Customer Reviews

HP 38 Light Gray Pigment Ink Cartridge in Retail Packaging

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

 

 

As inks go, this appears to be very good stuff. In fact, they say it's guaranteed to last 200+ years, although I'm not sure who around me will go ask for a free cartridge if my documents or photos only last 150 years. More to the point, it DOES look great.

On the other hand, these cartridges are around 30 bucks a piece and I need 8, so it rather irks me that the cartridges are so small. Perhaps that's a comment more appropriate for a review of the printer design, but it's worth noting here.

Also worth noting is that you SHOULD NOT immediately replace the ink cartridge in your HP B9180 when you get a message from it saying that this or that cartridge is about to run out. I say this because, when mine said that, I checked the little meter that tells you how much is left and it said 40% of the cartridge still had ink in it. 40%! To me, 40% is not "about to run out," but I did go ahead and buy an ink cartridge -- I just held onto it until it really became obvious that it was no longer printing that color. Only then did I replace the cartridge, because doing otherwise is needlessly wasting money.

I'm not quite cynical enough to say that HP WANTS you to replace (and recycle) the ink cartridges prematurely, but it obviously would make them more money if you do. Just keep your eyes open and you'll be fine.

Light Grey is the most used ink in my HP B9180. This cartridge has 27ml of ink selling for 27 dollars which is not bad. Canon's inks are around that price range as well but come in smaller 13ml tanks. Also do check the expiration date of the ink as the chip on the cartridge will yield a warning if the expiration date has been reached. So far expired inks has yield the same result as new inks with no fading for the past year.

If you are cheap like me, buy empty tanks online and refill them with HP's 70 ink used for the Z2100 printers which comes to be $75/130ml. The HP no.70 tanks use the same inks but in a bigger tank.

Search for printer filling station

I use this PhotoSmartPro B8850 printer for fine art reproduction. HP engineers in San Diego did a great job on it. I hope HP keeps supporting it! Papers are becoming scarce. Amazon delivered on time. Product was well within expiration date. Don't buy this ink from any seller unless they can tell you it is within expiration date, otherwise your printer will make you shut down and use ink in between each print.

As a former Epson printer user, I switched to HP because I heard they were "ink misers", i.e. you get a lot of prints with each cartridge. As a fellow photographer I knew most photographers used Epson, but I tried the HP Photosmart Pro B9180 a few years ago and was dazzled by the quality of the prints. I'm on my 2nd one. With Epson, every time I turned around I was replacing expensive cartridges. I was so traumatized by that experience, that truly, it has taken me 3 years with my HP to realize I really can print and print and print before I run out of ink! So, HP is a great value, and these inks last and last.

HP 38 inks are very high-priced, so the Amazon price combined with super saver shipping is the best deal available. As for the ink, as it is essential to use the HP B9180 printer, what can one say. The inks do their job and the printer is sometimes quirky but always produces a fine print.

I just installed the Light Gray ink which my ProB8850 identified as "refilled". The printer message claims ink level indicators do not work with refilled inks. I contacted HP who claimed using unathorized ink could affect the printer's warranty. I called Amazon's customer service to get this bogus product refunded or replaced and they opted to refund. Stay away from Amazon's 38 Inks! The packaging looked like the real thing and the website's discription repeatedly refered to the quality HP product they were selling. I have purchased 38 inks here before without a problem -Amazon is now misrepresenting the products they sell. They claim I will receive a full credit in 2 - 3 days. I will repost when I see this happen.

Just one thing about this ink--and maybe any ink.

It runs out too fast!