We have a Canon all-in-one Printer.
The ink cartridges are $20. That's some of the cheapest ink out there. Some companies seem to make the ink more expensive than the printer.
Dan is in college and I put together a lot of our homeschooling material. We go through a decent amount of ink. Those cartridges were putting a dent in our budget.
So, I went on over to Amazon.com, typed in something like "printer ink refill kit canon" and I found my refill kit for roughly $20.
My kit came with two black ink bottles, one of each red, blue, and yellow, a syringe, and a set of instructions.
The biggest complaints others have about printer ink refills is that it is messy and time consuming. I find it to be neither. Here is how I do it:
Step 1: Peel back (or remove) the label on the cartridge. You will see a little pinhole.
Step 2: Get a screw and screwdriver to make that whole bigger.
Step 2: Fill syringe with the appropriate amount of ink. (It will come with a syringe and instructions on how much you need.)
Step 3: Insert syringe and slowly fill cartridge. I guess some people have different definitions of the word "slowly". I try to have it done in about a minute and have never had a problem. Some people go really slowly, drawing out this step ad nauseum.
Step 4: Reinstall cartridge and resume printing. The cartridge lasts for about six refills for me, then the ink heads don't perform as well.
The Downside: Picture quality is horrible, truly horrible. Whenever we want to print pictures, we have to buy a new cartridge. We designate the new cartridge for printing pictures and continue using the old cartridge for documents. Then when the new cartridge runs out, we use it as a regular refill. I also have to set the printing resolution to high whenever I print anything which takes more time.
The Upside: This saves us a ton of money, and will continue to do so. And, it's green, extending the life of the printer cartridges.
If you're interested, there are a lot of online stores that sell these kits besides Amazon, so I would shop around before purchasing. If anyone has had good experiences with other sources, tell about it in the comments.
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