What Would Life Be Like Without Yellow?

Recently I purchased an HP Photosmart C5180 printer/scanner/copier that utilizes 6 separate ink cartridges. Several HP photo-oriented printers now use the 6-cartridge printing systems and the 02 series ink cartridges are currently the only cartridges that HP have manufactured for 6-cartridge print systems. In other words, if your printer is an HP and uses 6 ink cartridges, it will be the 02 series ink cartridges. In this review, I will cover the 02 yellow ink cartridge and compare it to yellow cartridges on similar systems. Reviews on the other 5 02 cartridges will follow and Epinions' 100-word-difference guideline will be followed.

Cartridge Build

Unlike traditional HP ink cartridges, the new 02 Ink Cartridges do not include the print-heads. For those not familiar with printer technology, the print-head is what disperses the ink onto the print media (photo paper, document paper, "I'm with Stupid --->;" T-shirt transfers, etc.) and is traditionally built into HP ink cartridges. It is the "Do not touch" part of the ink cartridge that comes covered with tape when purchased new. Like the other 02 ink cartridges, the yellow 02 ink cartridge does not have the print-head built into the cartridge. This has its pros and cons.

Pros:
-Slightly lowers the cost of the cartridge.
-Change out ink cartridge without having to align print-head
-Cartridge failure less likely.
-Faster possible print speeds.

Cons:
-Regular print-head cleaning a must (done automatically by printer, or manually if desired).
-Print-head failure on systems such as those using 02 ink cartridges will mean the end of your printer. For other printer systems that use cartridges with built-in print-heads, print-head failure means simply purchasing a new ink cartridge.

I've owned my printer for about 5 months now and have not had a single problem with the reliability of the 02 yellow ink cartridge or the separate print-head system. I use my printer a few times each week, for photos and regular document printing. When my printer hasn't been in use for a couple of days, it will go into a device maintenance mode to refresh the printing/ink system. This is likely a precautionary step taken by HP to prevent or at least minimize the clogged print-head problems that occasionally plague certain Epson printers (which also do not have print-heads built into the cartridges).

Like other ink cartridges, the 02 Yellow Ink Cartridge has a microchip built into it. This chip monitors ink levels and alerts you when the cartridge is low on ink. When there is enough ink in the cartridge to start printing a photo, but not enough to complete the photo, the chip allows the printer to know that there is not enough ink to complete the photo. Thus, you will not run out of ink halfway through a 8x10 photo print.

Ink Quality

When combined with the other 5 ink cartridges (light magenta, cyan, light cyan, magenta, and black) HP says that consumers benefit from over 100 years fade resistance (research done by Wilhelm) when using HP's Premium Plus photo paper. The colors, in my personal experience are very bright and colorful. I often use HP's Advanced photo paper, which offers waterproof photos when used with HP's 6-ink systems.

HP's website describes in small detail the ink purification process that they use in producing their ink. After all, ink is almost pure profit for them, why wouldn't they sink a little research and development into it?

I've seen the woes and perils of using refilled and/or remanufactured ink cartridges before. Been there, done that. I understand that some people get away from it just fine, but I'm not one of those people. Before I purchase a printer, I always check the prices of the OEM (original equipment manufacturer) ink, in this case HP Ink cartridges. HP explains on it's website that even the slightest impurities (as little as 0.001 percent) in ink can result in undesirable quality or clogged print-heads. Thus HP Vivera inks (used in 02 ink cartridges) use dye inks instead of pigment inks. Unlike pigment inks, dye inks dissolve completely in water and thus helps eliminate clogging. Also, HP inks are filtered to enhance the purity.

In my experience, using HP inks and this 02 ink cartridge, I don't doubt that HP puts a lot of work into the development of their massively profitable ink. I've always had pleasing results with the quality and have yet to experience a faulty 02 series yellow ink cartridge.


Cartridge Size and Cost

At around $10 per cartridge, I find it much more convenient to replace as opposed to replacing an entire tri-color cartridge when one color runs out. Of course, that is one of the benefits of a 4 or 6 cartridge system. This cartridge only holds 6ml of ink and is good for about 490 color graphics pages at 5% coverage. Thus, cost per page with this cartridge is about 2 cents. It could be more or it could be less depending on the color content of the print. Since there are 6 cartridges, overall for a photo with the 5 other cartridges added will be 24 cents per photo. A high-capacity 02 yellow cartridge is not available for the public. If you take lots of pictures of sunflowers or school busses, obviously overall yellow costs will skyrocket.

02 Cartridge Compared To Similar Competitors' Yellow Cartridge

HP 02 Yellow Cartridge
Printhead? No
Cost: $10
Capacity: 6ml
Cartridge Yield: 490 color graphics pages
Cost Per Page: 2 cents per color graphics page

Epson 78 Yellow Ink Cartridge
Printhead?: No
Cost: $15
Capacity: 13ml
Cartridge Yield: 450 color graphics pages
Cost Per Page: 3.3 cents per color graphics page

Canon BCI-6Y Yellow Cartridge
Printhead?: No
Cost: $13
Capacity: 15ml
Cartridge Yield: 280 color graphics pages
Cost Per Page: 4.6 cents per color graphics page


Thus, the HP yellow cartridge offers a better-than-average cost per photo on the market. Interestingly, although the Epson and Canon yellow cartridges hold twice as much ink, the HP 02 yellow cartridge is rated a higher page yield. This is either due to poor ink usage on Canon and Epson printers, or it could be due to HP’s new scaleable printing technology that vacuums every last bit of ink out- or it could be a bit of both. Nonetheless, I was surprised that the smaller yellow cartridge is rated for so many pages. Despite this fact, though, yellow is still the color I run out of most frequently, even more often that black. Of course, I do a lot of photos and yellow is a very popular color, being used for greens, browns, and Caucasian skin colors. To make overall printing costs a little more bearable, HP offers this yellow cartridge along with the other five cartridges in an 02 Series Custom Photo Value Pack that also contains 150 sheets of photo paper for $36. The yellow ink cartridge in this combo is 5ml instead of 6ml as when bought separately.

Replacing the Cartridge

This cartridge is stationary and easily replaced. When you open the door of the printer utilizing the 02 Yellow ink cartridge, the cartridge is immediately in plain sight. Since there are 4 other color cartridge slots, HP has made it easy to identify which slot to insert the yellow cartridge. Above each slot is a color coded example of which cartridge goes where. Also, each cartridge is designed to fit only into its designated spot. It simply will not fit into any other slot. A latch holds the cartridge in place, thus removing the cartridge involves simply lifting the latch out of place, removing the cartridge, and placing the new cartridge in its place.


Compatible Printers

HP Photosmart 8250, 3210, 3310, C5140, C5180 (or other C5100 series printers), C6180, C7180, D7160, D7360 printers. Later this year HP will release it's new annual lineup of home-use printers that will likely use this 02 yellow ink cartridge. If/when that happens I will update this section of this review.


Overall

Despite the small size, this cartridge is rated to print nearly 500 color graphics pages at 5% coverage. However, for photos, this cartridge will run out fairly quickly. The reason for this is the prevalence of yellow used in photographs. Yellow is used to make brown, green, orange, several reds, and Caucasian skin tones- all of which are very popular in photographs. Since there are no dedicated brown, green, or orange cartridges (actually, Canon makes a green cartridge for one of their printers) yellow can be heavily used up. HP made this yellow cartridge slightly larger than any of the other colors in this 02 series system, but they should’ve made it a tad larger. Other than that, I’m more than pleased with my greens and browns, and skin tones are very life-like. And at $10, that’s not a bad deal.