A Somewhat Lengthy Ink Review - Sorry! (HP 363 Large)

Member Name: JJJJ

Product:	HP 363 Large
Date:	16/10/08 (205 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great Neutral Tone

Disadvantages: Not Necessary For Printing Disposable Documents

HP Black 363 Large
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If i'm going to be brutally honest, ink is never going to be the subject of a blisteringly entertaining or award winning review - but i'll do my best to be as informative as possible!

The ink in question is the larger of the two black inks which are available as part of HP's 363 series.

Does it Offer Value for Money?
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The smaller sized variety (which I have previously reviewed) costs £9.65 from Amazon and comes with 6ml of ink inside. 6ml doesn't sound like much, but has an estimated page 'yield' of up to 300 sheets.

The larger variety (reviewed here) holds 17ml of ink, and can produce around 800 prints. It costs £16.90, and can also be bought from Amazon, or the majority of office supply stores.

A basic calculation will show you that the larger size offers the best value for money, and as such is the version that I regularly purchase for my printing needs.

Will it Fade?
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Both the large and small black inks use 'Viviera' technology - which means that if used in conjunction with HP's 'Premium Plus' paper (roughly £10 for 20 sheets), they will have a fade resistance of over 100 years. This is down to the use of what's known as 'Proprietary dyes', which as well as making prints 'light-fast', will maintain a large color gamut. A century of fade-resistance seems even more impressive when you consider that professionally produced lab-photos are only light-fast for an estimated 17-40 years.

As mentioned in the previous paragraph, the Viviera inks are actually dyes, not pigments, and I have to agree with HP when they say that they provide a "exceptionally smooth, uniformly high-gloss finish on glossy photo papers". Even on the cheaper HP Brochure Paper, the ink has a lovely clean appearance.

In terms of economy, this particular black does last quite a while, and of the seven inks that complete the 363 seres, this is the one which lasts the longest. This is fairly predictable, as it costs the most and has the largest volume.

The colour is very pure, and doesn't have any blueish tones as some of the cheaper blacks do. As such, the colour could be described as having a rich-neutral quality.

The product dries quickly on most of the paper types I have tested it on, and with standard cheap document printing paper it provides crisp bleed free edges on smaller text.

But is it Compatible with my Printer?
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The large and small Hewlett Packard 363 black ink can be used in the following printers; HP Photosmart 3110, 3210, 3310, 8250, C5175, C6175, C6180, C6270, C6285, C7180, D6160, D7160, D736 and D7460.

If you buy the 363 'Value Pack' which I've also reviewed, you get all the inks in the colour range, and 150 sheets of 10 x 15cm photo printing paper, for around £31.

The ink is really easy to replace - especially on my printer (the HP D7160). All you have to do is lift the hinge, push in the cartridge, close the hinge, and you're done. It's a simple and non-messy process.

Conclusion
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I would recommend the HP 363 Viviera inks to everyone - especially over the non-HP '3rd party' brands - which have often been refilled with old ink.

An organisation known as 'QualityLogic' recently did a test which compared HP originals to refills, and it showed that even when marked as the same quantity, HP inkjet print cartridges produced 50% more pages than their cheaper rivals. Also, alternative brands are said to have a fade-resistance of only around two years on average.

Sure, if you just use your printer for everyday text that doesn't need to look good, then non-HP inks are a real alternative, but if you need to produce high quality output as part of your job, then with this ink you can guarantee you'll get a realistic colour representation.

This particular black is of a very high quality, and due to its fade resistance and purity, matched with it's economy, I can only give it a big recommendation.

Summary: Excellent Black

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