Disposable Printers

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ER

I'm on my third Lexmark Z515 from Wal-Mart @$29 USD. I just buy a new
printer when the cartridges give out.

At Wal-Mart the black cartridge costs $18 and the color $27 this is more $
than a new printer that includes cartridges.

I have successfully re-filled the cartridges by drilling tiny holes in the
corners and injecting ink to the bottom with a hypo.

I get about 1 years use out of each printer. I don't store the cartridges in
the printer. I use the original tape to cover the print head and store them
in a tiny Tupperware container with a small moist sponge to keep them from
drying out.

Picture quality from this 4800dpi printer is as good as I have seen on any
inkjet but it is a bit slow.

When done with the printer I enjoy taking it apart and playing with the
internal components before disposal.

Has anyone compared the $34 Hp disposable with the Z515?

ER
 
I admire your ingenuity and scream at the marketing methodology
manufacturers purvey on the consumer. The lack of material morality that
they foist on the population leads to continuous waste, no conservation of
energy, and the attitude that rather than making a cost efficient machine
that will hold up and allow cartridge refilling will get by minimally for a
year or so, but just long enough for the company to make its killing profit
on the ridiculously overpriced replacement cartridges.
When the H is this country going to turn itself around and sell something
that is a good value not only for what it does but also for what our moral
value system inculcates?
 
[snip]
When the H is this country going to turn itself around and sell
something that is a good value not only for what it does but also for what
our moral value system inculcates?
Click to expand...

Not until the general populous will pay for it

Mark
 
Mark said:
[snip]
When the H is this country going to turn itself around and sell
something that is a good value not only for what it does but also for what
our moral value system inculcates?
Click to expand...

Not until the general populous will pay for it
Click to expand...
.... or even populace.
 
Mark said:
[snip]
When the H is this country going to turn itself around and sell
something that is a good value not only for what it does but also for
what
our moral value system inculcates?
Click to expand...

Not until the general populous will pay for it
Click to expand...
... or even populace.
Click to expand...

Funny how we rely on spell check in this day and age, and accept anything
that it throws at you.

Mark
 
www.fatwallet.com/c/18/ for more printer sale threads

Anyways, totally agree disposable printers is the way to go - saves you
headaches when they break/clog/jam, and you never have to worry about
babying the machines.

Add to that the typical 1 yr instant exchange warranty for free on these
printers, and you get a great bargain no matter what.

---

As for the HP disposables, they're fine. Typical RET IV generation
printers with super-tiny ink cartridges. Fine text and basic photo
printing overall. HP carts maybe harder to refill, so keep that in mind
as well.

----

Of course, in the end, it makes you wonder what's happening when the
printers are cheaper than the ink cartridges, yet ink is dirt-cheap at
<$1 per cartrdige wholesale?!?

Clearly, readers of Computer Reseller Magazine know that the makers are
really ripping everyone off when they can toot the 50%+ profit margins
to resellers on cartridges in their ads.

Also, it's no wonder they don't simply include big, fat bags of ink
that'll last years in the printers so you don't have to change the ink
at all (or at least for a year or two).
 
Mark said:
Mark said:
[snip]

When the H is this country going to turn itself around and sell
something that is a good value not only for what it does but also for
what
our moral value system inculcates?

Not until the general populous will pay for it
Click to expand...

... or even populace.
Click to expand...


Funny how we rely on spell check in this day and age, and accept anything
that it throws at you.

Mark
Click to expand...
Better define that "we." Accepting anything that
spellcheck throws at you indicates lack of
education or sense. I figure I know a lot more
than spellcheck does (doesn't take much critical
experience to figure that out). My fingers go
unintended places and occasionally I just get a
mental block, so I use spellcheck as a "check."
But I haven't deteriorated to mixing up populous
and populace and a thousand other substitutions
that spellcheck seems to thing are correct.
 
Jan said:
I admire your ingenuity and scream at the marketing methodology
manufacturers purvey on the consumer. The lack of material morality that
they foist on the population leads to continuous waste, no conservation of
energy, and the attitude that rather than making a cost efficient machine
that will hold up and allow cartridge refilling will get by minimally for a
year or so, but just long enough for the company to make its killing profit
on the ridiculously overpriced replacement cartridges.
When the H is this country going to turn itself around and sell something
that is a good value not only for what it does but also for what our moral
value system inculcates?
Click to expand...


