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Genuine Inks – What’s the deal?

Changing a genuine ink on a hp large format printerAre you wondering if the cost of genuine inks are really worth it? We delve into the differences you can expect from genuine inks and third party inks and let you decide for yourself what the deal is with using genuine ink.

Why is it so important to use genuine ink?

Replacing Canon PRO-1000 with genuine ink

We all understand that buying genuine ink is a costly exercise, but few understand the real merits behind choosing a genuine ink over a so-called third party ink. Manufacturers are constantly developing and improving inks all the time, in fact the technology behind some of the inks is nothing short of incredible. A huge budget goes into the R&D of these inks, to allow the manufacturers to constantly deliver better and better products to the end user.

There are three main differences between the kinds of inks you can buy ?

Original equipment manufacturer (OEM) or Genuine
Ink made by a specific printer manufacturer, for one of its own printers. ?An original ink for a Canon printer is manufactured by Canon, for instance.

Compatible or Third Party
This is a?brand new ink?made by a?third-party manufacturer. They have no affiliation with the original manufacturers of the printer, and the ink tanks / cartridges have not been used before.

Refilled
These are original inks where the tanks /cartridges have been?used once, returned, then cleaned and refilled with compatible or third-party ink.? These are never filled with OEM /genuine ink.

The problem when trying to save money by buying non-genuine inks is that you open yourself up to a potential whole host of problems in doing so. We are talking incorrect colour in ink tanks, wasted media, blocked nozzles and damaged printheads in terms of minor issues, with major problems often leading to multi thousand-pound repair bills and written-off printers.? We?ve even seen cases where carpets and flooring have been destroyed by non-genuine inks leaking out of printers and pooling on the floor! In the UK your warranty will not become void by using third party inks, however, if you do have a fault with a third party ink and it does damage your printer you will have no redress to the printer manufacturer, but will most likely have to track down the manufacturer of the ink and try to prove that it was their ink that damaged your printer. In this instance then, the fault will not lie with the manufacturer and therefore you will not be able to claim under your warranty ? now you see where the problem lies and why we do not recommend third party inks!

Why would you use non genuine inksThe reason genuine inks are so much more costly than third party inks are because of the huge amount of research done into the ink technology, and these costs have to be recovered somehow. As an aside, there is very little money to be made on the sale of the actual printer itself. It is in the sale of the inks where the manufacturers try to cover the costs of this too. ?Research has shown that some third party inks are filled less than genuine inks, therefore there are very little to no savings in cost to be had. Prints also do not generally last as long when printed with third party inks compared to genuine inks and colour accuracy and colour balance often go completely out of the window.

If you look at the technology involved in the making of some of the inks, I doubt very much that any company selling compatibles will be able to achieve the exact formulation to achieve the optimum results on print output.?We know from our Canon printers that the ink has to be jetted through a hole which is a quarter of the diameter of a human hair, for instance! The budgets that go into developing the formulations from the manufacturers are massive and I cannot see how it would be possible to compete. These inks have been designed by the manufacturer to achieve the best possible results when used in their printers. Different ink formulations are made for different printers. They know the intended uses of these printers and the formulations are designed according to the job in which they are intended for. Genuine inks are manufactured for the job in which they are designed to do.

We only sell genuine manufacturer inks here at GDS for Canon, Epson, HP and Latex printers, as we do not think it is worth putting anything else in your printer.

Quick Ink Finder for genuine inks

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