Lexmark wrong cartridge issue – interesting I guess.?

Lexmark wrong cartridge issue – interesting I guess.?

Several months ago I bought a Lexmark “Prevail” PRO705 all-in-one printer at PC World in the UK (£129.99). It has worked well and I like the WiFi etc…
Now one of the reasons I bought it was that I was told by the PC World printer guru that it had very low cost black cartridges, so I bought two extra black cartridges, as we do quite a bit of black printing. The cartridges bought were ’105XL’ and the cost £4.88 each.

The just ran out of the first (supplied with the printer) cartridge.. So I unpacked one of the 105XL’s and installed it. Printer then announced is was ‘black cartidge not supported by this all-in-one printer’, so I tried again, same results – then I noticed the original supplied cartridge was labelled 100XL. Apparently the 105XL’s are for the PRO805 and PRO905 printers.

Now I have a good little laboratory here and I have measured the casings of both cartridges and they are almost exactly the same (certainly within the tolerances of injection moulded plastic). There are no electrical connections to the cartridge at all visible.

So finally here is my question:

How do Lexmark know that the cartridge is different?
Is there an RFID tag inside?
Does it use some other device (optical reader? – couldn’t find any evidence).
Is there a way round it?

NB: I’m not some sort of cheap-skate, but I feel aggrieved that I was mislead and bought an expensive printer on the promise of cheap black ink (without resorting to refills). The 100XL is three times the price of the 105XL!
I have just returned from PC World, where there manager was very reasonable! He has apologized and I can upgrade the printer to the ‘PRO805′ model for half the difference (£10, the PRO805 is £150).
Really really glad I kept all the packaging intact.
I would still like to know what technolgy Lexmark use to know what the cartridge is though – I suspect an RFID chip is buried in the cartridge somewhere and that the printer must read or read/write to sometimes. RFID antenna might be quite small and the printer ‘scans’ the cartridge head block?

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1 Comment for Lexmark wrong cartridge issue – interesting I guess.?

  • 1. Sattamander  |  November 13th, 2010 at 7:51 am

    I have never taken one apart so I can’t tell you for sure but a lot of printer manufacturers do “embed” chips so that they can identify their own cartridges. Some re-fill companies will take the old cartridges from the manufacturer and refill them thus getting around this issue.

    Cheap-skate? No way! Just like the rest of us you don’t like getting taken advantage of.

    What I really find strange is that the PC World “printer guru” recommended a Lexmark printer. Lexmarks have always been one of the lesser quality printers on the market. I am afraid your guru is self-proclaimed and bet that he got some kickback for pushing the Lexmark. I really hate it when sales people take advantage of the trusting public. Best to check reviews from trustworthy sources before buying a product. Consumer Reports is what I use when looking for a new printer.

    All I can suggest is that you find an online refill company that will guarantee compatibility with your printer and their refills.

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