Let’s talk about a very popular cartridge here at Pacific Ink today. The HP 57 (C6657AN) tri-color inkjet print cartridge.

The HP 57 a tri-color cartridge, meaning it contains 3 different colors within (cyan, magenta, yellow). It is great for printing photo quality images, whether on glossy photo paper or just plain copier paper. The cartridge will yield approximately 400 color graphic pages, but be warned the actual yield depends on specific use including images printed, printer and print settings. The 400 pages is based on 15% page coverage. The HP 57 ink cartridge contains 17ml of ink and can print photos at up to 2400×1200 dpi.

According to Amazon.com the C6657AN cartridge is the #5 most popular seller in their Electronics/Inkjet Printer category.

When purchasing the HP 57 cartridge, the consumer has a few different choices:

1. The OEM cartridge (cartridge made by HP): When purchasing a HP brand C6657AN cartridge you can typically expect to pay between $34 and $38 dollars. The price varies depending on where you shop.

2. A remanufactured HP 57 cartridge: Many have hear of a remanufactured, or recycled cartridge. This is simply where the empty cartridge was taken fully flushed and cleaned, refilled with OEM grade ink and then print tested (multiple times) to insure a quality of print that is the same as an OEM cartridge. When shopping online you will typically find the cartridge priced between $28-$30. Pacific Ink is offering the cartridge priced at $26.49 when you buy two or more (buy one for your printer and one to keep on the shelf for when you run out - don’t get caught without ink!).

3. A Do-it-Yourself refill kit: A very easy, very popular option. Simply purchase a refill kit, which comes with all the tools you need to refill your cartridge right at home. Each kit comes with all the tools you need (illustrated directions, syringes, ink, etc). You will receive 3, 20ml bottles of ink, which will allow you to refill your cartridge 2-3 times. Refill kits typically cost around $17.

4. A “by mail” cartridge replacement service: Services such as these have become very popular over the last few years. When your HP 57 cartridge runs out ink you simply place it in a mailing box/bag and send it back to the service provider. Once the empty cartridge is received, a remanufactured cartridge is sent back to you. This option is typically less expensive than purchasing a remanufactured cartridge. Prices typically range from $16-$18 per cartridge. Pacific Ink offers Cartridge by Mail.

The HP 57 cartridge is most often purchased with the HP 56 (C6656AN) cartridge. Let us know what you think of this cartridge.

Buy 2 or more Remanufactured HP 57 cartridges for $26.49 each!

Now this is some valuable printer ink! I came across a new story online where a truck carrying $200,000.00 worth of printer ink cartridges was hijacked.

The events took place in Johor Baru, Malaysia (I had to check Wikipedia to find out more about the location of Johor Baru). Where the truck was transporting the ink cartridges to Senai when it was blocked by another truck. The drive was blindfolded and dumped in an oil palm estate before the hijackers drove away with the truck and the cartridges.

We’ve heard people complain about the price of printer ink. I guess it is this price that makes it so valuable. Better take some armed security to your mailbox the next time you receive a package from Pacific Ink!

What do you think of this ink hijacking hi jinx? Let us know.

Ah . . . It’s good to be back! It has been a while since The Ink Blog has seen a post. We had some other projects going on that detracted from our ability to provide our insight in to the world of printer ink. Hope you didn’t miss us too much.

Anyway, let’s kick it off with some Lexmark news.

In another attempt to revitalize their sagging sales Lexmark launched a new program that will award customers with free printer cartridges. There really was not much of a sigh of relief from Lexmark printer users when this announcement hit. Those folks are still reeling from the high cost of their inkjet printer or laser printer (See: Lexmark Profits Down) and the fact that they still have to buy five ink cartridges within a 12 month period before they get one for free.

Here are the details of the program:

Customers must purchase five printer cartridges within a 12 month period. After doing so, Lexmark awards the customer with one free ink cartridge. Lexmark states that ‘most” of their cartridges are part of the program. In addition to earning a free cartridge by buying cartridges, Lexmark will also award you with a free cartridge when you send them five empty printer cartridges during a 12 month period. So, in total you could be awarded with 2 free cartridges a year. And, cartridges must be purchased from Lexmarkstore.com to be counted.

