Customer Reviews

Lexmark #70 Black Ink Cartridge (12A1970)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(26)

 

 

The quality of this ink is great. It's indeed water proof, but obviously the paper has to be of good quality as well.

The price is somewhat on the high side and can add up quickly if you print a lot of full text pages. Most likely you're going to use this cartridge in a color printer, so better buy a few ahead of time.

Unfortunately, Lexmark's cartridges are proprietary so you won't find any 3rd party brands on the market (Compaq Printer = Lexmark Printer). This will ensure that Lexmark has full control over the price you pay.

Lexmark's proprietary design isn't flawless. Should a paper get jammed at the printhead (by a corner curled by a bad feed), you'll have to pray that the head wasn't damaged.

Be sure not to leave the printer (cartridge) unused for more than two weeks, otherwise the ink will dry on the heads. This can sometimes be solved by placing the cartridge in a dish with COLD water for about 5 minutes. But usually it's the end of the cartridge - so much for a 3/4th full cartridge!

If you encounter a problem with the cartridge (or the printer), don't bother calling Lexmark's support number. You'll have to deal with ill-manered and inexperienced technicians.

Don't buy these for keeping as a backup; these cartridges in actuality work very well when they are fresh, but I am finding that there is a 50% risk that a saved backup cartridge won't print right. I have now had two new cartridges that I have bought at different times as a backup supply and not used right away that have failed to print right (truncates text horizontally), even after cleaning the nozzles numerous times and re-aligning the cartridge according to the printer's control program. This problem occurs right after installation of the replacement cartridge (not after a period of printing correctly), and this seems to now always happen with the cartridge that was not installed when purchased, but some time later (2-3 months later). A fresh cartridge has resolved the problem in the past. ....

Lexmark's waterproof black ink seems to degrade very quickly. After having a cartridge for a few months, the ink starts to smear badly when touched (even after drying for days or weeks). After 3 cartridges, I'm convinced that this is a consistent problem with Lexmark's ink. Unfortunately, with no alternative available, those of us with Lexmark's printers (that use this ink) are stuck with smearing ink, and no help from Lexmark (repeated emails have yielded no interest in resolving the problem. They say "some minor smearing is normal," and don't address the major smearing).
The NON-waterproof COLOR ink does not have this smearing problem. (12A1980)
Other than the smearing ink, I love my Lexmark 5700. If I could get good black ink for it, it would be perfect.

Ink is wet and that's the biggest drawback. Nevertheless, I'm reasonably satisfied with the black Lexmark Ink Jet Cartridge -- except for the ... price and the damp smudges that occasionally occur in the process of paper being expelled from my printer. Although the finished product is not up to laser quality, it is sharp, dark, and presentable when dry. Now, how about increasing the volume of the cartridge and reducing the cost?

I have used about 5 of these 12A1970 cartridges. I don't do a lot of printing, therefore the ink tends to degrade over time somehow. I have not tried the cold water method suggested by some, but I will remember it.

2 or 3 of the cartridges I bought did not not even last the normal number of sheets printed before the print started getting so bad it was unusable. I think Lexmark has designed the ink to be bad, or the printheads to be unreliable, so that customers are forced to buy new cartridges regularly, even if they don't print a lot of pages.

Never again will I buy a Lexmark printer. If the cartridges were $5 or $10, you could easily put up with these problems. But at $25-30, this level of performance is inexcusably bad. Boo hiss.

For the price of this cartridge, I expected it would last quite a while. My printer is not used on a daily basis, and when it is, usually only one or two copies at a time are made. It looked good at first, but after only a couple of dozen uses, the copies started looking really bad.I couldn't even see the print. So bad in fact, I found it to be a much more economical(and much less frustrating) venture to get in my car(even with the price of gas as it is), drive to my neighborhood "Office-Depot" and make a copy for a nickel. This also would take less time then having to soak the cartridge in water whenever I needed a copy made.

This is definately a case of NOT getting what you pay for. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find any other cartridge to fit my printer. Maybe that's why the printer came as a free bonus with the computer....they knew they'd get me on the ink cartrdiges!.....Laurie

it can also be used with the Lexmark Z11 inkjet printer

This is one of the classic examples of selling a Printer for $100 to 150 & ripoff on catridges. I have used at least 5-6 of these & they don;t last long. I am pretty sure i get far less than 600 pages that they claim.

FYI, my HP laser has a $70 cartridge has been lasting for over 5 years & still running great which i have made my default printer.

Throw your printer & forget about this. Get a HP laser & no chaging cartridge for a while !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Apparently you are forced to enter 1 star, my real review is a minus 5 stars. When Amazon originally offered Lexmark cartridges (12A1970 & 15MO120) they were of good quality, but as of late the price is high on apparently a faulty product that only lasts a very short time. I E-mailed Amazon twice questioning if these cartridges were remanufactured, refilled or refurbished and they refused to answer the question and told me to go ask the manufacturer (it would have been nice if I kept the box they came in, but who does), besides I didn't buy them from the manufacturer, I bought them from Amazon and they should know what they are selling to their customers especially since they charge top dollar for apparently a refurbished item. Stay away from these cartridges. The latest set of cartridges that I installed recently indicate 3/4 full but the quality is so poor that I can hardly read the type. This is the second set of cartridges from Amazon that I have been burned on. Need I say that I will no longer be buying them from Amazon.
PS. It truly saddens me to write this review since I have been a truly happy customer of Amazon in the past.

Lexmark is the worst product (right next to Compaq Computers) I have ever had the displeasure of using. I tried the cold water method, work a little while after ..great tip. The black cartride does dry out too fast!! So I am now looking into a good laser printer. Not sure what I will do about the color setup? I would get the refill kits, but why bother if the cartride is going to dry out all the time. It seems the red dries out quickest? Oh well..lesson well learned.