Filling your own inkjet printer cartridges can slash inks costs by 60 to 85 percent, save oil that’s used to transport them, and cut down on the hundreds of millions of plastic empties that clog U.S. landfills each year. And no, Virginia, using refillables won’t actually void your printer’s warranty--despite what store clerks might tell you.
Ink2image’s Trio Bulk Ink System offers innovative replacement cartridges--along with premium Lyson inks--that fit 30 Epson desktop printers and several HP models. Each has a refillable tank that snaps into a sleeve, which is then inserted into the printer.
Whether it pays to switch depends on your average print output. Since Lyson inks have a shelf life of two years for dye and 18 months for pigment, you’d need to roll out 360 dye or 660 pigment 8x10 prints (or their equivalents) per year. If you print that much you’re in the money.
Using a Stylus Photo R280, we chose a $190 Trio system that included Lyson Fotonix XG archival dye inks color-matched to Epson’s Claria inkset.
Don't let the needles scare you. Refilling your own ink cartridge is a snap.
The kit included six sleeves with ink-level-reporting chips, eighteen 13-millileter inserts (a trio for each color, so you don’t need to refill immediately when a cartridge needs replacing), and six 4-ounce (119ml) bottles of each color having the same ink volume as 102 standard 7-millileter R280 cartridges or 64 high-capacity 11-millileter ones--a savings of $915 and $770, respectively. Also included were six filling syringes and a pair of too-big latex gloves (tip: get some tight-fitting ones).
Since the supplied inks are compatible with Epson’s, you can use them together until your printer’s original cartridges run dry. Just remember to remove the air plugs on the Trios, or they won’t work. You’ll also need to run a cleaning cycle or two after the first fill-up to expunge trapped air, but it’s not necessary after subsequent refills.
Ink2image guarantees that tanks can be refilled at least 10 times before they wear out but says they’ve routinely doubled that number. Replacements cost $5. They claim they haven’t had any monitoring-chip failures yet, but if that happens, $10 buys a new sleeve. Single, archival 4-ounce ink bottles are $19; plain-vanilla costs $9.95. Extra fill and air plugs are also available.
Our test prints using Epson and Lyson inksets at various printer-driver settings showed the two to be virtually identical, with the Lyson output being slightly more color-accurate to our eye. The chips on the Trio sleeves that send ink-level data to the printer worked without a hitch. Paper profiles for those who use imaging programs to color-manage their output are in the works; in the meantime, we found Epson’s profiles worked just fine.
Trio System refilled cartridges average less than $3.50 each--you can knock out an 8x10 print for mere pennies. And with fewer empty cartridges ending up in the dump, you've got yourself a double savings of green.
Huge savings in ink costs. Easy to use. Requires no printer modification. Quality equal to OEM ink.
Supplied latex gloves are too big. Plastic coupler on some filing syringes may need a one-time poke with a paper clip to widen them.
adblau1
July 14, 2010 at 9:50pm
Ok, as a reader of MacLife, I gave this system a whirl after reading the review.
It truly sucks.
I do not care about "messy" one bit. What I do care about is having my printer consistently recognize the cartridges that are inserted.
It worked fiiiine for a little while. But after one use, the "Light Magenta" on my Epson R280 was just not recognized, no matter what I did. Regular Epson cartridges still work fine. So I ended up using 5 of these refillable cartridges and one Epson. Less than ideal.
Still, the ink level indicators in the printer application are unreliable, and constantly shifting. I frequently need to reseat the cartridges in the slots. Yes, I did read the directions, and yes, I am doing what I'm supposed to.
I do not want to have to bump the cartridges each time I want to use them. I am not The Fonz. I do not want to have to clean my printer heads after every five printings (which I had to do in order to not get horrible quality). Who has time for that nonsense?
I probably broke even financially, all things considered, on the amount of use I got out of these things -- but I will sadly be going back to Epson cartridges. These things are a waste of money, and a HUGE waste of time.
If anyone has any other (better, more reliable) refillable options, please let me know. These are garbage.
giminicologu
June 23, 2010 at 5:37am
I think that the New York auto dealerships should be rewarded more often because they can sell more cars then anyone in the world and when you are good someone should tell you that just to motivates you more .
john0099874556
April 01, 2010 at 3:09am
Interesting read, thanks for helping keep me busy at work ;)
http://www.inkworks.com.au/
john0099874556
April 01, 2010 at 3:09am
Interesting read, thanks for helping keep me busy at work ;)
http://www.ink2go.com.au/
David Smith
November 18, 2009 at 5:51am
The new Ink2image Trio bulk ink system for Epson desk top printer models represents a break
through in bulk ink technology. The unique system consists of refillable ink tanks that clip into
sleeve adapters that fit in a printer’s print head. The system is extremely cost effective while, at
the same time, reducing the waste impact on the environment through substantially less plastic
being used compared to normal throw away cartridges.
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Dave from Best Registry Cleaner And How to Fix a PSP
jszostak
October 02, 2009 at 12:12pm
Does anyone have a recommendation for the best bulk ink for Canon photo printers?
Twitchy76
September 17, 2009 at 4:40pm
The practice to require follow on purchases like this was made illegal in 1975 with the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. Google it, it was passed because of car companies requiring oil changes at their dealerships only or voiding the warranty of a car. This act applies to printer ink also and any type of follow on purchase of any consumable good.
Refilling if done right will save you money.
