# Generic (off brand) printer ink **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 17, 2022, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generic-off-brand-printer-ink/968092 "2022-07-17T15:26:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Yelnick\_McWawa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/839c29/32.png) [@Yelnick\_McWawa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yelnick_McWawa)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2022, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generic-off-brand-printer-ink/968092/1 "2022-07-17T15:26:50Z")
To get HP printer ink for one of my printers costs over $100 for four (C,M,Y&K) cartridges. Off-brand for the (alleged) equivalent is about $35. What’s your experience / recommendation. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2022, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generic-off-brand-printer-ink/968092/2 "2022-07-17T15:28:43Z")
With one of my old printers (an HP, I believe), I once tried an off-brand print cartridge, with poor results. Poor print quality, and it didn’t seem to last long. It’s possible that there is some non-HP brand of cartridges which is great, but that wasn’t my experience. ---
**Author:** ![Bootb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bootb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootb)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2022, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generic-off-brand-printer-ink/968092/3 "2022-07-17T19:46:32Z")
Based on my experience, printer ink is one area where you run a very high chance of getting what you paid for. I wouldn’t risk the generic cartridges. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2022, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generic-off-brand-printer-ink/968092/4 "2022-07-17T20:33:40Z")
My experience is with toner, not ink, and for a Canon, not HP, but I’ve been using off-brand (non-OEM) cartridges for years now, with no problems. (Actually, there are some issues with two-sided printing that could be the fault of the toner cartridge or of the printer itself, but I need two-sided printing seldom enough that it’s something I’m willing to live with.) If I were in the OP’s position, I’d go on Amazon or a similar site and find the cheapest ink cartridges that had lots of good reviews from satisfied customers, and take a chance on that. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2022, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generic-off-brand-printer-ink/968092/5 "2022-07-17T20:46:31Z")
> [@Bootb](#): > > Based on my experience, printer ink is one area where you run a very high chance of getting what you paid for. I wouldn’t risk the generic cartridges. - Unless you’re printing very high volume, most of the ink goes to keeping the heads clean and gets dumped in a inner “tank”. One of @Mangetout’s early videos. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/ycD4XkUtbIw/hqdefault.jpg "The Dirty Little Secret Of Inkjet Printers") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycD4XkUtbIw) ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2022, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generic-off-brand-printer-ink/968092/6 "2022-07-17T23:38:21Z")
I got a generic brand for my Brother printer. They seemed to work as well (or as badly) as the genuine ones. I have since dumped that printer (the red was jammed even before I changed to generic and no amount of head cleaning would fix it. And the Brother nagware was something to behold. I now have an Epson reservoir printer. ---
**Author:** ![mjmlabs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mjmlabs/32/69_2.png) [@mjmlabs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mjmlabs)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2022, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generic-off-brand-printer-ink/968092/7 "2022-07-17T23:54:59Z")
As the vid above shows, what’s important with inkjets is the jets, not the ink. I’ve had good ( = “indistinguishable from OEM”) results with some (okay, two) of the larger cartridge-refill websites: they use OEM empties that are cleaned, checked and refilled with generic inks. But yeah, it’d take a whole bunch of legit-sounding positive reviews for me to take a chance on a generic cartridge with generic inks. ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2022, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generic-off-brand-printer-ink/968092/8 "2022-07-18T00:59:41Z")
Many of you probably already know the printer company business model: Price the printer down below cost to get the customer to actually buy it, then rely on the future revenue stream of the (really high priced) ink and toner for the next 5-10 years, to recoup their costs and ultimately profit. It’s a case of a $200 printer (affordable to a consumer) then maybe $500 worth of ink over its life. This is maybe not so bad if spread out over years. vs A $700 printer with “free” ink for the life of the printer. I think customers are unable to afford this one, and probably would not trust that the printer companies will really supply them free ink for years. So…given that the printer companies are boxed into case 1, they do their best to make sure you buy their ink or toner. ---
**Author:** ![EDOK9Trainer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/838e76/32.png) [@EDOK9Trainer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EDOK9Trainer)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2022, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generic-off-brand-printer-ink/968092/9 "2022-07-18T09:33:20Z")
My wife and I used an off brand ink for our printer for several years. HP I believe was the brand. After about 5-6 years the gave up its life and said it had enough. Not sure how long a printer is designed to last but we saved a lot of money on ink in this 5-6 years. More than enough to buy a new printer when the old one died. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2022, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generic-off-brand-printer-ink/968092/10 "2022-07-18T13:02:34Z")
The “risks” of using generic ink are balanced by the low cost of many ink-jet printers. If you can buy the printer for $70 (current sale price of a name brand touted by PC Mag), it doesn’t matter that much if the cheap ink eventually causes the printer to crap out (which it will probably do after a relatively short life anyway). We don’t print that much so we generally use the recommended expensive ink cartridges. ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2022, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generic-off-brand-printer-ink/968092/11 "2022-07-18T13:51:26Z")
> [@Limmin](#): > > It’s a case of > > a $200 printer (affordable to a consumer) then maybe $500 worth of ink over its life. This is maybe not so bad if spread out over years. > > vs > > A $700 printer with “free” ink for the life of the printer. I think customers are unable to afford this one, and probably would not trust that the printer companies will really supply them free ink for years. > > So…given that the printer companies are boxed into case 1, they do their best to make sure you buy their ink or toner. There is a middle ground, and those are the printers where they have separated the print head and ink reservoir. I’ve got an Epson EcoTank ET-3710 and after 2 years of work at home, I am out of ink for the 1st time. I can replace each colour separately and a 4 pack of OEM ink is only $50. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2022, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generic-off-brand-printer-ink/968092/12 "2022-07-18T17:59:45Z")
> [@Limmin](#): > > Many of you probably already know the printer company business model… Just as a point of interest, glucometer (blood sugar testing machine) manufacturers follow the same model. The devices are very affordable, but paying out of pocket for the test strips will send you to the poorhouse wearing nothing but a barrel. mmm ---
**Author:** ![EDOK9Trainer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/838e76/32.png) [@EDOK9Trainer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EDOK9Trainer)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2022, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/generic-off-brand-printer-ink/968092/13 "2022-07-20T21:57:51Z")
Wife and I just bought an Epson EcoTank printer. So far we really like it.