Cheapest Place To Buy Canon Ink Cartridges
Depending on the ink producer, both compatible and remanufactured cartridges may be of the same high quality as the original ones. So answering your question where is the cheapest printer ink, we recommend looking for such companies and buying from them directly, with no intermediaries.
cheapest place to buy canon ink cartridges
In a recent Consumer Reports printer survey, we found that having to replace ink cartridges too often was among the most common complaints, with full 28 percent of all inkjet printers needing overly frequent ink replacements, according to our members.
For example, the CR-recommended Canon Pixma G4210 sells for approximately $300. That might sound like a lot, but thanks to those sub-$20 bottles of ink, it's actually one of the cheapest printers you can buy in the long run. After just two years the savings are significant when you compare it with many models in our ratings that cost less up front but then quickly run through expensive ink cartridges.
Canon, Epson, Best Buy, and Amazon Dash offer subscription services as well. Like HP, they employ printers that monitor ink usage and communicate with the supplier via a WiFi connection. Not all the plans are based on printed pages, though. Some simply order replacement cartridges when your ink supplies run low.
For some people, aftermarket inks provide a welcome alternative to the high-priced replacement cartridges made by printer manufacturers. Typically sold by third parties in cartridges that have been recycled and refilled, they offer significant savings.
Most Canon printers that use black and tri-color cartridges are inexpensive. Also known as a integrated printer cartridges because they have a built-in printhead, these types of cartridges can be pricey to replace and if you print often, you will likely spend more on replacement ink than the price of the printer. The black cartridge uses strictly black ink and the tri-color cartridge has three separate chambers that are filled with cyan, magenta and yellow ink.
The biggest gripe people have with these cartridges is the inefficiency of the tri-color cartridge: when one of the colors in the cartridge starts to get low, you need to replace the entire cartridge to continue printing. This means replacement costs add up fast if you do a lot of color printing.
A Canon printer that uses individual ink cartridges is a better option for most because each color cartridge can be replaced as needed. Compared to individual ink cartridges or the MegaTank ink bottles that we discuss later in this article, black and tri-color cartridges are also the least ink efficient, meaning your printer is generally more expensive to operate when you compare the cost per page.
Printers that use individual ink cartridges are a smart buy because each cartridge can be replaced as needed. That means, if you are running low on cyan, you just need to replace that color and can continue printing. Many customers wonder if they need to have all the cartridges installed to print. The answer is YES. If one of the cartridges is missing from your printer it will not operate.
Our favorite Canon ink cartridges right now are the Canon PGI-280 / CL-281 series. These are widely available (many new PIXMA printers use them) and their high yield and extra high yield options are filled with a generous amount of ink, so the need for replacement is rare.
Whether you've started to run low or you're now completely out of ink, you can be in for a nasty surprise when it comes time to replace your cartridges or bottles. Some ink bundles can cost up to your printer's original price, making refills costly. Printers themselves can also have a low page yield, so you're stuck constantly replacing your ink cartridges if you want to keep printing, which can quickly add up over time. Additionally, finding a printer with cheap ink isn't only about the cost of new cartridges but how cost-efficient their cartridges are over time. Generally, the most cost-effective printers are a bit more expensive, but dishing out the extra money is often worth it, thanks to the much larger page yields.
Our pick for the best budget printer with cheap ink is the Brother MFC-J1205W, also known as the Brother MFC-J1215W at Walmart. It's very similar to our mid-range pick, the Brother MFC-J4335DW, but as it's a more affordable model, it does come with some tradeoffs. Like most Brother printers, the cartridges are a bit expensive compared to other budget printers; however, it's still a cost-effective option since you can get a lot more pages out of the cartridges, meaning you won't have to replace them too often. The tradeoffs are that it can't automatically print double-sided, the scanner lacks an automatic feeder, and there aren't any high-yield cartridges available for this model. That said, it's still a good choice if you're only looking for a budget printer with cheap ink and don't mind losing some features.
