Inkjet Cartridge

Inkjet printers dominate the market for personal and low-volume office printing. They are usually quiet, reasonably fast, and can produce excellent results. They also carry the advantage of being inexpensive to purchase and to operate when compared to more sophisticated laser printers and other high-volume, high-precision machines.

Canon and Hewlett-Packard probably deserve most of the credit for positioning the personal inkjet printer where it is today, but both Epson and Lexmark can also claim some share of the credit. Canon and HP cartridges operate on similar principles and are available as new, remanufactured, refilled, or new compatible. (Empty Canon and HP cartridges are also great candidates for recycling.)

Epson uses a different technology that allows their replacement cartridges to be (on the whole) significantly less expensive than the industry average. Most of their printers use a permanent print head inside the machine, eliminating the need for including disposable print heads in every cartridge. The downside is that if your print head breaks, it can be more expensive to fix.

Getting Your Money’s Worth

You rarely have anything to worry about with new OEM cartridges. Remanufactured, refilled, and compatible cartridges can be a different story, however. There are a few companies in the printer consumables business that use inferior techniques or materials in their products. They are relatively easy to spot, though, with only some minor investigative work.