Monday, November 18, 2002		Feature

Refill, or else cartridges may burn hole in your pocket
Jasjot Singh Narula

CONGRATULATION! You have purchased a new PC with the latest printer. Sounds great, but when you run out of your printer cartridge or toner you rush to the market for a new one and get a shock of your life to see the price of Rs1,400 for colour ink cartridges and Rs 1,390 for black. These days a printer costs somewhere around Rs 4700 to 5000 whereas the printer cartridges cost around 2800 to 3000 (for both black and colour). The gist is that go two times to purchase new cartridges and you might end up paying more than the cost of the printer itself.

The major question remains the same with every printer. The cartridges. Actually printers are one time investment but the cost of the cartridges is too high and recurring, which really pinches the pocket of the buyer.

Inkjet printers are also known as bubble jet printers because they are based on thermal technology. In a thermal inkjet printer, tiny resistors create heat, and this heat vaporises ink to create a bubble. A typical bubble jet print head has 300 or 600 tiny nozzles and all of them can fire a droplet simultaneously. Canon and HP patent these types of printer whereas Epson uses another technology called piezoelectric which creates vibrations.

On the other hand, laser jet printers are based on static electricity. It focuses a laser beam to form images that are transferred to paper electrostatically. It uses a fine black powder ink cartridge and once the paper is out of the printer, it gives superior quality print as compared to inkjet or dot matrix printer.

It really matters how often you use a printer. If you are a regular user then the running cost of the original cartridge is quite high. Somewhere around Rs1.50 paise for black and Rs 2 for colour cartridge, per print out. Another option to cut down this cost is to use the refilled cartridges, which would cost somewhere around 0.25 paise for black and 0.56 paise for colour cartridge, per print out.

Refilled inkjet and laser jet cartridges have penetrated the market with a bang because of low price. This refilling concept is widely accepted in India.

As far as the benefits go it depends on the usage, which means how often the printer is utilised and up to what extent. Generally, a new user is a layman and has no idea of using a printer. This ignorance actually costs him to run out of ink cartridges or toner early. Refilled ink and toner is beneficial to those who have maximum textual work especially in offices. Home users have already accepted this refilling concept.

Refilled cartridges are not harmful for the printers. If the printer is under warranty and somehow the refilled ink spills over in the printer or damages any part then the warranty on the printer stands void. In this case it is harmful. The market is flooded with refilled inks and toners. There are a number of kits available to refill but it requires little bit of knowledge to refill the ink. But don’t get conned. The important thing to note here is that for the first time refill customers, try a known source.

1.Use software tools for aligning the printer cartridges

2.There are three different modes available for printing - Fine, Normal and Econo. Use econo mode to get maximum print out minus the quality. If quality is needed then go for the Normal mode.

3.Always get your printer serviced in time.

4.Always use good quality paper for printer that provides extra life to inkjet head or laser jet drum.

5.After using the printer, always cover the printer because dirt particles are its main enemy.