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Thursday, March 8, 2012

HP Ink Cartridge Expiration Dates

I have not printed a lot of pictures on my HP Photosmart C6280 recently.  When it came time to replace an empty cartridge, I discovered that some of my replacement cartridges were full, but "expired."  Apparently, there is a lifetime on HP cartridges, and it basically tells you that using an expired cartridge will void your warranty.  (My printer is way out of warranty, so no big deal.)  This means that unless you are printing stuff a lot, you should never buy more than one of any cartridge, and never buy in advance.

8 comments:

  1. As a former HP'er speaking to another former HP'er the cartridge expiration is just a way to sell more cartridges....unless it is dried out (and then it won't work) use 'em up.

    If you are doing a lot of printing I would refill cartridges or even better use a continuous ink system.

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  2. Of course, it also means that if you are printing a lot of stuff you can get some pretty good deals from private sellers on Amazon and Ebay who are selling short-date cartridges.

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  3. I tried a cartridge from Cartridge World for my Canon printer.

    Despite following the instructions to 'fool' the printer, the cartridge showed empty.

    Even though I usually only use black ink to print my documents, the printer won't print anything if the color cartridge is empty.

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  4. or even better, don't buy HP's printer's to begin with. or ANY printer with a EEPROM chip that is part of the cartridge.

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  5. If I'm not printing in color, I use a laser printer. A couple of times a year you can find a low-end Samsung or Brother on sale for as low as $50. That's actually cheaper then the toner! (I know someone once who bought two on sale; when the toner on the first one ran out, he threw the entire printer away and started using the other. Yeah, it's wasteful, but it's cheaper than new toner.)

    PS: If you're going to moderate all comments, consider turning off the new, more obnoxious captcha?

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  6. I only use the inkjet for pictures. Anything else goes to the HP LaserJet 1530.

    Let me see about turning off the new captcha.

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  7. I don't see anything in the controls for Blogger for turning off the captcha.

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