Generic ink for printer, do you use?

[discodanman45]

I just want to ask around and see if people here use generic ink. I just bought a cheap printer and wonder what differences can be seen with the generic ink. By the way I really like the Epson CX5400 3 in 1 printer I got. Even does a real nice job for printing pictures, much better then the HP's I bought in the past.

[mbossman2]

i have used:

Brand name cartridges
Refilled (by me) cartridges
Refilled (by others) cartridges
No name cartridges

I have found that name brand cartridges last longer than no names (not by enough to justify the price delta), the refills (doesn't matter by whom) tend to lead to more clogs and print head cleaning and the no name cartridges get me a lot of spam. BTW this all applies to ink cartridges.

just me 2 cents...

[discodanman45]

Well I guess the reasons printers are soo cheap these days is that they make a killing on ink. The printer I bought is $100 and came with a full set of ink. Guess it might be cheaper to buy new printers all the time instead of buying just ink

Is there any "no-name" ink cartridges that are supposed to be good? I want to stay away from refills, especially since glc posted about problems with refilled ink cartridges and Epsons.

[TwoRails]

It's too much of a gamble for me. The problem is there is too many scam cartridges out there that can, and do, damage your printer. It's a well documented problem and magazines such as PC World have had many articles on the subject. If if you find a line of cartridges that "work," you usually suffer a very short life span of the ink in regards to fading.

[Miz]

I've been buying generic ink cartridges from Voltexx for several years. Nevery had a problem with any of them.

"Approved" cartridges for my printer (Epson) cost around $30. From Voltexx they're $3 for black, $4 for color. Even if I got a bad one once in a while (which I haven't), I'd still save money.

Some brands/models of printers just don't have cheaper generic cartridges available, though.