However and a huge however. If anything becomes faulty, or you have been hacked, or if you default on your payment or if you change your card number; in otherwords, if there is a problem with your account, they will control your printer. They will not permit you to continue printing. You will have to get a hold of HP support in order to rectify the problem and that could be from half to a full day gettting it resolved. Be aware that they control your network and who knows how far they can get into your privacy. So if you don'T mind living with HP in your living room, then go ahead, make their day.
It is a good deal if you print a good regular amount. We usually print a very low 5-10 pages, but sporadically print a higher amount of 30-40 pages. Currently I happen to be ahead on ink after we returned HP printers that we signed up on HPII. We have the $.99 plan but occasionally go over, but just often enough to not have any roll over pages to use. So, we get hit by fees for additional pages. After explaining the situation, HP let me pause it for 3 months, saving the monthly fee but we didn't accumulate the roll over then either. A unique case, and still way cheaper than buying outright. However, there's no way to pause the plan to let you catch up with the cartridges you have on hand and not pay extra fees. I have no idea how long the current cartridges will last or remain active or if or when my surplus will expire.
The Epson EcoTank printers are really good with their cartridge free printing. They last a really long time and I've had one for over a year and still have more than half of the ink remaining.
@@gorfgorf This is not true, you can replace them, both aftermarket and from Epson. Theirs even a kit where it can collect into a bottle if i'm not mistaken.
The worst program ever. I lost a cc and the monthly subscription failed to process so HP turned off my printer. I had to resubscribe to continue printing then cancelled the service. Shortly after that my printer stopped printing again with the error code "you must subscribe to HP instant Ink". So now my printer will not print.
Buy a set of generic or OEM cartridges and the printer will complain but it will print when you tell it to continue. I went through it with a 9025 pro level printer I bought used. The original owners plan expired and it shut down my full cartridges. I bought some OEM expired cartridges and yes printer complained about not using the instant ink but I told it to use them and they work fine. I paid like 59 shipped for a black XL cartridge and 3 regular color. The generic are usually cheaper but make sure they use the same type of ink your printer normally uses. Mine uses all pigment ink, yours may use dye but usually hp uses pigment. You can also check on manually loading in earlier or the original firmware which will probably ignore instant ink cartridges or remanufactured and just work. If you do that turn off auto firmware updates etc and it should hopefully just work with any carts.
From my understanding the app is available to anyone with a compatible printer. Some features on the app might not work without HP+, but I think those are limited. I notice a mention of the professional grade scan app for HP+
Seems that this faulty cartridge thing is a trend with these from what I'm reading and the length of time you then have to wait. I'll stick with my Epson EcoTank system.
You can. Cancel the subscription, buy your own ink and you are set. Mind you, printer ink cartridges are very expensive. Wait until yours goes dry from lack of use. You would be out $120. How is this difficult to understand? The subscription is an OPTION. I just cannot with these people. Haven't a clue how it works 'ZOMG, it is a scam!' 🤡
I got a laser printer for $80 and printed almost 1000 pages with the starter toner. A new toner costs $30. 6$ per 100 pages would be 6 cents per page and you still have to pay for the paper, the printer and do all the work. There are places that print for 5 cents a page. You shouldn't compare the subscription with normal cartridges, they are both a scam.
This makes absolutely no sense. Using your 4 sets of cartridges, that's 275 pages per cartridge pair. That is absolutely horrific. I bought a network laser printer many, many years ago, but before that, I used inkjet. Printing out words on a sheet of paper (roughly 5% coverage) you could get a good 500 pages per cartridge. Going through four sets of cartridges plus an extra color for 1100 pages is abysmal unless it was very heavy graphical with a much higher than 5% coverage. 3 of these 4 sets are saying they are extra large?
That’s 1200 extra pages. You can upgrade to a plan that gives you more pages per plan up to 700 per month. But if your needs go beyond 700 pages per month then it’s probably cheaper to get an ink tank or buy remanufactured ink.
If you’re referring to the instant ink cartridges - you haven’t paid for those. You’re paying a small monthly fee to be able to use those. If they allowed people to continue to use the cartridges after no longer being part of the service everyone would subscribe for one month at the .99 plan, then cancel until they needed a new cartridge. Then reenroll only to cancel again. There is nothing stopping you from buying a new cartridge and continuing to use the printer as normal.
@@kev-reviews I know that but in the 4 years I have had instant ink, I have more than paid for the ink I used. Then to tell me the ink they sent me 3 months ago I can no longer use is a grift. No one told me that when i started the plan in 2019, if they told people that how many would actually join?
