HP Ink Cartridges

HP are giving their ink cartridge packaging a makeover and colour coding them depending on their usage. Basically they are dividing them up by quantity of ink, so if you are a low usage user (i.e. home user) the basic low yield cartridges will be in Blue packaging (according to HP 'Perfect for everyday use'), if you are a higher volume user (small office etc) then the packaging will be Green and finally for speciality users (photo printing) they will be Red.

HP Inkjet supplies All three categories deliver the superior reliability and print quality customers expect from HP. For the majority of new HP printers, the inkjet cartridge options will be: “Standard” cartridges (blue packaging), which have a lower purchase price, are designed for customers who print a small number of pages on a weekly or monthly basis. Beginning in 2007, HP will introduce an increasing number of standard cartridge offerings for those customers who still want access to high-quality printing, but don’t want to pay a lot at the point of purchase.

HP Value cartridge “Value” cartridges (green packaging), which are designed for customers with higher volume printing needs, offer a lower cost per page compared to standard cartridges. This line will include new high-yield “XL” cartridges that provide customers approximately 30-45 percent savings on a cost-per-page basis, print up to three times more pages, and require fewer cartridge replacements compared to standard cartridges. Customers can easily identify the new value option by looking for the green packaging and the letters “XL” next to their cartridge number.

HP Specialty cartridge “Specialty” cartridges (red packaging), which offer additional performance features compared to HP’s standard ink formulations, are ideal for customers with special applications and printing jobs, such as professional-quality photographs. “For more than 25 years, many HP printers offered customers only one cartridge choice. Now, the majority of our printers will offer customers multiple options,” said Pradeep Jotwani, senior vice president, Supplies, Imaging and Printing Group, HP. “Delivering customer choice and value is critical for driving continued growth, and the unprecedented level of innovation HP is applying toward the customer experience is as important as the innovation behind the technology that goes into our high-performance ink and paper products.”

This does not affect the quality of the ink, which will remain the same high quality that you are used to. The good news though is that all of the manufacturers have now agreed to abide by an internation standard on page yield and publish the information on their websites, you can see the HP information here. We will always endeavour to offer lower cost alternatives, which we think benefit both the enviroment (recycling inkjet cartridges) and your pocket.

Do you fancy printing 2,600 A4 pages a minute?.  HP have just revealed their new Inkjet Web Press machine which will do just that.  It will also print up to 30 inches wide.  This will never sit on your desktop, but is targeted at replacing printed pages coming from traditional offset presses.  A traditional offset press takes hours and it's not possible to print on demand, you have to create a physical plat with an image etched on it, which is then sent to the printer.  With the Inkjet Press platform, hitting the print button sends the image directly to a printer, making high-volume printing more productive by eliminating analogue elements like the plate.

HP is the market leader in the inkjet business and its research is now trickling down into many consumer and enterprise spaces.  Following the launch of their 'Print 2.0' last year and their commitment to increase the amount of printing actually produced on HP printers this is a logical progression for them to move to.  HP estimate that in 2009, 53 Trillion documents will be printed, of which 9 percent will be digital and they want some of that.

How about an ink cartridge that can withstand snow and rain, and will last up to 3 years outside?.  I don't think this will be coming to a Deskjet printer near you in the near future, but HP have just presented their water-based Latex Ink.  The ink is specially formulated to embed in a surface and become part of a media print and will be useful for the large-format media used in billboards and outdoor signs.

The Latex Ink includes a specially  created formula, called latex polymer, that provides the print surface its durability and colour, according the HP.  Water based ink ejected carries the latex polymer and pigment particles to the surface.  The inks are 70 percent water and 30 percent additives and other inks.  Unlaminated outdoor displays using  the ink can last up to three years, while unlaminated in-window displays can last up to five years.  The printer cartridge uses recyclable material and the company has developed new recyclable substrates for the ink to make printing environmentally friendly, HP said.

After releasing information-rich articles on Epson Inkand Canon Inks... it is only natural I expand my wisdom sharing to the realms of HP Inks. Indeed, logically I would have started here – HP are thought to control close to 50% of the Inkjet printing market. Considering Inkjets are the tool of choice for the average home user – that is an awful lot of printers. Though to be fair, my Dad owns one, if it’s good enough for him, it is good enough for the rest of the world.

