Will Replacement Ink Damage Your Printer?
You’ve heard it from HP, Canon, and Epson: Using replacement inkjet cartridges and not the original ones would damage your printer. So, is this true or is it just a marketing ploy?
What original manufacturers will tell you is that replacement inks will tend to damage the printheads, will most likely leak, or is of very inferior quality than the original printer ink. Of course they would tell you that or else, nobody would buy their original printer inks. I’ve been a long time user of replacement inks mainly because I’m trying to cut cost especially when I’m just printing non-essential documents and my HP printer is still working after two years. Yes, the inside of my printer may have some black smudges all over due to some cheap replacement inks spilling but it still does a decent job of printing documents.
Manufacturers are being strict nowadays and would tell you that your warranty would be voided if you use replacement inks. How they would be able to tell, I don’t know, maybe they’ll do a printer nozzle swab and compare the recent ink used with theirs, who knows. Also, a consumer report published some time ago says that some replacement inks actually contain less ink than the original resulting in no savings in the long run. Aside from being strict with the warranty, printer ink manufacturers are also being smart and making it harder and harder to refill their ink cartridges.
In my opinion, having your original ink cartridge refilled might do more harm than buying replacement ink cartridges. This is because since manufacturers are being smart about their cartridges, getting it refilled will have higher risk of spillage. Of course, replacement inks are not immune from that defect too but only the cheapest replacement ink cartridge have the tendency to be of inferior quality.
However, there’s really been no scientific proof or study to back manufacturer’s claim that replacement inks will damage your printer. Only studies that say that replacement inks may cost more in the long run but who commissions these studies anyway but the big time printer manufacturers. Hey, given the choice of buying two things that does the same thing but with different prices, I’d go for the cheaper option. It’s the recession after all.