Lexmark hopes this customer based program can help stimulate sales of their printer cartridges. Only problem is . . . If you don’t have many printers in the market you can’t sell to many printer cartridges. Pacific Ink has seen the sales of Lexmark replacement cartridges slow over the past year, just as they have cut back on the number of new printer models they are releasing.

So, as everyone should, we applaud Lexmark for recycling cartridges. As for their free cartridge reward plan, we’ll wait and see what happens. None of their recent endeavors have been strong enough to put them back in the black. But, we have a suggestion. Be like HP, Canon, and Epson - release a ton of new printers every quarter!

What do you think of Lexmark’s plan? Let us know what you think.

This week we are taking a look at the Lexmark Z735 inkjet printer. It has been a while since we have reviewed a Lexmark printer, mostly because they have not been flooding the market with an overwhelming number or printers, as the other manufacturers do.At the end of 2006 they decided they were going to cut back on their printer releases. It is definitely showing in terms of the number of new Lexmark printers we can find, as well as the number of customers calling in looking for Lexmark ink cartridges.

The whole cut back points to some financial Lexmark is having, but that is a whole different post. We’re here to talk about the Lexmark Z735 printer.

First and foremost, this is a CHEAP printer. You should expect to pay between $25 and $40 for this printer. Amazon.com currently (as of this post date) the Lexmark Z735 for $28.99, and is offering free shipping. Other sites with lesser prices require you to pay shipping, so this is a great deal.

The Z735 offers 4800 x 1200 max dpi print resolution in high quality print mode, and can produce photo-quality pictures. It prints 4″ x 6″ borderless photos in as fast as 38 seconds (in the econo-mode). Why anyone would print a photo in econo-mode is beyond me. It seems a little strange that Lexmark would their claim to speed in this way. Thirty-eight seconds is slow as it is! Black text prints come at a rate of 15 pages per minute, color at 5 pages per minute.

This printer is small in size, to go along with its small price tag. So, if in addition to a small price tag you are looking for a space saving printer, this one only takes up 1 square foot of space.

The Z735 uses the Lexmark #1 cartridge. Lexmark advertises this as the ultimate cartridge. One single cartridge that contains all the ink you need. It is basically contains color ink, and when you need black all the colors mix to make the black. Sounds like a good deal, but Epson and Canon would tell you that it is not. When you run out of one of the colors you have to replace the entire cartridge, despite the fact that you may still have plenty of the other colors. Oh, the hazards of the multi color cartridge!

You can expect to pay $23 - $24 for the Lexmark manufactured #1 (also know as 18C0781) cartridge. Pacific Ink.com offers a remanufactured version of this cartridge for only $19.49. You can also purchase an ink cartridge refill kit ($17.49), or take advantage of our cartridge recycling service ($17.49). Fortunately, less expensive and more environmentally friendly alternatives exist.

Bottom line on this printer is you get what you pay for. Folks really like the price, but expected a lot more from the printer. It was made for those who don’t print all that much, and when they do print do a limited amount of printing in color. Take our advice, if you are in to photo printing, or are considering getting in to photo printing, don’t buy this printer. Spend a little more right away. You will be far happier.

If you own this printer, let Pacific Ink know what you think. If you don’t, but still want to voice your opinion, you can do that here too.

Printer manufacturers have taken some pretty major steps to protect the profits the earn on printer cartridges. HP, Lexmark, and Epson have all filed lawsuits against ink cartridge remanufacturers. HP and Epson have also spent a lot of money on technology that goes in to their cartridges. Overall, we have not heard much from either Canon or Dell.

San Francisco based Cryptography Research, Inc (CRI) is hoping a technology they are developing can aid printer manufacturers in their quest to eliminate the remanufactured at compatible ink cartridge market. CRI is developing a chip that uses cryptography designed to make it harder for printers to print with non-manufacturer brand cartridges. CRI is not looking to put an end to the remanufactured and compatible ink cartridge market, they are simply looking to make it harder for “pirated” cartridges to be used.

The pirated ink cartridges are those that are refilled or remanufactured, but are then sold as new, manufacturer brand cartridges. It is estimated that pirated ink cartridges help make up the $3 Billion a year that printer manufacturers lose.

