Are cartridges bought with printers test ones ??

  • Thread starter Thread starter andy
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A

andy

Just bought a printer and was wondering if the cartridge that was bundled
with it is just a 'test' cartridge. Is it normal for printer manufacturers
to do that. The one i got lasted about 10 days (maybe 10 small photos and 20
normal quality colour text pages). Just wondered if my suspicions were right
or not. It was a Lexmark printer. Hoping that the ones i buy instore last a
little longer !!

Cheers
Andrew
 
Just bought a printer and was wondering if the cartridge that was bundled
with it is just a 'test' cartridge. Is it normal for printer manufacturers
to do that. The one i got lasted about 10 days (maybe 10 small photos and 20
normal quality colour text pages). Just wondered if my suspicions were right
or not. It was a Lexmark printer. Hoping that the ones i buy instore last a
little longer !!
Click to expand...

It depends on the manufacturer and model, but it's fairly common for
printers to come with 'starter' cartridges with about half the capacity
of normal cartridges. It's their way of getting you to buy a nice, fat
profit, cartridge as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, it sometimes backfires as it can be cheaper to buy a
whole new printer than a set of cartridges!!
 
andy said:
Just bought a printer and was wondering if the cartridge that was bundled
with it is just a 'test' cartridge. Is it normal for printer manufacturers
to do that. The one i got lasted about 10 days (maybe 10 small photos and 20
normal quality colour text pages). Just wondered if my suspicions were right
or not. It was a Lexmark printer. Hoping that the ones i buy instore last a
little longer !!

Cheers
Andrew
Click to expand...
This is a subject that comes up regularly. It is
mostly myth. While some printers may come with a
"starter cartridge" the general consensus is that
most printers don't. It definitely did not
happen with the HP I bought or the Canon I bought.
In fact, my HP 970 came with the big color
cartridge (HP makes an A and a D with different
amounts of ink and price).

Most of this nonsense about small starter
cartridges results because new users don't really
keep track of the total pages printed, they make
mistakes, and may use a lot of ink in cartridge
cleanings that aren't necessary. They remember
the twenty good pages but forget the ten
1/2 pages with mistakes, or they they pushed the
wrong buttons during set up or later that resulted
in printing the same picture 7 times and they
threw away 6 of those.

The jury is out on Lexmark.
 
If they were it should state somewhere in the documentation. All the Epsons
I have purchased had full cartridges. The only printer I have ever seen with
a test cart was a Dell. I have had no exposure to Lexmark..
 
HP uses starter carts
If they were it should state somewhere in the documentation. All the Epsons
I have purchased had full cartridges. The only printer I have ever seen with
a test cart was a Dell. I have had no exposure to Lexmark..
Click to expand...
 
George said:
This is a subject that comes up regularly. It is mostly myth. While
some printers may come with a "starter cartridge" the general
consensus is that most printers don't. It definitely did not happen
with the HP I bought or the Canon I bought. In fact, my HP 970 came
with the big color cartridge (HP makes an A and a D with different
amounts of ink and price).

Most of this nonsense about small starter cartridges results because
new users don't really keep track of the total pages printed, they
make mistakes, and may use a lot of ink in cartridge cleanings that
aren't necessary. They remember the twenty good pages but forget the ten
Click to expand...

Not true. Most of the newer HP comes with starter carts. So far Canon
does not. I do not know about epson. I do not class Lexmark as a printer.
 
measekite said:
Not true. Most of the newer HP comes with starter carts. So far Canon
does not. I do not know about epson. I do not class Lexmark as a printer.
Click to expand...


All of the Lexmarks I've bought, excpet for a Samsung-made laser, had full
cartridges.

Here's a trick to use if you are making a utility print of a photo: if
your image editing program includes a saturation adjustment, reduce the
saturation. Uses much less ink, but makes a paler (less colorful) print.

I've had photos come out of my Lexmark with so much ink the paper is
soaked, and it's not really needed. It isn't necessarly the printer's
fault, but I'm sure the manufacturer doens't mind what comes out of the
computer.

Brendan
 
THE GENERAL CONSENSUS AROUND HERE IS THAT NOBODY KNOWS SOMETHING AND
EVERYBODY KNOWS NOTHING.
 