Except people are told. It’s in the terms of service accepted at signup: “When Your Service is cancelled for any reason, HP will remotely disable the Subscription Cartridges and You will no longer be able to print with the Subscription Cartridges. In such a case, you will need to purchase a regular HP cartridge compatible with your printer, in order to continue printing.” Following that is a section that states any unused cartridges should be returned. That’s why people can’t sell an instant ink cartridge or use it in another printer. It’s bound to the account it was shipped to - which would no longer exist after cancellation. 4-years. Impressive. I didn’t know Instant Ink had been around that long. It was new to me when I received the printer
@@kev-reviews Instant Ink is a grift from everything I'm reading. HP has a history of doing these kinds of tricks. I use to use only HP back in the day, but they changed and their practices are horrible. They were the only brand I recommended but they are the one brand I tell everyone to avoid. Ink cartridges do not need to be so high. This is why they basicly give you a printer. I would rather pay upfront for a good printer and less for the ink. Hence we use a EcoTank and save alot of money now.
It's a trap!! Low Value!! HP makes it easy to charge ($), but does not provide value (high cost, low to no product). Then they make it difficult to cancel. Do NOT subscribe...it's not worth it.
Lol, seriously. Your falling for their newest scam. Just go with a Epson EcoTank printer and be done with the games and it is so much cheaper. You will be amazed at how many pages you can print for the price. Heck, then their are also other options too instead of the standard inks.
So maybe I’m doing this wrong so anyone feel free to correct and help me out if I am. So using the OPs year. He printed 1074 pages that counted towards his subscription of $5.99/month. So not knowing the sales tax I’ll just use mine,NYS(not the city I live 1 hour from the Canadian border on the St.Lawrence River,NYC is 8 hours south of me) which is a lovely 8%. So $5.99+sales tax will total $6.4692 obviously we average equaling $6.47 a month x 1 year of service would bring me to $77.64 as what it cost me the entire year. So now knowing that I can take the total cost of $77.64 and divide it by the total amount of pages for the year being 1074 which comes to $.07 a page. To break it down more I can take my total pages and divide it by 12 months giving me the average of 89.5 pages a month. 100 pages for $5.99+tax(.08% using nys) which again is $6.47; assuming you do as OP did and by the looks not go over your subscription amount automatically you’re paying at minimum off $6.47 divided by your 100 pages gives you at that plan a cost of $.0647 so $.07 cent cost a page regardless of what it is you’re printing(basic,family pictures,ect). The catch I feel is you’re paying the $5.99+tax regardless. So even if you print less you’re not going to save money. The only way the “banked” pages will benefit you is by preventing you from going over your 100 page monthly “data” usage as you can compare it too. So if you print 50 pages this month for $5.99, next month you’re starting with 150 pages now(100 a month+50 rolled over) at again you’re being charged $5.99 so this month was a little heavier of 75pages. Following month another $5.99+tax you get your 100 pages + carried over 75 from last month giving you 175 to play with this month. Depending on what your printing you may have burned a lot of ink or you may have used shit for ink but regardless the following month $5.99+tax unless you where to dial down your subscription which you can do but as to what happens to your banked pages I’m not sure. One thing to point out is you’re not paying for ink your subscription is paying for how many pages you are allowed to print a month. What “good” about that? Well depending on what you use your printer for(plain black font documents,full color documents or legitimate photos depending on the quality and power of printer you have) regardless of what you print it all cost the same. So it doesn’t matter if you use more color than plain black ink or if you only use plain ink and never use color, you can use as much or as little as you want for the amount of pages you have subscribed for(in OPs case,100/month). So what happens if you over do it one month and don’t have any pages in your “bank” as the rollover amount could be called? Well you’re going to purchase sets of 10-15 pages for $1.99(set amounts obviously very depending on ones subscription). So what happens if you use all your ink but have not used your max pages for the month? After you receive your very first round of HP Instant Ink cartridges that you will receive when you first sign up ,Replacement cartridges will be sent to you when your printer notifies HP you need more ink, ink is supplied whenever the printer notifies HP you’re getting low because again you’re paying for pages a month not ink per month. I’m not going to list all said plans but I will list the most “basic” to their “elite”. So $1.99 for 10pages/month with a rollover amount of 30 and if you where to go over you would pay another $1.99 for an addition 10 pages. The largest plan or “elite” is $39.99 for 700 pages/month, while being able to bank up to 2100 pages and If you exceeded your allotted amount you will pay $1.99 for an addition 15 pages. Keep in mind you’re printer must be connected to the internet at all times or you’re going to be unable to print along with if you cancel or subscription you’re no longer going to be able to use the ink in the printer regardless of how full it is, unfortunately and almost unbelievably you will become “locked out” with the only way to print will be to go buy ink that is not instant ink,which you can do. So it really comes down to how much you plan to print,making sure to subscribe to a plan that fits you and to be diligent if you realize your print usage has declined or is suspected to decrease and adjust your plan accordingly. I’d say for OP he saved money by being able to print 1074 pages of whatever he chose(ink wise) at only $.07 per page, with is overall annual expense to print being not including his unknown sales tax so $5.99x12=$71.88 using NYS sales tax again would amount to $5.99x.08%=$0.4792+$5.99=$6.47/month x12months=$77.64 annually. Figure in the price of traditional ink, risk of ink drying up or having to get it or remember to order it yourself, just seems to me their are some draw backs but depending on your print needs and adjusting or increasing your subscription as you try to roughly estimate you’re expected print demand it can be cost effective. Also I mean being charged $1.99 for 10-15 extra pages because you’re bank is empty and you’re close to the end of your month and needed a few more than expected but not enough to justify altering your subscription really isn’t all that bad. I could see how someone unaware of how this system works and all the things you’re not going to know right off if you don’t do your do diligence, I could see how this could be a frustrating way to own and operate what one thought was “just a printer”.
