Kodak Inks Are Proved to Be Cost-Effective

In February, 2007 Kodak released a new type of inks. The inks were claimed to make printout more durable (up to 100 years) and cost-effective (up to 50%). Recently, Kodak unveiled unveiled ink yield test results and cost-per-page analysis.

The tests were conducted by a side company, QualityLogic Inc. They compared Kodak 5300 All-in-One printer inks yield against that of 12 printers of other leading brands. Testing included printing of both black-and-white and color documents and photos.

Based on results of inks yield test, Kodak made its own analysis of ink cost per page, comparing cost of ink for all modes tested. The results of this analysis proved that Kodak multifunction printers could print more pages per $5 of ink every time.

How Toner Is Used in Printers

Surfing the net today, I came cross a thread where they discussed whether a laser printer uses equal amount of toner regardless of each print density, or not. That probably happens in laser printer cartridges with magnetized toner pickup rod, but not likely. The truth is the printer uses toner according to actual print density. And the amount of pages that can be printed is calculated based on an average of 15% print density of an 8 x 11 inch paper. Also, it seems like laser printers and photocopiers using toner all have recovery mechanisms which transfers unused toner back into the reservoir.

ISO Suggests New Method for Assessing Print Cost

Until recently, no one actual knew how much a single print costs. Every manufacturer has it’s own methods of measure, and information customers had was often far from real state of affairs.

It was in December 2002, that Office of Fair Trading (OFT) addressed the major manufacturers – Epson, Canon, HP and Lexmark – so that they developed a unified technique for assessing ink consumption, printer toner yield, etc.
Currently, the cost of consumables is several times of the printer, during its lifespan. Moreover, the manufacturers not always fully fill a printer cartridge with toner, so that a customer was quicker to come for the next one.

OFT affords resulted in new technique of assessment developed by International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in cooperation with mentioned above brands. The technique provides for compulsory testing

• under standardized temperature
• on several type of paper
• several units of same printer model
• with several sets of cartridges

ISO suggests that manufacturers use this technique starting from now, despite it’s now approved as a standard so far. However, only HP and Epson have applied the technique, Lexmark is planning to do so at the end of this month. Canon has not yet responded to ISO recommendations and is using its own methods.