A recent Weblog item about the high cost of inkjet printer cartridges produced many laments from readers about different brands.
A number of Lexmark customers said the cost of consumables was a significant problem. "If I knew then what I know now, I would not have purchased a Lexmark Z65," wrote one reader. "Now granted I don't print that much and the cartridges that came with my computer lasted close to a year, but still ... having to pony up $80 for replacements was a bit much. Total highway robbery."
An Epson C80 customer noted he was averaging only 44 printed sheets for each $32 black ink cartridge. "For Epson, that’s better than a license to steal," the reader said. "And you can't use cheaper, generic inks or refill because Epson put a ‘smartchip’ on each cartridge that must be read by the software or the printer won't work. So you are married to Epson. I don't know if every Epson does this, but many of their printers do. I'll tell you, it really hurts after you buy their product and learn about the price gouging afterward."
One reader lambasted trade press reviewers for not doing a better job of educating the public. "I am really angry that the new models have cartridges a fraction the size of the old -- new HP's now have 4ml cartridges instead of the old 14ml -- and they only cost $19 instead of $32! Sixty percent of the price for twenty percent of the ink! It's a wonderful world! Reviewers of inkjets do not pay much attention to these issues -- they don't highlight the vendors who are shipping half-sized cartridges for the same price, don't highlight manufacturers who are electronically disabling cartridges when they've printed ‘enough’ pages, etc. etc. The only way we can counter this is an informed public -- and the only way to that is INFORMING PUBLICATIONS!"
12:25:46 PM 
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