TrustedReviews rates aftermarket ink ahead of OEM ink
Inks supplied by third party suppliers have produced better quality results than higher priced inks supplied by printer manufacturers, according to an inkjet ‘shoot-out’ arranged by the authoritative technology review website www.TrustedReviews.com
The independent survey entitled ‘The Inkjet Investigation’ was carried out by TrustedReviews.com in April 2007. The findings can be downloaded here.
The test was carried out by TrustedReviews’ resident printer expert, Simon Williams, with the results conveyed in a feature entitled ‘The Inkjet Investigation’ published in April 2007. Simon tested four printers (from Canon, Epson, HP and Lexmark) most commonly used by PC users at home and in the office and compared print results using the printer manufacturers’ own branded inks and paper against those supplied by third parties such as Cartridge World, StinkyInk.com, Jettec and InkTecShop.
A judging panel made up of typical print users was then asked to rank and score the 230 different print results that were produced using the different combinations of printer, ink and paper.
Despite the printer manufacturers’ claims that print quality may be impaired if consumers use unbranded consumables in their machines, the test panel found the opposite. According to the report’s author “Our panel preferred prints produced with ink from a third-party provider over those produced with manufacturer’s own products”.
Reaction from the industry
According to Jon Cullen, Cartridge World
He said, “TrustedReviews has done us a favour. Consumers have long known that they can achieve savings – of up to 60 per cent– when buying printer cartridges at Cartridge World but have been put off by the manufacturers’ claims regarding inferior quality. These test results make those claims appear hollow and unfounded”.
John Sollars, Managing Director of Stinkyink.Com, whose products were also tested by the panel, said ‘I was delighted at the results that Trusted Reviews came up with and not particularly surprised. The quality of ink produced by the compatible manufacturers these days is first class and a testament to the amount of resource they put into developing their inks and paper. I wonder if the OEM’s will get the message that they need to start to reduce prices?.’
Vincent Van Dijk, Secretary General of ETIRA, commented “ETIRA welcomes the Trusted Reviews survey results. It proves again that non-OEM products not just equal, but often even outperform the original brands! Other independent consumer surveys as published this year also came up with similar conclusions. Now that our inks are preferred by printer users, it sometimes makes you wonder who actual