*NEWS*COMPATIBLE INK CTGS PUT TO THE TEST

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Date: Thursday March 2, 2006 12:41:00 pm
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    Compatible Ink Cartridges Put to the Test
    (UK)
    Whether
    you’re an advocate of printer manufacturer ink cartridges or have
    already tried a compatible brand, the question will have occurred to
    you: Why do original cartridges cost so much? Find out the truth
    uncovered by an independent test.
     March  2006 — Whether you’re an
    advocate of printer manufacturer ink cartridges or have already tried a
    compatible brand, the question will have occurred to you: Why do
    original cartridges cost so much?
    The price of manufacturer branded cartridges can be in many cases more than twice as much as some alternative brands.
    This
    for many people leads them to conclude that the price difference is
    probably justified; and that trying a compatible brand is likely to be
    a gamble that will only end with a broken printer.
    Whilst this might
    be the case in a handful or cases, as with many markets there are
    quality alternatives which offer a real opportunity to reduce the cost
    of printing with a virtually undetectable loss of quality.
    The fact
    is, most of us do not demand that much of our cartridges, and the
    results offered by the more reputable of compatible brands offer all we
    require.
    What also adds to the gulf in price is the profit model
    employed by the printer manufacturers. They understand that once the
    printer is sold it then becomes a lucrative profit vehicle. Therefore,
    the manufacturer sells the printer at a discount in order to get you to
    buy into their lucrative ink cartridge business. With the advent of
    cheaper compatible cartridges made by third-parties, they are seeing
    that business model fail. They have of course fought back with claims
    that that the user risks loss of quality.
    While that may be true if
    you need the absolute best print from your machine, it’s not if you
    just want to print out a regular text document or other standard files.
    Testing by UK consumer group Which? has found that some compatible ink
    cartridges are almost as good as printer manufacturers’ own and are
    much cheaper. Indeed there is a compatible brand Lyson Ink Cartridges
    which is preferred over the original brand by many in the print
    production and design industry – where high quality results are
    imperative.
    By choosing one of the best performing compatible ink
    cartridges, such as the Phoenix brand (available at
    http://www.ink-toner-uk.com) an average user could save about £100 over three
    years. Using Epson ink cartridges would cost a user about £220 over the
    period while a supply of generic ink from Print-Rite would cost £50. Of
    course the greater your requirement for printing the greater the gain.
    The
    printer manufacturers’ own cartridges do produce excellent results on
    text, graphs and photos, making them all best buys, but they’re very
    expensive, Which? said. Generics such as Print Rite and Ink Again also
    gain best buy status for a fraction of the cost. At the other end of
    the scale, some of the Jet Tec cartridges used on a Lexmark printer
    failed during the test, produced disappointing results and were given
    ‘Don’t Buy’ status.
    The worst cartridges, however, were Cartridge
    Save for the Lexmark Z515 printer, which were so unreliable Which?
    couldn’t even complete tests on them. By the way the Z515 printer costs
    under £35 but will cost you about £700 in Lexmark branded cartridges
    over three years. Which? recommends that customers get rid of the
    Lexmark and get a printer with lower running costs, such as an Epson or
    a Canon that offer savings on cartridges with out the compromise on
    quality associated with refilled cartridges.

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