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by Simon Williams
TrustedReviews conducts a flawless, comprehensive test of inks in which all variables are considered. Testers use mid-range all-in-one machines from Canon, Epson, HP and Lexmark. They use each… manufacturer's cartridges and compare them with cartridges from Cartridge World, InkTecShop, Jet Tec and StinkyInk. They print from each onto the manufacturers' paper, four other brands of glossy photo papers and plain paper. Sample printed pages are reviewed in blind tests by a panel of non-experts. Cartridge World cartridges produce the best results.
by Editors of Consumer Reports
Consumer Reports tests hundreds of store brand, third-party and generic ink cartridges for this excellent report. Testers used popular photo printers from the three major brands for tests. Editors find that… seven of 19 off-brand cartridges are unusable. The manufacturers' own inks produce better output in all, save a couple of cases in which aftermarket ink was just as good for both images and text. Cost savings with aftermarket cartridges were often not as significant as the retail price differences imply, as manufacturers' cartridges produce more pages. This methodical report covers most issues with third-party printer ink.
by Henry Wilhelm
Wilhelm Imaging Research "conducts accelerated light exposure and dark aging tests to determine the comparative life expectancy of inkjet and other digitally printed photographs, as well as that of… traditional black-and-white and color photographs." The company's studies are sponsored by computer, photography and consumer periodicals and possibly printer manufacturers. Some studies are published on the Wilhelm website. They show differences in permanence between cartridges and brands. Photos printed with third-party cartridges have much shorter lifespans with significant deterioration as they age.
by Editors of Which.co.uk
Editors of British consumer magazine Which? test and rate 16 ink cartridges. Testing is neither as thorough nor as documented as the TrustedReviews or Consumer Reports studies, but still very helpful. Some… tested brands are not sold to U.S. consumers. Cartridges from each of the four leading printer manufacturers are selected as Best Buys. Two aftermarket cartridges are also rated highly. Editors infer that output is close enough to the original to merit the honor for relative value. A sidebar addresses reliability issues with remanufactured cartridges. Another sidebar weighs alternative considerations and risks.
by Dan Littman
For this older test, PC World purchased inks for printers from the three leading brands and compared them with the manufacturers' inks. The magazine also had prints tested by Wilhelm Imaging Research. Print… quality from the aftermarket inks was good in some cases, but all too often clogged print heads and caused other problems. Prices for aftermarket inks weren't always good, either. G&G ink was fine with the Epson printer and Carrot Ink produced comparable quality with an HP printer. Durability, however, is drastically worse with aftermarket inks. PC World recommends the original manufacturer inks for picture quality, hassle-free printing and photo durability.
by Ian "Gizmo" Richards
Gizmo Richards reviews and rates 47 Internet sellers of inkjet cartridges. For that purpose, the reviews are excellent. Richards compares prices, describes the relative ease of finding and ordering what you… need and customer service issues, such as returns. In addition, he charts data for each seller, including payment methods accepted, prices, shipping prices and whether the business can be reached by phone. However, Richards rarely addresses ink quality in individual reviews. In his explanation of test methodology, Richards claims, "Overall the cartridges we tried worked just as well as the original OEM cartridges though not necessarily identically."
by Neil Slade
Neil Slade says he is a veteran public school teacher, music composer, musician, author and artist. In this lengthy, opinionated article, Slade compares Canon ink with alternative inks. The article is hard… to follow in places, but documented with photos. Slade has tried several third-party inks. He used one for years and then switched to his current favorite, G&G. Yet, Slade admits that Canon ink is more accurate and his photos show a distinct difference. Slade says the difference is small and the G&G ink is a much better value at about a quarter of the price of Canon ink.
