8620 Missing or failed printhead - or - My head is splodin.

[Valueadded]

What a great way to try and feltch people into forking out 250 bucks or more every 2 or 3 years or so. The missing or failed printhead issue is nothing more that a by design issue embedded into the firmware. I can force the printer to print despite the constant error using a little bit of PITA work, and it prints test pages fine after reboots, so the printhead has neither failed nor is it missing. I'm not biting. Canon or Epson? Furthermore I have been shelling out every month for "instant ink". If HP can profitably send me ink cartridges over and over, sometimes when they are not even needed, that retail for @ $150 per set, why can't they ship out a replacement print head under the instant ink service? I already know why, it's not the instant print head service LOL.

Lets do the math.

A set of 4 cartridges for the 8620 at Amazon $160.89.

A print head for the 8620 at Amazon for the 8620 which comes with the same 4 cartridges $166.00.

This tells me the print head is worth less than $5.11?

I refuse to shell out $250 for a new comparable HP POS (BTW not a POS when they actually print or do not throw some BS error code), nor $166.00 to get a print head that comes with overpriced ink cartridges when I already get the cartridges as needed. What a racket HP has going on here. I can find literally 1000's of examples of others with the same issue on the web or these boards. Good job.

HP, where can I purchase a print head for a realistic price? I suppose nowhere? I'd be willing to go $40.00 to $50.00 even though the cost to manufacture one is probably less than $0.25. I don't need any more ink cartridges, I have a drawer full of them that you keep sending me from instant ink when they're not needed.

[Valsimot]

Your math isn't 100% correct because of the difference in ink amount between cartridges that you buy and the ones that came with the new printhead.

The printhead you buy separately comes with a SETUP in cartridges and they contain less ink than ink cartridges you buy later.

[Valueadded]

Ok, perhaps the math is a little off. it's off and skewed in HP's financial favor. Whoda thunk?

So the solution is to send HP $166.00 to receive a $2.00 plastic part with a nozzle assembly and a circuit board smaller than what came in a 1965 pocket transistor radio, that fails regularly as reported by 1000's upon 1000's of end users, and appears to be firmware/software related? Somehow that does not make me feel any better. Then I would have a working printer and some more spare ink cartridges to jam in the drawer with the dozen others that HP sent me under the instant ink program prematurely. I'd need a bigger drawer.

I get it that the cartridges that come with the print head are "set up" cartridges and contain less ink than retail cartridges which contain less ink than cartridges received through "HP instant ink". Thats an entire additional rant brewing there. It feels like we're playing 3 card Monty.  Planned obsolescence indeed. HP has me by the stones here having been down the Canon road, the Epson highway, the Brother expressway, and a trip to the Lexmark landfill in the past. I guess I'll just have to shell out another couple of fins to HP and cross my fingers. I'd at least like my back rubbed while HP has me bent over or a kiss afterwards, but I guess thats asking for too much LOL.