Ink Cartridge Refills vs. Brand New Cartridges

"In the last few decades, intense product rivalries have fueled countless studies, market performance comparisons, surveys and water cooler conversations. There’s Mac vs. Windows, Nikon vs. Canon, Coke vs. Pepsi and Yahoo! vs. Google. And now offices, schools, shops and the blogosphere are once again buzzing with discussions over a new rivalry: ink cartridge refills vs. new and branded cartridges.

Supporters of the two products point out different reasons proving why one is better than the other.
Those who are partial to refills give one reason why their product of choice: they are cheaper than brand new ones. Costing as much as 60% less than branded printer ink cartridges, refills are no longer just an alternative, but, for many, the true answer to all their printing needs.

Environmental activists have also been among the advocates of re-filling as this eliminates the need to dispose of cartridges every time they run out of ink, thus considerably lessening the number of empty cartridges thrown as thrash.

On the other hand, those loyal to brand new cartridges tout quality as the number one reason why people should stick to using the products from Epson, HP, Canon and other brand names. While a study conducted by Quality Logic proved that the quality of refilled cartridges’ print outs when it comes to black and white text are comparable to those of new cartridges, the latter still outdoes the former when it comes to printing documents and photos in color. Photos printed using refilled cartridges, say manufacturers of brand new ink cartridges, fade quicker too.

Despite this though, the fact that refilled cartridges (or compatible ink cartridges for that matter) are more cost-effective however, seem to be enough to convince consumers (particularly, those who use them for simple business and home needs) to switch to refilled cartridges. Records show that the refilling industry is already worth $6.5 billion and that it is expected to grow by 18% in a year. It also experiences a 59% satisfaction rate.

So who will win the competition between refilled and brand new ink cartridges?

With the price of brand new cartridges steadily dropping and the quality of ink refills continuously improving, this battle is still difficult to call. In the meantime, some suggest that those who wish to get the best of both worlds could always employ the two-printer technique: use a printer loaded with brand new cartridges to print documents that require superior quality (e.g. important photos that need to last for decades, company brochures, etc.), and for everything else, save yourself some money and use refilled cartridges.
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Maraya Mullen is a copywriter affiliated with My Westwood, a company that offers ink cartridge refills and compatible ink cartridges .