When looking to replace your ink cartridge, you no longer need to immediately reach for the “genuine” brand. There are a few options available to consumers now days and they are much less expensive. You can buy a compatible OEM cartridge, a remanufactured cartridge or refill your existing cartridge. It is completely safe to use these cheap ink options, as well as a lot easier on your wallet.

A company other than the one that produced your printer manufactures OEM compatible cartridges. They are made new and to “original manufacturer standards” or “OEM standards”, which means they have to meet the same requirements as the innovator brand. They need to have at least the same amount of ink and work the same way in the printer to pass as an OEM cartridge. This type of ink replacement is much cheaper than the genuine original product.

A remanufactured cartridge is one that has been re-filled and checked for re-use. These cartridges are used then sent back to specific companies who prepare them according OEM standards for re-sale. They are sold at a cheaper price than the originals and often have even more ink in them.

You can also purchase ink to refill your cartridge. This is probably the most inexpensive option available to you and it isn’t difficult to do. Many people swear by refilling their own ink, claiming the quality and performance of the printer is the same. You can buy ink to refill your own color and black cartridges for very low prices.

All the above three mentioned options are safe to use in your printer and will not void your warranty, no matter what brand your printer is. It used to be that printer manufacturers could cancel warranties if genuine cartridge replacements were not always used, but that has changed now. A law was passed called the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Improvement Act, which prohibits any manufacturer trying to force their customers into having to use their parts exclusively. This includes cartridge replacements, so you can safely choose whichever option you prefer.

Whether you buy an OEM compatible cartridge, a remanufactured cartridge or choose to refill your existing one, you will save money. Buying the genuine cartridge is spending extra mone unnecessarily, when any of the alternatives will work just as well. Your printer will still be covered by warranty and work as efficiently if you choose to use one of these cheaper options.

With the cost of printer ink these days, it’s often tempting to just buy a whole new printer when your cartridges are empty. After all, you can buy a new printer for about the same amount as a set of black and color cartridges, right?

This is true, but there are several things you need to know before deciding to replace your printer, including a couple of catches that could wind up costing you a lot more money.

One of the reasons some new models of printers are so inexpensive is because their ink cartridges are quite small. This means you’ll have to replace those cartridges a lot more often and in the long run you could wind up spending a lot more.

For example, the HP 27 ink cartridge which is used in a number of HP’s current models has 10ml of ink in it. The HP 15, on the other hand has 28ml. It’s going to last almost 3 times longer and the price is not even double.

And if you have an older model that uses the HP 45, for example, that cartridge holds 42ml of ink and sells for about the same as the HP 15. It wouldn’t make sense to trade “up” to a new printer if your old one is still working fine, just because the ink costs so much. You’ll get more than 4 times the life from a new cartridge than you will with some of the new models of printers.

Another thing to consider when buying a printer is what you’re going to be printing with it. If you don’t plan on printing photos and only want black and white printing, a laser printer might be a better option than an inkjet.

They are quite a bit less expensive to operate and the print quality is better than most inkjets for black and white.

If you do want to print photos, consider how much you’ll spend on them. A photo printer can cost up to $1.00 per print by the time you consider ink and paper costs. You can get your pictures printed for much less than that at your local photo lab or on a website like Snapfish.com.

If you only want to print 4×6 photos, you might be better off buying two printers – one for your day-to-day use and a small photo printer that is designed just for printing 4×6 prints. They generally cost less to operate than their larger counterparts, and they are fairly portable if you want to be able to take it with you to make digital prints while on the go.

Printer ink refills can save you a lot of money compared to buying new cartridges every time you run out of ink. They can cost as little as 10% of the price of an original ink cartridge.

There are a few things you need to be aware of, though, if you’re going to use refill kits.

The first thing to keep in mind is that each brand and model of printer uses slightly different types of ink. If you use a “generic” refill kit that claims to work for any printer, chances are it’s not going to work very well on any of them.

You need to be sure to get a refill that is specifically compatible with your brand and model of printer, to get the best results.

Another thing to consider is how many refills you get from a kit. Many refill kits include enough ink to refill a cartridge 3 or 4 times.

While this can keep the price down, remember that a cartridge should only be refilled a couple of times before it is replaced. After that, it will start to malfunction and it won’t matter how good the refill ink is, your print quality will still be poor.

If you buy a refill that has enough ink for multiple uses, you can always buy a new (or remanufactured) cartridge after refilling yours a couple of times and then use the rest of the refill ink on that one when it’s empty.

Refill kits usually have a longer shelf life than cartridges do, often as much as 2 years. If you don’t do enough printing in that time to use up the refill, it may not be the best option since you’ll probably end up wasting part of it anyway.

The other common problem with refill kits is that they can be quite messy if you aren’t careful when refilling them. Companies that refill empty cartridges have specialized equipment that makes it quite simple.

When you’re doing it yourself, ink can leak or spill and it can make a real mess if you’re not careful. Be sure to read through the refill kit instructions thoroughly before attempting the refill – probably a couple of times.

Check the website of the company you bought the kit from and see if they have any special tips or even a video showing how the process works.

It might even take you a couple of tries to figure out how the refill process works, so it’s best not to leave it until you are on a deadline. Having to attempt a refill for the first time in the middle of night before your major project is due is not the time to find out whether you can make it work!