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How to revert HP printer’s ban on 3rd-party ink cartridges

kevin.deldycke.com

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Re: How to revert HP printer’s ban on 3rd-party ink cartridges

#181

Post by Majestic121 »

cnity wrote: post #173
NikolaNovak wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hah, I get that; it's spookily consistent; but I happen to have exactly the same experience. I've gone through 3 (Epson) inkjets last decade (as I do need to print Photos - but only occasionally), and SO much consistent hassle with cleaning heads and refilling and bad prints. Meanwhile I have a Brother 2270DW for at least the last decade for regular printing and it just works . I've gone through the original small an…

I regret my tone. I let cynicism get the better of me there, sorry!

To be fair I start to have the same doubts as you, I noticed a lot of recommendations for Brothers printers, seemingly out of nowhere recently.

Might be due to a couple of bad HP printers hitting the frontpage of HN recently, and people genuinely being happy with their Brothers, but it pulled my suspicion trigger as well

Re: How to revert HP printer’s ban on 3rd-party ink cartridges

#182

Post by tzs »

takluyver wrote: post #149
rwl4 wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

That’s got to be it. No way would a test card number actually work. Live payment processor environments decline them. They only work in payment processor test environments.

If the merchant’s backend doesn’t special case them and sends them through, they will be declined.

Re: How to revert HP printer’s ban on 3rd-party ink cartridges

#183

Post by zem »

cnity wrote: post #153
billsmithaustin wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Brother also has a handy iOS app for printing and scanning.

Are these shill accounts? I've seen raving template-looking comments for Brother in every printer thread for the past few weeks. Get yourself a Edit: Sorry if I'm jumping the gun. Maybe they really are just great?

if you have never dealt with a line of inkjet printers all of which try to gouge you on ink and fail just when you need them most you cannot appreciate just how big a difference a cheap laser printer from an honest and user-friendly company can make :)

Re: How to revert HP printer’s ban on 3rd-party ink cartridges

#184

Post by robaato »

JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #156
cnity wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are these shill accounts? I've seen raving template-looking comments for Brother in every printer thread for the past few weeks. Get yourself a Edit: Sorry if I'm jumping the gun. Maybe they really are just great?

I’m gonna get myself one and see. I’m leaning towards the comments are just authentic users excited about a quality product. I never got an uncanny valley feeling from them. I’m just so sick of the inkjet racket and this latest HP move is the last straw.

I've had a Brother 5150D for over 10 years without problems. Some issues with Windows drivers over the years, but pretending to be a recent Brother model has always worked.

Re: How to revert HP printer’s ban on 3rd-party ink cartridges

#185

Post by snarfy »

Unklejoe wrote: post #141

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.

There is a little window on the cartridges the printer shines a light through to detect the toner. When it can see the light you get out-of-toner errors. If you mark over it with a sharpie, it will print again. I'll be the judge of when it's out of toner based on how faded the print is. As infrequently as I print this trick can make a cartridge last months longer.

Re: How to revert HP printer’s ban on 3rd-party ink cartridges

#186

Post by krupan »

alkonaut wrote: post #75

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? 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 -…

It’s been a while, but last time I shopped for a printer, hp had the cost per page of each of their printers right there in the specs

Re: How to revert HP printer’s ban on 3rd-party ink cartridges

#187

Post by otherme123 »

JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #156
cnity wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are these shill accounts? I've seen raving template-looking comments for Brother in every printer thread for the past few weeks. Get yourself a Edit: Sorry if I'm jumping the gun. Maybe they really are just great?

I’m gonna get myself one and see. I’m leaning towards the comments are just authentic users excited about a quality product. I never got an uncanny valley feeling from them. I’m just so sick of the inkjet racket and this latest HP move is the last straw.

I've written before about my laser Brother. It's not an excelent quality product, just a regular printer that doesn't extort you. And sadly this is all it takes to put a printer brand as a top value for your money, and to make a buyer happy.

Re: How to revert HP printer’s ban on 3rd-party ink cartridges

#188

Post by takluyver »

bonoboTP wrote: post #90
GekkePrutser wrote: post #49

Earlier 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 think most people are perfectly capable of understanding the idea of low upfront costs and high maintenance costs. But if you're not expecting to print a lot, the payback time for a more expensive printer with cheaper ink/toner could easily be several years. People are used to replacing consumer electronics every few years anyway, and the 1 or 2 year guarantees reinforce that.

Re: How to revert HP printer’s ban on 3rd-party ink cartridges

#189

Post by idiot900 »

cnity wrote: post #153
billsmithaustin wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Brother also has a handy iOS app for printing and scanning.

Are these shill accounts? I've seen raving template-looking comments for Brother in every printer thread for the past few weeks. Get yourself a Edit: Sorry if I'm jumping the gun. Maybe they really are just great?

They are modern, consumer-level, reasonably priced printers that just print, rather than pollute your computer with crapware and hassle you to be a continuous revenue stream. These days this is quite a remarkable thing.

Re: How to revert HP printer’s ban on 3rd-party ink cartridges

#190

Post by LeifCarrotson »

cnity wrote: post #153
billsmithaustin wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Brother also has a handy iOS app for printing and scanning.

Are these shill accounts? I've seen raving template-looking comments for Brother in every printer thread for the past few weeks. Get yourself a Edit: Sorry if I'm jumping the gun. Maybe they really are just great?

No, clicking through this thread and the big threads [1] [2] in the past 5 days, commenters mentioning "Brother laser" have much more than 100,000 combined karma and most of the accounts are 3+ years old.

With a history like Brother's, and awful competitors like HP and Canon inkjets, you too can get free, genuine endorsements in the form of raving comments for your brand on HN.

I'd also happily endorse my Fluke multimeter, or my Mitutoyo digital calipers, or my Wiha screwdriver set. If you make great products that people like to use, people will leave positive feedback for you. This kind of endorsement is exactly what shills are trying to copy, so it does look similar.

Disclaimer: I'm yet another happy Brother owner. I love my 2380DW, which I recently bought to replace my first Brother laser (I forget the model number) that had served me well for more than a decade. That's in sharp contrast to the crappy HP inkjet I bought my first year of college, which lasted less than one semester, and my wife's several inkjets through her college days (now, obviously, she uses the Brother laser) and my parent's various inkjet struggles. Some 5 years ago, I set them up with a 2730DW, and the first service I've had to do for them was to change the wifi password a few months ago when they changed ISPs.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25008894

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24977699

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