Printer ink.. Genuine or compatible?

Razor-BladE · 17 Jun 2011 at 13:21

I need to get new ink for my Canon Pixma MP540, and for a full genuine set it's looking to set me back at £40!

For a compatible set it's going to be < £15 (much better).

I know in the past compatible ink cartridges used to be terrible (I think), but are they ok now?
It's just for printing random word documents now and again, nothing important so ink quality isn't that important, but will there be any problems? Or will it mess up the printer for any reason?

And if they are ok in general, does anybody have any recommendations because there are so many different ones.

skanky · 17 Jun 2011 at 13:31

i go for compatible personally, printers are cheap enough to replace nowadays.

Phenomenologica · 17 Jun 2011 at 13:32

They're fine unless you're doing high end photo printing. I use moreinks for mine.

Razor-BladE · 17 Jun 2011 at 15:48

Phenomenologica said:
They're fine unless you're doing high end photo printing. I use moreinks for mine.

Cool, cheers guys. Ive taken the risk and bought. From moreinks actually as they have buy 1, buy 2nd half price, so I bought 4 sets for £30.

Let's hope they work fine!

Lemin · 17 Jun 2011 at 16:41

I cant be without a ciss, lasts all year...

Phenomenologica · 17 Jun 2011 at 18:47

CIS is very good if you do a high volume of printing, but if you don't it can be more hassle than it's worth. For most people the cartridges are simpler.

Nightglow · 17 Jun 2011 at 18:55

I use refillable cartridges on one printer, the A3 printer has a CIS system.

Ink used is OCP x4 colours & I buy it in 1 ltr bottles from Promax Imaging.

Mayfair · 17 Jun 2011 at 18:59

I always buy compatible, normally can get 21 Inks (3x each colour + 6 blacks) for £14.99

Whereas Genuine are normally 4x the price for only 2x each colour and 5 blacks.

Never had any problems.

(Epson R285)

Persecuter · 17 Jun 2011 at 19:28

I just go for genuine now, i've had probs with compatable ones and ended up buying twice.
I dont do a lot of printing.

HP 2575

coldfused · 17 Jun 2011 at 19:30

I've always been with compatable and now I refill them myself. I don't print a lot and it works out really well each time. HP1210 Photosmart

UKMEDIASTORE · 17 Jun 2011 at 19:32

I use a 2nd hand HP Laserjet 2200dtn for all my black prints, I print between 300-1,000 sheets a month & always used compatible toner, high capacity compatible toner costs me about £10-£20 delivered, had the printer over 3 years and still on my 2nd toner.

I also have a seperate printer (currently a Epson RX200) for colour printing if needed with compatibles from day 1, had the odd cartridge not work, just binned it and put another in as 'Mayfair' says they are so much cheaper. Also paid £40 for the printer new & sold the genuine carts for £25 to off-set the cost.

I have been using compatibles for over 10 years, had the odd problem here & there but the problems have always been limited to the ink cartridge & never damaged any of my printers.