However and a huge however. If anything becomes faulty, or you have been hacked, or if you default on your payment or if you change your card number; in otherwords, if there is a problem with your account, they will control your printer. They will not permit you to continue printing. You will have to get a hold of HP support in order to rectify the problem and that could be from half to a full day gettting it resolved. Be aware that they control your network and who knows how far they can get into your privacy. So if you don'T mind living with HP in your living room, then go ahead, make their day.
It is a good deal if you print a good regular amount. We usually print a very low 5-10 pages, but sporadically print a higher amount of 30-40 pages. Currently I happen to be ahead on ink after we returned HP printers that we signed up on HPII. We have the $.99 plan but occasionally go over, but just often enough to not have any roll over pages to use. So, we get hit by fees for additional pages. After explaining the situation, HP let me pause it for 3 months, saving the monthly fee but we didn't accumulate the roll over then either. A unique case, and still way cheaper than buying outright. However, there's no way to pause the plan to let you catch up with the cartridges you have on hand and not pay extra fees. I have no idea how long the current cartridges will last or remain active or if or when my surplus will expire.
The Epson EcoTank printers are really good with their cartridge free printing. They last a really long time and I've had one for over a year and still have more than half of the ink remaining.
until you find out about the unreplaceable ink sponge in your printer.
@@gorfgorf This is not true, you can replace them, both aftermarket and from Epson. Theirs even a kit where it can collect into a bottle if i'm not mistaken.
HP SHOULD JUST SELL AFFORDABLE INK AND FORGET THE SUBSCRIPTION AND SCAMS!!
Why when they’re making a killing?
#truth I have a Business HP and I pay $5.99 a month and its totally worth it! Thanks Kev!
As always, very good information, thanks as always..
Where's your part 2 video?
The worst program ever. I lost a cc and the monthly subscription failed to process so HP turned off my printer. I had to resubscribe to continue printing then cancelled the service. Shortly after that my printer stopped printing again with the error code "you must subscribe to HP instant Ink". So now my printer will not print.
Buy a set of generic or OEM cartridges and the printer will complain but it will print when you tell it to continue. I went through it with a 9025 pro level printer I bought used. The original owners plan expired and it shut down my full cartridges. I bought some OEM expired cartridges and yes printer complained about not using the instant ink but I told it to use them and they work fine. I paid like 59 shipped for a black XL cartridge and 3 regular color. The generic are usually cheaper but make sure they use the same type of ink your printer normally uses. Mine uses all pigment ink, yours may use dye but usually hp uses pigment. You can also check on manually loading in earlier or the original firmware which will probably ignore instant ink cartridges or remanufactured and just work. If you do that turn off auto firmware updates etc and it should hopefully just work with any carts.
Hi I have a question for on the app. Do I have to subscribe for hp+ or do I have the option not to use it subscribe?
From my understanding the app is available to anyone with a compatible printer. Some features on the app might not work without HP+, but I think those are limited. I notice a mention of the professional grade scan app for HP+
You are the customer that the folks at HP running Instant Ink really hate! 😁 (HP ex-employee from the LaserJet printer business)
Lol. Why’s that?
@@kev-reviews They love folks that pay for a lot of printing but do not print very much. Sounds like you are getting your money's worth!
In addition to the subscription, they replace faulty ii cartridges with no additional cost.