Why HP Ink Printers?

So.... what is special about HP and their inks? Bluntly put, it is in science, this article will go into the technology of the printers, and a following article will be on the Ink. I will be completely honest here – I started writing my HP ink article, and got so enthralled with the technology in the print heads, I ACCIDENTALLY wrote an article on it. Before I knew it, I had covered 800 words, and will need to make a separate posting for the Ink stage.... But away from my apparent long winded drawl method of writing (sometimes, I even bore myself), and onto the inkjet printing lesson.

HP invest an incredible amount of resources to their print technology, with advances in print head and ink technology heavily patented and protected. They vehemently guard the chemical makeup of their inks, with numerous lawsuits in the past against suppliers of 3rd party ink in breach of their protection. What is specifically important for consumers to remember is the science flows through the whole hp system – From the print heads -> nozzles -> Ink -> paper. The dedication for optimising every stage has meant the base output from HP’s, though incredibly expensive for constant use, gives a very high standard of search for the home environment.

The Beginning:  how did the technology for their printing come about?

I bring this up as it has a humorous urban myth behind it. Ever hear how post-it notes stemmed from research into the world’s strongest glue which went wrong? Well, apparently accidental discoveries span to HP too:

‘In 1978, a coffee-loving HP scientist noticed that his percolator had no moving parts—just a bottom heater that moved the water up and over the coffee grounds. Eureka!’

And thus HPs inkjet printing method was born. Contrary to this method is the piezoelectric technique which will be shortly writing an article on due to popular demand!

Utilising tiny heated chambers within the print head, a series of electrical currents is sent through, generating heat pulses within the nozzle (claimed to be up to 1000 times a second). This heat creates a miniscule vapour bubble of ink just above the heat chamber. The quick expansion of steam propels Ink out of the nozzle onto the page, and when coupled with the sudden contraction of this vapour bubble when the heat stops – due to the ceasing of the electrical current – the ink stops being pushed out of the nozzle, whilst the ink that was distributed is replenished from a reservoir. Now imagine this hundreds of times a second in one nozzle – with up to 300 nozzles per print head - whilst the print head is moving back and forth.

Impressed so far? Well then consider the technology behind aiming!

This ink of drop expelled from the nozzle is 1/3 of a human hair – or a picoliter.

HP Ink Is Mighty Small:

A millionth – of a millionth – of a litre. To fully put it into perspective... a 6x4 photo, you know those little things with all the happy memories you keep printing on, has 40 million drops of ink. So if you took everyone who lived in London – gave them all 5 ink drops from a nozzle and told them to share – they would combine to make one single photo. Though to be honest I doubt they would combine it with the accuracy the printer does, or if they did it would take a while – go go City-wide printing, a photo a year.

I figure I have space for 1 more figure to plump up HPs technology, as this is now its own stand-alone article. The ink drops are  small, and for image clarity you obviously have to have the drops next to each other in the correct sequence to create the colours..... roughly maintaining the ratio of distance to page and size of nozzle/drops, it is akin to one of us standing on top of a skyscraper, and attempting to drop a 5p piece into a paper cup on the ground. (The bottom floor ground, not the floor of the roof... I didn’t just pick a skyscraper for scenery). I have not tried this in my spare time, but judging from the difficulty I have to find my mouth with a spoonful of soup, I am guessing I would struggle to hit the cup. Let alone hit it 40 million times in a row for 1 image.

Yet HP manage this consistently across all their printers, winning awards year after year for quality of print, image consistency, printer reliability... the list goes on. Well my unintended article must draw to a close here, before my manager realises I have spent an hour writing something completely different to requested, which people probably won’t want to know anyway.... If I get fired because I found HP printing technology interesting, it may be a new low for me :-)

Hope you found it interesting, and don’t feel too compelled to go drop currency off varying building sizes – just remember. You Are Not A Printer.... yet....

Have you ever seen an angry ink specialist? Experiencing the kind of rage befitting the fiercest of warriors? No you’re right, it doesn’t exist, we’re a placid and serene bunch. But occasionally, some things we read are such blatant attempts to manipulate the reader, it makes us shake with.... a slight displeasure!