I think this is about time to have the legislators to make a law to
prevent this kinds of thing to happen. Otherwise, this will go on as
manufacturers cannot risk raising the price of their printers without
the help of the competitors and consumers always look for cheap printers
- shortsighted, but hardly anyone really calculates the cost of
consumables and many simply junk their working printers and buy a new
one. Manufacturers cannot just lower the ink cost without increasing the
price of the printer, all thanks to Lexmark's lead of giving away the
printer and selling over priced ink. It's like a disposable razor
business but printer consumes a lot more materials and labor resources
to produce.

I bought an Epson R200 (with inks) for $50 after rebate but a set of ink
costs $58. I will buy the ink cartridge alone if the printer's in
working order, merely because I hate creating more trash. If I am going
to protect my wallet, I'll simply buy a new low end printer again...
 
I was hoping someone else would respond to the posting. My fingers are
getting bloody and my voice is hoarse about this.

We need some legislation with some teeth, because if you are waiting for
the manufacturers in this industry to show some moral fortitude, you
will be buried by old printer sand toss away ink cartridges before
anything will change.
 
Gee,

Just think of how cheap they could make the printer if it didn't have
removable cartridges?

Maybe we will see them on the market soon. Hopefully with refillable ink
tanks...


ER
 
Just think of how cheap they could make the printer if it didn't have
removable cartridges?

Maybe we will see them on the market soon. Hopefully with refillable ink
tanks...
Click to expand...

Good idea
 
ER said:
I'm on my third Lexmark Z515 from Wal-Mart @$29 USD. I just buy a new
printer when the cartridges give out.

At Wal-Mart the black cartridge costs $18 and the color $27 this is more $
than a new printer that includes cartridges.
Click to expand...

Are they full carts though? Many printers come with "light use" (eg half
size) carts.
 
CWatters said:
Are they full carts though? Many printers come with "light use" (eg half
size) carts.
Click to expand...

They appear to be full carts, will print about 20 full coverage, high
resolution, 8x10 prints before I need to refill them.

I have never bought replacement carts so I don't know if they could do more.


ER
 
They appear to be full carts, will print about 20 full coverage, high
resolution, 8x10 prints before I need to refill them.

I have never bought replacement carts so I don't know if they could do more.
Click to expand...

Well, if they only bundle 1/2-size cartridges, there goes any
potential savings. My guess is Lexmark is not that dumb and most
likely bundle only starter tanks. Even if they do not, low-end
Lexmark's are probably the most expensive cost-per-page inkjet. So,
let us say you spend $30 on the printer, but it costs more than 8
cents for a black & white page. On the other hand, you could have
purchased a Canon ip3000 for about $45 after rebate with per page
costs for black and white about 3 cents. Of course if you rarely use
an inkjet, those cheapie Lexmark's and similarly priced HP's are fine.
However, if you do any amount of printing, I suggest you do the math
to verify that your method actually benefits you monetarily.
 
BobbytheBrain said:
Well, if they only bundle 1/2-size cartridges, there goes any
potential savings. My guess is Lexmark is not that dumb and most
likely bundle only starter tanks. Even if they do not, low-end
Lexmark's are probably the most expensive cost-per-page inkjet. So,
let us say you spend $30 on the printer, but it costs more than 8
cents for a black & white page. On the other hand, you could have
purchased a Canon ip3000 for about $45 after rebate with per page
costs for black and white about 3 cents. Of course if you rarely use
an inkjet, those cheapie Lexmark's and similarly priced HP's are fine.
However, if you do any amount of printing, I suggest you do the math
to verify that your method actually benefits you monetarily.
Click to expand...

My print needs are very erratic. I can easily go 6 months without printing a
single page. For this reason I despise inkjet printers that usually dry out
and clog the printhead in less than 6 months. For this reason I bought an HP
Laserjet 1012 because laser printers don't dry out and it always works when
I want it to for B&W. I have been using it to print draft copies of my book
with great success.

Recently I took on a big project of printing hundreds of full color pictures
to wallpaper a room. Here is where the cheapie Lexmark came in handy. For
$29 + 12 for a refill kit I can print about 500 4x6 inch prints. When the
project is complete it may be years before I do anything like this again so
dumping the printer and not worrying about the printhead drying out is
really peace of mind.

ER
 
Your usage is very atypical, especially for people reading this forum,
so as interesting as your personal experience is, I'm not sure how
relevant it is to the vast majority of people who own computers and use
printers.

I would agree for people who do fit your profile, the options you came
to are workable.

Art

ER wrote:
 
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