HP inks and photo papers delay fading

A new study commissioned by HP at the independent testing organisation Wilhelm Imaging Research, Inc. (WIR) shows photos printed with refilled cartridges can fade significantly in less than two months, while prints made with original HP inks and HP photo papers last far longer.

Refilled inkjet print cartridges had among the lowest WIR display permanence ratings ever measured in the WIR lab. For example, Tesco-refilled HP 57 and 58 inkjet print cartridges used with matched Tesco-branded photo paper had a rating of 0.1 years.

By contrast, photos printed using original HP inkjet print cartridges on HP media had the highest WIR Display Permanence Rating, of 73 years. This means that under the standard conditions of the WIR tests it would take 73 years before noticable fading would occur.

Prints made with Tesco-refilled ink cartridges and Tesco-branded photo paper faded 730 times more rapidly than prints made with original HP inkjet print cartridges and paper. Even the best of the refilled cartridges printed on matched, same-brand photo paper had a rating of only 1.2 years, and faded approximately 60 times more rapidly than prints made with original HP photo inks and paper.

"Generally, refilled ink cartridges and third-party photo papers have been advertised as having quality equal to the original products," said Henry Wilhelm, president and director of research, WIR.

"Based on the results of this study, WIR considers the permanence of all the refilled ink cartridges tested to be so poor that they are simply unsuitable for printing consumer photographs. People have always understood that the driving motivation in photography is to preserve moments in time. Refilled inks and third-party papers fail in that most basic requirement."