This is one of the first question which comes in a printer owner’s mind. Yes, If you can successfully do it, refilling ink cartridges is a good idea.
Off course there are other options which are cost effective too, if you don’t want any mess. Third-party compatible ink cartridges are the best example of it. Their print quality is equal to original cartridges, but they are not as cost effective as refilled ones.
You can also opt for printers for saving ink, if you are focused on making cost effective choices.
On the other hand self refilled or shop refilled cartridges may have some performance issues, Example: print quality, but they are really cost effective. You only need an ink bottle for printers and a syringe.
There are some downsides too of refilling ink cartridges. To see all expects let’s go through some pros and cons of refilling ink cartridges.
Pros and Cons of Refilling Ink Cartridges
| Pros | Cons |
| Environment Friendly | Printer health |
| Cost saver | Cartridge damage |
| Guaranteed availability | Messy Process |
| Higher Output | Low Quality output |
| High Failure Rate |
Detailed Views On Pros and Cons
Pros
Environment Friendly – Cartridges are made up of plastic. Each time you throw one out, you are adding more in a huge stockpile of plastic waste. Which in the end is destroying our environment. When you buy a recycled one or efill it, you are delaying the process of cartridge becoming a plastic waste.
Cost Saver – Saving bucks is the primary motivation behind refilling. Savings are huge and goes upto 50%, when compared with Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) cartridges. You shouldn’t expect such high precentage of saving on every cartridge though.
Guranteed Availability – Not every model of cartridge is always available in the store. Yes, that happens. And it happens when it’s least expected and most needed. Refilling your cartridges fixes this issue. Minimum you can refill a cartridge upto three to seven times. That gives you a long time frame to acquire your relevant model of ink cartridge.
Higher Output – When costs are lower you print more. You don’t have to worry about per page cost while printing, since it’s way less than original cartridges.
Cons
Printer Health – Refilling cartridges may impact your printer’s health. If cartridges are not properly refilled, they may leak or clog printer’s head. Your low ink notifications may also get impacted. Sometimes opening up the cartridges also voids yourprinter’s warranty. Many printer OEM mentions it in their warranty policy as well.
Cartridge Damage – You can only refill your cartridge five to seven times. That’s the maximum limit. Some may stop working or start showing issues even after second or third refill. Reason behind it is, not every cartridges are manufactured keeping the refilling in mind.
Messy Process – Cartridge refilling is a messy business. Ink stains on your hands, clothes or work places is quite common in the process. In worst case scenerios you will experience leakege or your printer head will start clogging. For first timers it’s always advised to do it under professional supervision. Or you should do proper research on your exact model. Youtube has a long list of videos to help you out if you need.
Low Quality Output – In most of the cases External Ink is not as good in quality in comparison of original ink in cartridges. So you will see a drop in quality of your output. If you are printing texts for daily useage like reading or forms, it might be ok. But when you print photos, the differences are quite visible. Most OEM make cartridges for single use. So after certain uses other parts like ink cartridge nozzles stop functioning as efficiant as new ones. That also impacts your output quality.
Printer Officials Take on Refilling Cartridges
Before we go into Printer OEM official view on refilling cartridges, we should understand their business plan.
Until now you must have noticed that there are extremly cheap printers in the market. Most interesting part is their cartridges are more expensive than the printers itself. What did you get from this?
OEM prefer to sell these printers for loss. They recover these losses and then push for profit by selling cartridges.
Now you know why are ink cartridges so expensive. So, whenever you are refilling a cartridge, you are eating into the profits of OEMs.
While researching I contacted HP. Their representative cited a study of 2014 commissioned by HP. He told me that with HP, refilled cartridges are bad bet.
“Refilled cartridges compromise both printers quality and reliability” according to him.
He claimed that 37% of refilled cartridges failed while original cartridges worked every time in the test. According to the study original cartridges printed twice number of pages than refilled cartridges. Refilled cartridges also produced 18 times more waste papers them original cartridges.
When all these factors were included in the calculation it was decided that refilled cartridges offer no advantage over original cartridges in terms of cost per page.
Anti-refill policies and mechanism
Refilling cartridges hinder in business plan Printer OEMs. Top OEMs like HP came up with solution in form of anti-refill mechanism. Most notable one is HP cartridge Protection.
