Beware the HP DeskJets 810C and 812C: A TALE OF TWO CARTRIDGES

In the middle of last night, I was working on a project that was due today,
when my printer, a HP DeskJet 812C, ran out of black ink.  I was so proud of
myself, however, because months ago, on the same day I bought the printer, I
purchased a backup black ink cartridge.  I remembered that day well because as
I lifted my new printer to my shopping cart, a Best Buys salesman appeared and
asked me would I like to buy ink cartridges for the printer.  When I told him
that the printer came with cartridges, he warned me about the "economy"
cartridges that are bundled with the printers.  He explained, "If you ever felt
one, you would know they're real light.  They don't have a lot of ink in them,
and they don't last long at all."  His opportunistic "would you like fries with
that?" pitch put me on guard, and even though I told him I wouldn't need
cartridges, later that day I went to Staples.  At Staples, I paid $30 for a HP
No. 45 Regular Black InkJet Print Cartridge (HP Product No. 51645A).  I was
surprised by the cost but, I felt better after I reminded myself what the Best
Buys salesman said about "economy" or "low yield" cartridges.  The new
cartridge did feel heavy.  I convinced myself that a cartridge that contained a
lot of ink would last a long time.  At Staples, I was concerned, because "810C"
was not printed on the cartridge box, the salesman handed me.  "That cartridge
works in any 800 Series DeskJet," he assured me.  At that time, the 812C was a
relatively new printer and I assumed the box simply didn't reflect the addition
of the new printer model.

Last night, when I put the backup cartridge in my printer, it seemed to fit
perfectly.  I closed the printer cover, but the printer would not stop
blinking.  I tried it over and over again, and over and over, the blinking
light blinked.  I suspected that the refill might contain a subtle
modification.  So, in order to discover even the minutest discrepancy, I
recovered the original cartridge and held the two side-by-side.  Other than the
fact that the original cartridge was labeled differently-Black HP No. 15
(C6615A)--I could detect not a single difference in size or shape.  The
cartridges appeared absolutely identical.

Whenever I put the new cartridge in the printer, the light blinked and blinked
and blinked.  When, in my frustration, I put the original, empty cartridge back
in the printer, the blinking ceased.  With the old cartridge in place, I was
even able to print another light gray copy of the spread-sheet I was working
on.

After my inspection eliminated the possibility that the cartridge was the wrong
size, and convinced that the printer still worked, I thought that the new
cartridge must be defective.  My mother has a HP DeskJet 722C, and her printer
uses the No. 45 cartridge.  When I put the new cartridge in her printer, it fit
perfectly, and printed flawlessly.  When I put my original cartridge in her
printer, it too worked (it was however, still out of ink).  When I took her No.
45 cartridge and put it my printer, blink, blink, blink, the No. 45 with a full
42 ccs of ink would not work in my printer.  At this point I started to worry.

Months ago, I decided to purchase the HP 812C DeskJet, for several reasons.
First, it was everywhere.  Every retailer and internet reseller was selling
either the 810C or the 812C.  These models were HP's economy color inkjets and
they were ubiquitous.  I had actually purchased the competition's equally
ubiquitous printer (the Epson 740i) the day before I bought my HP.  The HP and
the Epson were nearly identical in cost, but I returned the Epson for a HP
because everyone I knew had a HP DeskJet.  The 810C and 812C even looked like
all the DeskJets I had seen before.  I reasoned with so many HP DeskJets
around, supplies would be plentiful, and therefore, readily available and
cheap.

When I couldn't figure this problem out, I went to the HP internet site
http://www.hp.com/.

What I discovered last night is unsettling.

At http://www.hp.com/cposupport/printers/support_doc/bpa00585.html, on a
page entitled, "HP Inkjet Cartridges and HP ThinkJet, QuietJet, and DeskJet
Printers - Printer and Cartridge Compatibility Chart," I found a list of 79 HP
printers.  29 of those printers or 37% use the No. 45 cartridge (51645A) and
all of those printers can also use the No. 15 (C6615A or C6615AN).  There are
only two printers that use the No. 15 cartridge, the 810C and the 812C.
Neither the 810C nor the 812C can use the No. 45.  The web page had a small
message in fine print:  "C6615A is compatible with any printer that uses the
51645 series cartridge; however, the 51645 series cartridges cannot be used in
the HP DeskJet 810C and 812C."

The HP No. 45 Regular Black Injet Print Cartridge (51645A) costs $29.99 when
purchased on line @ http://www.shopping.hp.com/.  The web site states that the
No. 45 contains 42 ccs of usable ink that can print 833 pages for a average
cost per page (@ 5% density) of $0.034.

Also for sale @ http://www.shopping.hp.com/, the No. 15 costs $30.99.  The No.
15, however, only contains, 21 ccs of ink per cartridge (a fact not mentioned
on the http://www.shopping.hp.com/ site).  Although the HP web page for the No.
15 doesn't provide cost calculations, assuming the same page per cc of ink
usage, a single page printed (@ 5% density) with the No. 15 would cost $0.074,
or $0.04 (4 cents) more per page.  This is more than double the price of a
single page printed with the No. 45.

Today, I gave my No. 45 cartridge to my Mom and went to Office Max, where I
could not find the No. 15 print cartridge.  At Staples, I bought two No. 15 or
C6615A (actually C6615AN) cartridges for  $35.25 each plus tax.  Because I
purchased an 810C, I am now forced to print at a cost of $0.085 or 8.5 cents
per page.

In summary, the HP DeskJet Printers 810C and 812C have been engineered so that
they can only use the No. 15, an inkjet print cartridge that contains half the
ink of the their readily available HP print cartridge No. 45.  Physically,
identical, I assume the incompatibility of the cartridges has been engineered
into the electronics on the No. 15 and the new printers.  Specifically, the new
printers have been designed to exclude the use of the much more economical No.
45 cartridge.

I hope that by exposing these facts to the wider consumer community, potential
HP purchasers will be more informed than I was.  I did a lot of research on
these printers before I bought one, but I never suspected anything like this
should concern me.  Furthermore, I believe that we the consumers should demand
a remedy from HP.

Julian A. Mattiello
[log in to unmask]
Philadelphia, PA