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Saving Money When Replacing Your HP C6656AN Cartridge
The HP c6656an ink cartridge - also known as simply the HP 56 - is one of the more popular black ink cartridges right now, mainly because HP uses it is many of their current printer models.
It's a reasonable value considering how much ink you get for your money. One of the things that many people don't realize is that different HP ink cartridges can vary wildly in how much ink you actually get in them.
The cartridges can look like they're roughly the same size, but the ink that's actually in them isn't always the same. For example, the HP 27 cartridge has 10ml of ink. Compare that to the 56 which has 19ml, almost twice as much. The prices are about the same, however.
This is one of the "secrets" of the printer business. The cheaper the printer is to buy, the more expensive the ink tends to be. The cartridges appear to all have similar prices, but when you actually look at how much ink you're getting it can make a big difference.
So the c6656an cartridge is not a bad deal, compared to some. Even so, there are a couple of ways you can save money when replacing the cartridge.
The first way is to buy a remanufactured ink cartridge rather than an original HP brand. These remanufactured cartridges are sold by companies that take empty HP cartridges and clean them up and refill them.
The second way you can save is by refilling your own empty cartridges. This tends to be the cheapest way to do it but it can also be the least reliable. Because most people don't have the refilling equipment used by the companies who do it professionally, the refills often cause the print quality to deteriorate.
Plus, many people refill the same ink cartridge several times which can lead to printing problems. The cartridges do wear out, so it's usually not a good idea to refill them more than a couple of times before replacing them with a new one.
Most of the remanufacturing companies will only use cartridges that have been used one time - any more than that and they have too many problems.
So let's compare some prices and see how much you can really save. I'll use prices from 4inkjets.com, which tends to have the best prices of anywhere I've been able to find.
Original HP c6656an cartridge: $19.99
Remanufactured HP 56 cartridge: $13.99 ($13.00 for 3+)
Refill Kit for HP 56: $11.95
That refill kit comes with enough ink to refill the cartridge 4 times, so it is really only about $3 per refill.
Now let's look at how much each option will cost over the course of 6 cartridges:
Original HP c6656an cartridges: $119.94
Remanufactured HP 56 cartridges: $78.00 (at bulk price)
Original HP 56 cartridges + refill kit: $51.93
Remanufactured HP 56 + refill kit: $39.93
I've calculated the refill kit prices as two new (or remanufactured) cartridges plus one refill kit. That will give you four refills and two replacements for a total of six (remember you don't want to refill a cartridge more than a couple of times before replacing it).
So as you can see, you can spend almost $120 on the original HP cartridges or as little less than $40 on the remanufactured ink with a refill kit. Which one sounds better to you?
Go and check out the 4inkjets.com site for the HP c6656an cartridges.
