"Planned Obsolescence Strikes Again" Topic

My less than two year old printer (bought 12/2014) just died from some "internal problem".

Any printer repair shops around me don't mess with inkjet printers.

The manufacturer isn't interested in fixing it, but is willing to sell me a new one. Free shipping, $80 USD discount (which brings it down to about the same price as Best Buy) an a 10% "customer loyalty" discount.

Given the prices for any kind of equipment servicing these days it's just cheaper/easier to replace them when they break.

I started buying off brand ink off ebay and made sure I didn't get a printer with a chip in it that tells the drivers to no longer print after a certain number of pages. Brother's ink jets tend to be both 3rd party ink friendly and not have artificial lifespans. Though they are still cheaper than repair costs so it doesn't really solve the issue, just changes it.

Leaving more for those post apocalypse guys to salvage in the future. Look on the bright side tberry ;)

I once saw a cheap printer, that used separate cartridges for each color, on sale at Walmart.

It was literally cheaper to buy a new printer (that included the ink cartridges) than a buy a complete set of new ink cartridges!

I always use 3rd party ink (LD Products). I just got off the phone with them about returning the unused ink (the new printer doesn't use them). Not only will they take them back they also sent a pre-paid shipping label!

Yep, a pity, since it probably only need s $2 USD part, but they don't sell those either, I suspect.

Yep, ink is liquid gold.

The individual colors for the ink cartridges are a great idea though, since invariably one color runs out way before the others do.

I must be odd man out. My HP Laserjet is, I think, 9 years old. My Canon color inkjet is at least 5….

Another thumbs up for HP. Mines a 10 year old Deskjet.

Mine started acting up this weekend. The black will only print in sort of a "ghost font". Not unevenly or anything, just faintly, like a reverse stencil. Seems suspicious to me.

My HP ink jet is now 22 years old, and still going. I am amazed that I can still get HP ink for it

Mike

I use Epson inkjets and they have lasted many, many years plus I can buy after market ink for just a couple of bucks a pop.

It was literally cheaper to buy a new printer (that included the ink cartridges) than a buy a complete set of new ink cartridges!

Back when the incuded ink cartridges were full sized, I had a friend that did just that. Had a stack of about a dozen printers from which he had scavenged the cartridges.
Of course, he didn't worry about the printer breaking down, either.

Well my HP was doing fine 4 years on, then I started using referbed ink cartridges I bought on Amazon and it was all downhill from there! Basically got a set of six for less than the price of one new HP black ink cart. The black ink started streaking and then clogged and stopped printing. No amount of print head cleaning fixed it. Oddly the colors worked fine! Bottom line new printer – Now HP has this "Instant Ink" plan which you pay a monthly fee for a set amount of pages.

Looking for new printer now….maybe not HP.

@tberry -- thanks for the link to LD Products. Good prices!

Buy inks and you can get a printer for free:

link

I've always refilled my old cartridges. For my current several years old Brother I bought a set of empty refillable cartridges from China that have resettable chips – I would suggest to anyone that you look this option up for your own printer.

My HP ink jet is now 22 years old, and still going

Sounds like that's what HP would call a factory defect.

HP ceased to allow the driver for my printer to be downloaded from their site. It was an expensive printer, and I am not happy. Alternative drivers do not print properly. I have now purchased my last HP product as I have had many bad experiences with their PCs as well.

It was an expensive printer…

For a long time the HP was known as High Priced.

They still are.

Have you seen the retail price for their inks?

Liquid gold, literally.

I've never regretted buying a laser printer. Keeps on ticking and you get a ton of pages per cartridgethingie.

I'd rather scratch the document into stone tablets than deal with inkjets.

My biggest concern with "planned obsolescence" of late is less about printers and computers, and more about my own.

Parts are very hard to get, expensive to install, and rarely work as well as the original equipment.

Fast forward 10 years on TMP and this discussion will be about 3-D printers… ;-)