The world of inkjet printers has experienced truly explosive growth in the last 10 years. This growth has brought about a huge demand for inkjet consumables especially inkjet printer cartridges. In 2007 inkjet printers around the world will have slurped up and printed out over $25 billion dollars of ink.

The main for most inkjet owners is the cost of replacing the inks used by their inkjet. Many such people would literally sell their soul for a reliable source of cheap ink for their printer.

Therein lies the problem. How reliable can cheap inkjet cartridges be? Are inkjet refill, compatible and similar third party products going to allow you to reproduce the same quality of print you'd get with an orginal equipment manufacturer (OEM) product?

The simple answer is Yes. Yes companies supplying cheap ink and inkjet products are striving to compete head on with the big 4 - Hewlett Packard, Epson, Canon and Lexmark. The battle for quality at the lowest possible price is well and truly joined.

So how do these inkjet cartridges with cheap ink in them compare to the real deal? The reality is this: A compatible or refill product can produce high quality printouts but the results tend to fade more quickly than OEM products and you run the risk of clogging the print nozzles on your cartridge or printhead.

Can third party products using cheaper ink invalidate your printer warranty? If you ask the printer companies you'lll hear a resounding Yes! Asking consumer rights organizations and they'll quote the Magnusson-Moss Warranty Improvement Act which clearly instructs companies that consumers are free to choose and use aftermarket products if they so wish to.

How much of an issue is this for you the consumer? That's entirely up to you. If you're happy enough saving 50% - %80 on the cost of your inkjet printer cartridges then by all means use the cheaper inkjet products on the market but do be prepared for clogged printheads. For those of you who want to print without any worries of ink clogging then you'll need to fork out the extra cash for original brand inkjet cartridges although online shopping should allow you to make considerable savings when purchasing OEM products.

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