PC Peripherals Got an AIO, now what?

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6pack

Northstar
Got an HP DJ F4185 today. Also got a black and colour cartridge with it.
What i want to know is how long will these last? 100 pages or less?
Need to keep backup cartridge handy incase these new ones finish off in a month or so.

Also can these be refilled and from where to get the refills? Saw the combo pack on ebay. with a discount coupon its cheap. also saw some syringe device used to clean the cartridge :S

cartridges used are the 21 and 22 ones.
had also seen about some ink bottles for refill. if i get one of those would the cartridge head fail if the ink is dirty or not of same viscocity?
 
^ thanks. just saw a video on how to refill those cartridges. Do you get any smudged ink after refilling? and is it necessary to remove some ink from the cartridge after refilling it?

and is the ink dark blue or black? i've seen some printers printing some dark blueish colour instead of black.
 
well i need to print a couple of pages to get the ink to flow. it prints normally after that.

and yes the ink is black.
 
Good choice of AIO.

Don't bother to refill the demo cartridges but don't throw them away either. They are only 2 or 3 ml capacity.

Better than going in for the combo pack (HP discounts it at 15% with respect to separates) go and buy yourself a HP21B. It should cost you about Rs 350/- original. If your use is anything like mine, you will be using far more black than colour. There is no similar cheap option for the HP22. If you purchase smartly, you'll get it for Rs 833/- or less in Mumbai. If your use is going to be heavy, please consider buying the XL versions of these cartridges. They cost about 50% more but contain about 150% more ink.

Now you are in business. If you get your cartridges filled by small time guys it costs you just about 50-75 bucks for black and 100 - 175 for colour regardless of how much ink they have to put in. Thats where you get far more ink if you used the HP21/22 XL versions. Go to someone who has been recommended by a satisfied customer. The big brand guys will charge you a lot and it will not be worth when you know that the HP21B costs just Rs 350/- for a new one.

In the long term, you must refill your own.
 
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^ hey thanks. you're right about black usage. i most probably will use black more than colour. so i should get a normal hp22 cartridge for colour and a hp21b for black.

Is 21b compatible with my printer? it does not come up in the compatibility list.

found out that prices for the xl versions are almost twice the normal ones but give around 400 pages output.

HP 21 XL Black (C9351CA) - Rs 1375.00

HP 22 XL Color (C9352CA) - Rs 1585.00

seems value for money.
 
First of all, thanks for the Reps.
6pack said:
^ hey thanks. you're right about black usage. i most probably will use black more than colour. so i should get a normal hp22 cartridge for colour and a hp21b for black.
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My colour usage is very limited. In such a case, it would be better for me to use the HP22 rather than the XL because I might lose out on output due to drying ink before I can exploit the cartridge capacity. Similar logic may apply in your case.
6pack said:
Is 21b compatible with my printer? it does not come up in the compatibility list.
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21B is identical to the HP21 but uses value ink as opposed to standard ink. I am pretty sure that value ink is better than the refill inks in any case. They don't advertise it because they don't want to loose profitable business on the HP21. Under the right circumstances, their sales people will slip out this info. :)
6pack said:
found out that prices for the xl versions are almost twice the normal ones but give around 400 pages output.

HP 21 XL Black (C9351CA) - Rs 1375.00
HP 22 XL Color (C9352CA) - Rs 1585.00
seems value for money.
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You will get quotes for them around 10% cheaper from retailers. However, the XL versions are not so easily available at least in the suburbs.
Again as I said, it may not work out to be VFM if ink dries up before you can use it.
One more tip for your AIO.
The F2120 that I have is somewhat similar to the F4185 and does not have a main power switch as such. It only has a ON button on the panel. By default, the printer turns on when it is powered even before you press the ON button. Therefore, if you have a common mains switch for all your peripherals and PC, your printer will turn on every time even when you don't need it. Find a way to avoid this. I understand the printer goes through a nozzle cleaning process each time it is powered on and that consumes ink.
 
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Thanks for the tips. The f4185 turns on by default too. And the cartridges seem to do some work. I think i'll keep it separate from the comp mains. dont want to waste ink.

Also how long does it take for the inks to dry?
 
6pack said:
Also how long does it take for the inks to dry?
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Can't give you an authoritative reply on that but there would be variables.
1. For instance the quality of the ink (The original ink is expected to dry faster on paper but somehow not in the cartridge)
2. We enjoy the advantage of being in Mumbai where even our clothes don't dry :)
I think a bit of printing once a week should be absolutely safe. In all probability, a month should be good enough too but can't guarantee that.
 
6pack said:
Is 21b compatible with my printer? it does not come up in the compatibility list.
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My email to HP:
I have the F2120 AIO. The cartridges recommended for it are HP21 and HP22. I understand that there is also a HP21B which is similar to the HP21 but uses value ink instead of standard ink. I would like to know if the HP21B is interchangeable with the HP21 and can be used in its place.
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And their reply to me:
Hello XXXX,

Thank you for contacting HP Customer Care.

I understand from your email that you wanted information regarding the ink cartridges on your HP Deskjet F2100 All-in-One series.

I understand your concern and try to provide you the appropriate information regarding this.

XXXX,I am happy to inform you that you can use the 21B in exchange for the HP 21 ink cartridge.If you need further assistance, please reply to this message and we will be happy to assist you further.

You may receive a call survey regarding your e-mail support experience. We would appreciate your feedback.

Sincerely,

Nokhono

HP Email Support Team
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bumping this after long time. I used the 21B HP original cartridge. seems they use some cheap dye ink in it. Black color looks green while printing. Also it dried out quite quickly in the cartridge. Could manage only about less than 50 pages till now on it :S

So thinking of getting some pigment ink from ebay and refill the cartridge by myself.

BRANDED FOTO REFILL INK FOR HP CANON & LEXMARK PRINTERS, FACTORY SEALED 4X100ml | eBay

Is this a good buy?

I read somewhere that we should use pigment inks for normal paper and dye inks for glossy paper. Since I'll be using normal paper only, I'm opting for this pigment ink.

Was also thinking of a ciss for my aio, but seems too complicated for my printer.
 
I definitely found the HP21B ink lighter than HP21 but it was not greenish. Dark grey perhaps.

I also did not have the problem of low number of printed pages.

Refilling should work for you. Typically, these cartridges can easily be refilled between 5 to 10 times.
 
Update: Got the inks. Refilled the black and tri colours. Blacks are just like HP original inks. Cant make out the difference.

I botched up the cartridge while refilling. Got some Magenta in Yellow sponge when it overflowed. :ashamed: Got ink all over my fingers too. Next time I'm using gloves.

Magenta was leaking for about 3 hrs on a piece of cloth. It happened cause I refilled the starter cartridge. I think it holds only about 3 ml max of each colour. Will get a 22XL next time. Should be able to hold about 10ml of each colour. In contrast I filled the normal 21B black with about 6ml of black ink and it didnt overflow.

The magenta prints dark red (like apple red), yellow prints orange (maybe cause the 2 colours got mixed up in sponge inside), and cyan prints almost Navy blue. Is it cause of limited colour gamut of printer?

I was trying this test image to check colour rendition on normal paper.

cmyktest.png


Uploaded with ImageShack.us
 
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