CRI’s goal is to create a chip that will make sure that will allow only certain ink cartridges to communicate with certain printers. Their chip would create a random code for each ink cartridge in order to thwart hackers. A hacker would have to break the code of each cartridge to use it. The chip is not in use in the industry yet, but it is estimated to be in use by early 2008.

Sounds like an interesting opportunity for printer manufacturers to work to recuperate some profits.

Let Pacific Ink know what you think of this technology.

Lexmark has lost again (kind of). In a previous post we talked about Lexmark filing a lawsuit agains Static Control Components. Well, a federal jury in Frankfort, KY decided against Lexmark last Friday.

The jury decided that patents were not violated by Static Control, a company that makes parts that enable the remanufacturing, or recycling, or Lexmark’s toner cartridges. The jury decision was unanimous in stating that Static Control did not violate any copyright laws when they created a micro chip and then sold that chip to those recycling toner cartridges.

The jury’s decision is not the final verdict, but more a reccomendation to the judge. The judge will make the final decision in just under 30 days from now.

If you have any opions on Lexmark, or Static’s, actions let us know.

It’s new cartridge Tuesday! This week we are focusing on four of our newer toner cartridge releases, compatible cartridges to replace the Dell KD580 black, JD762 cyan, JD761 magenta, and GD918 yellow. Each of these compatible toner cartridges is designed for use in the Dell 5110cn color laser printer. Let’s take a quick look at each of the cartridges.

The Dell KD580 is also know by Dell part number 310-7890. It is a compatible black toner cartridge that yields up to 10,000 pages. If you buy the cartridge directly from Dell you can expect to pay $54.99 for the cartridge. Our 100% compatible version will cost you $45.49.

The JD762 cyan and the JD761 magenta can also be found under different Dell part numbers. The cyan is also know as 310-7892, while the magenta is also know as 310-7894. Both of these compatible cartridges yield 8,000 pages of print, the same number as the Dell manufactured product. These Dell manufactured cartridges are priced at $151.49, while the compatible replacement versions are priced at $149.99.

The yellow GD918 follows in line with all the others. It can also be found under Dell part number 310-7896. The compatible version yields 8,000 pages and is priced at $151.49. The Dell brand cartridge yields the same number of pages and is priced at $169.99.

These cartridges are fully guaranteed to print with the same quality and page yield as the Dell manufactured cartridge would, and our customer test groups rated the product quite high.

If you have used this cartridge, let Pacific Ink know what you think.

The HP DeskJet 460c is a mobile inkjet printer. Over the past few years, the popularity of mobile printers has grown. Originally Canon produced the only mobile inkjet printers (and they only had 1 or 2 models), but as demand by business travelers increased printer manufacturers need to come up with a solution for them. The number of mobile inkjet printers you will find on the market is still quite small, but they can be found, and at pretty good prices. Prices for the DeskJet 460c range from $174.00 to $250.00. Amazon.com currently offers the printer for $199.99 with free shipping.

It seems that HP has hit a home run with this inkjet printer. It’s size and quality are a major reason users are raving. The 460c is a true mobile printer. It only weighs 8 pounds and has dimensions of 6.4 x 13.4 x 3.2 inches. It also features optional Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless connectivity. Of course you also get high quality printing for your documents and photos.

Here is what HP says about it’s mobility:

PRODUCT FEATURES:Connects to Bluetooth-enabled devices using an HP Bluetooth wireless CompactFlash printer card;Prints remotely from hotspots using an 802.11 WLAN CompactFlash printer card and 3-point wireless-network profile-saving switch on printer;Multiple options let you print from notebook PCs, PDAs and camera phones.rd slot;Multiple options let you print from notebook PCs, PDAs and camera phones;Compatible with multiple operating systems: Windows, Macintosh, Palm OS.

With print speeds up to 17 ppm black and 16 ppm color, and 4800 x 1200 max dpi this printer will be more than enough for those times when you cannot get to your home or office printer. The 460c has a 50 sheet max paper tray and manual 2 sided printing (the fancy way of saying you have to go over to the printer and turn the page over if you want print on both sides).

