Aibu to ask printer advice following hp update

[londonrach]

Following hp update my 'cheap' (£28 for both) Tesco ink cartridges are unable to be used on my hp printer. That's means we have to pay £50 plus for hp cartridges which last less than a week. No interest in their instant ink sigh up. Much as I hate to waste a working printer we looking to replacing the printer.

What does everyone use to print at home that doesn't cost a week's shopping for an ink cartridges. Thank you for your help. X

Following as I'm in the same boat

Not sure if this is possible for your model but for mine you can remove the microchip from a used cartridge that works and insert it into an own brand cartridge which will then work though the printer will wrongly believe it’s nearly empty and keep telling you to buy a new one (ignore and just replace when the print quality declines). There are YouTube videos showing how to do this.

It is such a scam though. For anyone who has an HP printer but doesn’t yet have this problem - set it not to update its firmware.

I have a cheap Canon printer that accepts knock off cartridges. Having said that I’m an occasional printer so not doing loads.

SIL was saying the same about her hp last week. She cancelled her subscription and couldn’t even use the ink she had already. Absolute rip off.

I think what happens is that Tescos cartridges haven't kept up with the chip updates. I get mine (copies) from a cartridge supply shop and this sometimes happens. I've always been able to pop back to the shop, exchange the cartridges for the latest ones just arrived and the shop sends the non-working ones back to be re-chipped : programmed. The other thing to do in the future is to use a black marker pen and colour in the clear part of the cartridge at the top where the black floating paddle can be seen (when full). As the cartridge empires, the paddle drops and the printer will prematurely tell you that you need a new carriage. By keeping an eye on the ink level yourself, you can then refill the cartridge by hand (ink refill kits are really cheap) before the cartridge is completely empty and therefore before the chip "knows" that it's empty and refuses to work. I think the whole thing is a con, you own the printer and it should be your own choice what inks you buy to use with it. I'm surprised that in the UK at least, that this type of extortion is even legal.

Why don't you want to use instant ink? I do and think it's great value.

Just made the news:

www.msn.com/en-gb/money/technology/millions-hit-by-home-printing-block-you-must-use-official-and-expensive-ink-or-your-printer-gets-disabled/ar-AA1b5b16?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=db208864c35e45ee808d9c69f976e9dd&ei=20

@KrisAkabusi the pricing for HP Instant ink starts at 99p for ten pages per month. The most popular according to HP today is 100 pages for £4.99 a month. My cheap copies cost £7 a cartridge and last for several 100s of pages. My refill ink costs £5.49 for three colours or 7.99 including black ink and I can refill each carriage three times. That's a lot cheaper and there is no noticeable difference in quality. Printer ink is expensive as it is the one commodity you need to print. The printers by comparison are nearly free as they are the means by which more ink can be sold. Not everyone can afford the higher pricing. I can but choose not to.

And to complete the picture, there have been a number of class action settlements against HP in recent years for exactly this practice, for example: www.theverge.com/2023/3/11/23635168/hp-printer-update-brick-third-party-ink-dynamic-security#:~:text=In%202020%2C%20HP%20reached%20a,supply%20cartridges%20incompatible%20with%20HP