HP F380 cartridges

[deso]

It's the usual story - the printer is cheap but replacement cartridges cost a fortune. In the past I've always managed to find suppliers of compatible cartridges for my printers at a fraction of the 'genuine' cartridge price, and always with no loss of quality. I presume that because this is a new model the compatible manufacturers haven't caught up yet, but has anyone had more luck than me for this particular model yet?

[Buenchico]

If you use a printer which uses cartridges which are common to a large number of models from the same manufacturer, you can usually get hold of cheap 'compatible' cartridges easily. (e.g. my Canon printer uses cartridges that cost �2 or �3 each). This is because there are plenty of used cartridges available for 're-manufacturing' or, alternatively, because it's worth an independent firm actually manufacturing their own compatible cartridges (rather than just re-filling empty 'genuine' cartridges).

If your printer uses relatively uncommon cartridges, there won't be many used cartridges available for 'remanufacturing' and it won't make economic sense for an independent firm to make the cartridges themselves.

The cartridges for the F380 fall into the latter category, so you'll always have to pay relatively high prices, even for remanufactured cartridges. However, these are now coming onto the market:
http://www.tonik.co.uk/XC9351A/701543/kzmp/

Chris

[Hugh Spencer]

I have tried compatible cartridges but not completely successful. I have installed Inksaver software which you can adjust from 25% to 75% saving. For normal use I use 75% without any severe drop in quality.