HP instant ink - anyone use this? or not? Worth it?

seeker

Sun, Dec 06 2015, 2:28 pm

If anyone's been following my black friday printer saga - I HAVE A PRINTER!!! Set it up. It's working ok. Print quality surprisingly hasn't changed all that much since the last time I had an inkjet. But I wanted color and the color lasers are both expensive and massive. This is supposedly good print quality, according to reviews. Maybe my trial image wasn't the best? Hrmmm.

Anyway, it came with a coupon for instant ink (1 month free** if you act within 7 days*!)

I'm not sure I fully understand how it works but wonder whether anyone has an opinion on this. Basically if you print an average of 50 or fewer pages per month, then you pay $3 a month or $36 a year and they send you new ink whenever yours is running low (they count pages to determine whether you're sticking to the plan, and detect low ink over the internet somehow.)

The ink itself costs more than $36 to fully replace all the cartridges ($40 for set of 3 color cartridges, and something like $18 for a black one - I forget exactly) but I don't know if I'd even go through one of each cartridge in a year.

I have not had a printer at home for a while and have been printing at the library very conservatively so I'm not sure how much I should expect to use it now that I have it at home. My kids are clever, somehow even though they have never lived with a printer they caught on right when they saw the box and already started placing orders LOL

(mommy now that we have the printer you can make 20 copies of my picture so I can give one to all my friends! Everyone NEEDS my artwork!) Then for myself, my main printing needs/wishes are going to be:
- Occasional forms and stuff for things like insurance renewals, rebates/coupons, etc.
- Stuff for my teaching work: forms/planning outlines/schedules, materials to use with kids - not much because mostly I work with their classwork but I do like to bring supplemental materials, organizing outlines, printable games, stuff like that. Maybe a couple of things per week.
- Now that I have a printer I'm hoping to do some things I've been meaning to around the house, like create visual schedules for my kids and picture labels for toys and such.
- Would like to print business cards and flyers to promote my side business. This may turn out to be my biggest usage. Not sure how much I'll do because I haven't done it before, but even if I don't run any marketing campaign every single month, when I do decide to spread out flyers that could easily be over 50 full-color pages all at once.

Trying to figure out if this would be a good deal or not. Standard cartridges for this printer say they yield about 400 pages each. So if my usage is about average, at 50 pages per month (which rolls over so if I don't run any flyers one month I could run 100 next month) I should expect to need new cartridges after 8 months. So $3 a month sounds like a pretty good deal. I just don't want to take the chance of getting suckered into another ongoing expense...

Thoughts?

Amarante

Sun, Dec 06 2015, 2:53 pm

I am using it and am very satisfied. Saves me a trip to the store and having to remember what number replacements I need. I am not a heavy printer since I don't like paper so I try to scan and email and save stuff on the computer. To me, it's well worth it. I just got my first shipment a few days ago as I ran out of the initial ink supply from when I got the printer in April - shows how little I actually print LOL

youngishbear

Sun, Dec 06 2015, 3:01 pm

I have read reviews that claim that it is a good deal. I plan to set mine up soon. What can I lose at this price per month? If nothing else, staggering the payments over a few months will make me feel less guilty about the expense.

seeker

Sun, Dec 06 2015, 3:24 pm

youngishbear wrote:

Good point. I am terrible about those things that sneak up occasionally, like WHAMMO - out of ink, did you happen to have an extra $70 lying around? THough with separate cartridges it could be less at a time it's probably more in total...

I guess the other question is whether cheap substitutes work. I heard (of course after choosing the printer...d'oh) that HP programs their printers in such a way as to make it impossible to use off-brands or DIY refills but I'm sure people have figured out a way around it...? I heard that with laser printers this could wreck the printer but with inkjets the only risk is that your print quality might be lower, in which case you learn your lesson.

With printers going for $20-30 every black friday it's cheaper to buy new printers than new ink. But in my experience cheaper but not easier Wink

And then there's the wastage issue (of throwing away a printer every year) which I guess the companies aren't worried about.

Amarante

Sun, Dec 06 2015, 4:03 pm

It's not worth it to me to use cheap ink. I don't print enough for me to want to deal with messing up the printer and for the $3 a month, it's definitely easier to use their program.

I hated picking out a new printer but I am very happy with the one I got. But there are so many choices that my eyeballs began to roll around reading the reviews.

It's really no risk to use the HP program because I can stop at anytime and it is certainly work $3 or $4 a month never have to think about ink.

out-of-towner

Sun, Dec 06 2015, 6:40 pm

I set up a client of mine with it, and it seems like they are happy with it. The thing that I like is that it comes with its own email address so I can send documents to my client when I need to (client is elderly and not so computer savvy).

seeker

Thu, Dec 10 2015, 10:34 pm

Just so you know, in case anyone is following this, I went to their website to sign up because I got a coupon for one month free if I sign up within 7 days of registering my new printer. But when I got there it says you get SIX months free for new signups using coupon code holiday15. You really can't beat that! I am going to go for it. I'm not sure if I got this correctly but I'm pretty sure you can change your plan type any time so I wonder if I can sign up for a 100 page per month plan, Print All The Things, and then downgrade to the less expensive one after the 6 months. Think that would work or is it too good to be true? Seems like an amazing deal even if it only applies to the smaller plan. I can't imagine it gets better than this. if you have a compatible HP printer, go go go!

I also wonder if there is a time limit for the discount on when you install the instant ink cartridge. My understanding is that their billing starts after you install, but you can sign up and just save the cartridges for when your old ones get used up and then start the instant ink. So I wonder if I just save the instant ink for later will I still get the free months... I didn't see any clarification on this in the details.

seeker

Thu, Dec 10 2015, 10:57 pm

out-of-towner wrote:

Can you explain - if you email something to the printer address it just comes out of the printer on paper?

interesting!

youngishbear

Thu, Dec 10 2015, 11:15 pm

seeker wrote:

I don't think there's special ink, is there? My understanding was that it's a regular ink, but the machine sends a page count and ink content update via the internet, and they automatically send you new ink when it calculates that you need it.

Or not?

youngishbear

Thu, Dec 10 2015, 11:16 pm

seeker wrote:

Can you explain - if you email something to the printer address it just comes out of the printer on paper?

interesting!

Yes! I haven't set it up yet (home wifi issues) but that's the idea.

Any idea till when the promo code is valid?

seeker

Thu, Dec 10 2015, 11:22 pm

its on the instant ink homepage, I think 12/30 but don't recall.
it's regular ink but in a special cartridge that communicates with the program. so your payment plan doesn't start until you install the cartridge.

youngishbear

Fri, Dec 11 2015, 1:11 pm

seeker wrote:

You're right, the new webpage is much clearer.
I signed up - thanks for the sale code tip - and set up the email address. At first it's a random string of numbers and letters but then they let you customize it! I tried to email stuff and it prints.

Ah the wonders of modern technology...