[TVARC] Ink jet printer cartridge

[Cal Fuhrman]

HP doesn't make much selling printers, the money is in the ink.  Since the
days of dot matrix printers and ribbons I have always done my own
re-inking.  For the past twenty or so years that meant buying bulk ink off
the web.  The prices were always a small fraction of what HP charged.  You
simply needed to keep your empty cartridges and follow a simple procedure
to cleanse the jets and refill the cartridges.  While it could occasionally
be a bit messy it always saved serious outlay of cash.  That is until HP
populated each new cartridge with a remotely programmable chip.  I now have
a very capable HP 6978 Office Jet Pro sitting on the floor, disconnected
and unusable.  This is thanks to HP being able to interrogate the
cartridges remotely and disable your printer if the cartridge does not
report that it is a new authentic HP cartridge.  My old HP 3510 is back in
service since it uses type 61 cartridges which, if they are old enough, did
not have the chip when they were manufactured.  Of course the 3510 does not
do automatic double sided printing, fax and several other functions that
the 6978 would handle.

I'm tempted to say I'll never buy another HP product but I'm not certain
that HP's competitors aren't using the same tactics.  Anyway, HP's tactics
are well known and a quick web search will provide more than enough
evidence of what they are doing.  Kym's (KQ4ZOA) statement that HP can turn
your printer into a "brick" is absolutely true.  There ought to be a law!!!

73 - WA3CTZ
Cal


On Sun, Mar 2, 2025 at 3:47 PM Kym via TVARC <tvarc at mailman.qth.net> wrote:

> Just a note.
>
> Be aware of the implications of subscribing to HP printer carterage
> system.
>
> Besides having to figure out how many pages you print per month, HP
> literally will turn your printer into a brick if something happens in the
> payment.
>
> We had this happen when we forgot to update credit card with new credit
> card.    Spent hours trying to figure out problem.   Only after calling HP,
> and running through lengthy diagnostics did they finally say "hey your
> credit card is expired".
>
> We no longer use their services because of this and prefer to get our own
> carterages.
>
> But still in the back of our mind, we wonder if HP will do this again at
> some point or another for another reason.
>
> Kym Lenkus KQ4ZOA
> Email: kintbus at protonmail.com
>
> Sent from Proton Mail Android
>
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> On 3/2/25 3:28 PM, Robert Averitt wrote:
>
>
> Our old HP 4360 color printer died (12 years old) so ...
> I had to shoot it (just kidding) and order up the replacement - an HP 7955
> color printer but ...
> It does NOT use the same inkjet cartridges (of course not) so .....
> Does anyone want an HP 61XL Tri-color ink jet cartridge for their printer?
> Call me if interested and you can pick it up.
> Bob Averitt - WA3EWK
> 302-932-9322
> 1362 Resthaven Way - Gilchrist
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> TVARC mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/tvarc
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:TVARC at mailman.qth.net
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html



-- 
Cal Fuhrman
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/tvarc/attachments/20250302/a620d09f/attachment.html>