Bear in mind a brand new printer will take more ink the first time yo
switch it on as the head chamber has to be 'primed', once prime
normal ink consupmtion according to usage should be observed

I thought it was just 'some' laser printer toners that came half ful

Dav
 
Davy said:
I thought it was just 'some' laser printer toners that came half full
Click to expand...

Nah, they all do it. Fax machines also. The HP printer I just bought at
work has different number cartridges from the factory and they do hold less
ink than the regular.
 
Edwin Pawlowski said:
Nah, they all do it. Fax machines also. The HP printer I just bought
at work has different number cartridges from the factory and they do
hold less ink than the regular.
Click to expand...

Which model? It is certainly not the case that "they all do it".
AFAIK, no HP inkjet printers currently ship with starter cartridges.
Some printers have several sizes of trade cartridges they support and
they may ship with the smaller of these.

Regards,
Bob Headrick
 
Bob Headrick said:
Which model? It is certainly not the case that "they all do it". AFAIK,
no HP inkjet printers currently ship with starter cartridges. Some
printers have several sizes of trade cartridges they support and they may
ship with the smaller of these.
Click to expand...

HP6520. Came with the 94 and 95 cartridges that are 11 and 7 ml.
Replacements are 95 and 97 with double that capacity.
 
Which model? It is certainly not the case that "they all do it".
AFAIK, no HP inkjet printers currently ship with starter cartridges.
Some printers have several sizes of trade cartridges they support and
they may ship with the smaller of these.

Regards,
Bob Headrick
Click to expand...

HP keeps saying 'we don't ship with starter cartridges anymore'.
However, I consider any cartridge that's not the same capacity as the
one on the shelf to be a 'starter cartridge'. To get around this, HP
currently sells the smaller cartridges, usually packaged both black
and color, with a stack of photo paper, as a 'bundle pack'. Since the
tiny cartridges are now commercially available, they're no longer
called 'starter cartridges' but are '# series' cartridges. Most
printers that take the 5x or 9x series of cartridges are still shipped
with half-capacity tanks. I've been told otherwise, but I've checked
many models, and most (but not all) of the consumer class printers
don't have full size tanks.

Epsons come with full carts, but since a huge amount of the ink is
used for the priming process (and Epson carts generally hold less ink
than most other brands), the first set usually dissappears rather
quickly. It irritates me that Epson doesn't put the ml capacity of
their carts on the packaging like HP and Canon do.

I'm not sure about Canons. I've been told they also come with full
cartridges. I've never even bothered checking Lexmark.

---

http://www.FenrirOnline.com

Computer services, custom metal etching,
arts, crafts, and much more.
 
(e-mail address removed) (Fenrir Enterprises) wrote in @newsgroups.bellsouth.net:
I'm not sure about Canons. I've been told they also come with full
cartridges. I've never even bothered checking Lexmark.
Click to expand...

My iP5000 came with full capacity carts.
 
HP6520. Came with the 94 and 95 cartridges that are 11 and 7 ml.
Replacements are 95 and 97 with double that capacity.
Click to expand...

Actually the DeskJet 6520 supports the 95 or 97 color cartridges and the
94 and 96 black cartridges. It happens to ship with the 94 and 95, but
there are larger cartridges available. You can buy the less expensive
94 and 95, or heavier usage users have a choice of larger cartridges for
better cost per page.

- Bob Headrick
 
Bob said:
Actually the DeskJet 6520 supports the 95 or 97 color cartridges and
the 94 and 96 black cartridges. It happens to ship with the 94 and
95, but there are larger cartridges available. You can buy the less
expensive 94 and 95, or heavier usage users have a choice of larger
cartridges for better cost per page.

- Bob Headrick
Click to expand...

YOU STILL SPEAK LIKE AN HP EMPLOYEE
 
This isn't fully accurate.

Most toner cartridges (both black and color) for laser printers are
indeed low yield. And in the inkjet biz, a number of manufacturers did
supply smaller or low yield cartridges until a few law suits developed.

In some cases, there are (now) two cartridges offered everyone, a low
yield and higher yield version. The low yield, which often comes with
the printer to start with, usually offers very poor economy, where
something around spending 20% more will give you double the printing
capacity.


Art
 
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