I wonder how many of our customers have seen the HP advertisements running on TV at the moment. Let me refresh your mind...

The claims: • 33% refilled ink carts failed during use • 41% of refilled carts from a refill station failed during use. • 65% more pages from original inks than compatible inks.

I firstly would like to quote the beautiful.... and highly appropriate.... “Now there are lies, there are damn lies, and then there are statistics”

I am almost disappointed with HP for not trying harder, they could have found some less reliable suppliers from the parent population that is America (the samples are from US suppliers only) and received even worse results for their promotion. But I thought, I won’t be petty, I will respond to numbers with my strengths – more numbers :-D

Before my results, and writing down all the evidence a court needs to charge me with libellous activities, I want to get something clear. HP Original Cartridges are the best (if you have a HP printer!). The results they get from prints are fantastic, and I hold my hands up to their vast array of scientists who make advancements in the industry consistently. Whilst undertaking research for our compatible ranges, original performance was tagged as well, and provided the same infallible results so typical of HP – in the 1500 sales for Original HP cartridges there is not a single return or refund through our company due to fault. A 100% performance rate, top notch.

What I do want to highlight however is the bias behind their third-party results, which is not making life easier for trustworthy retailers like StinkyInk to help consumers save money. Yes, there are poor quality suppliers out there who are out to make a fast buck. But we quality test our products and not only ensure performance – but guarantee it! So I thought, let’s compare their numbers to ours, and let customer satisfaction speak for itself.

HP Refilled Ink Cartridges - The Results:

Reliability:

1500 sales..... 1500 products.... an expectation of 495 returns if HPs estimated faulty rate was true....

Our faults: 17. We have had 17 refunds or replacements for refilled cartridges out of 1500 sales, a 1.1% fault rate. 17 faults, I may add, which got replaced or refunded with no hassle or issues, with the cartridge being returned to us so we could determine what went wrong for future purposes.

Want me to dig deeper? Well why didn’t you ask! Of these ‘faults’, 3 were not actually linked to the cartridge, but were issues derived directly from the supplier, where the wrong cartridge had been placed into the packaging – the cartridge was replaced free of charge, and none of the replacements experienced a fault. So knock that number down to 14 kind sir, pushing our success rate past the 99% mark! I think that speaks for itself.

Indeed look at the success rate in performance between original and refilled cartridges, can you tell the difference?

Ink Levels:

.... Let us joyfully prance to the second ‘embodiment of truth’. As far as ink levels for your money goes, and getting 65% more prints from an original cartridge – I honestly don’t know how they have calculated this, I really don’t. Following the train of links on their site related to this advertisement, I just end up on a page singing the praises of the high capacity originals. I hope this is not what they are championing, that an XL cartridge has more ink in than a normal sized refill, because that is desperation on a whole new level. In regards to the potential shortcoming of a refilled cartridge, yes refilled ink will dry out slightly faster than original inks, but this is only of concern to those who print very very rarely, so rarely the printer is more at risk of dust inhalation than dry ink... in all other senses, compatibles will beat originals on prints for your money. Let us look at one example:

HP 88 XL – 58ml of ink - £31.71 Compatible HP No88 – 59ml of ink - £10.49

I realise in an article promoting the questioning of given ‘facts’ that providing you my own value for price will be frowned upon - so I actively encourage you to find on our website a HP cartridge which outperforms its compatible for value, or ink levels, or page yield – any of the 3... all I can say is good luck to you.

Ultimately we want consumers to make their own decisions. If you want originals - great – hp cartridges are fantastic and you will get great prints. But if you are not after the ultimate in printing output, and just want simple things like a homework print or essay draft which won’t be analysed by the keenest of eyes, compatibles will be brilliant for your wallet.

What is special about HP Ink? I have raved about Canon Ink.... Sang the Praises of Epsons visual masterpieces.... Even switched to toner and done a merry dance with the Dell 1320 compatibles.... But I have left HP in isolation, to weep in its own awesomeness with no appreciation to its strengths..... but no longer. To the Ink mobile my readers!

