Ink drying out and choosing printers

[newmark]

Hi all, first time poster.

I have trouble choosing between 2 HP printers, the Business Inkjet 1000 and the Deskjet 6940.

The Business Inkjet 1000 is similar to the other Business Inkjets (1100, 1200 etc). It has 4 separate printheads that last 16.000 pages each. It uses an HP10 black cartridge which is spongeless (has a rubber ink bag inside) and has a built-in chip with a serial number and an expiration date. The expiration date can be bypassed by changing the system date, the serial number by removing and reinserting the printer battery. It also uses 3 color cartridges, one for each color.

The Deskjet 6940 doesn't have separate printheads, they are on the cartridges. It uses an HP339 black cartridge that has a sponge inside; it doesn't have an electronic chip. It also uses a single tri-color cartridge for color printing.

The printing quality seems to be the same (I don't need high quality). The cost per page, in my country, is about the same (considering also the cost of replacing the printheads). The printers also have the same price. I don't care about the difference in speed.

What I'm interested in is refilling and ink not drying out if not using the printer for some time. From what I've read, the ink in some printers dries out after only 2 days of rest, the ink in others doesn't dry out even if you don't use the printer for a month. Is it important if the cartridge is spongeless or not? When using the same ink, after an eventual refilling, does the ink in sponge cartridges dries out faster than the one in spongeless cartridges?

I know that the Deskjet 6940 is less trouble because there is no chip on the cartridges, but I'm also concerned that the ink will dry out faster than the one in BI 1000. I'm also not sure what makes the ink dry out slower in some printers compared to others. Does anyone know anything about this?

Also, is it OK if the printheads are not on the cartridges? I've read that on Epson printers they get clogged and need to be cleaned often. I wonder if this is true also for the HP Business printers.

 

[nerp]

The nuances of each model can vary greatly. All I know is that printers with dedicated printheads, such as most Epson models, will clog more often. Printers with cartridge-based printheads generally clog less often. Dedicated printheads often produce better results, which is why some higher end and photo HP printers use them.

A lot of generic cartridges come with chips that trick the printer into believing they're genuine. I've been keeping my old Epson Stylus Photo 820 going for years and years with $4 black and $6 color carts and it's a chipped printer. Sometimes generic carts are more convenient than dealing with refills as long as you have a reliable source and the quality is good.

 

[newmark]

To clarify things a bit, I'm more concerned with ink drying out on the cartridge/printhead nozzles. It seems this happens more often with some printers than others. From what I've read, when it's in off/stand-by mode, the printer keeps the cartridges in a safe area which should prevent ink drying out. Maybe some of the printers do it better than others.

Is there someone here who has one of the newer Deskjet/Business models? Did you happen to refill a cartridge and then not use it for a couple of weeks? In this case, did you notice ink having dried out when you resumed printing?

 

[Paperdoc]

I've been using older HP inkjets for some years. I chose it in part because the print head is in the cartridge so you can replace it completely, not have to figure out how to unclog. Of course, I realized as I refilled the carts that I was NOT replacing the print head every time. I simply replace with a brand new cartridge whenever I cannot completely clean it.

I have had no problem with ink jets clogging over the space of a few days. Even if it did, the printer's software has a cleaning routine available. However, I have had clogged carts after a couple months of non-use. The I do what the manual says not to do. I take the catridge out and use a wet tissue (tap water) to wipe gently over the print head part. You see stripes of colored ink on the tissue, and I repeat until it seems all colors are working. Then I put it back into the printer, test it and maybe run their cleaning routine. Usually that works. When it does not, time for a new cartridge.

Sponge or bag, I doubt makes any difference in drying out ink in the jets. I would wonder (don't know!) whether refilling with a blunt needle could puncture the rubber sack. Of course, HP does not worry about that design feature - we are not supposed to refill their catridges! But come to think of it, my refill system had me drill a small hole into each closed hard plastic ink chamber, inject fresh ink and then seal the hole with tape. How could you do that with a soft rubber sack inside a plastic case?

 

[tungtung]

If you can afford the Business Inkjet and don't need the large paper format, why not consider the Colour Laser printers?
They're pretty cheap nowadays, and you don't have to worry about the consumables (they do expire, but much much longer), and at the end of the day they are more economical.
Just giving a suggestion here.

If you insist on either of the two inkjet, from my experience of using the HP CP1700 (the first gen business inkjet unit), the printhead do last almost forever. The particular unit I got at the office only had the black printhead replaced once, the other ones are still the factory original. Mind you the ink cartridge cost about the same as the normal inkjet cartridges. But I do felt that they last a bit longer. So probably you should better go with the business inkjet unit.

 

[Henny]

I've used all the major inkjet printers and for what you describe I feel HP Deskjet technology is superior. My Deskjet has gone weeks between uses and the ink has never dried out. Even if it did the worst case is replacement of the cartridge with built in print head.

As a contrast Epsons are the worst. You better use them daily or they'll clog. Once the clog they usually need to be replaced.

 

[newmark]

Thanks for the answers, guys.

Paperdoc, if you're curious about refilling a cartridge with a rubber bag inside, check this and this. It doesn't seem very complicated.

Tungtung, an HP Business Inkjet 1000 is around 150$, quite affordable. It yields ~1700 pages using a 70 ml black cartridge, based on HP specs. Color laser printers are way more expensive; I've also checked some of the lower end models, they have low performance and also use quite modest toners (~2000 pages).

It seems that HP CP1700 and HP Business Inkjet 1000 use exactly the same printheads and cartridges. According to the HP specs, the black printhead should last up to 16.000 pages and the color ones up to 24.000 pages. The black cartridge yields ~1700 pages, as I previously said, so after consuming ~9 cartridges you'll have to replace the printhead, which isn't that cheap. In the end, the cost per 16.000 pages is close to the cost of using a Deskjet 6940 that uses cartridges which yield half the pages of a Business printer.

So on a Deskjet printer the costs are the same, I just have to refill twice as often - which isn't a problem. That's why I'm only concerned with ink drying out and separate printheads eventually clogging. If these are not issues, I'll probably go with the Deskjet, as it uses chipless cartridges, which means less trouble for me.