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HP printers should have EPEAT ecolabels revoked, trade group demands

arstechnica.com

21–30 of 45 posts

Re: HP printers should have EPEAT ecolabels revoked, trade group demands

#21
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I found a simple workaround too — not buying HP printers. Nor other HP products.

That’s the “correct” direct action of course. However, other printer brands are ever hard at work to copy HP’s advances . So when buying a printer, make sure to research in depth.

do they actually have any advances worth their intentional maliciousness?

Re: HP printers should have EPEAT ecolabels revoked, trade group demands

#22

Get an Epson EcoTank printer. Ink for those is available in *bottles* from Epson, it's dirt cheap. No more cartridges! Make sure to get one which has a user-replaceable "maintenance box", the cheaper ones have a fixed one. You can find that out by e.g. looking at the supplies list on the Epson website, see if the maintenance box is listed alongside the ink. The box contains the sponge where ink goes to during the cle…

>Make sure to get one which has a user-replaceable "maintenance box", the cheaper ones have a fixed one

That seems really sneaky. Making a sponge replaceable isn't hard or expensive.

Re: HP printers should have EPEAT ecolabels revoked, trade group demands

#23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I found a simple workaround too — not buying HP printers. Nor other HP products.

I own several HP LaserJet, including the 4M+ "upgraded" with more memory / fonts / an ethernet adapter etc. Amazing machines for the time. So I'm an "old HP printers" fan. And yet I'd never ever buy anything from HP. FWIW I'm very happy with Brother. We've got several Brother laser printers and "laser printer + scanner" and we're very happy with these. Zero problem. HP fell really low.

"Buy a laser printer" is maybe the best workaround. Preferably a slightly older one. Inkjet printers have little competition (3 manufacturers that hold the patents) and are sold in a "give away the razor, sell the blades" type of deal. This is creeping into some of the laser printers lately, and of course there's still differences between brands, but if you pick up a random inkjet printer and a random laser printer you will have far less trouble with the laser printer.

Re: HP printers should have EPEAT ecolabels revoked, trade group demands

#24
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s the “correct” direct action of course. However, other printer brands are ever hard at work to copy HP’s advances . So when buying a printer, make sure to research in depth.

do they actually have any advances worth their intentional maliciousness?

They are currently being manufactured, and HP occasionally acquires superior competitors, then adds this crap to their existing models’ firmware.

I guess that’s an “advance” in their ability to extract rent from 30 year old IP.

Re: HP printers should have EPEAT ecolabels revoked, trade group demands

#25
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I found a simple workaround too — not buying HP printers. Nor other HP products.

That’s the “correct” direct action of course. However, other printer brands are ever hard at work to copy HP’s advances . So when buying a printer, make sure to research in depth.

I've heard that it's pointless to research, just go with Brother.

Re: HP printers should have EPEAT ecolabels revoked, trade group demands

#26
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s the “correct” direct action of course. However, other printer brands are ever hard at work to copy HP’s advances . So when buying a printer, make sure to research in depth.

do they actually have any advances worth their intentional maliciousness?

I think fuzzy2 was saying other companies want to copy HPs maliciousness and also lock down their own cartridges. "advances" was referring to that maliciousness.

Re: HP printers should have EPEAT ecolabels revoked, trade group demands

#27
post #11

Again it is very much an Inkjet problem. If only we could somehow get Colour Laser to sell below say $149.

Color lasers are available for $250. I challenge you to find an inkjet that is cheaper over a 24 month period, regardless of print volume.

There used to be $150 color lasers from samsung, but HP acquired the business.

Re: HP printers should have EPEAT ecolabels revoked, trade group demands

#28

I found a surprisingly simple workaround... Put a resistor, about 1kohm, in the power line to the security chip on the cartridge. Now, whenever the printer tries to read data from the chip, it works. Whenever it tries to record data to the chip (for example, marking the cartridge as empty), that uses more power, and the memory chip doesn't respond. Amazingly, the whole setup just works and prints forever, saying the…

So now they'll make software mods to verify the write to that chip.

Re: HP printers should have EPEAT ecolabels revoked, trade group demands

#29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I found a simple workaround too — not buying HP printers. Nor other HP products.

I own several HP LaserJet, including the 4M+ "upgraded" with more memory / fonts / an ethernet adapter etc. Amazing machines for the time. So I'm an "old HP printers" fan. And yet I'd never ever buy anything from HP. FWIW I'm very happy with Brother. We've got several Brother laser printers and "laser printer + scanner" and we're very happy with these. Zero problem. HP fell really low.

I agree on the Brother laser point. I picked one up for $160 new, just a nice compact black and white laser printer with wireless. It has a simple HTTP status page and all my wired and wireless devices can print to it without issue. Fast, too - it's usually done before I get to the printer.

Re: HP printers should have EPEAT ecolabels revoked, trade group demands

#30
post #25
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s the “correct” direct action of course. However, other printer brands are ever hard at work to copy HP’s advances . So when buying a printer, make sure to research in depth.

I've heard that it's pointless to research, just go with Brother.

I’ve followed this advice for years, with a 100% success rate
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