HP Invest millions in their ink, they are not at the forefront of the market by chance. Endlessly researching, with up to 3 years of stringent product testing for every ink, they pay huge attention to the chemical interaction between their inks and papers to give the best quality image and output life, for every... single.... print. We realise the huge costs involved in original inks, but it’s worth it. HP have actually developed two completely different ranges of inks for users...

• OfficeJet • Vivera Photo Printing

OfficeJet Ink:

The simpler of the 2 ranges intended for plain paper office-like printing. Its inks are pigment based, which are designed for text printing with a long archival life in general; when coupled with HPs vast knowledge of ink technology I doubt these images ever fade. No figures for the OfficeJet inks are available – so you never know, tests may still be ongoing! HP have also responded to consumer qualms on ink levels, with the common issue of small cartridges being addressed. The HP XL 88 black holds 58ml of ink with a page yield ~2300, so just over a penny a print, brilliant value for the quality your HP printer will give you. If you don’t want perfectly crisp prints each time, buying the HP 88 compatible range to work in hand with the originals will provide wonderful savings. At £9.35 for 59ml of ink, an absolutely huge saving.

I am actually a bit disappointed at the level of information available for this ink range, even the HP website is lacking. So I guess I will give my experiences!

My View On HP Officejet Ink:

To get my personal opinion on the OfficeJet range I decided to spam printouts to my colleagues HP Pro K5400 printer, which sits nicely on his desk and gives him no warning of an incoming print. Have you ever had something print in front of you in size 80 font screaming “CAN YOU READ THIS?”. I think he enjoyed the numerous images I sent through for the sake of science. As far as performance goes, it was Très Magnifique. You can get this printer for ~£88, and it’s output on ink intended for office use was phenomenal, beautifully clear and dark blacks (my unfortunate colleague could make out a sentence printed in size 5 font with no effort, and it was not a complimentary sentence :-D ), vivid colours... it gave me stupendously high expectations for the following image range of inks.

So out of the home office and into the home photo printing range, with HP Vivera in direct competition with the Epson Cheetah and Hummingbird inks...

Vivera Ink:

Derived from the word for Life and Longevity, this ink has essentially been ‘built’ from the ground up for use with their branded photo papers utilising the ColorLok system. It can be both dye and pigment based; HP went to the effort of designing both kinds of inks so you can tailor for printing onto different mediums. If that isn’t impressive enough then have a tipple at a quoted archival life of 108 years. I said this to a friend (I talk about printing in my spare time, how am I not more popular) and they retorted with “sure, the picture is still there after 108 years but I bet it looked rubbish after 1”. Then it struck me, I know the science behind accelerated testing of environmental factors.... but I didn’t know the quality of the image which would constitute a fail, unacceptable! So I found out like any good employee would :-)

The stringency of this test astounded me. Barely any image degradation is allowed before the image life is said to have ended, and it makes the 108 years in a controlled environment quite breathtaking. Epson’s Claria range quotes 98 years in a photo frame or 200 years in a photo album, the fight is on.

Quick side note:

Does anything after 50 years matter? I would be intrigued to hear your thoughts on this topic. I know in my printing, I really have no preference/desire for my print to outlive me. Most images I print for photo quality will undoubtedly be replaced by a more up to date photo in less than 2 years... and judging by how times are changing I don’t think I want my relatives in 108 years looking at the photos and chuckling at my idiotic appearance. I realise for the professionals that archival life is crucial, but Vivera has been developed for home photo printing, and I really cannot think of many users needing that kind of duration... Anyway...

In the larger printers utilising Vivera ranges, you can get up to 8 different inks, all receiving the same love and attention from HP’s scientists – surpassing the 6 inks of the Epson Claria range.

Vivera Cartridge List

Prize if anyone can make me a song out of this list: • Matte Black • Photo Black • Light Grey • Cyan • Magenta • Yellow • Light Cyan • Light Magenta

The addition of an extra black and grey gives the HP a great advantage over the Epson’s, which is relatively unheard of in availability for the home printing world – brilliant black and white printing. Epson have tailored for this in their top ink range (the Husky), but not in their home-use level inks.

