HP Officejet Pro 8600 or 8600 Plus or 8600 Premium -- Refillable?

[george999]

I'm in process of buying this printer, great features - including using ink HP 950 and 951 cartridges which are ink containers feeding a fixed print head (salesman info). I have been refilling my own cartridges for quite a while. All of the refill suppliers sites I visited say that they do not have instructions for refilling these cartridges yet. The printer is pretty new but is that "code" for "they are not refillable"?

 

[ThrillaMozilla]

If you do a Google search, you will find refill kits. I don't know if the ink is any good, though, or whether the good companies make ink for that cartridge yet. I would look on this forum for recommended ink suppliers. (I hesitate to make recommendations.) Judging from pictures on the Internet, it looks like this cartridge has similar construction to HP564 cartridges, and to popular Canon cartridges. Given the right ink, you should be able to use the German durchstich method or the topfill method. I would think it will work well.

The problem for you will be that the cartridges are (I think) opaque, so it will be hard to tell when they are empty and whether you have filled them to the right level. The topfill method should be easy to get the right fill level. Nevertheless, I recommend weighing the cartridges when new (and full), and keep a record.

The other problem will be that once you refill, the printer will no longer monitor ink. You must not run the printer dry, so you have to keep track of it yourself. I THINK you can ignore the warnings so it will print anyway (it's the law that you don't have to buy the ink from HP). Also check the HP Web site whether the HP cartridges are dated. Some cartridges expire. On some of these you can run past the expiration date, and on some you cannot.

Finally, do not trust manufacturer's estimates of how long the ink will last. I don't know anyone who says ink cartridges last as long as it's supposed to, and in some cases it may use many times more ink than you expect.

 

[george999]

Thank you very much. I am concerned about the ink since HP says it is "Fade, Water, and Highlighter-smear resistant". My guess is that this really means it is pigmented ink. Also I was told it is faster drying, although this may be a printer attribute vs. the ink. I'll probably stick with OEM ink for a few months until the refill vendors get their products in place.

 

[ThrillaMozilla]

I believe you have black, cyan, magenta, yellow, and photo black (KCMY PK). The black is pigmented. The others, including photo black, are dye. Do NOT use pigment in dye cartridges!

My first choice, if you can get them, is Image Specialists (sold by Precision Colors) for K, InkTec for the others. Maybe HP for PK, since these 3rd-party PK dyes have poor resistance to fading. See if they've got them.

 

[manitoidman]

Yes these cartridges are refillable. The best inks I have found are OCP available from rjettek.com.
They also have a refill kit that comes with the OCP ink and everything you need to refill these cartridges about 4 times for about $60.00
I bought one of the kits and have been using it for my 8600 and the color matching is Great and the kit is easy to use.
Have refilled 3 times and no problems!

Hope this helps!

 

[flaurice]

I've been refilling for years ... mostly HP printers. I'm in the market now for a new multifunction machine and several "experts" have told me that the HP 8600 cartridges can be a serious problem One techie suggested that the Canon 225-226 and the Brother LC75 are about the simplest and most trouble free to refill. Can anyone suggest an available wireless MF printer that uses either of those cartridges. Or alternatively, any presently available machine that is equally refill trouble free.

 

[Tudor]

Canon MG5320 could be one, if you can find it. It uses cli-226(c,m,y,bk)/pgi-225(pgbk) cartridges which can be switched with cli-221/pgi-220 (with chip swap).

 

[manitoidman]

I've been refilling for years ... mostly HP printers. I'm in the market now for a new multifunction machine and several "experts" have told me that the HP 8600 cartridges can be a serious problem One techie suggested that the Canon 225-226 and the Brother LC75 are about the simplest and most trouble free to refill. Can anyone suggest an available wireless MF printer that uses either of those cartridges. Or alternatively, any presently available machine that is equally refill trouble free.

The Brother machines are OK, No chips in the older models that use the LC-75/79's. The newer Brothers have a chip and use the LC103/105/109 cartridges. The chip just causes nag messages after refilling. I have a MFC-J4510DW multifunction and it is a really cool design, really small for a multifunction, and it is oriented to print sideways so it is not as deep as the other Brothers. It also has a hidden flip up document handler, for scanning documents. As far as a printer that uses the LC-75/79's I also have a MFC-J5910 that is a workhorse! I have printed at least 3500 pages on it in the last 4 months and it is just fine. has a nice document handler and good scanner. Just remember to always run the Brothers on INKJET PAPER mode or the prints will not meet your standards.

Hope this helps!

 

[flaurice]

Great information .... thanks!!

 

[ThrillaMozilla]

Guys, please look at the date of this thread. This is old news. I doubt that anyone is still interested.