Genuine vs Generic Ink Cartridges
Generic or compatible cartridges can be less than half the price of genuine ink cartridges making them very attractive to those who wish to save some money. As a result we are often asked what the difference is.
As in any other product generic does mean different but not always worse.
The ink in inkjet printer cartridges is complicated stuff. Most are water based or aqueous so I’ll stick to talking about those. Even a cheap inkjet printer can now jet out droplets as small as 1 picolitre, that’s one trillionth of a litre. Consider how small the nozzle that can shoot out such a tiny drop must be and so how fragile it must be. There can be over 30 different chemicals all working in balance in the 1 picolitre droplet to provide a consistent, quality result. Alter the balance of any one of them and you will effect the inks behaviour and print outcome. The basic ingredients of inkjet ink are water, dyes or pigments, humectants, secondary solvents, fixing agents, surfactants, resin, biocides, fungicides, and pH buffering agents.
Consider each element and what varying it might do.
- Water is the base of almost all inks. Its quality must be extremely pure to ensure the ink behaves predictably but what about the percentage of water. A generic manufacturer may increase the percentage of water vs colourant to reduce costs. A reduced particle count will result in reduced colour.
- Dyes or pigments are just particles. Alter the size or shape of the particles from the manufacturers specifications / requirements and you will effect the refinement of the final print, its longevity post print and possibly its ability to flow smoothly through the print head causing blockages. But what about the quality of the dye or pigment itself – the shade of the base colour, the size of the particle will all effect final colour output.
- Humectants slow the drying process. This aims to stop ink drying on the print head, in the nozzles or in the cartridge. Alter the balance and it may not dry at all or dry too quickly resulting in nozzle blockages.
- Secondary solvents help all the different components in the ink to stay properly mixed. Changing this may see ink separating out or clumping.
- Fixing agents help the ink adhere to the media you are printing on. A lack of or poor quality fixing agent may make the print especially easy to rub off or smear. Surfectants control how the liquid ink flows. Poor or out of balance surfectants will not only affect ink flowability (yes that’s a real word) but may cause intermittent print issues and blockages as ink either flows out too quickly or too slow.
- Resin, used to coat pigment particles is an important part of post print performance. A resin coated pigment particle is protected from water, acids in the media, gaseous acids and bonds better with most medias. Change the resin quality and change the longevity of your prints.
- Biocides and fungicides control the growth of bacteria and fungus. The presence of either of these will change the characteristics of all of the elements listed above as they are consumed and converted.
- pH buffering agents play an important role in post print longevity aiming to neutralize the environment in which the dye or pigment resides. Acid or alkaline environments are corrosive and will cause speedy loss of colour saturation as the particle is broken down. This effect is known as reduced light fastness.
Generic ink is reverse engineered. This means that scientists analyse a finished product to extract its secrets. In some cases the genuine manufacturer may have used patented chemicals totally eliminating the possibility of exact match. So the content of generic ink is ‘best match’ to the properties of genuine ink.
Comparing a Genuine with a generic ink cartridge print out can show differences in: Density and shade of colours. Different evenness of solids and half tones. Grain or imperfections in fine shades. Less sharpness in edges of text and monochromatic line work. It may not be as water resistant as the genuine product. Print life can be vastly reduced as external forces such as moisture and acids attack the colourant.
It must be said that Genuine ink is not perfect. Prints from genuine ink cartridges even in perfect circumstances do not last forever, how long do you need your prints to last? Genuine cartridges do get blockages for wide range of reasons. Quality is not 100% perfect. Comparing generic ink to genuine ink is a study of relativity. Generic ink relative to Genuine ink is the poorer cousin. Generic ink will block nozzles more often, prints will not last as long, ink may run out sooner. But the real question is how much poorer? The key here is buying quality. Reduce the negatives to a point where a general level user is not affected and saves a heap. Yes we only sell quality – we tell you what our brands are so that you can compare.
You now know that ink is quite a complicated balance of chemical and physical properties. You know that generic ink is reverse engineered and possibly impossible to exactly match. Don’t believe the ‘better than originals’ hype where generics are concerned.
Generic ink suits the type of person that doesn’t need perfect colour or 5 let alone 100 years light fast prints. When buying high quality generic ink they will enjoy relatively trouble free printing with good to great results where one should expect brilliant results from genuine ink.
