If all you need is black and white printing, there is no need to be buying HP inkjet printers anymore.
Get yourself a Mine has been going strong for like 10 years now.
How to revert HP printer’s ban on 3rd-party ink cartridges
141–150 of 259 posts
Re: How to revert HP printer’s ban on 3rd-party ink cartridges
#142Joke’s on them, my new but cheap POS HP printer won’t even recognise and connect to the wifi, so it can’t ever download updates.
Re: How to revert HP printer’s ban on 3rd-party ink cartridges
#143I still have no idea why people don't buy printers by first looking at what refills cost. It is simply baffling. The only way to penalize manufacturers that practice this type of anti-consumerism is to stop buying their products, not coming up with work-arounds. The average toner cartridge replacement from HP is $150. My Ricoh C261SFWn's replacement cartridge from Ricoh is $50. The quality is just as good and the Ric…
If you're printing a lot, this kind of calculation makes sense. If you only print a couple of times a month, it gets swamped by uncertainty: will the ink dry up before I use it? will they still sell those cartridges in 5 years time? will it have broken anyway? Under these conditions, it's not that illogical to spend less on the printer.
It's also not always easy to compare. Maybe I can see that a HP cartridge holds more ink than the Epson one - but do they use ink at the same rate? How much do they use for cleaning the nozzles when you're not printing? Will I be able to get unofficial cartridges, and will they affect print quality?
It's getting easier to compare, because they're getting on the subscription bandwagon, based on pages per month. But the smallest plan I see is HP's 15 pages/month, which is probably at least 3x what I actually print.
Re: How to revert HP printer’s ban on 3rd-party ink cartridges
#144Mine doesn't have the allow downgrades option I think. But this worked for me: > "Unplug printer’s power cord from the back of the printer Press and HOLD the power button Plug power cord back in (keep holding power button) The HP logo will appear then the screen will go blank Hold power button for 10 seconds and then release it Press HOME BUTTON ONCE (top left) Press RETURN/BACK ARROW ONCE (bottom left) Press HOME BU…
Just throw it out already, sheesh.
Re: How to revert HP printer’s ban on 3rd-party ink cartridges
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I can understand HP wanting to prevent their customers from being conned into buying false cartridges, or wanting to ensure the best possible experience for customers. Nah, that's just the marketing PR blurb they attach to this stuff. The real reason is $$$, nothing else.
Sometimes I think "but won't this hurt them in the long term? After dealing with HP printers I get nautious when looking at an HP logo, I get this bracing defensive adversarial feeling, this can't be good for a brand". But then I realize I'm not a typical consumer, and most of us aren't, here on HN. Do typical consumers even have the vocabulary and mental concepts in place (the basics you learn in e.g. free software…
I really doubt that... In my environment (from helping people with their computers) I regularly hear things like "Damn HP, wanting €80 for a set of tiny ink cartridges".
And most people know very well how to find their aftermarket ink, either in the shop or online. None of them think what they're buying is official. Sometimes (but rarely) really cheap ink does cause printer problems, but even then it's worth the risk. An Inkjet is pretty much "total loss" after the first ink change anyway (a full cartridge set costs close to what the printer is worth).
I always advise Epson EcoTank ones for inkjet use (though these are pretty pricey) and Brother for laser (which besides not being bound to expensive toners are actually some of the cheapest printers around too). For most people a simple B/W laser is sufficient anyway (and just to order photos online).
But they often end up falling for Canon, Lexmark or HP again because they're just cheap and fall for their marketing even though they were bitten by extremely overpriced cartridges before...
Re: How to revert HP printer’s ban on 3rd-party ink cartridges
#146Earlier quoted context omitted.
A solution (if you still need the scanner) is to use VueScan: https://www.hamrick.com It's an application that has its own (reverse-engineered) drivers for many USB scanners that doesn't depend on the system having support for it. I've used it and it works perfectly, though the UI is quite complex at first glance due to the amount of various configuration options it offers.
VueScan it's good but doesn't helps if there isn't scanner drivers. I've have old ScanJet 3600C and it's still works flawless. But no drivers for new macOS versions. And short research found this: http://www.sane-project.org
The point of VueScan is that it acts as its own driver; it accesses the scanner directly via USB without relying on an OS-level driver so it should work (they have a free trial version to test with).
Re: How to revert HP printer’s ban on 3rd-party ink cartridges
#147I think I might have managed to prevent mine from updating so far. Does anyone have an easy to follow guide to blocking it from internet access?
Re: How to revert HP printer’s ban on 3rd-party ink cartridges
#148Why would you buy an HP printer and try 3rd party ink, when you know the whole business model is subsidizing the printer and selling you expensive ink, and you also know that the whole printer cartrige space is full of DRM roadblock? Do this: look at what a printer + as many 1st party refills as you'll need for several years will cost you. Compare that number across multiple manufacturers. If the number seems high -…
> Why would you buy an HP printer and try 3rd party ink, when you know the whole business model is subsidizing the printer and selling you expensive ink, and you also know that the whole printer cartrige space is full of DRM roadblock? The vast majority of people don't know this because HP spends tons of money on marketing to distract consumers from the fact that they do this. Stuff like this is why consumer protecti…
> but it is because they market heavily and lobby against consumer protections.
Yes.
> not everybody has the time, energy or mental capability to absorb the nuances of the business models behind the consumer products they buy
Exactly. And while it could change (let's hope) - I think most people simply shouldn't.
Re: How to revert HP printer’s ban on 3rd-party ink cartridges
#149I made the mistake of buying an HP printer years ago. But I found a 'neat trick'. You can subscribe to the free Instant Ink program using a test credit card, i.e. a number from https://developer.paypal.com/docs/payflow/payflow-pro/payflo... . And ~2 days later you have ink sent to your door. Fuck you HP.
Isn't that credit card fraud?
New printers often come with a trial of the manufacturer's subscription plan, which will automatically order ink when it's running low. I guess if you activate the subscription when it runs low, it will send a new cartridge straight away. This probably also works with a real card number if you just cancel the subscription before it starts charging.
I'd assume that only works once per printer - or at least it's enough of a pain to repeat it that most people would rather pay. The smallest subscription plans are pretty cheap.
Re: How to revert HP printer’s ban on 3rd-party ink cartridges
#150If all you need is black and white printing, there is no need to be buying HP inkjet printers anymore. Get yourself a Mine has been going strong for like 10 years now.
When I did tech support for HP some 20 years ago, our advice to consumers was never to refill your toner as the photo reactive material on the drum would wear over time.
I always assumed this was true and the cartridge would last maybe 2-3x the initial amount of toner. I’m amazed that is 10 years! That’s awesome.