HP 92/93 ink Combo , Though They Think So, HP Doesn't Stand for Happy Party.

Man, am I a glutton for punishment. I went and purchased a printer at a very fair price of about $60. It, prints, scans and copies. What I didn't think through was how much I was going to pay for ink over the year. "I WAS ROBBED!"

It was my fault though. I looked at the ink cartridges when I first was in the market for a printer. They were the smallest I have ever seen. I should have realised they would be losing their ink in nothing flat.

The 92 is the black ink cartridge and the 93 is the tri-color. Each has but 5 ml/0.17 fl.oz. Each cartridge is inside a plastic sealed package. Both sealed packages are inside the cardboard combo pack. A listing on the side of the box lists some of the HP products these cartridges are used for including
HP Deskjet 5440
Photosmart C3140, C3150, C3180, C7850
HP Printer/Scanner/Copier 1507,1510

The cartridges are much smaller than those I used in my previous HP 722 printer. Man, I am bummed going out and purchasing more cartridges at $34-$40 every other month or so but wait, before I continue complaining,...

...LET'S PARTY

On the back of this combo box (here have been different packaging for the same combo pack over the year) is a message FREE INSIDE Fun and Easy Party Handbook. Hey, I say, Who doesn't want to have a good time? It continues 3 Parties, No Waiting Print you own colorful photo invitations, party favors, decorations and more. Everything you need is in the party handbook FREE inside this pack.

I can't even imagine how much of the "colorful" ink inside these two teeny tiny thimbleful cartridges will be guzzled if I started printing our a dozen or two cards and favors for each party we have in our home. The 99 cent stores do us well in this department. No need to use expensive ink for HPs party because the only party I see are HP execs with party hats on and blowing those paper party horns every time they see another pack of this overpriced ink get sold.

FEEL GOOD

These people at HP also try and keep the consumers mind off the pain of the purchase by throwing up "Feel Good" messages. The other message besides "Partying" on the back is Feel Good About Recycling. HP offers a prepaid mail pack that you can send the quickly-used, empty cartridge back in. Whoop-de-doo! Why not make a larger cartridge to hold more so we don't have to package as much stuff and then go mailing it back and forth using fuel of the trucks, boats, planes or whatever is used to send these things all over the country?!

They send one pre-paid bag for each cartridge. That's good.

Installation and More

The cartridges come with a little guide sheet just in case you lost your Printer Guide Book or have a sudden loss of memory as to look for and change the cartridge using some very basic steps. They do come out and "lock" back in securely. You can tell they are in properly by the "snap" you feel. I will however step in and say that I was once had to be reminded to peel off the strip that keeps the ink from disappearing, evaporating, spilling out or whatever it does. For guys like me they don't even print out the words in the instructions. HP simply has some illustrations guiding the way. Somehow I was able to get it done.

I must admit that my wife once came home with some kind of cartridges filled by a colleague in her school for 1/4 the price we pay at the store. We received less than 1/8 the printing ability of the machine. The "new" ink wasn't even or neat, or anything we could PARTY about at home. Nope, like it or not, the original HP product does do the right job. It helps print a sharp looking text and clean vibrant pictures. The guide tells me the "Original patented HP Vivera ink is formulated to produce 72.9 million color combinations. They do give the "consistent, and worry free printing" the paperwork promises. WOW!! I'm getting in a party mood.

Perhaps not. I really don't have much more to add except the product works great but is too costly. It's like having a drug habit. If I'm getting down I gotta have another fix no matter the cost.

OH Yeah!! Now I remember another thing. Hewlett-Packard, HP isn't happy enough that they sold a product that is way over priced with little product in the package. They also want to annoy you and get you to use even more of the precious ink that I believe it may be worth more than gold dust. After placing in the new cartridge they almost insist you waste some of the ink by doing a "practice" run with it. If you don't do a print-out they will continue harassing you with pop-ups reminding you to do so. I work hard against giving in and then at some time I find a page full of the ink on my desk, realizing my wife or one of the kids gave in to the demand.

Nah, I'm not in a HP, Happy Party mood. This product works well but is a poor value for my money.