HP 344 - C9505EE - print cartridge - colour (cyan, magenta, yellow) (C9505EE) > Reviews (1)

After telling you about the excellent and longer lasting Black brinter cartridge for the HP 2575 multi function device yesterday, I figured I should also write about its counterpart.....The Colour Cartridge.

While modern Inks for printers are more widespread and easier to replace in our throwaway society (cartridges seem be sold in the most unlikely of shops!), a little bit of careful consideration should be made as to what ink and how many we buy at once!
Therefore, the twin pack idea from HP is a great way of saving the environment with packaging and also adding the "spare" cartidge philosophy when printing your pictures.

Colour quality

Fantastic. Colour is delivered via its 3 strip element adding a mixture of Cyan, Magenta and Yellow in differing quantities to give you excellent and smudge free results. The colours are vivid and sharp and pretty breathtaking for an inkjet.
===Usage/Application===Pretty much anything you need to print out. From high quality glossy paper to general run of the mill printing. The extra capacity cartridge delivers massive amounts of ink that should last you some time.
===Why the 344?===Well most of you dont know that the HP Photosmart 2575 comes with 2 different cartridges to the ones i now use. The numbers are 338 and 343. 338 is the black cart and the 343 is the colour cart. What they dont tell you is the standard cartridges (338 and 343) only manages to print 600 pages at 5% coverage. However, for a couple of quid more, you can have a full cartridge that prints 1150 pages! Yep, the 338 is replaced with the identical 339 and the 343 is replaced with the identical 344. Only difference being the amount of ink contained.
Its quite annoying that they dont make this clearer as people will continue buying the lower yielding carts without realising as they will just replace what they already have!
Going back to why i switched to the 344 is also the price. A standard 343 colour cart is approaching 15 quid to buy yet the higher yielding 344 cart is only 3 to 4 quid more for double the printing ability. You tell me where the smart money goes here? Add to that, this excellent twin pack means for around £35 i have almost 4 times the printing of a standard £15 cart.

Packaging

Packaging is traditional HP cardboard which aids to the recycling. I believe they use recycled material for the boxes. Inside is the foil wrapped cartridge which is packed in such a way to prevent ink drying and evaporation before usage.

Installation

Installing the cartridge is very easy. Instructions are supplied in the box but also appear on the sticker inside the lid of the printer.
All you need to do is identify which cartidge is which. When you are about to change the cartridge, there will be 2 to replace. Its easy to tell which one the colour one is as its about twice as wide as the Black one and the colour one is also mint green. The Black cart is black in appearance.
Simply undo the retaining clip from your colour cart, pull the old one out of the socket. Dont worry about cleaning anything, its a self cleaning printer.

Push the new one into place until it clicks. The click is the seal breaking on the ink and off you go. Printing once again.

Sizing/Dimensions

Again the 344 is identical to the 343 and performs no differently. It fits the same and is the same size. There is no smudging, no strained inks and colour consistency and blending of the 3 colours shades is perfect
.In fact the only difference and noticably different it is, is the length of time it lasts.

Verdict

So if you are using the 343, think again. You can opt for the 344 which for 3 or 4 quid more will give you a higher yielding cartridge made by the original supplier and save yourself some money long term. Not only that but you are getting some of the finest inks for printers around. The Vivera ink system is by far one of the brightest i have use at reproducing natural and vibrant colours in a 3 colour printer.