Don't Listen to Your Inkjet Printer!
So my printer tells me that I'm running low on ink, but after looking at the ink cartridge I see that their is still ink in the sponge. I continue printing and today my printer tells me that I'm completely out of black ink and need to replace it. However, it tells me that I could also just hit the resume button and keep printing if I want to. What? How does that make any sense? Either I'm out of ink or I'm not. Which is it? Of course I check the cart and the sponge is filled to the top with black ink.
If you don't know this by now you need to realize that inkjet printers are one of the biggest scams being worked over on unsuspecting consumers. Ink prices are astronomical, and inkjet companies are doing everything in their power to get you to buy more ink as frequently as possible. A recent study showed that the vast majority of inkjet printers inaccurately inform us about ink levels. Do you really think that's an accident? Some printers even go through excessive "cleaning" procedures that eat up tons of ink. Even worse is that some of these companies don't even try to hide their greed and just plain make printers that prevent you from printing if the printer feels the ink is too low.
Do yourself a favor and make sure to manually check your ink levels before running off to the store to buy another $25-40 cartridge. Better yet, don't pay the exorbitant prices of the manufactures and buy third party ink which is a whole lot cheaper and offers nearly identical quality. In fact you should follow this list when picking out your next inkjet:
- Make sure the printer has a replaceable printer head
- Make sure the printer has a separate cartridge for each color - no all in one carts
- Make sure the printer has easily accessible and compatible third party ink
- Make sure the printer doesn't prevent you from printing when it thinks the ink is low
- Don't buy an inkjet without thoroughly researching it on the net
These are just some steps you can take to a happier, less expensive home printing experience. I can't tell you how many times I've cringed in the office stores whenever I see people ignorantly buying retail ink for insane prices. It only took me one printer for me to realize that I couldn't become a slave to $40 ink carts, but that was one too many. Be smart and don't learn this lesson the hard way.
