I bought a second-hand HP OfficeJet Pro 8024 and it has served me well for several years.
In view of the exorbitant price of HP cartridges I found a very helpful and reliable company that sells compatible cartridges at a fraction of the HP cost that have worked very well. But then …
A printer update suddenly prevented me from using anything but HP cartridges. Flatly refused to do anything when I changed one cartridge. I suspect that I may have accidentally given the printer permission to access the internet - so my fault, if so.
A delightful lady at CartridgeSave explained it all and a search for HP articles confirmed their draconian attitude. And it can’t be undone. So I had to buy a full set of HP cartridges.
The lady at CartridgeSave tells me:
I do know that manufacturers such as Canon, Brother, and Epson do not do printer firmware updates as HP does
and it will probably be more economical for me to buy a brand new printer from one of those companies and use compatible cartridges. Be aware, though, I’ve seen on the web that when buying a new printer it is wise to read the outer box to check that compatible cartridges are allowed. I’ll post any more info as I find it.
I would be grateful if Members would comment on which of those manufacturers serves Linux best in their experience.
Keith
[EDIT]
This link reports on a possible way of removing the problem. I’ll give it a go and report back.
Historically I’ve always been a staunch HP fan, I bought a home HP 1320 around 20 years ago (after using them commercially for many years) and ended up scrapping it maybe 2 years ago, but only because the rubber on the rollers had become hard and shiny and wasn’t pulling the paper properly.
And I seem to recall using recycled cartridges. (indeed I have one under my desk, still in it’s plastic wrapper of anybody wants it for the price of postage)
That said, their cheap 1000/1010 serious was notoriously problematic, and I also had a colour laser from them, relatively cheap and I forget the model, but that didn’t make it past it’s first refill.
I have seen things recently about cartridges as you describe, indeed you might find this of interest;
All that aside, I switched to a Xerox WorkCenter 6515, I think they’re about £330+Vat although at the time I got a stupidly cheap deal, something like £240.
The driving factors for me;
Network interface
Price per page (colour)
Price per page (mono)
Overall functionality (print, scan, email, copy)
At the time (I git a cheap deal) it kinda won hands down. The cartridges are so large and my printing so relatively infrequent, I’m still on the original ink. Apparently I’ve only printed 400 pages, however the Ink is still at 91% so the 4000 page cartridge claim seems realistic.
Not going to be everyone’s cup of tea or price range, but it’s worked out as a tidy solution so far … need some fairly sturdy furniture to stand it on tho’…
Yes, I found that link, and others, about HP being sued under class action. The bizarre thing is that if they sold their cartridges just above the re-manufactured price they would scoop the market because most users would, I am sure, prefer to use genuine parts - and their income would soar. But HP’s overall attitude to customer support has diminished so far that the company has become a dinosaur and experiencing terminal decline.
Even though laser printers have a reputation for low cost-per-page, I have been reluctant to invest one, partly because of the capital investment and the high initial cost of toner cartridges, but also the unknown lifetime of cartridges designed for high use. My usage is very low - so will the toner become unusable after a while, or will they last until the very last drop of powder?
Mm, my experience historically is that toner is powder and so long as it stays dry, it should last. (and carts are fairly sealed). In this case, the photo is from 2020, so we’re 3 years in and 10% of the toner is used. Not seeing any degradation thus far. Typically I print stuff in colour (mixed). I’m still having a hard time believing it’s only done 400 pages tho’…
I think with the 1320 I probably got through ~ 6 (smaller) carts in 16 years, the last of which is unopened under my desk … again, I seemed to get the sort of expected number of pages per cart.
Mm, I have a family member who runs an HP all-in-one, seems to have done a good job over the years for relatively infrequent use, although I think he had similar problems with recycled carts. I think he went back to branded, but I guess it’s that or a new unit. I guess it’s a case of adding up total running cost … Xerox quote about 1.2p mono, 6p colour. HP all-in-one’s quote 1.8p / 6.4p, although I’m not totally sure I believe it.
I like this site for checking, it shows the price/page next to each printer, and they seem to have everything.
They are quoting £116 for a complete set of high capacity HP 912XL cartridges. I bought the same item from CartridgeSave for £79 also with next-day delivery. Hmmm.
CartridgeSave quote 2p/page (unspecified BW/colour)
Printerland mention 4.8p/11.7p per page for BW/colour, so your disbelief is justified.
Mmm, well, my memory of choosing laser is because prices were more like 5p mono 10p+ colour for inkjet style devices. That said, looking at printerland refills for mono, they work out at 2p/page, not the 1.2p quoted against the printer. (or 1.33p from cartridgepeople)
No problem with a cartridge lasting until it run out on my B&W Brother Laser again I don’t do much printing only documents/letters so it lasted several years and has only just needed replacing.
