Again, about printer ink

Several months ago, my main printer died. Well, not really died, it started printing badly, and cleaning the printer heads didn’t help. I’m sure I could find a solution, for example, I can replace ink cartridges, but I already have a second printer, which was quite faster and quieter, so I decided to let it rest in peace. I already wrote about this printer here and here.

Now it is time to do the final calculations. I bought this printer in 2014 for around $130, and it lasted me 11.5 years. I used the original set that came with the printer, and later I bought a single set of the original ink. After that, I strictly use only non-genuine ink.

Typically, I bought a set of 6 ink cartridges: 2 high-yield black cartridges and 4 color cartridges, including photo black. I spent a total of $300 on the non- genuine ink. If I had used the original Epson ink, it would have cost me close to $2300. So I saved close to $2000 over 11 years, or which is $180 per year.

And here is the logical question: “Why should I spend money on genuine ink?” Will my printer last longer? I saved the sum that enough to buy a new printer every year. And my printer worked for 11 years. So longevity definitely is not an issue.

Will the quality be better? As I stated before, my printer prints just fine with non-genue ink even on the photo paper. Perhaps there is a case where Epson's genuine ink will be better, but I haven’t encountered it in over 11 years.

After chatting with AI, I found one potential issue, that non- genuine ink can fade over time. I checked some documents that I printed around 8 years ago, and they looked totally fine. But in any case, probably much better to scan any important documents and save them in the cloud. And for me, it is hard to imagine that someone will print very important documents on a regular ink printer.

My second printer also uses strictly non- genuine ink. It is now at the 5^th set of it, and it works just fine. I already saved close to $500 during the 4.5 years we have been using it. The printer cost was $180 in 2021, and now I can buy almost 3 printers.

I guess my point is that the genuine ink does not provide any value for my money. I tested 2 printers from different manufacturers, and they both work quite well on non-genuine ink, and the savings are way more than the price of the printer. But don’t try to save pennies on non-genuine ink, and try to find a reputable seller.

There is no point in buying non-genuine ink if it is a few dollars cheaper. There is no point in risking damaging the printer or losing the warranty. But if I save $80-$85 on each ink set, which is around 50% of the cost of the new printer, then the risk is totally worth it.

I hope it helps someone.