Thanks for sharing
Seems that this faulty cartridge thing is a trend with these from what I'm reading and the length of time you then have to wait. I'll stick with my Epson EcoTank system.
So what happen if I didint print any letter in a whole month? Should I still pay the 5.99/month amount!
The unprinted amount would go into the rollover (amount varies by plan) for later use
Not for the base plan.
How about just buy you printer and ink and use it when you like, without having the company breath down you your neck....
You can. Cancel the subscription, buy your own ink and you are set. Mind you, printer ink cartridges are very expensive. Wait until yours goes dry from lack of use. You would be out $120. How is this difficult to understand? The subscription is an OPTION.
I just cannot with these people. Haven't a clue how it works 'ZOMG, it is a scam!' 🤡
I got a laser printer for $80 and printed almost 1000 pages with the starter toner. A new toner costs $30.
6$ per 100 pages would be 6 cents per page and you still have to pay for the paper, the printer and do all the work. There are places that print for 5 cents a page. You shouldn't compare the subscription with normal cartridges, they are both a scam.
This makes absolutely no sense. Using your 4 sets of cartridges, that's 275 pages per cartridge pair. That is absolutely horrific. I bought a network laser printer many, many years ago, but before that, I used inkjet. Printing out words on a sheet of paper (roughly 5% coverage) you could get a good 500 pages per cartridge.
Going through four sets of cartridges plus an extra color for 1100 pages is abysmal unless it was very heavy graphical with a much higher than 5% coverage. 3 of these 4 sets are saying they are extra large?
The vast majority of my printings are full page/near full page graphics
@@kev-reviews That makes a lot more sense. Full page graphics/photos consumes a ton of ink.
It’s the worst possible offer. 10 cents per extra page cost us $120 over 2 months. DONT GET IT.
That is YOUR FAULT, not theirs.
That’s 1200 extra pages. You can upgrade to a plan that gives you more pages per plan up to 700 per month. But if your needs go beyond 700 pages per month then it’s probably cheaper to get an ink tank or buy remanufactured ink.
Don't buy a HP product. HP ink isntant worth it at any price, for them to take control of your printer is wrong. You don't want that headache.
I have instant ink and love it
I HATE IT. DONT SIGN UP!
is it worth it? NO.. I will not buy another HP printer--- Epson for me
It looks less expensive because they siphon data from you and sell it for advertising.
That would be just about any connected device
@@kev-reviews does that make it any more right?
It's a grift, once you cancel you can't even use the ink you have already paid for. It's how they keep you paying.
If you’re referring to the instant ink cartridges - you haven’t paid for those. You’re paying a small monthly fee to be able to use those. If they allowed people to continue to use the cartridges after no longer being part of the service everyone would subscribe for one month at the .99 plan, then cancel until they needed a new cartridge. Then reenroll only to cancel again. There is nothing stopping you from buying a new cartridge and continuing to use the printer as normal.
@@kev-reviews I know that but in the 4 years I have had instant ink, I have more than paid for the ink I used. Then to tell me the ink they sent me 3 months ago I can no longer use is a grift. No one told me that when i started the plan in 2019, if they told people that how many would actually join?
Except people are told. It’s in the terms of service accepted at signup:
“When Your Service is cancelled for any reason, HP will remotely disable the Subscription Cartridges and You will no longer be able to print with the Subscription Cartridges. In such a case, you will need to purchase a regular HP cartridge compatible with your printer, in order to continue printing.”
Following that is a section that states any unused cartridges should be returned.
That’s why people can’t sell an instant ink cartridge or use it in another printer. It’s bound to the account it was shipped to - which would no longer exist after cancellation.
4-years. Impressive. I didn’t know Instant Ink had been around that long. It was new to me when I received the printer
@@kev-reviews Instant Ink is a grift from everything I'm reading. HP has a history of doing these kinds of tricks. I use to use only HP back in the day, but they changed and their practices are horrible. They were the only brand I recommended but they are the one brand I tell everyone to avoid. Ink cartridges do not need to be so high. This is why they basicly give you a printer. I would rather pay upfront for a good printer and less for the ink. Hence we use a EcoTank and save alot of money now.
They own the ink, you do not. The subscription pays for the use of the ink. Duhhhh....
Excelent.
It's a trap!! Low Value!! HP makes it easy to charge ($), but does not provide value (high cost, low to no product). Then they make it difficult to cancel. Do NOT subscribe...it's not worth it.
You are free to your opinions, but the math proves you wrong. I’m quite pleased with Instant Ink
Me too. Nice and easy, convenient
Lol, seriously. Your falling for their newest scam. Just go with a Epson EcoTank printer and be done with the games and it is so much cheaper. You will be amazed at how many pages you can print for the price. Heck, then their are also other options too instead of the standard inks.
