Customer Reviews

Dataproducts Refill Kit for HP 51649A / 51641A (3 Refills Each Color - 9 refills)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The good news about this product is that refilling the ink in my existing HP 51649A color cartridge was easy to do and it is for the most part mess free (although my red bottle was leaking somewhat when I got it). The ink from this leak was fairly easy to wash off my hands. The instructions are clear. Product comes with a "cracker" to break and remove the top of the existing cartridge. There are then 3 bays in the cartridge with holes on the top of each bay that are to be refilled with each color. Product then provides a replacement top, which easily snaps on and off, so that ink may be replaced again.

The ink is not exactly the same as HP ink, only in that I thought my reds and greens came out somewhat dull, not as bright as HP ink. I can live with it. But as far as steadfastness, etc., I found no difference in this ink from HP ink. (I'm not sure about long-term steadfastness and durabilty on paper, but I'd say from my short use of this product that this ink is the same in that regard as HP ink). Also, there certainly is enough ink in the refill bottles to refill a cartridge at least 3 times (the box says 4).

The bad news is that the ease of your success with this product really depends on the shape your HP cartridge is in (and even if it is in great shape, you will probably still have to work at getting all the colors to print again). If any of the ink has dried out in your cartridge, it will take some time to get all the colors flowing (printing) again. The ink in my cartridge had just run out, so it wasn't particularly dried out, and it took me SEVERAL attempted printouts to get all the colors flowing again. I had to use the HP printer software to clean the print heads (which individually prints each color) many times before all the colors would flow when I tried to print something else. Even then, one or more of the colors would usually stop printing if I let the printer sit as short as 5 minutes. So, I would have to repeat the clean head procedure again, and then go back and re-print whatever I was trying to print. Again, it took considerable work and it was many, many printouts before I was sure each color would reliably print. I would say my experience is typical.

So, DO NOT expect to just refill the ink and start printing again like it is a new cartridge. And do not try to print on any important or expensive forms until you have printed several test printouts to insure that all colors are indeed flowing again. Even then, you may still have to work and play with it to get all the colors to consistently flow.

I rate this product a 4, because of the price and because for my use and personality (a technically inclined home user who would like to try to save some money), it worked well. College students may also find it works well for their needs. But, if you are a technically dis-inclined person, or if you have no patience and expect things to work easily, or if you have something important that needs to be printed right away, you would be better off buying a new HP cartridge.

I carefully followed the directions and refilled my inkjet cartridge and then reinstalled it. I was never able to get it to work properly as I got terrible print quality. I gave up on it after a full day of trying to get it to work and got a new HP cartridge.

If your refilled cartridge fails to work, place the print head in a shallow dish of water with one drop of detergent. Let it soak over night, and then wipe the head dry and install. The soak will remove dried ink deposits that cause the failure. Run the "clean head" option on the printer after installation.

I just wanted to add to my review above that after having used this product awhile, I find the colors are just as bright and they compare very well to original HP ink. I think the colors seemed dull at first because all the colors were not flowing full bore when I first filled the cartridge. Again, this is a great product as long as you have the patience to work through getting all the colors to flow consistantly.

I followed all of the instructions and very carefully added the colored ink to my cartridge, but could never get it working in my printer. I'm very disappointed and had to trash this one and order a new HP cartridge.