The best color laser printer with cheap toner we've tested is the Canon imageCLASS MF743Cdw, a feature-rich model designed for small or home offices. It has plenty of connectivity options, including Wi-Fi, USB, and Ethernet, and you can also print directly off a USB flash drive. Its ADF-equipped scanner produces high-quality scans, processes double-sided sheets in a single pass, and supports optical character recognition, allowing you to scan documents into text files for quick keyword searches. The toner cartridges are expensive but last a long time, so your running cost will remain low. Also, the drum is built into the cartridges, meaning you won't have to spend more money to replace it. As for its printing performance, it produces amazingly sharp documents, and while it's a little slow to warm up, it prints quickly at up to 29 pages per minute once it gets going.
Takeaway: "Cheapest" is a relative term when it comes to printer ink. Carrot Ink doesn't advertise a super-low price on its homepage the way other sites do, and we couldn't find any cartridges selling for less than $6.95. But in our comparison of seven replacement ink cartridges, Carrot Ink's prices for replacement toner cartridges as well as ink cartridges were almost always the cheapest by at least a buck or two (and by $5 in one instance). Selection was good too: Carrot Ink had ink in stock for all but one of the printers in our price survey. Up-to-date, professional, objective reviews of online printer ink retailers are nearly impossible to find, but in the past, Carrot Ink has earned good feedback from most customers. It also has one of the lowest price thresholds for free shipping among the retailers we surveyed. However, it also accepts the fewest forms of payment.
Takeaway: No online printer ink vendor earns more positive reviews than 4inkjets, which earns strong user reviews at both Reseller Ratings and Bizrate Surveys. Customer service is 4inkjets' strong suit: Its lifetime guarantee is the most generous among the retailers we surveyed, and the customer service phone line is open on Saturdays; some other sellers keep only Monday-to-Friday hours. We found far fewer complaints about cartridges that malfunction or leak than for other retailers, although negative reviews do exist. We also found a handful of complaints about shipments that didn't show up, were incomplete, or took a long time to arrive. To their credit, customer service representatives have responded to most negative reviews we saw. Prices aren't always the cheapest, but 4inkjets is usually within a couple dollars of the lowest-priced competitor, and most consumers seem perfectly happy to pay a little more for ink they say they can rely on.
Takeaway: 123inkjets gets generally positive reviews from consumers, but buyers are not as enthusiastic about this replacement ink vendor as they are about 4inkjets. Reviewers are more apt to complain about receiving defective cartridges, and we found more reports of poor customer service, as well. Prices vary by printer and brand, but the fact that 123inkjets tends to be a few dollars more expensive than competitors doesn't seem to be an issue with buyers. The retailer is also the only one that accepts Amazon Pay, in addition to PayPal and traditional forms of payment, a nice plus. One drawback: 123inkjets has the highest free-shipping threshold among the sites we researched.
If you opt to buy printer ink online, keep in mind that the cartridges offered by the cheapest places typically are not branded ink from the company that made your printer (known in the industry as the original equipment manufacturer).
An alternative to buying replacement printer ink cartridges is to refill the empty ones you already have. You can buy do-it-yourself kits online, but consumers who have tried them warn that they're very messy and not worth the hassle. A few years ago, you could just go to a store like Cartridge World, Costco, or Fry's to have your cartridges refilled, but Costco no longer offers that service, Fry's is no longer in business, and Cartridge World has shifted its focus to business customers. We recommend saving yourself the hassle and just buying replacement ink cartridges, rather than trying to refill your empties.
In general, most consumers seem relatively satisfied with the quality of the replacement printer ink they buy, but users make the same complaints no matter which retailer they choose. The most common gripes include colors that aren't consistent or saturated (especially yellow and magenta), inks that clog printer heads, and cartridges that either can't be read by the printer or trigger an "out of ink" warning when still full.
All the replacement printer ink retailers that we review back their products with money-back guarantees, although warranty length varies from brand to brand. The best retailers offer a one- or two-year warranty, plus a grace period of 15 to 30 days to return unopened products for a refund. However, few of them reimburse customers for the cost of return shipping unless there is a clear defect, a sore spot for some reviewers. Most printer ink vendors deliver within a few days and offer free ground shipping on orders over a certain amount, usually between $40 and $55. Although you may be tempted to overload your cart to qualify for free shipping, experts caution against stockpiling ink cartridges. Remember, they can dry out, so any extra cartridges should be stored in an airtight container and used within a few months of purchase. 041b061a72