HP Printer Ink

Hi and Merry Christmas all,

I did a search and didn't see this topic so i am posting it here. I have an HP 3830 AIO and I am getting frustrated by the high prices that HP and other printer makers charge for their ink. I know it is no secret that printers are pretty much given away and the makers get their money back in the ink but this is a low end printer (a nice one but low end nonetheless). A Black and a Tri-Color cartridge set (Standard not XL) for this printer at Walmart will cost me $45.00 plus tax and I say this same printer last month regular price at Office Max for $49.00 so my question is what the actual hell?? I would do just as well to buy a new printer each time I run out of ink with the notable exception that if I (and millions of others) were to do this the landfills would be overflowing with plastic printer carcasses in very short order.

I have done some investigating on Amazon and I can get off brand cartridges for $30.00 for the set which I am OK with. I know there is a huge debate about this and the possible risks in using non-manufactures cartridges but considering the financial savings to me I am OK with this. If I somehow hose my printer I'll go out and get another one for only $4.00 more than the cost of HP ink but I want opinions on this so let the games begin. Thanks everyone!

 

I don't know about the new models.
Old models of HP, before they started trying to get you into the "buy ink from us" program, are able to use 3rd party ink.

I just replaced a black cart in a 722C with an LD cart. Yup, that printer is from about 1997 and still works fine.
https://www.ldproducts.com/
I don't work for LD or get a commission. I was using their ink in two printers. The other was an HP 660Cse which I e-cycled last year. I know their carts work in my old printers.

In fact, I have a deskjet 1055 from 2011 that stopped printing when I installed an original HP cart! It is sitting around gathering dust because I don't want to spend money on another HP cart and still have it fail to print a thing.
Maybe I should try an LD cart because the HP cart sure isn't working!