The life span of an ink cartridge varies depending upon a number of factors. The most important factor is whether the cartridge is opened or sealed. Cartridges sealed in the original packaging and stored in a cool, dry place should last up to three years (in the case of Cartridge People Compatible Own Brand cartridges). However the cartridges must be sufficiently protected while in storage, because even a small pin-prick in the packaging will break the seal and the ink will start to dry out. It is also a good idea to store your cartridges in an upright position as they would be placed in the printer.
The lifespan of a cartridge also depends on the kind of wear and tear it gets over the time period it is in use. If you do a lot of colour printing obviously the ink cartridges will become empty much quicker. Page life provided for an ink cartridge is based on lab tests done following ISO standards.
The tests are based on 5% coverage of an A4 page.
When you print at home you may print full letters, images, photos, therefore printing pages that cover 25%, 50% up to 100% of the page will drastically decrease this provided page yield.
An explanation of 5% page coverage can be found here.
When these test are performed the same page is printed continuously on standard settings using standard A4 paper, unless it is specifically a photo cartridge where they may use alternative settings. Keep in mind, there are countless variables when using at home, including, but not limited to, cleanings, printer clean cycles, saturation, etc.
Recommend tips for extending your cartridge life
Change your print settings
One of the easiest ways to extend the life of your ink cartridges is to switch your print settings. Most printers offer several levels of print quality ranging from fine to normal to fast normal. Changing to Draft or Fast Normal and from colour to grayscale (aka black and white) will create a legible document while using less ink. Just go to Properties or Preferences, depending on your printer, in the print menu and make the switch.
Take advantage of print preview
Viewing your documents in Print Preview gives you the chance to check your work on-screen and make any changes before sending it to print. Saving documents electronically, such as a PDF (portable document format), will make for ink-less distribution.
Disregard the low ink warning
Don't hurry to change your ink cartridge at the first sign of the low ink warning. Though that is not to say you shouldn't have a new cartridge on hand. Instead we suggest keeping an eye on your prints, wait until the quality of output begins to diminish, this is ideal time to change over.
WARNING - NEVER let a cartridge run dry.
Keep the nozzles clean
If you see white, faint or broken lines in your document chances are the print nozzles are clogged. Most printers have built in maintenance programs which are designed to fix quality issues, look for printhead clean/deep clean/nozzle clean. Also when using a new cartridge run the Alignment program too to ensure cartridges are correctly loaded. If the built in programs do not work you can attempt to manually unclog them by soaking the nozzles in warm water until the dried ink starts running again. Leave the cartridge in a small amount of water (just enough to cover the printhead) for several minutes before removing and gently wiping dry with a lint free soft cloth or good quality kitchen towel. Reinstall the cartridge and run your machines print-head cleaning program once more.
Use different fonts
Opt for smaller font sizes in your documents while avoiding typefaces with thick lettering. Fonts such as Arial and Times Roman use less ink.
Adjust your resolution and image size
Resolution is the number of dots per inch (dpi) in a graphic, or photograph. The greater the dpi, the larger the file size and the more ink it takes to print. So how do you know what resolution to use? In most cases 72 dpi is sufficient for an inkjet or laser printer. Depending on the image and its intended purpose you could go as high as 200 or 300 dpi. If you are printing from a word processing program choosing Draft or Fast Normal in the Print Properties or Preferences menu is roughly equivalent to 72 dpi. If you are printing directly from a photo editing program such as Photoshop, you can change the resolution and the image size from the Image menu.
Protect your cartridges
If your printer won't be used for a while, put the cartridges in a plastic, sealable bag so the ink won't dry up. Please handle the cartridges carefully, covering skin, clothing and surfaces when handling any ink cartridge.