It is PictBridge enabled for quick photo prints directly from your digital camera. It is also USB enabled and offers memory card slots.

As far as the ink cartridges you will need to use this printer, you have quite a selection. This printer can use up to 6 different cartridges depending on your printing needs. It may be harder to carry all the different cartridges than it is to carry the printer! The DeskJet 460c uses the following HP print cartridges: HP 94 / C8765WN Black Print Cartridge, HP 95 / C8766WN Color Print Cartridge, HP 97 / C9363WN HC Color Print Cartridge, HP 98 / C9364WN Black Print Cartridge, HP 99 / C9369WN Photo Print Cartridge, HP 100 / C9368WN Photo Grey Print Cartridge. The HP 97 and HP 98 cartridges are higher capacity versions of the HP 94 and 95. When printing photos you have the option of replacing the HP 95 or 97 with the HP 99. The inks in the 99 are formulated for photo printing and will give your photos a better look. You can also replace the black ink cartridge with the HP 100 photo grey.

The HP cartridges range in price from $22.00 to $38.00. There are alternatives though. Remanufactured versions of the HP 94, HP 95, HP 97, HP 98, and HP 99 ink cartridges are available, and range in price from $17.00 to $29.00.

Users of this printer are saying the following:

A great quality printer, but they could have made it smaller for more portability.

Be aware there are three different versions of this printer. The DeskJet 460c, DeskJet 460WF, and the DeskJet 460WBT. The only difference I can see is the different type of card that comes with each for the wireless card slot.

I recommend this printer for travelers and those who have limited space on their desk.

Small, fast, and offers great print quality.

Great portable printer. Fast and easy to set up.

If you install the printer for USB use you then need to reinstall it if you want to use it wirelessy.

If you have this printer Pacific Ink would love to hear what you think of it.

Advances in printer technology have allowed amazing reproductions of the priceless works of da Vinci to be viewed in the streets.

New technology from Hewlett Packard and Epson had allowed life size reproductions of paintings by da Vinci and Constable to be unveiled to the public in Central London. Hewlett Packard’s DesignJet 10000 was used to create the reproductions for the National Gallery’s Grand tour.

Images were printed on a vinyl called Epiflex using HP formulated ink and then a waterproof laminate. HP says this combination will stop color fading for 3 years. Lab tests say the color will hold for 10 years. It can cost up to $400 to reproduce one of these amazing works.

Of course, the original works never see the light of day, but the reproductions have created quite a panic in a few cases. They are so good that, in many cases, members of the public have expressed concern to the tour directors about the fact that they are leaving these priceless works outside.

Okay, we have a correction to yesterday’s post. It appears our crack research staff (the person writing this) misunderstood the results of Epson’s recent study on wasted printer ink. Here is what the results really said.

Epson utilizes a the multi ink cartridge, individual ink tank approach in all of their printers. This means that each individual color (black, cyan, magenta, yellow, and in some cases other colors) each come in their own cartridge. When one runs out you simply have to replace that specific ink cartridge and not all. Most Epson printers use 4 different ink cartridges, some use up to 6 or 8.

Companies such as HP, Lexmark, and Dell utilize a different model. They offer a two cartridge model. One of the cartridges is for the black ink and the other contains the 3 color inks. Some of their printers use a photo ink cartridge. These cartridges contain the same color inks, but in a photo grade formulation. Put shortly, you will never have more than 2 cartridges in any of these printers at one time. When one of the colors in the color cartridge runs out of ink you need to replace the entire cartridge, no matter how much of the other two colors are left.

This being the case, the study by Epson is really not all that impressive. They wanted to find out which model produced more wasted ink, their individual ink tank model, or the competition’s 2 cartridge model. They showed that their model produces less waste than the other model. Common sense tells you that if you only have to replace the cartridge that is empty you will produce less waste than if you have to replace all three colors. All this study does is allow Epson to make an data backed claim that their method is better than the competition’s (which is what we would really want anyway, right?).

So, here we are with results that back our hypothesis and a study commissioned by the company that runs their entire printer division based on this hypothesis. Some may call it tainted science, we’ll call it “confirmed”. Let Pacific Ink know what you think.

Sorry for the mistake.