Saving on printer ink

I have been printing quite a lot of photos recently, most of them in 8x10 format. Regular ink cartridge cost about 25$ for my printer, and you have just enough ink to print 10 color photos.

Printer companies have been playing an odd game for many years: they are nearly giving away the printer, but charge you many times the value of ink cartridges. In order to ensure you will buy THEIR cartridges, ink cartridges are fancy, including electronic devices that make them impossible for other vendors to imitate. Thus, they make sure you will buy the cartridge that fit your printer.

But there is an inexpensive alternative: buying ink refill kit. For instance, I bought for 12$ a black refill kit and for 13$ a color refill kit. Lexmark's (my printer brand) cartridges contain 10ml of ink, while each kit contains 90ml. Thus, you can fill your cartridges 9 times.

Instead of paying 9 x 25$ + 9 x 30$ = 495$, you pay just 25$. Nice saving, isn't?