Ink Jet Printer Thieves

After my earlier post about my ink jet printer problems I began to think about all the other issues with inkjet printers that annoy me. The first thing that came to mind was the cheap printer, hugely expensive ink routine. It dawned on me that I always feel slighted when the machine tells me to change ink when i can visibly see ink left in the cartridge. So I did a little research.

I found this interesting study:

The study by TÜV Rheinland looked at inkjet efficiency across multiple brands, including Epson (who commissioned the study), Lexmark, Canon, HP, Kodak, and Brother. They studied the efficiency of both single and multi-ink cartridges. Espon's printers were among the highest rated, at more than 80 percent efficiency using single-ink cartridges. Kodak's EasyShare 5300 was panned as the worst printer tested, wasting 64 percent of its ink in tests. TÜV Rheinland measured cartridge weights before and after use, stopping use when printers reported that they were out of ink.

Can you imagine going to the gas station, paying for a full tank and only getting 40-50% of a tank? This is down right criminal! How do these big companies get away with such flagrant trickery? Only recently has one company improved their reporting, and it's only been by a little, so I commend Epson for their efforts but it leaves the rest of us wondering: how long have ALL the major printer companies been colluding on this activity of cheating their customers?

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070618-study-inkjet-printers-are-filthy-lying-thieves.html