There are always debates about if we should use genuine or compatible ink cartridges for our printers. Let us see the opinion about using genuine ink cartridge.
Why Use Genuine Ink Cartridges?
We usually get shocked by the price of ink cartridge that produced by original manufactures. However the prices of inkjet printers are always artificial low to keep their branded printer in our homes. In fact they make the real money from the ink cartridges. Manufacturers including Epson and Brother, give three main reasons to use their genuine ink. First, it is produced to create consistent quality prints, especially for photo quality. Genuine inks are tested that can produce better quality photos that average users may not able to find out. Second, guarantee the reliability of your printer and prolong its life. Refilled and cheap compatible cartridges may damage the print mechanism. The last, if print head or other parts get damaged by other brands of ink, it will not apply to the warranty. The warranty is within 12 months for most inkjets so this threat is only for one year, and any repairs by the manufacturers may cost more than buying a new printer, so cheap inkjet printers are usually thrown away as useless products if they got damaged.
Why Use Compatible Ink Cartridges?
One simple reason for this case is price. I have read an article about how to save ink when printing webpages recently; however ink is still so expensive. For example, I bought a U Epson Stylus SX235W All In One printer for £40. The double capacity Epson ‘Apple’ multipack is £35 for 32ml total capacity, while a compatible multipack is just£10 for 67ml total capacity which can save £25 with twice as much ink. If I use 4 standard multipacks (of the Apple capacity) every 3 months, I can use compatible multipack to save £120 instead of using Epson Apple for a year.
Conclusion
Should we use genuine or compatible ink cartridges? It is your choice but I personally have not suffered any problem with compatibles and have saved hundreds over years without losing printing quality. Nevertheless, there are absolute some unlucky people who have had got their printers ruined. So it would be better to look for good user reviews instead of buying only according to the price.
