in the industry and this is my experience.  The post dogmaryxx quoted me out of context on was a response to another post about page yields and had nothing to do with HP Instant Ink. 

poppasmurf_bewdley

Is it a rip Off?  No.
Is it convenient?  Yes, very.
Is it expensive? At £1.99 a month, no.
What's the main advantage?  Never running out of ink cartridges, or having to replace half used ones that have dried out.  

spacerace

As others have said its really about usage patterns. I signed up for a pre-school I was helping run, nearly all their prints were the childrens 'diary' entries with text and full colour images. Saved a lot compared to what they were spending on toners before. If you're mainly printing text you might be better off buying black-ink cartridges when needed.