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Do I have to use hewlett packard inks with a hewlett packard printer?

Before I buy a hewlett packard printer (it's in a sale at whsmith-half price at £47.94!) and it comes with inks included! However, to buy hp inks (which are damned expensive in the 1st place!) replacements, are there any cheaper inks that are compatible with hp printers that I can use? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE ADVISE!!!!!

Public Comments

1. You can use other brands of ink but I have found that most of them will cause problems after time (leaky) or just don't have the quality of the manufacturers ones. That goes for all the mjor brands.
2. The inks cartridges provided with the printer are low capacity and won't last very long. There are plenty of places that do "compatible" ink and I've never had any problems with them. HP ink has a reputation for being very stable and not fading so it's worth buying it for printing photos.
3. Yes you can get cartridges at Comet and PCWorld etc. who do compatible ones to fit, just look for the number to match yours. Mine have numbers 58, 57, 56. 56 is black, from PCWorld
4. Try on this site on the link. I buy both original and compatibles from them and they are reliable. Click on the printer model you want to buy and the ink for it will come up and tell you how much it is - they also do refills. http://www.inkntoneruk.co.uk/printers/hp/ Also you could try refilling. Another thing I do and only buy a new cartridge after 4 refills and contra to popular belief refilling does not damage you printer I've done it for years. Type in the model and make of the printer and it will tell you how to refill or that currently they can't be. You can buy the kits in Wilkinson's, Asda, Tesco ETC so if the kit you buy does not have the instructions for your one then just follow the one on the link. http://www.jettecrefill.com/index.asp
5. Yes,even tesco sell their own brand ink for hp printers,however they are not much cheaper.Also with non hp ink,you cannot find your ink levels using the hp software.When buying a printer,check the cartridge prices,not the printer.Thats why they sell printers cheap.