# I guess third-party ink is a no-go **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 22, 2010, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-guess-third-party-ink-is-a-no-go/540346 "2010-05-22T07:36:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2010, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-guess-third-party-ink-is-a-no-go/540346/21 "2010-05-23T20:22:42Z")
> [@capybara](#): > > I’ve been pretty happy with the cartridges I get from the Benedictines (“Laser Monks”-- they also sell jam and mustard and chocolate and such). Those are sure to clog up a printer, but they would make interesting prints. ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-guess-third-party-ink-is-a-no-go/540346/22 "2010-05-24T17:54:26Z")
I don’t do refills ever, but all my printers are work printers. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen the (off-brand refill) magenta toner cartridge for a workgroup-class Xerox document center literally explode the part of the cartridge that supposedly lets the toner out a little at a time. The printer itself was fine, but all consumables were a total loss–fuser, imaging drum, everything–and I had to run water through the mechanical bits and hot-air dry it to get all the freakin’ pink powder out. It was really quite spectacular–there was so much gunking up the fuser/drum that anything you printed was pink-tinged until I replaced them, no matter how many self-cleaning cycles I ran. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-guess-third-party-ink-is-a-no-go/540346/23 "2010-05-24T18:01:57Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > I use a cheap ($33 from ebay) Continuous Ink System with my Epson R300 (the one I use is similar, but not identical to [this](http://cgi.ebay.com/non-OEM-CISS-cis-Epson-R200-R300-R220-R320-R340-/170463995175?cmd=ViewItem&pt=BI_Toner&hash=item27b0722527#ht_1026wt_913)). It cuts the ink costs by a factor of 10, at least. The print quality is at least as good as with genuine Epson inks, after calibration. i don’t know (and really don’t care) about the longevity of the prints. It takes a LOT of patience to unclog the nozzles after letting the printer sit for a long time, so I try to print something on a regular basis. Hmm…might look into something like this for my HP printer. At our local OfficeMax, they sell re-filled cartridges and I buy the black ink for $10 as I mostly use my printer for school stuff - tests, forms, etc. Have only once had a problem, took it back and they replaced it for free. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-guess-third-party-ink-is-a-no-go/540346/24 "2010-05-24T18:04:30Z")
> [@Zeriel](#): > > I don’t do refills ever, but all my printers are work printers. It seems to me that this would negate some of the disadvantages of inkjet printers, because work printers are probably in use on a regular basis. Inkjet printers are pretty good if you use them a lot; it’s when they sit idle for long periods of time that they really start to get wasteful, because the cleaning process just wastes so much ink. That’s one of the main reasons we bought a laser. While there are times when we print a lot, there are also times when the printer can sit for days or even weeks without being used. With a laser, firing it up after three weeks of inactivity isn’t a problem, and wastes no toner. ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-guess-third-party-ink-is-a-no-go/540346/25 "2010-05-24T18:29:53Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > It seems to me that this would negate some of the disadvantages of inkjet printers, because work printers are probably in use on a regular basis. > > Inkjet printers are pretty good if you use them a lot; it’s when they sit idle for long periods of time that they really start to get wasteful, because the cleaning process just wastes so much ink. That’s one of the main reasons we bought a laser. While there are times when we print a lot, there are also times when the printer can sit for days or even weeks without being used. With a laser, firing it up after three weeks of inactivity isn’t a problem, and wastes no toner. That’s probably true too, although the absolute worst are the commercial/workgroup wax ink ones. I don’t own a home printer–I just mail stuff to myself and print at work, and bill myself seven cents a page. =P [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-guess-third-party-ink-is-a-no-go/540346.md?page=1)