Printer ink efficiency tested by Consumer Reports

If you've ever had to buy ink for your printer, you know the frustration of expensive cartridges. So how much ink is your printer really using? Consumer Reports has partnered exclusively with 7 On Your Side to find out.

When it's time to buy new ink cartridges for your printer, the cost can be a real shock. And what if your printer is gobbling up ink that never lands on a page? Consumer Reports' tests of nearly 30 big-name printers found exactly that.

Keeping a printer in ink is one of life's really annoying expenses.

Many don't realize it, but printer ink is one of the most expensive liquids you can buy. Ounce for ounce, it can cost more than fine champagne. So when Consumer Reports' readers complained their printer ink seemed to be disappearing, testers got on the case.

"Ink is used as the printer prepares to print after not being used for a while. So if you print infrequently, that could mean more ink used for maintenance chores like cleaning the print heads," said Paul Reynolds of Consumer Reports

Consumer Reports designed a special test to see how much ink was actually making it onto paper. Testers printed 30 pages of text or color graphics intermittently over a three-week period.

Some printers were much less efficient with ink. The worst offenders used as much as $120 a year in ink that never gets used to print anything. They're the HP Officejet Pro 8600 and the Lexmark OfficeEdge Pro4000.

Test data also showed most brands had printers that used a lot of ink for maintenance as well as ones that were easy on ink.

"If they can keep ink usage down for some, they should be able to keep it down for all their printers," said Reynolds.

But one brand stood out - brother. All three of the brother printers tested were frugal with ink at start-up; a Consumer Reports best buy is the Brother DCP-J140w at $80.

You can save on ink no matter which printer you own by following this advice from Consumer Reports. First, try to print all at once rather than every few days. Also, leave your printer on between jobs. The tiny amount of standby power used will cost much less than the ink used up when the printer turns on.

Consumer Reports is published by Consumers Union. Both Consumer Reports and Consumers Union are not-for-profit organizations that accept no advertising. Neither has any commercial relationship with any advertiser or sponsor on this site.

(All Consumer Reports Material Copyright 2011. Consumers Union of U.S. Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

Get more 7 On Your Side »

consumer reports, hewlett packard, 7 on your side, michael finney

• Comment Now
• Email
• Print
• Report a typo
•