HP Inkjet printer owners...Where do you get your ink?

After I bought the HP OfficeJet Pro 6975 AIO printer in 2018 I bought HP ink. When it got too expensive I started using third party ink. Unfortunately, in 2022 HP pushed a firmware update that blocked the use of third party ink. I managed to find a way to downgrade the firmware that allowed the use of third party ink again. A few months ago the third party ink was blocked again. A little research let me to check the settings in the printer front panel. I found a setting whose default was to automatically upgrade the firmware. I disabled that and downgraded the firmware again. I am back to using third party ink again.

For comparison
Ink from HP: HP 902XL Black $62.89, HP 902XL Cyan/Magenta/Yellow each $36.89, Total $173.56
Ink from third party: HP 902XL Black/Cyan/Magenta/Yellow, Total $34.67

BTW, a friend tried to get me to subscribe to an HP Instant Ink plan.

Instant Ink plans
10 pages per month $1.79/mo
50 pages per month $5.49/mo
100 pages per month $7.99/mo
300 pages per month $15.99/mo
700 pages per month $31.99/mo

Note: Printers require direct connection to the Internet for program participation.
Also, for plans it says Cancel anytime, No contracts, Hassle-free shipping. The only other option is to buy your own ink.

I probably print about 50 pages per month. For me I think it is cheaper to use third party ink.

I found it important to try to print at least once every 2-3 weeks. Otherwise, the ink will dry up on the printheads causing faulty printing. Sometime the printer diagnostic tools will clean the printheads and fix the print problems but not always. I have had this problem with both HP and third party ink.

I saw somewhere that claims that having the printer turned on all the time and allowed to sleep during the idle time will make the printer waste less ink. They claim that the printer wastes a lot of ink when you first turn it on where it runs extensive diagnostics.

I don't know the details but I have read that certain new HP printers require you to use genuine HP ink whiles others do not. I am not concerned about that right now but will if and when I have to replace my current printer.

MisterEd said:

I don't know the details but I have read that certain new HP printers require you to use genuine HP ink whiles others do not. I am not concerned about that right now but will if and when I have to replace my current printer.

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Ink cartridges are expensive! I gave up using them long ago and bought an ink tank printer, an Epson Ecotank ET4750. Bottles of ink are cheap


Epson was one of the first to make tank printers, but even HP have finally joined the club.

Bree said:

Ink cartridges are expensive! I gave up using them long ago and bought an ink tank printer, an Epson Ecotank ET4750. Bottles of ink are cheap

https://www.techradar.com/best/ink-tank-printer

Epson was one of the first to make tank printers, but even HP have finally joined the club.

https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/vwa/printers/prntbrnd=Smart-Tank

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Does not make sense to spend $$$ replace a perfectly usable printer (or AIO in my case) to save some money on a once-a-year ink purchase (in my case).

PhilB said:

Does not make sense to spend $$$ replace a perfectly usable printer (or AIO in my case) to save some money on a once-a-year ink purchase (in my case).

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Depends on how much you print, or in my case what you print. Glossy photo prints use a lot of ink (I counted myself lucky if I got more that 3 or 4 A4 photos out of a set of cartridges).

MisterEd said:

I probably print about 50 pages per month.

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Monthly print volume	Est monthly Envy ink cost	Est. monthly Smart Tank ink cost	Approx Break-even point
50 pages/month	$14.56	$0.40	6–7 months

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I'm no photophile and print 99.9% in black only. Back when I owned nothing but HP inkjets and deskjets (at least 10 of them) I used mostly remanufactured cartridges from Amazon. When I got a hold of one of those HPs where black would no longer print if one of the color cartridges was low or empty, I had enough with inkjet printers. I bought a consumer grade Bother monochrome laser printer/scanner/copier/fax. I got it on Black Fridaay from Amazon and it was the best $200 I ever spent. It uses one huge black cylinder toner cartridge that prints 3000 pages....remanufactured from Amazon naturally. You get 2 cartridges for $23.00.

glasskuter said:

remanufactured from Amazon naturally. You get 2 cartridges for $23.00.

