Ink Cartridges

[SunshineyDay]

Where can I find ink cartridges for an HP printer locally? Wally World is always out.

[intrepid]

They've got some now. I just bought a black one and it wasn't the last.

[Mad_Max]

Martin - Ocampo #32 between Aquiles Serdan & Juarez..

I got cartridge refills - definitely won't do that again...

plus bought new - he has lots

[SunshineyDay]

Thanks will try Martin. It is almost cheaper to buy a new printer once a year than to try and find cartridges. That's how Walmart sells printers. Viva Mexico!

[bmh]

Yes and the idea really offends me. Walmart was out for the longest time a few months ago, I was desperate for them and no one in town had them. I had to go to Chiapas and there I went to the usual store where I get them and was told that they were discontinued because my printer that was two years old was too old.

The store told me that printers are made to last two years and then changed.. That really gotme upset, went to another store and found some but the whole thing is pretty obnoxious.

I got the same type of answer from a store selling expresso machines in Mexico..All we need is more landfills to bury all that stuff...

[bdmowers]

I got cartridge refills - definitely won't do that again...

Did you have a bad experience? We've been using filled cartridges for 2 years successfully.

[Mad_Max]

the refilled cartridge lasted for about 10 pages - I will take it back - but a bother to schedule a trip to his store...so someday............

[bmh]

I bought several times sealed boxes of cartriges from the Ocampo store and they did not work so I will not buy there again.

[thevalerieleigh]

Same here....The last 2 times they've refilled cartridges for me, my printer refuses to recognize it and says "low ink"and won't print.

Guess I'll have to buy new ones.

Valerie

[Floradude]

I use HP 564 and Walmart has always had what I wanted. I also buy them at Costco.

[lcscats]

Yes and the idea really offends me. Walmart was out for the longest time a few months ago, I was desperate for them and no one in town had them. I had to go to Chiapas and there I went to the usual store where I get them and was told that they were discontinued because my printer that was two years old was too old.

The store told me that printers are made to last two years and then changed.. That really gotme upset, went to another store and found some but the whole thing is pretty obnoxious.

I got the same type of answer from a store selling expresso machines in Mexico..All we need is more landfills to bury all that stuff...

Be mad all you want. I worked and retired from HP. You can either have cheap ink or cheap price for the printer. Larger more expensive (not found around here) printers and AIO units have much lower costs for ink per page than these 50 dollar printers or 99 dollar all in one scan/print units. We made good quality printers made to last with low consumable costs and only smart people bought them. The world loves a 99 dollar all in one which has no profit in it. Might even be a negative but when you buy the ink they will make money off you. In this instance consumers are fools in my opinion. I have the same all in one for five years with separate large size ink containers. It prints for less than many color lasers. Here is the Gotcha. I bought an office unit and paid over $300 dollars. Cheap printers benefit the low volume user. People who print a lot should pay more and get an office unit. That is the inkjet printer business in a nutshell. Don't mean to lecture but folks should know to make the right decision.

[Mad_Max]

Be mad all you want. I worked and retired from HP. You can either have cheap ink or cheap price for the printer. Larger more expensive (not found around here) printers and AIO units have much lower costs for ink per page than these 50 dollar printers or 99 dollar all in one scan/print units. We made good quality printers made to last with low consumable costs and only smart people bought them. The world loves a 99 dollar all in one which has no profit in it. Might even be a negative but when you buy the ink they will make money off you. In this instance consumers are fools in my opinion. I have the same all in one for five years with separate large size ink containers. It prints for less than many color lasers. Here is the Gotcha. I bought an office unit and paid over $300 dollars. Cheap printers benefit the low volume user. People who print a lot should pay more and get an office unit. That is the inkjet printer business in a nutshell. Don't mean to lecture but folks should know to make the right decision.

I think the current issue is a walmart problem. Correct me if I am wrong - but when I by an ink jet printer in month 1, I expect them to stock cartridges for a few years. So six months - not two years later - Walmart no longer has in stock.

And what really blows my mind is that HP is selling cartridges by county. So for this printer, if I move north, I can no longer buy catridges - as the ones they sell for my printer has a different number and is not compatible with my mexican printer - that has the same model number.

Personally I hate HP - and it was stupid for me to purchase this printer because I don't like HP's business practices. Nothing to do with a cheap inkjet printer. When I came down I purchased a cheap canon inkjet printer from walmart - and it lasted almost 5 years - so I can't knock the cheap printers. It is just HP and Walmart that are on my grumpy list.

[lcscats]

_{Have a nice day.}

[elrich]

Same here....The last 2 times they've refilled cartridges for me, my printer refuses to recognize it and says "low ink"and won't print.

Guess I'll have to buy new ones.

Valerie :)I have a Canon printer and it will let me reset my ink cartridges. By holding down on the stop button ( not the Power button) for 5 to 10 seconds my ink cartridges will resent and I can print. Even though it may say low ink or no ink it will still print. I would think all printers have something similar to where you can reset your cartridges. First check your operating manua. If you can't find the answer, try one of the information forms for your printer. Usually somebody had the same problem and found a fix for it.

[ComputerGuy]

Printer designs actually change about every six months now.

I was an HP reseller in the early days of inkjet printers, when at my heavily-discounted price, it only cost me $1,100 Cdn dollars to get on of the first gigantic colour printers. But HP was a great company in those days, and even though I printed out hundreds of pages every month in my volunteer job as a computer-club magazine editor, I rarely had to buy cartridges. The company has gone through many changes since then, not the least of which has been as the result of losing market share to many other printer companies. When the new CEO and CFO step in, what do they always do? Cut back to become competitive.

