HP's Instant Ink ink replacement program took center stage in the company's launch of new inkjet printers in its Envy, OfficeJet, and DeskJet lines. The new printers offer easy subscription to the Instant Ink program, with Instant Ink cartridges already included, and two models include one-year and two-year plans, respectively, with the printer's purchase. The cartridges are "smart," which means that they can reorder ink and deliver it directly to you when you're low.
With the new printers, signup for the Instant Ink program is integrated into the setup process, making it simple to begin the convenience and savings on day one. Customers can quickly choose between Instant Ink plans, or opt for the traditional model of purchasing ink at retail or online when they run low. For the first time, HP is offering the choice of one- or two-year HP Instant Ink plans out of the box with the introduction of the HP OfficeJet 5741 and HP OfficeJet 5743.
The Ink Replacement Service
The Instant Ink service was launched in 2013, and it has proved popular. In July, HP announced that the program had passed 500,000 subscribers. The company says that it is adding one new Instant Ink subscriber per minute.
Subscribers can choose between three plans: The Occasional plan, which at $2.99 per month supports printing up to 50 pages a month, the Moderate plan, which for $4.99 per month supports printing up to 100 pages a month, and the Frequent printing plan, which for $9.99 per month supports printing up to 300 pages a month. If you print more than your allotted pages, you will be charged $1 per 15 pages on the Occasional plan, $1 per 20 pages on the Moderate plan, and $1 per 25 pages on the Frequent plan. If you don't use up all your pages in a month, you can roll over up to a month's worth of pages to apply to pages in excess of your monthly allotment. With Instant Ink, you are not under contract, and you can cancel your plan or change to a different one at any time.
HP points to potentially substantial cost savings compared with the traditional model of paying for individual ink cartridges. For example, for the HP Envy 5540, in buying the most economical (XL) cartridges individually, HP's cost per black page is 5.9 cents, and cost per color page (in which the cost per page of the black cartridge is added to the cost per page of the color cartridge) is 15.2 cents per page. Cost per page on the Occasional, Moderate, and Frequent plans could be as low as 6 cents, 5 cents, and 3.3 cents, respectively. As the plans don't distinguish between black and color pages, you could save a lot of money with Instant Ink if you print mostly in color. Whether you're printing text documents or photo prints, your cost per page will be the same. Note, though, that your savings may be considerably reduced if you don't use up your allotted pages, or if you frequently print more page than are included with your plan.
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Recycling is simple with HP Instant Ink. The program provides prepaid envelopes to return used cartridges, lowering the carbon footprint related to ink cartridge purchase and disposal by an estimated 70 percent.
The New HP Printers
Now, on to the printers. The HP Envy 4520 All-in-One Printer ($99) is designed for the connected household. This compact printer features easy printing from a smartphone or tablet and high-quality photo prints, and is good for creative projects, hobbies, and business documents. The HP Envy 5540 All-in-One Printer ($129) is a multifunction printer (MFP) that features a quick mobile installation process so users can print from a smartphone or tablet with or without a router or local wireless network. Users can scan, copy, and access Web content directly from the color touch screen. HP OfficeJet 4650 All-in-One ($99) also offers HP's easy mobile-printing setup. This home-office printer also includes a new auto-deploy output paper tray, a touch-enabled display, and fast print speeds. The HP OfficeJet 3830 All-in-One ($79): wireless-enabled printing for everyday documents and an automatic document feeder (ADF) for multipage faxing, scanning, and copying. It also offers easy mobile setup and printing from tablets and smartphones.
With any of the printers above you can opt into HP's Instant ink program during setup. Two other new printers already include Instant Ink plans. The HP OfficeJet 5741 ($199) offers a year of Instant Ink, as well as print, fax, scan and copy features and simple wireless printing. The HP OfficeJet 5743 ($299) offers two years of HP Instant Ink in addition to simple wireless printing and fax, scan and copy features. They are expected to be available through Staples in October.