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Amazing price.

I now run an Epson Ecotank ET8550 printer for photo printing which soon works out chepaer due to far cheaper ink costs despite the higher initial purchase cost

Bree said:

Ink cartridges are expensive! I gave up using them long ago and bought an ink tank printer, an Epson Ecotank ET4750. Bottles of ink are cheap

https://www.techradar.com/best/ink-tank-printer

Epson was one of the first to make tank printers, but even HP have finally joined the club.

https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/vwa/printers/prntbrnd=Smart-Tank

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I don't print that often either and the Epson ET ecotank works perfectly Can't remember the actual number but the bottles are cheap -- also does decent photo prints too - although not A3 size - but not too much need of that size any more -- office "Real estate space" is more important !!!!!

I'm using 70 mill "Double D 104" bottles --- last ordered so long ago - maybe different now but really cheap.

Cheers
jimbo

I finally signed up in May 2025 for hp instant ink, haven't had to replace the cartridges at all since May 2025

I just print something off and on to keep ink from drying out, so far no problems

Previously I was replacing the standard cartridges almost every 3 months for my hp envy 4520 all in one

Steve C said:

I now run an Epson Ecotank ET8550 printer for photo printing which soon works out chepaer due to far cheaper ink costs despite the higher initial purchase cost

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A3 photos. Nice
I couldn't quite justify the cost of an A3 printer, I'm limited to just A4

Bree said:

A3 photos. Nice
I couldn't quite justify the cost of an A3 printer, I'm limited to just A4

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I used to do some odd free lance Pro photo shoots for travel posters etc. These days there's a diminishing market for that type of stuff and you really need to be a full time top notch pro photographer to justify that size and even bigger A2 posters.

A4 these days is the biggest I print -- much more likely the metric equivalent to 4 X 6 or 5 X 7 inch if I want a printed photo. !!!

Online deliveries, e-commerce and better internet connections has reduced demand for this stuff hugely.

Cheers
jimbo

I was sick of paying $200 CAD to replace my ink in my HP Envy 4500, so I bought an Epson Ecotank ET-2400 yesterday. I am going to set it up today and see how it works.

I am done with HP's overpriced ecosystem! I hope so at least.

Catnip said:

I was sick of paying $200 CAD to replace my ink in my HP Envy 4500, so I bought an Epson Ecotank ET-2400 yesterday. I am going to set it up today and see how it works.

I am done with HP's overpriced ecosystem! I hope so at least.

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You won't be disappointed. !!!

Really easy to set up - either connect a USB cable or use Wifi -- suggest for the initial set up a USB cable is probably the simplest - use the one that comes with the printer as it's a special connector into the printer rather than bog standard USB cable at both ends. The other end just plugs into any bog standard USB port on your computer.

After that Wifi works easily enough and you are in business. !! Install also the "utility software" such as fax / scan / ocr if you want. Stand alone scanning of documents is a nice feature.

Cheers
jimbo

Used to have a HP Inkjet printer. Cartridges just became a joke expense. A couple of years ago, I bought a black and white Brother laser printer, MFC-L2750DW. We obviously don't print in colour, no photos, but the thing is very fast.

I always go back and forth between Sam's Club and Amazon.

I've noticed recently noticed buying two normal cartridges has a higher page yield then buying one XL cartridge

Since my very old Cannon inkjet would no longer connect by WiFi ( I think Windows no longer supported the drivers) and it was making grinding noises no matter how much I cleaned and aligned the heads I decided to replace it a month ago with a new Cannon inkjet with mega tank ink holders. Just pour the large bottles of ink in and no more expensive ink cartridges. When I saw they were doing refillable tanks now that became a huge selling point for me.

The EC printers are definitely worth taking a look at. I have had various brands, models etc. of ink jet and laser printers. Some good some not so good.
Got fed up with ink pricing a few years ago and bought an Epson eco and extra ink. I print a lot, some fairly high graphics. HUGE difference in ink use.

It's almost cheaper to buy a new printer every time the ink runs out!