Ink Cartridges

For over a year, I have been replacing the ink cartridges on my HP InkJet with re-manufactured cartridges from Office Depot. We have had good luck with them, and saves some money. Over the past six months, however, our printing needs have dwindled and the printer was rarely used.

At any rate, the last two sets of cartridges were half full (according to the computer) and print horribly. I cleaned and realigned to no avail. Arg.

After several attempts, today I decided to take all four cartridges in to Office Depot for my $3 each and purchase HP cartridges, even though they are more expensive.

As I told the associate my plight, he informed me that most OEM cartridges are petroleum based, where as the re-manufactured cartridges are soy based, which cause the ink to congeal much easier.

While I have not researched this petroleum based ink yet, it made sense for two reasons:
1. Congealed ink was visible on three if the four cartridges.
2. The re-manufactured cartridge box had "Soy Ink" printed on the box!

I think if we printed more frequently, I never would have noticed or had this problem. Other than pictures nit being as crisp, the re-manufactured cartridges worked well.

So, if your cartridges flip out or print words like bar codes, try the OEM cartridges!