HP Instant Ink

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print
ink
#1

Every once in awhile I see a comment about saving ink or using too much ink, etc. Last year I bought a HP Officejet pro 6978 all-in-one, and it came with 4 months free of HP Instant Ink. It’s basically a monthly payment and they keep you stocked with high yield ink (through the mail). I just wanted to let people know about it, cause it has saved me a lot of money as far as buying ink is concerned. Now I can print at the highest quality without worrying about running out of ink or worrying about buying cartridges. It has worked out great so far. Here’s a link to check it out http://try.hpinstantink.com/rp2Cj You do need an eligible HP printer.

PRINTING ICRPG
#2

This is epic! My wife is a teacher. Between the two of us and the kids we constantly hit that Sunday night “please have enough for one more sheet” moments and then argue about who is going to staples for an emergency re-up.

Thanks for the share!

#3

Yeah, it’s pretty neat, they basically charge you for how many pages you print. $5 a month gets you a 100 pages at highest print quality, $10 a month is 300 pages. Fantastic for my obsession with paper minis and maps :grin:

#4

“You are doing it wrong™” as in you are doing it expensive.

First, get one of these or similar:

(I have TS6050 model myself - couldn’t find it on amazon, maybe it is discontinued but it doesn’t matter.)

Then get one set of these refillable cartridges that match your printer:

Then get matching ink for your printer:

Then print like a madman and thank me later.

$24 worth of ink will let you print thousand upon thousand of pages or photos. I print my minis with this method on photo paper and it is both super fun and super cheap. I did even print my own ICRPG book this way:

Remember to print printer’s own nozzle check pattern at least once every 2-3 days to prevent clogging.

#5

Holy Moly $24 prints 2,000 pages at highest quality? I guess I am doing it wrong, thanks for the info!

#6

More than 2,000 pages. I printed 2,000+ pages with my previous Canon printer and I only used half the ink.

If you need more info, feel free to ask.

#7

Assuming all is equal, what is a current printer setup it works with.

I’ve been using the HP instant ink thing for a while and it is glorious compared to previous concepts, since I technically pay per page, I want full border to border printing.

That said, @Khan this is interesting as hell. Are you doing the injector thing to refill the cartridges? And what is the newest printer that this works on, as many of these groups are running circuits on the cartridges to verify brand and page count.

Or are you jail breaking the printer.

Very intriguing, but would not want to rely on it until I knew my way around the system…but I would throw some bucks to see if it works.

#8

Well, I looked at the website KHAN linked and found some HP refillable cartridges, the ones that would work for me say you have to remove the chips from your current ones and place into these new ones.

#9

Ewwwww. Currently HP tracks page count and ink resistance, so at a certain count you need to replace the chip.

Further in some cases, you need to keep your firmware below a certain level.

I know there was legal action against HP, and I believe they have to accept off brand cartridges, but I have no idea of the small print of that action. I may research it more or just experiment.

Again, I’ll probably get a cheap printer and set this up as a second or even primary, but I would not subject my only printer to this unless it is verified extended function.

We are talking less than 1 cents a page vs 9 or something like that with instant ink.

On a professional project, nope! If your tools make you money, spend the extra for reliability. 20k for a plotter and a service contract is cheap vs your putting your customers in a hard situation.

For home/hobby use…experiment away.

Yes, my professional life does include reliability of printers. So I’m aware of generics. And refillable inks. I think Epson experimented with offerings of refillables a couple of years ago, but they stopped supporting the model I was aware of.

#10

Do anyone have any experience with ink tank printers? I’m looking to swap out my old HP because cartridges in the EU feel like a knife to the belly every time I need to replace one.

But the ink tanks are coming down in price and can be found for under $200. I’ve been hesitant to try refilling cartridges since I heard HP chips can cause trouble anyhow. Hadn’t considered looking into another brand and going for refillable cartridges as Khan suggests, looks like in terms of features, a good cartridge printer still out classes any ink tank within a similar price range.

#11

Epson apparently still has their Ecotank (I thought all where discontinued), then brother investment, then Canon mega tank.

Based on brands, Canon then Epson typically, but no idea on these, I simply knew they existed, no real informative opinion on them.

HP instant ink is available in UK, Ireland and Germany…no idea what other European countries. I really like the service for what it is, and I have a large set of inks I purchases separate in case I run out, I never have.

#12

I suggest that everyone stay away from the ink mafia. I don’t use this word lightly, mind you.

HP and other companies try to screw people out of their hard earned money by using dirty tricks to sell their needlessly expensive ink, toners and cartridges. HP is usually the worst offender.

Normally any ink can be used with any printer, as long as that ink is compatible with the cartridges. There is no technical reason why this can’t be done. In fact, there are numerous companies that produce ink that is compatible with big name brands’ printers.

What the printer manufacturers are trying to do is to force you, the consumer, to buy their own highly marked-up inks. Which is normally illegal but they are gaming the system as usual.

If you are printing on regular paper, you can’t do borderless printing with most (all?) home or small business printers but you can print borderless on photo paper.

Printer works as is - you don’t have to jailbreak it or tamper with it any way.

These cartridges I showed you are special. They all have a plastic cap that you remove and inject the ink. Then you put the cap back on. It’s so simple. You don’t need to do any modifications at all. They also have a special chip that automatically resets itself and presents itself as brand new whenever the printer thinks that you are out of ink.

#13

Aftermarket ink tanks have reliability issues, so try to stay away from them. Printers that have ink tanks built-in are better but they also cost way more than what they should. Like you said, a cartridge printer has more features than a printer with a built-in ink tank that is of similar price. It is still a rip off.

I’ve used only Canon printers in the past and I can vouch for them. Stay away from HP, they are sh*t.

Try my way. It is cheapest and easiest method. It is also rock solid.

Printing whatever you want, whenever you want without worrying about printing costs is a liberating experience.

#14

I’ve printed nearly everything myself at little cost to me, which I have been lucky to have access to a lot of laser printers and haven’t had to pay for toner or ink.

The thing with inkjet printers is, they are not all the same and neither is the ink used. The manufacturers use a heavily refined dye or pigment ink or a combination of the two. They make their printhead so narrow and only suitable for the particle size of the ink they manufacture. I’ve seen many a printer die due to using the wrong quality and type of ink. The manufacturer also know how many dots a particular size ink cartridge will do. If you use a third party ink, the dot count will be out. The industry survives on selling ink and not printers. Gone are the days when a printer will cost over $600 or more, it all about the elixir of ink. POD costs are relatively cheap in the US, not so much here, but that would be a more cost effective way to print and it comes perfect bound.