HP even started farming their printer software coding out, which resulted in absolute mismanagement and perhaps the worst installation software in the world for at least 10 years. Now, they have created some incredible bug that prevents their own software from recognizing their own AIO scanners perhaps 25% of the time.

In the end, though, all the printer companies are the same. That's why a laser printer is the best bet for those who don't absolutely have to have colour.

[Mad_Max]

That's why a laser printer is the best bet for those who don't absolutely have to have colour.

What laser printers do you recommend ? Don't need color -

[ComputerGuy]

Samsung makes a great one; usually available at WalMart and Soriana.

[kgreenbury]

To go back to the original question, where do you find cartridges here? I bought an expensive Epson CX7700 in Guad some years back and neither Walmart or Ocampo store seem able to supply replacements. I was getting them at New World Tech in Bugambillas with no problem until they folded. I'm getting desperate; assume Plaza Technologia would have but I never get to Guad anymore... Suggestions please?

[valbogyo]

Office Max in Guadalajara, or on-line and have them mailed by post office from ebay. A friend does this successfully, every year.

[ComputerGuy]

To go back to the original question, where do you find cartridges here? I bought an expensive Epson CX7700 in Guad some years back and neither Walmart or Ocampo store seem able to supply replacements. I was getting them at New World Tech in Bugambillas with no problem until they folded. I'm getting desperate; assume Plaza Technologia would have but I never get to Guad anymore... Suggestions please?

All the best suggestions are already in this thread, particularly if you do not go to Guadalajara.

[CHAPALAMAC]

Can you just buy the ink and do it your self? All you need is some patience, a pair of surgical gloves, a plastic bag, a glue gun to seal the predrilled hole after the ink has been topped up, some black tape to seal the ink exit hole to prevent leakage while filling where it sits on the printer. A drill bit about an 1/8th inch glued into a cork, to drill the hole in the cartridge and a small 5cc syringe to fill the cartridge. Filing the sharp end of the needle helps prevent accidents.

I've done this for several years and it's fine for printing off recipes and manuals and instructions but not for photographs or high end work but you can save a bundle that way!

[snowyco]

Can you just buy the ink and do it your self?

Computer guy can tell us for sure, but Epson, Canon, and other ink jet printers have a way of recognizing if you have tried to use the cartridges longer than expected. Some printer/cartridge combinations use a special counter chip that counts how much the cartridge has been used, and locks out the system when you exceed the preset count. Other manufacturers rely on the user needing to get refillable cartridges with auto-reset chips, which means Do It Yourself attempts do not include the auto-reset needed to continue to print. With HP ink jets, once the low ink status has been tripped, the HP printer expects to see a new cartridge/new chip, and will not reset until it sees the new chip. All of these manufacturer installed security measures mean the problems reported above are not likely due to the refiller's ink, nor due to suspected short-filling by refillers.

Check out CISS (Continuous Ink Supply Systems) if you do a lot of printing. A good CISS has an auto-reset chip that resolves the "low ink" setting problem.

[ComputerGuy]

All I know is that there is an additional metallic ingredient in the ink that reacts with the printer's electronics to tell it when the ink is not "original", and thus error messages pop up on the computer screen. However, that can just be ignored, because the ink works just as well. These days most refill inks do as well as the original for printing; I did colour photos for years with no problem.

After two, sometimes three refills, the cartridges get worn out. Some guys who do refills are experienced enough to recognize this and will tell you when it's no longer possible, but it is a guessing game. Sometimes it happens after the first refill... the next time, your loaded cart doesn't work. One cannot blame the filler for this situation, as pointed out by snowyco.

Laser printers have a sensor, and the carts need to be adjusted every time they are refilled; however, some repair guys can replace that chip for you with a special override, thus saving 50 pesos every refill. I would say the average Josephina can use a laser cart for a good two years before needing a refill.

[lcscats]

Ok you just want to print out your kids picture fine but if you think these inks you use to refill are the same quality as the original dream on. Yes they will work but HP had over 20 PHD chemists working on ink jet ink. Does the refiller know that they are pigment based inks or dyes? If you use cheap ink you can ruin your permanent printheads with the wrong ink on the more fancy units. I understand why people do what they do but don't tell me the quality of a printed picture for example after sitting on the wall for a few years will be the same it won't. Yes they work OK but that is about all especially with color ink. I saw the samples and the returns of printers at HP from folks using these inks. All

of the Ink Jet printer companies use chips and have very very fancy inks. Cheap printers I understand

nothing to lose but that fancy 250USD all in one I would at least think about it before using third

party ink. Not saying there are not competent ink makers out there but how do you know what the guy

on the corner is selling?

Disclaimer: I worked for HP for 23 years and part of it was at the Ink Jet printer division. My friend

Nils invented Ink Jet technology so I know a little bit about the insides of these things. I am always

amazed these things work at all as the basis is heating up a micro capacitor and spitting ink at a page.

[snowyco]

"if you have off axis ink you could ruin those (HP) $40 printheads."

I'm confused. I thought all HP ink jet printers had the print head built into the replacement ink cartridge, so you get a new print head with every replacement cartridge. If people are refilling their old HP cartridges, then they may only damage a throw-away piece - and they get a new print head when they get a new cartridge?

That team of HP ink-jet scientists were a good bunch, but they knew their products were sometimes buggy/hinkey. Over 5 years after roll-out of the HP inkjet products, I had problems with 3 HP black ink jet cartridges in a month, I called up my good friend who managed that group, and he said, "Yeah, we know they have problems, so we have an official policy of fast free replacements of defective inkjet cartridges. Just take the bad cartridge back and ask for a new one - no questions asked." That product line was a huge revenue generator. The buddy explained that just black ink was a $5 billion product line at one point. The old Moseley printer/plotter division was a good talented group.