What about print quality? In addition to page yield you have to consider the quality of print you are going to get from a cartridge when you are deciding which type of cartridge to buy (OEM or refilled). This discussion is also based around information I learned while attending an HP webinar last week.

Print quality is probably the most important consideration when buying a printer cartridge. We buy printer cartridges to print text, photos, etc that are high quality. No one wants to print something that looks blurred or faded. We want sharp, crisp, and colorful from the second the cartridge starts moving inside the printer.

The folks at HP spend a lot of time promoting the quality of their cartridges over refilled cartridges. As mentioned in a previous post, HP spends years 3-5 years developing a printer cartridge, and $1 billion a year on inkjet cartridge research. When a company dedicates this amount of time and money to a project they usually have something of quality to present at the end.

Cartridge refillers on the other hand don’t have either this kind of time or money. They make their living by trying to replicate the manufacturers ink formula in a little time as possible. In some cases they do a great  job. In other cases they do not. Remember, HP (and other OEM cartridge manufacturers) hold patents on their ink formulas. A cartridge refiller cannot just walk in and replicate the formula. As mentioned before, refillers also want to get their cartridges on the market as fast as possible. Companies like HP have the product available in stores. The refillers goal is to make a dent in the OEM sales as quickly as possible. This “rushed” mentality has probably prevented refilled cartridges from become a more legitimate choice for many consumers. When you try to do in one year, or less, what took HP 3-5 years and spend a very small fraction of the money you probably aren’t going to produce something of equivalent quality.

When discussing quality, we must also talk about reliability. Reliability can be seen as a component of quality. How reliable are HP cartridges when compared to refilled cartridges?

Well, the HP study (Quality Logic, 2009) discovered that more than 33% of all refill cartridges failed before printing their expected number of pages (as determined by what the equivalent HP brand cartridge would print). Perhaps the worst news of all is that of the more than 33% that failed, 11% of branded cartridges (refilled cartridges that have already been packaged)  failed right out of the box, while 17.8% of refill service cartridges (cartridges refilled at a store or kiosk) immediately failed.

This means that 28.8% of the refilled cartridges tested would not print when you placed them in your printer and clicked the print button. How depressing is that? I can feel the frustration of needing to print, thinking you are set, and then . . . nothing . . . Cartridge failure.

In contrast to this, the HP brand cartridges tested had no failures. Not a single one.

One might think I am trying to make a strong case for HP brand cartridges. I’m not, but the data is. My goal is to pass along the information I learn so you can make informed buying decisions. There are benefits to using either type of cartridge and you have a choice to make.

What are your thoughts on the quality of HP cartridges versus refill cartridges? Take a second and let me know. Thanks!