Best Printer Ink

Best printer ink and cartridges

You can read more below about the relationship between a manufacturer's printer hardware, ink cartridges and paper, and how the work together. But in short, the majority of reviewers say you'll get the best quality if you stick with OEM printer ink and paper. This is especially true if you are printing photographs. However, if you aren't picky, or aren't generally printing critical documents, most experts say some third-party inks are just fine and they are certainly less expensive.

In every test, reviewers were able to identify third-party inkjet printer inks that produced prints that looked just as good as printouts with OEM inks from Canon, HP and Epson. In some cases, panels of viewers thought the prints made with third-party inks looked better. Yet, most reviewers are reluctant to recommend third-party inks because of the risks. In most cases, if printer damage is caused by third-party inks, the manufacturer won't be liable for repair to your printer, even if it is under warranty. Fraud is also a concern. While reviewers say most third-party cartridges work fine, most reviewers also experienced occasional problems with some cartridges that either wouldn't fit into the printer or wouldn't print.

Reviewer tests reveal two indisputable advantages to OEM cartridges: they are more reliable and prints will last longer. Reviewers cite chronic difficulties with third-party ink. In many cases, testers had to run the printer's cleaning utility before getting them to work. Printers actually use ink in the cleaning process, so wasted ink is one of the reasons why third-party inks can be as expensive as OEM ink on a cost-per-page basis. HP and Lexmark cartridges have built-in print heads. They will build up ink with repeated refilling, and quality will deteriorate, or the printer won't print. Print heads in Epson and Canon printers are below the cartridges. If they become gummed with ink, the printer will require service. The reliability issue with aftermarket ink is perhaps the biggest benefit of OEM cartridges from Canon, HP, Lexmark and Epson.

According to Wilhelm Imaging Research and other reviewers, if you are primarily printing photos, select the OEM cartridge. The big three manufacturers (HP, Canon and Epson) all make archival inks for their middle and higher-end photo printers. Epson's UltraChrome K3 inks, HP's Vivera inks and Canon's ChromaLife inks are all rated to last nearly 100 years or more without fading.

Third-party inks are not made to endure. One Wilhelm test shows that photo-paper prints made with Island Ink-Jet's Canon-compatible cartridges, as well as HP cartridges refilled with Office Depot and Staples inks, only last a few months before changing quality. Wilhelm's comprehensive tests evaluate photos in real conditions, including under glass (framed) and in photo albums. After a 2006 study, Henry Wilhelm concludes, "If one includes print permanence as an important aspect of 'overall product quality,' then the aftermarket photo inks and media we looked at in this study fall far short indeed."

However, if you're not printing photos and aren't concerned about longevity, third-party printer ink is often just fine. But costs savings often aren't dramatic. Consumer Reports attempts to calculate print costs and compare differences. Editors cite surprisingly small differences. Off-brand inks only offer small savings, they say. In an older test, PC World reached the same conclusion.

Because reviewers are all testing printer ink with different printer models, it's hard to make sweeping judgments about which third-party printer ink works best in the most printers. In tests at TrustedReviews.com, Cartridge World inks produce the highest average scores, so Cartridge World ink stands as the best all around alternative to OEM ink. However, reviewer Simon Williams reports that prints with OEM ink fared nearly as well with the testing panel.

Neither Which? nor PC World test Cartridge World inks. The brand performs well in all other review tests. Reviews indicate that its HP ink is very good and Cartridge World ink is a viable alternative for all printer brands. Cartridge World is a franchise operation with more than 400 stores in the U.S. Cartridge World does not sell ink online, but the Cartridge World website includes a store locator. This company refills empty OEM cartridges, re-selling them as remanufactured ink cartridges. We found little consumer commentary about Cartridge World, which is probably good news, considering the size of the operation. We found a couple of articles that recommend Cartridge World on price alone, which are lower than OEM brands, and lower than store-branded printer ink from Staples and other office supply chains.

Caboodle Cartridge is a smaller franchise operation with about 60 locations. We found no reviews of Caboodle Cartridge ink, and again, few customer opinions or reactions. Caboodle guarantees its cartridges won't damage your printer, however.

CarrotInk.com ink cartridges perform particularly well in reviewer tests. Carrot Ink is an online ink cartridge dealer based in Texas. The company earns a very favorable review from Gizmo Richards' Tech Support Alert, a technology blog. Ian Richards likes the website and policies, except he would like to see free shipping, which is sometimes offered by competitors. He has little to say about print quality, however.

In PC World's older test, Carrot Ink cartridges produced output that was comparable to HP cartridge print quality. In his ViewOnline.com review, Todd Hewey concludes that Carrot Ink cartridges are the best value, producing nearly equal quality to HP cartridges. In a newer test, prints from Carrot Ink cartridges nearly equal the quality from Epson cartridges in an Epson photo printer. Carrot Ink inks produce at least good results in all reviewer tests.

Carrot Ink claims it has a 100% satisfaction guarantee and "no-questions-asked" return policy. One study cites cost savings of 10 to 15 percent with Carrot Ink cartridges over OEM ink cartridges.

PrintPal.net is controversial as a business. The company's printer ink quality draws mixed reviews, performing very well in some tests. However, a high percentage of customers express a variety of complaints. At ResellerRatings.com, several customers accuse PrintPal of fraud and we found disgruntled customers in other forums as well.

The three national office supply chains all offer their own brand of ink, either in cartridges or as refills. Consumer Reports is the only source to provide a formal review. Ink from all three chains is tested and they were competitive with OEM inks in some cases, but not others. In cases where photo quality matched OEM ink photo quality, editors say that the store-brand inks produce inferior text quality. Staples, Office Depot and Office Max all sell their house brand cartridges online. Each chain has recycling policies as well.

Although we found no other full reviews, user reaction to the store-brand inks is predominantly negative. Without meaningful documentation, other reviewers think the store brands are a poor value. For example, Neil Slade says, "Cheap ink sold in places like Office Depot [and] Staples… is not good at all." He says color quality is inferior. Instead, Slade uses G&G ink in Canon printers. Slade concedes that Canon ink is slightly better, but he believes G&G ink is a much better value.

G&G ink also produce good results with an Epson printer in PC World's 2003 test. G&G ink is produced by a Chinese company, Ninestar Technology. It is one of the companies sued by both HP and Epson for patent infringement and may have recently changed its ink formulations. The company has appealed a ruling in favor of Epson. Customer reviews of G&G ink at Amazon.com and elsewhere are mostly unfavorable.

In summary, most reviews say that although they are more expensive, you can expect the best reliability and quality from OEM ink. However, if you use large quantities of ink, or aren't that concerned with print longevity, third-party ink cartridges from Cartridge World or Carrot Ink get more consistently good ratings in testing and are less expensive than OEM ink cartridges from Canon, Epson or HP.