Laser Monks and Inkjet Printheads

The HP Business Inkjet 1100 had lost its mind again and after I took all the cartridges and printheads out, cleaned everything, and put it back together, it decided the magenta printhead was bad.

So I ordered a new one from Laser Monks. Although their prices are not particularly competitive for the HP inkjet supplies, it arrived very quickly, so I'm pretty happy with their service. I'll let you know my opinion for sure when we get the chocolate-covered caramels I also ordered from them!

The printer is doing better, although continuous-tone images are still kind of streaky. I do know that two of the other printheads (black and cyan) are looking pretty spotty, so I should probably replace those next. (The printheads are failing not because I print too much, but because I have hardly printed anything on it in the last six months to a year).

Weirdly, the printer thinks the year is 2007. At some point it gained a year. This means it thinks that I installed the new printhead on 10/08/2007. Does that mean I get an extra year out of it because the printer doesn't know when to consider it expired, or does it mean it is going to think that all my ink cartridges are expired a year early? I don't know. The printer also seems to think that the magenta ink cartridge is empty, even though it is brand new, and still feels and sounds full; it thinks the yellow one is empty also, although it is probably more than half full.

Logically, I would not spend any more money on supplies for this printer. The printheads and ink cartridges cost about $30 a pop. A set of all eight goes for $240. The whole printer with starter cartridges only cost $200, and that's really expensive for an inkjet these days. However obscenely expensive the supplies are, though, throwing away a whole printer seems even more obscene. So, for now, it stays.