STOP PRESS :: Inkjet ink cost $4,000/litre

Today I came across a very interesting article on the Choice Magazine online website. The truth is out there. Inkjet printer ink could be costing you up to $4000 a litre. It is not uncommon to have paid more in ink within a year of purchasing a new inkjet, some of the newer "dirt" cheap models my cost more to replace the ink than the printer cost to start with.

So what can you do about it?

1. Make use of the best on-line deals (eg Print@kodak, SnapFish, even Bigpond) or photo kiosks (I use the instore PrinTED Kiosk in Ted's Camera stores, and have gotten consistantly good results, also try Harvey Norman and Kmart, or the kiosks in most chemists these days). If you shop around a bit and get a decent number of photo printed at a time you will find this the cheapest way to get prints, but be careful you may get what you pay for.
2. Run the risk, and don't replace the ink when the printer driver tells you too, in other words don't rely on the printer driver's software to tell you when the ink is low. I find I can usually get another 20-25 A4 sized prints, or equivalent, after the driver pops up te message to change the ink.
3. Go high risk, use refill or generic brands, well if you read your printer documentation you will find that using non genuine inks will probably void your guarantee. So far I have resisted the urge to do so, but lots of people do and I haven't heard any hard luck stories yet. I've had a quick look around the net but I'm not sure I want to just trust the claims of refill suppliers. With the price of the printer falling below the price of the replacement ink cartrdidges just how much is that warranty worth anyway?
   
   Here is a good inkjet troubleshooting guide from Tech Republic.

I've removed the links to the choice website as these articles no longer exist. Apr 2012