Original HP Ink cartridges come equipped with microchip for this specific purpose. When you install the ink cartridge, the printer reads the chip and keeps you informing about ink levels. Once the cartridge is empty, it inform you. When you refill the cartridge, the printer displays error since it has already calculated the estimated number of prints.
The printers may go one step forward and refuse to print when refilled cartridges are installed. The same happens with generic compatible cartridges. Printer will simply refuse to recognise the cartridges. HP is not alone in this war with cartridge refilling. Epson has also introduced microchips in their cartridges. Many Researchers have found holes in OEMs clamis about Anti-Refill Policy and quality of print.
One particular researcher over-rode the system in a particular printer and found out that he was able to print upto 38% more high quality pages, even when the chip was claiming empty cartridge.
Technically it’s possible to remove these protections. In some cases they are easy. There are in-built options to do that within the printer. But that’s not the case with every mechanism. And it may end up rendering your printer useless.
Printers with Refillable Ink Cartridges
Here is a small list of printers from major OEMs BROTHER, CANON, EPSON and HP which have easy to refill ink cartridges.
| BROTHER | CANON | EPSON | HP |
| BROTHER LC101 | CANON PGI-1200 | EPSON Workforce Pro (676XL, 711XXL) | HP 02 |
| BROTHER LC103 | CANON PGI-2200 | EPSON Workforce Pro (786, 786XL) | HP 10 Black, 11 Color |
| BROTHER LC105 | CANON CLI-42 | EPSON (16, 16XL) | HP 10 Black, 12 Color |
| BROTHER LC107 | CANON CLI-8 | EPSON (18, 18XL) | HP 10 Black, 82 Color |
| BROTHER LC109 | CANON PGI-220 | EPSON (200, 200XL) | HP 18, 88, 88XL |
| BROTHER LC10E | CANON CLI-221 | EPSON (220, 220XL) | HP 564, 564XL (4 colors) |
| BROTHER LC12E | CANON PGI-225 | EPSON (24, 24XL) | HP 564, 564XL (5 colors) |
| BROTHER LC201 | CANON CLI-226 | EPSON (252, 252XL, 254XL) | HP 82 Black, 11 Color |
| BROTHER LC203 | CANON PGI-250 | EPSON (26, 26XL) | HP 82 Black, 82 Color |
| BROTHER LC205 | CANON CLI-251 | EPSON (27, 27XL) | HP 920, 920XL |
| BROTHER LC207 | CANON PGI-270 | EPSON (273, 273XL) | HP 934, 934XL, 935, 935XL |
| BROTHER LC209 | CANON CLI-271 | EPSON (277, 277XL) | HP 940, 940XL |
| BROTHER LC20E | CANON PGI-280 | EPSON (288, 288XL) | HP 970, 970XL, 971, 971XL |
| BROTHER LC3011 | CANON CLI-281 | EPSON (29, 29XL) | HP 980 |
| BROTHER LC3013 | CANON PGI-5 | EPSON (33, 33XL) | HP DesignJet 10, 20, 50, 120 |
| BROTHER LC3017 | CANON CLI-8 | EPSON (410, 410XL) | HP DesignJet 30, 90, 130 |
| BROTHER LC3019 | CANON PGI-525 | EPSON (702, 702XL) | |
| BROTHER LC3029 | CANON CLI-526 | EPSON (802, 802XL) | |
| BROTHER LC51 | CANON CLI-221GY | EPSON (T0321-T0324) | |
| BROTHER LC61 | CANON CLI-226GY | EPSON (T0321-T0422-T0423-T0424) | |
| BROTHER LC65 | CANON CLI-251GY | EPSON (T0341-T0348) | |
| BROTHER LC71 | CANON CLI-251XLGY | EPSON (T0441-T0444) | |
| BROTHER LC75 | CANON CLI-271GY | EPSON (T0481-T0486) | |
| BROTHER LC79 | CANON CLI-271XLGY | EPSON (T0540-T0549) | |
| CANON CLI-526GY | EPSON (T0591-T0599) |
Conclusion
After going all through the analysis you will be clear that refilling your cartridge is a good idea. Unless you are trying to print photos and any other professional printings which require high quality performance. Almost all of the measures taken by OEMs can be bypassed by different methods. For some like microchips you will have to buy Chip Re-setters which are easily available on internet.
Happy Refilling..