HP 02 Inkjet Print Cartridge Color Combo Pack (CC604FN#140)

Good product but be very, very careful that you buy the five cartridge combo pack that does not include black. That is the one with the most ink in each cartridge. The combo pack that is sold as a photo combo, includes the black cartridge and 150 sheets of 4x6 photo paper has a lot less ink in them. I finally even spoke with a person at HP that confirmed it. I had to get a person in sales (USA) that could confirm it. Technical support and customer service online live chat (not USA) had no clue. The five cartridge combo box shows the volume of each color like the individual cartridges. The photo combo doesn't list the individual volumes only that it is enough to print 150 photos.

Buyer beware ...

Actual full cartridges in this one. Beware of the combo pack that includes photo paper. They do it by shorting the amount of ink in the cartridges.

The price is right, it doesn't prematurely dry like some of the off brands. What else do you need from ink?

I've been using this ink in a basic HP Photosmart C6280 printer for the last couple of years. I wasn't expecting too much from the printer when I bought it but I needed something to do copying, scanning, standard printing and to print photos and the printer was on sale at Office Depot.

The HP 02 inks do very well in photo printing. Using HP Premium and Premium Plus glossy papers, I've found the colors to be natural. Based on HP's reports, prints made with this ink on their Premium Plus photo paper should have a very long life without fading. I don't know--it would take a few decades before this is proven one way or the other. I do know that I have made color negatives, slides and transparencies as well as having on hand custom-made and drugstore-quality photographs that have faded significantly over the past three decades. It wouldn't be hard for the 02 inks to out perform these results.

All inkjet inks are overpriced. I read once that it would cost several thousand dollars to fill the fuel tank of a mid-sized SUV with inkjet ink. So price-wise, it's a given that inkjet inks will be costly. The 02 inks have at least been available and convenient for my use. I can walk across the street from my office to the Walmart Supercenter and buy them. For about the same price or a little less, I can order them online from Amazon with free shipping. Availability as well as quality are both important to me when it comes to printing inks and papers.

Instead of buying individual replacement cartridges, buy the combo pack. The main reason is that the colors all dont fail at the same time and it is very annoying to have to run out and buy an individual cartridge.