Is it a Good Idea to Use Compatible HP 902XL Ink?
The Daily Mail reported on the cost of OEM ink and toner used in printers. Citing the cost of the Epson brand ink cartridge, The British Daily carried out a price comparison for one drop ink. It costs 2.04 pounds (about $2.63) in just one milliliter of ink, which is seven times the 30p (about $0.39) of the same amount of Dom Perignon vintage champagne. "It's 80% higher than Chanel No. 5 which is 1.13 pounds (1.46 dollars) per milliliter. Compared with the same volume of 32-year-old Convalmore single malt Scotch whisky, its price is 1.71 pounds (US $2.21) more than the whisky, about 20% higher”
Why is original ink so expensive?
Original equipment printer manufacturers (OEMs) claim that the technology of making ink is expensive, so branded ink should be expensive. They spend a lot of money on R & D. If customers want to get first-class ink quality and reliability, they have to pay for it. It's like the "razor" business model. When customers buy printers at low prices, OEMs don't get much profit. Thus they hope to tie consumers with matching original ink / toner cartridge to earn more money. As a result, the price of original ink cartridge is often high.
How to solve the problem of expensive ink?
1. Purchase non-original ink
With the increasing development of the printer industry, beside the original ink cartridge, there are other none-original ink cartridges in the market, such as new compatible ink cartridge and remanufactured ink cartridge. Both are much cheaper than the original one. But there is also a difference between them.
New compatible ink cartridge
The new compatible ink cartridge is developed and produced by the third-party consumables supplier, which is a new unused ink cartridge. Its appearance and brand are completely different from the original, but they can be recognized by our printer as well as the original ink cartridge, and can perfectly match our printer. However, the quality of printing is unstable.The one with good quality can be comparable with the original ink cartridge, but it is possible to print light color and come out with color difference.
Remanufactured ink cartridge
Remanufactured ink cartridge is a kind of ink cartridge which is collected by a third-party consumable supplier after recycling, cleaning and refilling. Although remanufactured ink cartridge has the same appearance as original ink cartridge and may be fully compatible with printer, it does not mean that its quality and printing effect are the same as original ink cartridge. Due to technology problem of the chip, the ink cartridge may not be recognized by printer.
2. Refilled ink personally
Compared with the original ink cartridge and non-original ink cartridge, refilled ink is absolutely cheaper. Users only need to buy ink and refill it into the used original ink cartridge.
But in fact, the refilling process is extremely complex, and it can mess up your hands and table. The refilled ink cartridge is not sure to be recognized by your printer. An error "non-cartridge" is likely to appear.
Choose original or non-original?
Recently, due to the upgrading problem of HP 902 series printers, many users can not easily buy the original HP 902XL ink cartridge. Consumers have complained about HP, but HP has never directly response to this issue. People can't wondering do they have to use the original ink cartridge? Is there no other choice but the original ink cartridge?
The answer is No. At present, many third-party compatible ink cartridge technologies on the market are comparable to the original one. Take v4ink for example, not long after HP released the news of firmware update, v4ink has produced chips that can adapt to the latest version of firmware in the first time. These cartridges with the latest version of the chip match the HP 902 series printers perfectly. At present, loyal users of v4ink don't have to be afraid that their printers can't be used in the situation of 902XL shortage. And the price of these compatible ink cartridges is only half that of the original ink cartridge, but the printing effect is almost the same as that of the original ink cartridge.
If it was you, would you wait for the original HP 902XL or choose a compatible HP 902XL ink cartridge?
