HP Instant Ink

[jhmulkey]

I've been using the HP Instant Ink program for a few years now, and have been very happy with it. Basically, you are paying a set cost each month ("month" meaning a 30-day period based on your start date) to print up to a certain number of pages during that month, and unused pages roll over up to the number of pages in your plan (50, 100, or 300). Your printer will "order" ink for you well before you run out, and HP ships the needed ink directly to your door at no additional charge. Pretty cool and convenient, huh? There are a few catches, however:

1. Not all HP printers are compatible (see compatible printers here if you need an HP printer and here if you have an HP printer and want to know if it's compatible).

2. A printed page even containing one letter on it counts against your page count, so you need to be careful to only print what you really want to print. On the other hand, a full size 8x10 photo still counts as 1 printed page, so if you print a lot of photos or other ink-intensive documents, this is a huge benefit, because your cost is only based on pages printed, NOT on ink consumed. Two-sided (duplex) printing counts as 2 pages.

3. Your printer must remain connected to the Internet for it to be able to communicate with HP servers to let them know when to send more ink. I wouldn't think this would be a problem for most people, but perhaps for some it would.

Another important point to note is that even though your page number is limited each month, it is only limited in the sense of what you're paying for. You can still print more than your monthly page limit, but every set of 10, 15, or 20 pages (depending on which plan you use) beyond your monthly limit is $1.00 extra.

Lastly, I was surprised the other day to see that they are now offering a FREE plan at 15 pages per month. The only catch with that one is that there are no rollover pages. But additional sets of 10 pages are only $1 more with the free plan, so you could print up to 45 pages per month for the same cost as the 50 pages per month plan ($2.99/month), but pay less all the way down to nothing on months that you print less than that. Pretty darn good deal for those who have minimal printing needs and don't want to pay an arm and a leg for ink.

Just thought some people on the forum might find this info useful.

https://instantink.hpconnected.com/us/en/

[pukematrix]

Interesting concept. There was a time where their free plan would have worked for our household, but with a high-schooler and a partner who has an online business now, our ink consumption has increased dramatically. We do have an HP Officejet Pro8600 that has been a very good printer for us and I will typically take my spent cartridges to Costco for their refill service. The only downside is, you know, having to go to Costco. Might have to look into it a bit further. Thanks for the write-up.

Austin

[Tico]

Ah yes HP printer ink!
The new cartridges are SOOOOO expensive!
I tried refilling at Costco but my printer wouldn't use them.
It gave me an error message that they were not authorized.

It's almost cheaper to buy a new printer which comes with cartridges than buy HP cartridges.

But then something wonderful happened.
My SO's employeer changed from HP to another brand of printer and threw away around 50 new HP ink cartridges.
My SO fished them out of the trash and brought them home.

Happy Dance!

Sorry I'm not too helpful.
I just had to brag, I guess.

[jhmulkey]

Originally Posted by Tico

Ah yes HP printer ink!
The new cartridges are SOOOOO expensive!
I tried refilling at Costco but my printer wouldn't use them.
It gave me an error message that they were not authorized.

It's almost cheaper to buy a new printer which comes with cartridges than buy HP cartridges.

But then something wonderful happened.
My SO's employeer changed from HP to another brand of printer and threw away around 50 new HP ink cartridges.
My SO fished them out of the trash and brought them home.

Happy Dance!

Sorry I'm not too helpful.
I just had to brag, I guess.

To be fair, new printers usually come with "starter" cartridges that don't hold as much ink as the standard ones. One other thing I didn't mention in my OP was that the Instant Ink cartridges are higher capacity than the standard cartridges.

Enjoy your garbage ink!

[Tico]

Originally Posted by jhmulkey

... Enjoy your garbage ink!

... and you enjoy the ink that you have to pay for.

[AX17609]

I bought one of the HP Instant Ink printers and subscribed to the program not realizing what I was getting into. I got hounded on a nearly daily basis with warnings that I was about to exceed my page limit and that I should increase my plan. So, I started keeping track, and it was pretty clear that they were charging me for pages that I didn't print. I quit the plan and have been buying cartridges, which are super tiny and super expensive. My next task is to throw the printer out the window. HP Instant Ink is just another plan that allows someone to worm their way into your bank account. Reminds me of when my MIL blindly got talked into a subscription for light bulbs.

If someone can recommend a printer that isn't an ink nightmare I'd appreciate hearing about it.

[jhmulkey]

Originally Posted by AX17609

I bought one of the HP Instant Ink printers and subscribed to the program not realizing what I was getting into. I got hounded on a nearly daily basis with warnings that I was about to exceed my page limit and that I should increase my plan. So, I started keeping track, and it was pretty clear that they were charging me for pages that I didn't print. I quit the plan and have been buying cartridges, which are super tiny and super expensive. My next task is to throw the printer out the window. HP Instant Ink is just another plan that allows someone to worm their way into your bank account. Reminds me of when my MIL blindly got talked into a subscription for light bulbs.

If someone can recommend a printer that isn't an ink nightmare I'd appreciate hearing about it.

Well that's odd, because my page counts have always been accurate. It's also worth noting that page counts are not recorded in real time, so if your printer was offline or the server hasn't been updated yet, you may see pages you printed before the day you're looking at suddenly appear when the server is updated, which makes it look like they're adding to your page count willy-nilly when in fact they're not. In any case, there's a lot to be said to reaching out to customer service if you think something's wrong, rather than assuming there's some conspiracy. For instance, once I had an Instant Ink cartridge that stopped working, so I went online to chat with a support representative. After sending them the error information, they overnighted me another cartridge at no charge.

[imwjl]

This caught me because I had good luck with HP ink jets. Then I got a well regarded larger format Epson that's been junk.

Ink jets are the thing for photos but I also woke up to laser printers being much less expensive. Modestly priced 400 series have held up well at work. Now I got a 200 series color laser with duplex for my office at less than $250. It's so nice to have a duplex color laser that I kind of consider this a public service post.

[jhmulkey]

Originally Posted by imwjl

This caught me because I had good luck with HP ink jets. Then I got a well regarded larger format Epson that's been junk.

Ink jets are the thing for photos but I also woke up to laser printers being much less expensive. Modestly priced 400 series have held up well at work. Now I got a 200 series color laser with duplex for my office at less than $250. It's so nice to have a duplex color laser that I kind of consider this a public service post.

The main thing I don't like about laser printers are page warps/curls due to heat. We now use a laser printer at work, and the automatic letter folder does not play well with even very slightly curled paper edges. And heavier weight paper is not the answer, as it happens even with card stock. At home, I print an even mix of documents and photos, so inkjet makes the most sense there for me.