"John H" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 6 Feb 2009 20:17:35 -0800 (PST), Tim
wrote:

On Feb 6, 10:10 pm, HK wrote:
Tim wrote:
OK, so my printer cartridge dies. the little HP 45.

I went to the local "china-Mart" store and was shocked at how much a
little plastic cartridge with some kind of coal dust can cost.

I don't print much. I don't have much reason to, but dang!

Somebody said in the case of their older Lexmark printer the cartridge
was higher than getting a new printer with cartridges preloaded.

amazing.

The razor is cheap, but the blades will kill ya.

My color laser takes four carts, each retailing for about $90. But each
is good for about 2500 copies. I print mostly in black, so I get about a
year out of the other three carts.

My wife has a monochrome laser in her home office. About 4000 copies
from each $70 cart.

Are you using an inkjet printer? Sounds like it.

"The razor is cheap, but the blades will kill ya. "

i like that, Harry!

Tim, here's an Amazon.com ad that looks interesting. I've never used
refilled ink cartridges or those not in an HP box, but the old HP 695
is now the second printer so I'm more willing to risk it.

But, if you do the guinea pig thing and let me know how it works out,
that's OK too!

You don't have to worry too much about HP off brand carts. Seeing that the
print head is built into the cart you just throw it away if it fails.

There's a little more risk with Canon printers and those others where the
print head is not part of the ink cart. I've used off brand ink with Canon
printers for a few years now and not had a problem. Some folks have
developed premature print clogs with the off brand stuff.