Lexmark X5650 & Sainsbury's ink refill kit

Maybe I should have expected it when I bought a Lexmark printer/scanner all in one for £40, but I've not been particularly impressed with the experience. I guess, the first sign should have been when we had to return the first printer because it wouldn't even power on.

The ink cartridges don't seem to last very long and the printer has a very annoying habit of just refusing to print when it deems the ink level is too low. If the last print out was fine, why can't I just print and deal with slightly faded print out until the ink fully runs out? Well, I assume if I did that, it wouldn't line Lexmark's pockets as much since I'd get another few print outs from the cartridge before I had to buy a new one.

So rather than spend another £20 on a cartride which wouldn't last, I went for Sainsbury's £5 Black ink refill kit. Compatible with over 1,800 printers and faxes, the kit comes with 3 bottles of black ink and some flushing solution as well as a syringe and tools to get into the cartridge if necessary. It seemed like a bargain, 6 refills for a quarter the price of a new cartridge.

But, 1,800 printers supported and mine has one cartridge that can't be refilled. Sure you can refill the Lexmark 36A black cartridge for the X5650, but I have a "36" cartridge which can't be refilled :( So it looks like I have to buy a new cartridge anyway, Lexmark win this round.

I've always owned HP printers, even since a child my parents always bought HP printers and I've never had a bad experience with them. Next time, I'm going to pay the extra and get an HP, because Lexmark frankly suck.