At last a printing solution!
Photograph copyright Fotorite Continuous printing System.
I use my little inkjet printer quite a bit, and for years I’ve tried various ways to replenish the ink. Original printer manufacturer cartridges are the easiest in that they are guaranteed to work but their cost is eye-watering. I’ve tried re-manufactured and copy-cat cartridges, while cheaper, they sometimes don’t work properly and splurg out bizarre colours. More recently I’ve had quite a bit of success with refill kits by Refresh Cartridges. It’s fiddly though wielding needles and however hard I try to be neat I seem to get the ink all over myself. Also, why is it the cartridges always need changing just as you need to print out some important document 10 minutes before the post goes?
As I stumbled around the internet I found City Ink Express and their continuous ink system. It looks like a dream come true, a large reservoir sits beside the printer with pipes going into the printer heads. Although the starting price is relatively high (about £70 ex VAT) over time the ink is much cheaper. The starter set, which comes fully loaded, equates to 40 odd cartridges worth of ink, and then subsequent refills work out about 45p per cartridge cost. And to boot no more faffing around with replacing the cartridge every few prints. (You know the ones, where your kids ask you print 10 pages of cartridge draining photos for some homework project). Also not struggling with those impossible to open plastic bubble pack things that every computer related object seems to come in.
They also do bundles of printers and their continuous printing system if you are in the market for a new printer.
I haven’t tried this system just yet, but when I’ve had it running for a while I’ll post an update.
