do i have to buy color ink cartridges? HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus Windows XP

[rebeeng]

This is really bull-crap. Its a way for HP to get more money. I have a cartridge full of black ink, I use mostly black, seldom color (though i want it if i need it!) and it wont allow me to print. I will be buying a different brand next time, Yes you are right HP rep, I will surely investigate before spending almost $200 next time. as its an hour drive just to purchase your silly ink! 

[rebeeng]

I do not blame you! If I could afford it, and werent a single mother in college, mine would go out the door also! This is ridiculous and a way for HP to get more money. What i dont understand, is as I go in and change the settings to print only black almost everytime I pring anything, why my color is DEPLETED!!

[cmcwonderland]

Hello David & HP Employee,

I must agree with David.  I haven't even had this printer for long, hardly ever use color, and somehow my color cartridges continue to empty as I have only selected black and white to print papers for schools, etc.  Sometimes the color option was selected, however, I stopped using color when my cartridges showed to be about a third full.  From this point forward, only black and white was used to print text only documents for my son's elementary school homework.  I also find this grossly misleading on HP's part in terms of their advertising, documentation and markation on the box to not indicate anywhere that color ink must be available to print black and white.  Why, first of all, if one is selecting black ink only, are the color ink cartridges also being emptied??  Logic would indicate that ink is used no matter what....but if one only wanted to print something in yellow, the other ink cartridges clearly would be "turned off" so as not to mar the color yellow with blue, red, or black ink!  So, the only rationale I can attribute to this is color gets used along with black and white, which is also a misrepresentation of this product in its documentation and advertising.

I would never have purchased this printer if I was exhausting color and black and white when selecting black and white only.  I understand the "for profit" motive of HP in using consumables, but this is criminally deceptive, and if enough agree with me, worthy of a class action suit.  But before going that far, I am going to return this printer and get a refund, and consider another manufacturer, such as Epson, or Canon, before attempting HP again.  I have always been an HP loyal customer, and maintained that HP made the best printers, and didn't sign-on to the bandwagon of milking its customers for ink in its printer design....but now, as so many companies that prefer deceptive business practices for the all-not-so-mighty dollar over customer satisfaction and loyalty, I must now sadly say, HP has joined those ranks.

Ever disappointed,

CMCWONDERLAND

[RKHX]

This printer is a big scam.  The inks are depleted even when the printer is not being used and powered on.  We have executives who travel that are in the office maybe 1 or 2 times a month and even then, they are not printing to the printer.  yet the color inks are depleting on their own.

I be the printer cleans its nossle when the printer is not in use.

[Billmanjjdhfhr]

If you read the forums, HP really does not care about your complaints.  Their stance seems to be consistent that a) ifyou want black/white only you should not have purchased a color printer and b) it's designed this way because of the blah blah blah technobabble.

Us as customers can clearly see that this is an idiotic design flaw, but HP is in the business of selling kool-aide, and apparently not incorporating customer-friendly design principles.

I found some sources for ink refill kits via ebay, etc, with youtube videos and the one up-side here is that these cartridges seem really simple to refill, though I have yet to purchase one of the kits.  With the refill ink kits, this printer becomes very economical -- it's just a shame that HP refuses to acknowledge what is really stupid obvious to the customer base here;  and yes, I fully believe that the marketing and packaging of this product is hiding the fact that when the color ink is depleted, you are hosed and unable to print even in black only mode.

[Cluffle]

I Have recently looked into these 'refillable' ink cartridges, and to be honest it has frustrated me with HP no end.

If you look at my earlier posts, I was very much taking HP's side, but due to a lack of knowledge I now realise I was wrongly doing this.

The technology is now more than readily available to make these printers print only black and white, and even if I saw a slight increase in prices due to the new technology, I would not have an issue with purchasing one.

The refillables are not mentioned by HP at all, in fact, they blatantly refuse that they exist. All of the tech support on this page has pointed towards getting a new printer, which is a ludicrous response considering that HP will certainly know what the crack is.

I will not buy another printer from HP and, ironically, my old HP one that has served me for a whole 2 months has now broken, under warranty of course but according to HP the damage was caused by me... Great, I didnt know a printer straight out of the box that has been sat on my desk for a couple of months was a risk to the printer... I guess I was wrong.

The problem with HP is they dont HAVE to listen to their customers, they are large enough to just push anyone to the side and not really have any repercussions.

Oh well its time for me to move on.

[rebeeng]

you're right, they dont care. however, it isnt a flaw. they know what they're doing. it enables them to make MORE money. which is the point of business. it is at our expense. 

and you can bet, i will purchase a different brand next time. as i have 2 HP 4-in 1 printers , totaling over $350 right now. i have owned other brands that didnt require me to buy colors when my black ran out, or vice versa. 

so i know it is possible. 

[RKHX]

I did some searching regarding this topic of printers needing color even if you want to print black only, and found similar complaints on other brands including Epson.  Here is an excellent reply somone wrote.

"Unless you're an electronics engineer consider this a lost cause. You can't under the typical anything revamp the printer to actually print in B&W w/o color involved. It's that way for one very important reason, inkjet printers no matter who makes them tend to clog. Thus, as unused color ink carts with a B&W only output would when color was needed, become less and less stable as time passes. A typical B&W output is actually using minute color ink to keep the color inkjets refreshed. It serves the minor cause of losing color ink in the process, but at least you'll happy when color demand is needed. Since all ink levels are being monitored when color is low, it has to be replaced to continue on. You may call this a plot/conspiracy but the hope is the inkjet printer has less ink clogs over its lifetime."

And this was not written by a company employee.   This ofcourse works in favor of making money.  I think moving forward, I'm going to buy Laser Jet printers unless Color is a true requirement at which case there is the understanding that its going to cost a lot of money to maintain it.

[pqfuller]

Still, don't force us to buy color cartridges when they run out.

[earlynsealey]

I refilled the ink cartidges on my hp officejet pro 8600, using the refill kit without turning off the chip. Now i am unable to get the full use of colours on the printer. I have tried resetting it but nothing is working. Can anyone offer assistance in fixing this problem