No, it isn't.
So maybe I’m doing this wrong so anyone feel free to correct and help me out if I am. So using the OPs year. He printed 1074 pages that counted towards his subscription of $5.99/month. So not knowing the sales tax I’ll just use mine,NYS(not the city I live 1 hour from the Canadian border on the St.Lawrence River,NYC is 8 hours south of me) which is a lovely 8%. So $5.99+sales tax will total $6.4692 obviously we average equaling $6.47 a month x 1 year of service would bring me to $77.64 as what it cost me the entire year. So now knowing that I can take the total cost of $77.64 and divide it by the total amount of pages for the year being 1074 which comes to $.07 a page. To break it down more I can take my total pages and divide it by 12 months giving me the average of 89.5 pages a month. 100 pages for $5.99+tax(.08% using nys) which again is $6.47; assuming you do as OP did and by the looks not go over your subscription amount automatically you’re paying at minimum off $6.47 divided by your 100 pages gives you at that plan a cost of $.0647 so $.07 cent cost a page regardless of what it is you’re printing(basic,family pictures,ect). The catch I feel is you’re paying the $5.99+tax regardless. So even if you print less you’re not going to save money. The only way the “banked” pages will benefit you is by preventing you from going over your 100 page monthly “data” usage as you can compare it too. So if you print 50 pages this month for $5.99, next month you’re starting with 150 pages now(100 a month+50 rolled over) at again you’re being charged $5.99 so this month was a little heavier of 75pages. Following month another $5.99+tax you get your 100 pages + carried over 75 from last month giving you 175 to play with this month. Depending on what your printing you may have burned a lot of ink or you may have used shit for ink but regardless the following month $5.99+tax unless you where to dial down your subscription which you can do but as to what happens to your banked pages I’m not sure. One thing to point out is you’re not paying for ink your subscription is paying for how many pages you are allowed to print a month. What “good” about that? Well depending on what you use your printer for(plain black font documents,full color documents or legitimate photos depending on the quality and power of printer you have) regardless of what you print it all cost the same. So it doesn’t matter if you use more color than plain black ink or if you only use plain ink and never use color, you can use as much or as little as you want for the amount of pages you have subscribed for(in OPs case,100/month). So what happens if you over do it one month and don’t have any pages in your “bank” as the rollover amount could be called? Well you’re going to purchase sets of 10-15 pages for $1.99(set amounts obviously very depending on ones subscription). So what happens if you use all your ink but have not used your max pages for the month? After you receive your very first round of HP Instant Ink cartridges that you will receive when you first sign up ,Replacement cartridges will be sent to you when your printer notifies HP you need more ink, ink is supplied whenever the printer notifies HP you’re getting low because again you’re paying for pages a month not ink per month. I’m not going to list all said plans but I will list the most “basic” to their “elite”. So $1.99 for 10pages/month with a rollover amount of 30 and if you where to go over you would pay another $1.99 for an addition 10 pages. The largest plan or “elite” is $39.99 for 700 pages/month, while being able to bank up to 2100 pages and If you exceeded your allotted amount you will pay $1.99 for an addition 15 pages. Keep in mind you’re printer must be connected to the internet at all times or you’re going to be unable to print along with if you cancel or subscription you’re no longer going to be able to use the ink in the printer regardless of how full it is, unfortunately and almost unbelievably you will become “locked out” with the only way to print will be to go buy ink that is not instant ink,which you can do. So it really comes down to how much you plan to print,making sure to subscribe to a plan that fits you and to be diligent if you realize your print usage has declined or is suspected to decrease and adjust your plan accordingly. I’d say for OP he saved money by being able to print 1074 pages of whatever he chose(ink wise) at only $.07 per page, with is overall annual expense to print being not including his unknown sales tax so $5.99x12=$71.88 using NYS sales tax again would amount to $5.99x.08%=$0.4792+$5.99=$6.47/month x12months=$77.64 annually. Figure in the price of traditional ink, risk of ink drying up or having to get it or remember to order it yourself, just seems to me their are some draw backs but depending on your print needs and adjusting or increasing your subscription as you try to roughly estimate you’re expected print demand it can be cost effective. Also I mean being charged $1.99 for 10-15 extra pages because you’re bank is empty and you’re close to the end of your month and needed a few more than expected but not enough to justify altering your subscription really isn’t all that bad. I could see how someone unaware of how this system works and all the things you’re not going to know right off if you don’t do your do diligence, I could see how this could be a frustrating way to own and operate what one thought was “just a printer”.