Generic Printer Ink Cartridges ??

billt460

billt460

Joined
Mar 30, 2015
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Lake Havasu City, Arizona
I just bought a new printer yesterday. (Canon TS3522). $50.00 at China Mart. My 15 year old HP was acting up, and I'm tired of screwing with the thing every time I use it. Also the ink cartridges were drying up. So to the landfill it went.

I was thinking of getting one of those Epson printers like Shaq advertises, with the ink tanks you just fill with liquid ink, but they wanted over $300.00 for one. I don't use a printer enough to warrant spending that.

So I went with this cheapie Canon. So far so good. I gave up on the wireless connection, and used a USB cable. It's up and running with the factory supplied ink cartridges.

This new printer takes 275 Black, and 276 Color. I think they make an extra large size also. I'm tired of paying so much for ink cartridges. For what they charge they could all but give you the printer, and they would still make money hand over fist.

Anyway, do any of you guys know a good brand of generic ink cartridges that you can order online? Something that you have had good luck with. Are there any downsides to using them?
 
My latest supplier of ink that I'm happy with, that I get on amazon, is from Aztech toner & ink. Just look up Canon 275 276 and see what they give you. Here is a link: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=canon+275+276+ink&crid=2KJ3EYSY63VCU&sprefix=dvd,aps,151&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

I didn't see Aztech in the first page of results.

Only downside is that when I have gone too cheap with the toner, I found the number of pages printed was very low. But I've always been thrilled with the cost per page, compared to OEM ink, which I stopped buying years and years ago.

If you are OCD like me, you might want to track how many pages you are getting out of your ink; see if your printer has a browser UI like the last 3 HP lasers that I've had, do. Then, just before you replace the ink, you can log in and see how many pages have been printed out. I don't know if your printer has that feature, but it is nice, to compare different brands of ink and see which ones give out the quickest.
 
when i had my now dead canon i got ink from E-Bay cheep as even at wallys canon ink is $$! replaced with $100 brother B + W laser best printer for me, fast + EZE printing is done while my canon was thinking!! thank you BITOG members!
 
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As others have said, there are Ecotank printers under $300. They may have even had sales for Black Friday and Cyber Monday :unsure:

Canon also makes that style ink. In fact, this multifunction printer/scan/copy is only $129. They even have a single function printer for only $99.

billt460 said:
I'm tired of paying so much for ink cartridges. For what they charge they could all but give you the printer, and they would still make money hand over fist.
Click to expand...

This actually is their business model. They sell the printer itself at cost or even a loss, and they make their profit on the cartridges.
 
I picked up one of the same Cannon's during WallyWorlds black friday. I was planning on injecting ink into the cartridges as they run out. Bunch of videos on Youtube. You lose the ink level monitoring by going this route, but way cheaper.
 
I forget what off-brand I used in my Canon, but when I printed some black and white photos, the off-brand had a green tint to the photos that I didn't see with the genuine Canon cartridges. Might have been Officemax's brand, that's where I had bought them. Chucked those and I'm sticking with Canon.
 
I have a year-old Canon MB2720 - also from Wal-Mart - which replaced a 10-year-old Canon Pixma MX922. For both printers I've used generic ink cartridges from Amazon with no issues whatsoever. For the new printer I've purchased the "GPC Image" compatible cartridges, which provide 3x black and 2x cyan, magenta, and yellow. They are immediately recognized by the machine. All are the XL size and the whole set was just over 30 bucks with tax. These packs typically last me 6-7 months with normal use.

I don't print professional-quality pics, but I have several 4x6 and 8x10 framed photos from this machine and they look pretty good.

1702072638392.jpg
 
Hard No, got burned at home and at work.... pennies saved, not worth the risk

Highly recommend the ink tank style printers; drop 3-4 bills up front and per page cost is so low I don't even consider it

(Side rant: I got a great deal on a Cannon [whatever it is] ink tank model... PSA: They sell the printers but not the ink)
 
ZebRuaj said:
I picked up one of the same Cannon's during WallyWorlds black friday. I was planning on injecting ink into the cartridges as they run out. Bunch of videos on Youtube. You lose the ink level monitoring by going this route, but way cheaper.
Click to expand...

If it's a regular cartridge with a chip, that won't work. The chip doesn't actually monitor the ink level. It just counts pages :sneaky:
 
In the event someone encounters this thread at a future date, Brother lasers are the only way to go.
 
dishdude said:
In the event someone encounters this thread at a future date, Brother lasers are the only way to go.
Click to expand...
Not so simple.
I'm a big proponent of Brother printers, they are very cost efficient overall, but....
If you need a printer for office or shop needs, HP, Lexmark of Canon are better due to their better integration with networking, scan to email and a few other convenience things. You may end up paying a bit more but in business environment you write expensive off. Convenience and speed matter in office and shop.

I also have first hand experience with 3rd party ink and toner including refills where you do refilling yourself. In general, 3rd party ink and toner are inconsistent in quality, you may get lucky with good one or may not get lucky. I stopped trying saving a few dollars while getting inconsistent prints. Time is valuable to me, only original stuff last few years even if it costs more, just keep eyes open for sales or stock in advance.

I have 3 printers at home now, laser Brother DCP-L2550DW which I use for printing mostly, laser Lexmark MB2236i which is much easier and faster with scan to email and better scans, and ink Epson XP-970 which I use for photos while using last non-subscription version of Lightroom :cool:
 
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billt460 said:
I just bought a new printer yesterday. (Canon TS3522). $50.00 at China Mart. My 15 year old HP was acting up, and I'm tired of screwing with the thing every time I use it. Also the ink cartridges were drying up. So to the landfill it went.

I was thinking of getting one of those Epson printers like Shaq advertises, with the ink tanks you just fill with liquid ink, but they wanted over $300.00 for one. I don't use a printer enough to warrant spending that.

So I went with this cheapie Canon. So far so good. I gave up on the wireless connection, and used a USB cable. It's up and running with the factory supplied ink cartridges.

This new printer takes 275 Black, and 276 Color. I think they make an extra large size also. I'm tired of paying so much for ink cartridges. For what they charge they could all but give you the printer, and they would still make money hand over fist.

Anyway, do any of you guys know a good brand of generic ink cartridges that you can order online? Something that you have had good luck with. Are there any downsides to using them?
Click to expand...
I have an epson Stylus cx5000 and It has been a great printer for eh 12 plus years. I had an "Apollo" brand but I think that was Office Max's attempt at their own brand and wasn't supported. I like my Epson as it works with Ubuntu Linux with very little tweaking. It DOESN'T like any third party ink cartridges nor sitting as the ink heads dry up.
 
I had an HP for a long time and a Brother before that. Both were the all-in-one versions. Always a hassle with something and the ink cartridges were just crazy prices. Reviews on everything go from better than indoor plumbing to landfill is too good for it.

I bought an Epson EcoTank probably 3-4 years ago now from either BJ's, Costco, Sam's. It came with a "bonus" set of extra ink bottles. Even with all the kids school things we have not used that up yet. With the cartridges, doing the same stuff I was buying them every couple months.

Highest quality prints, no, not as compared to color lasers etc. For my home/kids/school stuff, I highly recommend an Epson EcoTank one.
 
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