Two Common Issues Caused By Low Quality Printer Inks

2011-01-11

While ink jet printer rates have fallen steadily over the past few years the real cost lies in replacing the spent printer ink cartridges. With the entry of third party vendors in recent years the competition has increased greatly. It has also resulted in a big price difference between original printer inks and third party printer inks. A lot of times people switch over to third party vendors for the kind of cost savings they can get. Although popular a lot of times the end user might have to suffer for the low quality ink that is found in third party cartridges. There are two common issues associated with such cartridges.

One of the common issues is a poor print quality that comes as a result of using these cartridges. The second issue is damage to your machine in the form of print head clogging and warranty voids as a result of using non company approved products. While there is a lot of savings involved one has to also take into account the risks when it comes to buying such cartridges.

While some these third party cartridges can perform on par with their original printer cartridge counterparts when it comes to printing text on paper. There is a lot to be desired when it comes to printing hi resolution photo or color prints. One way of judging a good quality print job is looking at the printed ink on paper and the permanence of the ink when exposed to light. According to tests, third party inks perform comparatively lesser and have a life of only 5 years when it comes to permanence.

The second issue is that of clogging and this is one of the major issues that can crop up. Clogging up nozzles due to low quality ink is a common occurrence when it comes to generic non branded cartridges and can result in warranty voids or replacements of print heads. This in effect proves to a costlier proposition than buying a company branded original ink cartridge in the first place. Another popular option to third party vendor cartridges is refilling kits which are available. However, the process is not to everyone's liking since it is messy to fill up old cartridges.

One has to understand the risks and hassles related to third party ink cartridges and also the loss of time when it comes to cleaning up clogged print heads or getting lower quality prints. While 16 - 18% market share of printer cartridges belonging to third party vendors bears a testimony to their popularity, the pros and cons of savings versus hassles should also be taken into account before purchase.