[SML] Fwd: refill inks for plotters

[NODEraser]

If you have a functional Lexmark, I'd encourage you to look at their
ink exchange program; basically, you send in your genuine cartridges
to them and you get credit towards a free cartridge. I think it's 1
free cartridge for every 5 genuine ones sent in--refills and laser
cartridges don't qualify for the program, however. I got one free
cartridge out of my Lexmark X2670 until it just decided to stop
printing one day... It would still scan and copy, but would not print
from any of a multitude of different computers and operating systems.
We also have a big enterprise color laser MFC here at work, that
lasted about two weeks before it threw some silly error about a motor
and has been out of commission since. Based on my own experiences, and
those from others, I'd say that if you have a functional Lexmark
printer you are very lucky indeed.

I have been pretty satisfied with my Brother MFC-J6710DW, in terms of
ink cost (remanufactured cartridges cost about $4 on Monoprice) but it
will go through ink fairly quickly, even if you're not using the
printer. Even if it's in "sleep" mode, it will go through the ink
cleaning routine. I have found a way to defeat its ink meter (which is
horribly inaccurate) by putting a piece of tape over the little window
it uses to check ink level--then, you can run it until it stops
printing that color. So, even though it sucks down ink at a fair pace,
it's not vey expensive to operate. The downsides are that the color is
not very good (not very vibrant/muddy) and the manual feed slot never
seems to pull the paper in very squarely. I definitely wouldn't use it
for photo prints, but it's fine for general purpose stuff, does
duplex, accepts 11x17 for both printing and ADF scanning, and came
with two paper trays.

For photo prints, nothing beats my HP Designjet z2100 24", though it
can be a bit much if all you want to print is a 4x6. However, the
onboard spectrophotometer and its calibration routine means that you
can get excellent color matching, even on cheap generic paper.

Epson used to be great back in the day of dot matrix, but my first
Inkjet from them (Stylus Color II, the kind where you could use either
the black or tri-color but not both) was a real paper-eater. For
whatever reason, it was error prone and printed garbage on a regular
basis which led to a lot of waste.

After that, I was pretty much HP exclusively; Deskjet 670C, 842C, and
a1000C for wide format. Still have an Officejet 4500 as well, that I
haul around for event use. Also have a Deskjet 695C and PSC 500 that
I'm running out of ink before donating to the local computer thrift
store--I have a lot of printers. It's a condition. People seem to just
give them to me for disposal.

-- 
[Greg Bennett]
-Independent Carpenter, Electrician & Lighting Designer
-Purveyor of Classic Apple & Macintosh Gear
http://www.hsiprodsvcs.com/
http://www.macshack.us/