# HP ink cartridges give you 65% more....then why be so deceptive? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 22, 2009, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hp-ink-cartridges-give-you-65-more-then-why-be-so-deceptive/500597 "2009-06-22T16:14:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hp-ink-cartridges-give-you-65-more-then-why-be-so-deceptive/500597/21 "2009-06-22T18:28:17Z")
You know, I mentioned this to my wife last night - I said “We should be able to sue them for false advertising, and get rich.” Her response? :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: (oh well…) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hp-ink-cartridges-give-you-65-more-then-why-be-so-deceptive/500597/22 "2009-06-22T18:29:07Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Ultimately, what I understood the commercial’s claim to be was that it pasted a semi-permanent stupid grin on your face. Better then Botox which makes your whole day appear to be endless surprises. ---
**Author:** ![Earthworm\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f07891/32.png) [@Earthworm\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthworm_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hp-ink-cartridges-give-you-65-more-then-why-be-so-deceptive/500597/23 "2009-06-22T19:37:31Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > They’re giving you the bald figures right there in big bold type! Are you saying the average viewer can do percentages? :dubious: I can see the thought-bubble now: “65%?? That’s like 3 times as much!!” ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hp-ink-cartridges-give-you-65-more-then-why-be-so-deceptive/500597/24 "2009-06-22T20:13:27Z")
> [@Earthworm\_Jim](#): > > Are you saying the average viewer can do percentages? :dubious: Maybe, if they have someone do the unit conversion to “football fields,” first. ---
**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:** [June 22, 2009, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hp-ink-cartridges-give-you-65-more-then-why-be-so-deceptive/500597/25 "2009-06-22T20:43:37Z")
> [@The Tao's Revenge](#): > > IF the actual commercial just shows 65% more pages then that isn’t misleading. 65% more doesn’t look like much, at least not in a dramatic WOW sense, so the OP is believable. This sort of thing happens all the time, as in the case of laundry detergents which get your clothes _really_ clean, as opposed to those washed with the competitor’s stuff which look like they were dragged behind a horse. What I wish the consumer watchdogs would give up on is the alleged campaign to stop broadcast ads which in contrast to the shows that precede them are **MARKEDLY LOUDER** although the FCC and advertisers have reassured us for years that they aren’t. Congress is supposedly again ready to act on this vital question, instead of doing its job of starting wars and creating monuments to the largesse of Sen. Robert Byrd. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2009, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hp-ink-cartridges-give-you-65-more-then-why-be-so-deceptive/500597/26 "2009-06-22T22:17:14Z")
The stacks of pages are a bar graph. 100 pieces of bargain printout, 165 of HP. Then they just don’t show the bottom 70 pages on each stack. ---
**Author:** ![jasonh300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@jasonh300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonh300)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hp-ink-cartridges-give-you-65-more-then-why-be-so-deceptive/500597/27 "2009-06-23T02:30:26Z")
The 300% should represent how much you’re going to spend on the genuine HP cartridge vs. the aftermarket. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2009, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hp-ink-cartridges-give-you-65-more-then-why-be-so-deceptive/500597/28 "2009-06-23T03:07:54Z")
> [@jasonh300](#): > > The 300% should represent how much you’re going to spend on the genuine HP cartridge vs. the aftermarket. At my local Walgreens they’ll refill them for $10 at the most. And they cost $30 at the local Wal-mart. So that’s pretty accurate. Except, the newly refilled cartridges don’t last quite as long. I’d say about 80%. I think the parts are designed to wear out quickly to try and prevent people from refilling them. Anyways, I’ve seen the ad, and I didn’t find it misleading. I never expect illustrations to be to scale. I would have liked a disclaimer, though. (The only reason I have an HP is because it was given to me for free because it wouldn’t let go of papers. Oddly enough, replacing the ink cartridge fixed that.) ---
**Author:** ![jasonh300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@jasonh300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonh300)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hp-ink-cartridges-give-you-65-more-then-why-be-so-deceptive/500597/29 "2009-06-24T03:14:08Z")
I’ve been in the reman industry since 1991. The only thing I’ve ever worked with is laser printer toner cartridges. They’re expensive and there are a lot of parts. All of the parts are replaceable with high quality aftermarket parts, so a properly remanufactured toner cartridge will perform equally or better than a new one. Inkjet cartridges are small and cheap. They’re basically a tank that holds the ink, so you’d think they’d be easy to refill. The problem is the printhead or nozzles where the ink comes out can get damaged or clogged. The newer cartridges have a chip that has to be replaced or reset, otherwise the printer will refuse to work, thinking it has an empty cartridge in it. Also, to properly refill them, you need to have some sort of vacuum device to remove any air bubbles or they won’t work properly. I never got into refilling them because of the extremely low profit margin. The machinery to refill them the “right way” is expensive and it would take forever to get the investment in the equipment back (for a small scale operation). The other problem with refilled inkjet cartridges is they have the potential to ruin the printer. If the cartridge decides to dump ink all over the place, you have a mess that’s nearly impossible to clean up. If your OEM inkjet cartridge dumps ink all over the place, you probably can contact the manufacturer and get your printer replaced. If you’re using a refill, good luck in finding the person who’s going to pay for your printer by talking to the machine at Walgreens or trying to get a real location of the company you bought it from over the internet. If you have a cheap inkjet printer that you don’t care a whole lot about, use the refills. You _probably_ won’t get a leaky cartridge. If you do, throw the printer in the garbage and go buy another $60 printer. You’ll pay 1/3 the price and probably get 1/2 the yield of a new cartridge. If you can get through 6 cartridges without something catastrophic happening, you’ve saved enough to buy a new printer. If you’re doing a lot of black and white printing, you probably won’t see any loss of quality. With color printing, there tends to be some variation in colors due to uneven flow in the three color nozzles, so if you’re trying to do PMS color matching or something fancy, stick with the OEM cartridges. ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hp-ink-cartridges-give-you-65-more-then-why-be-so-deceptive/500597/30 "2009-06-24T04:08:42Z")
I knew a professor who used to work at the Federal Trade Commission. He told me that back in the day they went after the company that makes Campbell’s soup because they advertised how much thicker and heartier their soups were compared to a competing brand, which they exhibited in the ad by filling the bottom of the Campbell’s bowl of soup with clear marbles to raise the level of the soup in the bowl. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hp-ink-cartridges-give-you-65-more-then-why-be-so-deceptive/500597/31 "2009-06-24T12:11:00Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Peacocks are purty. Great username-comment combo…jus sayin. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hp-ink-cartridges-give-you-65-more-then-why-be-so-deceptive/500597.md?page=1)