When I bought my first HP Deskjet 200 printer long time back, I was finding the cartridges to be extremely expensive for a student. I managed to replace them a couple times but when the pinch was too much; I jumped in for some experimentation. I bought an independent printing ink from a store and a syringe from a local drug store. I was able to refill the ink cartridge successfully more than 5 times. The results were good but not amazing. When the time came for a change in printers, I bought Epson XXXX. I could find third party cartridges which worked just as good as the original ones. Today, Epson is fighting a losing battle against third party cartridge vendors as their cartridge sales have dipped dearly.

Epson has openly come out against a third party vendor in Australia, Calidad, proving through some test findings that Epson cartridges produce better results and is forty times long lasting than its competitor.

The conclusion of tests, according to Henry Wilhelm, President of Wilhelm Imaging Research, which conducted tests for Epson is that displayed prints made with genuine Epson DURABrite pigment inks on Epson paper will last more than 40 times longer than prints made with the Calidad inks on Calidad paper.

Honestly, the OEM ink cartridges are far beyond common man's reach and the only way anybody would satiate the hunger for printing would be to choose cheaper ink cartridges. Maybe the Kodak model of cheaper ink cartridges would bring an end to the third party cartridge vendors.

via IT Wire