Printer ink is probably one of the most expensive liquids in the world.
Just like when purchasing razor blades, buying printer cartridges always gives you the feeling to be paying too much for the product offered.
There are printer cartridges in many versions: Cartridges with or without printhead, cartridges with a high filling quantity, cartridges with UV-resistant ink, and cartridges from the original manufacturer or a third-party manufacturer. At this point, we will try to clarify some questions.
Printer manufacturers subsidise the selling price of the printers. Then they want to bring in that money via the sale of original cartridges.
The manufacturers of alternative ink cartridges do not rely on this. They can offer their products at more competitive prices.
In the meantime, printer cartridges with printhead are more seldom than 10 to 15 years ago. HP is the inventor of the disposable printhead. The corresponding printer cartridges are made of an ink tank with integrated printhead.
Consequently for every cartridge change the printhead is replaced as well. Should the printhead have dried out in the interim, the cartridge is taken out of the printer and put into a recipient filled up to 3mm with water, until the ink dissolves again. Afterwards, simply put the printhead back in and carry out a printhead cleaning. In the vast majority of cases the printer will print again.
To be seen on the photo:An HP cartridge with integrated printhead.
A lot of manufacturers, among others Epson, Brother, Canon, HP, have gone on to accommodate the printhead as a permanent or rather replaceable component in the device. The customer then buys a printer cartridge which is solely an ink tank. Nowadays most of the printer cartridges dispose of a chip which the printer uses to save diverse pieces of information such as the ink level and the print volume.
There are thousands of different cartridges. Even large electronics markets cannot possibly have the appropriate cartridges in stock for all devices. We are specialists. As a result you will find here the appropriate cartridges for your device. Simply select your device at the top of the page or enter the designation of the desired cartridge in the search field.
In terms of a good balance between price and quality, the rebuilt ink cartridges should be mentioned here, which do not dispose of a printhead themselves, since the technically more sophisticated printhead is built in the device. As a rule, these cartridges are available for devices of the following manufacturers: Canon, Brother and Epson . There are Internet retailers who offer cartridges in the cent range. However, it is our endeavour to sell good merchandise which functions flawlessly, and not some extremely cheap goods.
Cartridges that are designated as original printer cartridges are those which are developed and produced by the device manufacturers. We call all other cartridges, also refillable or even recycled cartridges, “compatible printer cartridges”.
The original cartridges of the device manufacturers are relatively expensive. Essentially this is related to the fact that the sale of cartridges must bring in part of the development and production costs of the devices. Economically this is also called the Rockefeller Principle.
Through the years, a myriad of companies have come up with the idea of rebuilding printer cartridges or to recycle empty ones. In this case, all worn parts are exchanged and the cartridge is subsequently refilled with ink.
The crucial points with compatible and refilled cartridges are:
In principle this is possible. We have no aspiration to do so and can only dissuade you from doing so privately. Especially in the case of the current printer cartridges with chip, the problem is that the printer will still rate the refilled cartridge as “empty” when they are put back in. There are a few printer cartridges though for devices of HP and Lexmark, which can be professionally refilled and are also partly available at our shop.
The best way to store new printer cartridges is in a desk drawer or a similar place, where the temperature does not rise above 25 degrees Celsius. Please refrain from storing printer cartridges in the fridge. This is not sensible.
Printer cartridges with extra high filling capacity last the longest. Some manufacturers call these cartridges “X” or “XL” or “HC”. You should note that the range indicated on the cartridges refers to a page coverage of 5 percent. If your cartridges are always quickly empty, you should think about purchasing a laser printer. In addition, every printhead cleaning requires a lot of ink.
Contrary to toner, there is sometimes an expiry date on the printer cartridges. There are also printers which take this date more or less seriously. Generally we do not think that there is any problem with storing over a period of one to two years with proper storage. As proper we mean a storage or the originally packed cartridges at a normal room temperature in a drawer.
The printer cartridges belong in the printer. Depending on the device, the change procedure is triggered by opening a hatch on the device, via a menu item of the printer software or by pressing a key on the device.
Original cartridges should be detected when they are inserted. For this purpose, you must make sure that the cartridges are suitable for your device. With compatible cartridges, there is a whole range of reasons why these are not detected. Usually this is related to the chip which is located on the cartridge.
There is a possibility to check the filling level or the remaining printing range in the printer driver or also in the onscreen menu on the device screen. As a rule the filling level is only estimated. Ink jet printers like laser printers estimate the filling level based on the information which the printer collects while printing.
By using compatible cartridges, the filling level display might not work properly!
The exact composition of printer inks is usually not disclosed. It is known that ink for ink jet printers is basically composed of water. The water proportion amounts to 50 to 90 percent. Especially the purity of the water is of great importance in order to prevent deposits or even sedimentation on the printhead later on. The composition of the ink differs from manufacturer to manufacturer and matches precisely the printhead of the printer in any case.
For the home and small office sector, printers use “dye inks” or “pigment inks” depending on the type.
DYE ink – water-based colouring ink
DYE ink is ink that is simple to manufacture whose colouring is completely dissolved in water. DYE inks offer a good colour reproduction, however they are not particularly UV-resistant and only offer good printing results on photographic paper. The printouts are not suitable outdoors and in addition they are not water-resistant. For example, if you want to edit them with a highlighter, it can well happen that the print smears.
Beside economical production costs, the strengths of DYE ink lie in high colour brilliance and an extensive colour spectrum with a printing resolution. Among the disadvantages there is, as mentioned, the quite low UV-resistance and the small water resistance, which in part can be compensated with special photographic paper.
Water-based pigment ink
During the initial period of ink jet printing, water-based ink was used almost exclusively. Water-based ink can be printed with thermo or piezo printheads. Water-based pigment inks are significantly more light-resistant then DYE inks. Contrary to DYE inks, the water-based inks dispose of individual, non-water-soluble colour pigments in the carrier fluid.
Particularly text printing exhibits high quality and wipe resistance – for example when highlighting with markers. Pigment inks are not quite appropriate for photo printing, since their molecules are bigger than those of the DYE inks and therefore these are not optimal to penetrate the special photographic paper. In total they also depict a poorer colour spectrum. Water-based pigment inks are water resistant to some extent. The prints hardly run and do not fray. The printing quality on normal paper is better than with DYE inks, because the ink does not penetrate as easily into the paper due to its larger pigments. The disadvantage is the higher price.
Printer cartridges are not a matter for the simple household waste.
Particularly printer cartridges with printhead can be refilled by specialised companies. They are hence sought-after empties.
Find out more in our article about the correct disposal of printer cartridges.