Granted, Grey doesn’t make you sit up with excitement, it is not the most inspiring of colours. However.... bear with me (I literally just spent 5 minutes finding out which bare/bear that should be. Did I want scantily clad or an animal)...

Benefits of the Grey Cartridge:

Firstly, black and white printing. This is a popular way of printing images, and typically the transition between the blacks could be seen to tone-jump slightly. Adding in an extra black and grey makes it beautifully smooth in colour and gives the picture a great professional feel.

Secondly: Illuminant Metameric Failure! Simply put – normal printers use a combination of Cyan Magenta and Yellow to make Grey, and if you’ve never seen it, go print a black and white image now and view it under different lights, it will have a greeny tint to it from some light sources, due to the lights “spectral emittance curve”. If you remove the use of differing colours to make grey, and utilise – shock horror – a grey cartridge, all prints will look as they should under all lighting conditions. Usually an issue for professional users whom have to tailor their inks towards museum lighting conditions, it occasionally impacted home users in annoying little ways – such as position of the photos in a room in regards to the light source. You wouldn’t want a photo of your sisters new born on the mantelpiece to become the Grinch every time the light is turned on, would you?

Now to counter those who don’t want images to last – and live without light so don’t care about metameric performance... Why would you want HP Vivera? They are engineered to resist not just Light, but also Pollutants in the environment! If you live in the complete absence of light, I am going to assume your air isn’t of the highest quality either. But don’t worry, your snapshots will remain vivid and beautiful to the eye.

Finally.... the overall package of science. I mentioned at the start of this article that the inks were built from the ground up. Designed in line with the specialist HP ColourLok photo paper, used together the quality is brilliant. This photo paper has up to 6 layers, each specifically designed for a job in mind. For example:

• A layer to aid absorption • Moisture Barrier • Gloss optimising layer

With the chemical makeup of the cartridges tailored to react to each layer perfectly (up to 1000 prototype tests on formulations to perfect it), everything about the ink has a purpose. As soon as the ink hits the page, the science is at work. Optimised absorption, ink spread, protection and the gloss finish means every single print you do will have the HP trademark of pure quality. Minimising any chance of bleed in dye based inks, guaranteeing a gloss finish for pigment inks, HP really have achieved it all. And it is all accessible to you the home user.

HP Ink Summary:

Odds on you already have a HP printer, if not – you are literally in the minority of printer users. Overall, I feel like HP is a brilliant balance between Canon and Epson. The photo printing package can rival that of the Epson’s, whilst matching the overall performance of the brilliant Canon series.

If you can finish reading this article without feeling like you have bathed in a technological heaven of ink and printing love, I have failed as a writer and shall print page after page of synonyms of Failure to pin on the wall. HP ink for home printing really does offer a service typically out of reach for many a home user. Though expensive, and we still recommend our quality compatibles for general every day printing, the performance you see really will be hard to beat. I am intrigued how far HP’s science can take the performance of their cartridges... hopefully there is much more to come!

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to work I go, with a shovel or pick and overpriced HP ink cartridge...

Wait, what? That's not how the song goes. And it's not the same song HP sings either, with price complaints always knocked back to the significant research and investment that goes into the quality of their ink and the standard of prints they can provide.

Be cast down anyone who even harbours the thought of buying any Cheap HP 364 ink cartridges. Rid yourself of those terrible thoughts that buying a Refilled HP 350 ink cartridge might save you money on your printing. It's all in the research, it's all in the technology.

...or...

It's all in your profit margins.

HP Move Away from their PC Business Due to Low Margins

The majority of news followers will have seen the announcement of HP retargetting their business efforts.

How many of you read into the details though? The announcement of the printer profitability was staggering. Everyone knows of the razor-blade pricing scheme poisoning the printer industry, but these figures really nail it home.

HP's printer division last QUARTER had:

Reveue of $6.09 Billion Dollars

Operating Profit of $892 Million Dollars

That's a mighty tasty margin you got there Mr HP.

If refilled and remanufactured cartridges really are such horrible concepts, maybe you could spare us normal printing folk some of that margin.

Just to help us "protect our printers performance and still enjoy the only way to get good quality prints" in these cost-cutting times. Please?

Guess we'll wait and see.... Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's home from work I go... imagine me walking away