by Contributors to ResellerRatings.com
ResellerRatings.com invites customers to describe and rate their experiences with merchants. We checked all the online dealers recommended in other reviews. A company called 4inkjets has the highest rating,… but an insignificant number of reviews. Carrot Ink has a better than average rating, but only 17 reviews and none within the past six months. With many more reviews, PrintPal and 123Inkjets have abysmal ratings and matching comments. Several customers accuse PrintPal of fraud and many say 123Inkjets has terrible customer service. Staples' rating is more than a point-and-a-half below the overall average rating. However, it fares much better than its direct competitor, Office Depot. Of course, both chains are being rated for a variety of products, not just cartridges.
by Todd Hewey
Todd Hewey takes a professional approach in attempting to conduct a thorough comparative review of four brands of aftermarket cartridges with HP cartridges. Only Carrot Ink and Pacific Ink were willing to… supply product, which shows the difficulty of an amateur in attempting to conduct a professional review. Hewey's methodology is adequate, but documentation is weak and vague. Reproduced prints would be helpful. He concludes that Carrot Ink cartridges are the best value and produce nearly equal quality to HP cartridges. Hewey is not overly concerned that he received several defective cartridges in the review process. He does not recommend refill kits; they didn't work for him.
by QualityLogic test labs
Hewlett-Packard commissioned QualityLogic to conduct an independent study that would prove its cartridges were better than third-party cartridges. Not surprisingly, QualityLogic found that HP cartridges are… better in many ways. The 15-page report is available online. It mentions the 13 competing brands tested, but does not reveal the performance of competing brands by name. Generic labels hide the actual brand names in test results. The study shows that HP cartridges print 57 percent more pages than the average third-party cartridge. Furthermore, about 70 percent of third-party cartridges were defective in some way, compared with only two percent of HP cartridges.
by Allion Test Labs
This short report would be very revealing if Allion Test Labs provided forthright information. The lab used gases to emulate the aging process and compared prints from a single Epson printer and a single… Canon printer with OEM inks and several aftermarket inks. The report shows color photographs that "prove" that prints with OEM inks endure, while those with aftermarket ink lose quality. The report omits three critical pieces of information: (1) who paid for the report, (2) what papers were used, and (3) the actual names of aftermarket inks (instead, they are labeled "manufacturer J," for example).
by Contributors to Amazon.com
Customer reviews of ink cartridges are not easy to access on the Amazon.com website; you can only search by brand. That makes this site only useful once you have already narrowed your interest down to one… or a few brands. Amazon's own brand of cartridges for Epson and HP printers don't receive many reviews, but most of them are one-star (bottom) ratings. G&G cartridges mostly have low average ratings. Some brands have no reviews. User reviews for cartridges should be useful, because the reviewers have at least the original cartridges as a basis for comparison.
by Real Estate Supply Superstore.com
This Ebay power user describes the experiences he's had purchasing ink cartridges from Ebay sellers. His experience has been dismal; he received one good cartridge in seven tries. He accurately cites all… the disadvantages of buying cartridges from unknown sources. He concludes that you should only buy name-brand cartridges from local retailers. The advice here is good. What's lacking are documentation and specifics that would give credibility to that advice.
by Reid Goldsborough
Syndicated computer columnist Reid Goldsborough discusses the risks of buying third-party replacement ink cartridges and warns about counterfeit cartridges in this older article. This article appears to be… based more on the research of others than first-hand experience or testing. He addresses the legal issues and controversies that were current then, and still are. Goldsborough sounds like he wouldn't use a third-party cartridge. Yet, without any explanation of why, he recommends Carrot Ink and PrintPal, " if you go the third-party route."
by Steve Bass
This is an article, rather than a review. Steve Bass shops at several bricks-and-mortar stores to find cartridges he can use in Epson printers. The office supply chains were more expensive than Cartridge… World, and price and compatibility were his only considerations, so he bought there. So far, three sets of Cartridge World cartridges have worked. Bass does not address quality at all. He does inform that Cartridge World doesn't sell online, but will recycle empty cartridges. Cartridge World has more than 400 stores in the U.S. The article has good general information, but no ratings.
by Christine Y. Chen
by Editors of MyOfficePortal.org
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