PC World probes cheap ink

The online version of PC World magazine in the USA has recently published a thought-provoking article about budget ink jet inks. The article compares original inks with a selection of third party inks. Colour and fading characteristics are tested and compared. Once again, Wilhelm Imaging is consulted on print fading.

Three models of ink jet printer were examined:

Canon Bubble Jet S900

Epson Stylus C82

HP DeskJet 3820

Only a selection of three third party inks were tested for each printer. Results for print quality were mixed - from good to poor. But there was no doubting the extremely poor performance of all the third party inks tested when it came to fade resistance, which was generally poor to shockingly bad.

The one printer that should have left its owners worry-free over print fading because of its use of pigmented inks, the Epson Stylus C82, proved to be the worst when it came to print longevity with the third party inks tested for this printer.

The article is not exhaustive and I'm quite sure there are better performing third party inks than some of the ones PC World magazine tested. However it does serve to underline that if you want worry-free printing without the hassle of verifying the quality of your inks, sticking with original inks is the easy choice.

It's dpnow's intention to investigate the market for cheaper inks further over the next few months.

To read the article, click here. (link now fixed)