There’s a familiar feeling of dread that every home office worker, student, or busy parent knows well: the low ink warning. It always seems to flash at the most inconvenient moment—right before a critical deadline, just as you’re printing travel documents, or when your child’s project is due in the morning. The dread is followed by a second, more pragmatic pain: the staggering cost of Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) ink. It often feels like you’re paying a premium for the printer all over again, just in tiny, plastic installments. This cycle has sent millions of us on a quest for a more sensible solution, a search for third-party ink cartridges that promise the same performance for a fraction of the price. But this path is fraught with uncertainty. Will it work? Will it clog my printer? Will the colors look right? It’s this exact dilemma that led us to test the Valuetoner 67XL Ink Cartridges 2 Pack, a popular and budget-friendly alternative for a wide range of HP printers.
- Product Name: Valuetoner 67XL Ink Cartridges Replacement for HP 67 XL Ink Cartridges for HP67XL for HP Deskjet 2755e 2855e 2722e 4255e 2722 2755 4110e 4152e 4155e 2723e 1742e Envy 6455e 6052 6055...
- Package Contents: 1 x User Guide, 1 x Black cartouche encre for hp 67, 1 x Tri-Color for hp 67 xl ink cartridges (total 2 Pack for HP 67XL black and color combo pack)
What to Consider Before Buying Third-Party Ink Cartridges
A set of third-party ink cartridges is more than just a purchase; it’s a strategic decision in managing your long-term printing costs. For many, it’s the key to unlocking affordable, high-volume printing at home without breaking the bank. The primary benefit is undeniable: significant cost savings compared to brand-name OEM cartridges. This allows for more liberal printing of documents, drafts, photos, and school assignments without the constant worry of depleting a costly resource. However, this financial advantage comes with a set of considerations that every buyer must weigh carefully before committing.
The ideal customer for a product like this is someone facing high-volume, non-critical printing needs. Think home office users printing daily reports, students printing lecture notes and essays, or families printing coloring pages and recipes. For these users, perfect color fidelity is secondary to functionality and cost-effectiveness. Conversely, this type of product might not be suitable for professional photographers, graphic designers, or anyone producing client-facing materials where color accuracy is paramount. For those users, the potential for slight color shifts or inconsistencies, however minor, is a risk not worth taking. They might be better served by sticking to OEM ink or investing in a professional-grade photo printer.
Before investing, consider these crucial points in detail:
- Printer Compatibility & Firmware: This is the single most important factor. Always double- and triple-check that your exact printer model is listed as compatible. Furthermore, be aware that printer manufacturers can release firmware updates that block third-party cartridges from working. We also need to stress the massive caveat with this specific cartridge type: if you have activated the HP+ service on your printer, these cartridges will not work. HP+ often requires the exclusive use of genuine HP ink, and there is no workaround.
- Page Yield & True Cost: Third-party brands often claim high page yields, like the 705 pages for black and 455 for color with the Valuetoner 67XL Ink Cartridges 2 Pack. While impressive, remember these are based on an industry standard of 5% page coverage (a short letter or email). If you print dense text, graphics, or full-page photos, your actual yield will be much lower. The real value is calculated by cost-per-page, and even with lower real-world yields, these often come out far ahead of OEM options.
- Print Quality & Color Accuracy: This is where the trade-off becomes apparent. For standard black text, most high-quality third-party inks perform admirably. However, with color cartridges, you may notice subtle differences compared to the originals. Colors might be slightly less vibrant, or have a minor shift in hue. For everyday use, this is often unnoticeable, but for photo printing or brand-specific color matching, it could be a deal-breaker.
- Reliability & Long-Term Printer Health: The biggest fear with non-OEM ink is the potential for clogs or printer damage. Reputable third-party manufacturers have refined their formulas to minimize these risks, but a poorly made cartridge can still cause issues. We always recommend running a print head cleaning cycle after installing a new third-party cartridge and printing a test page to ensure everything is flowing correctly.
Navigating the world of third-party ink can feel like a compromise, but for the right user, it’s a game-changing way to save money. Understanding these factors will help you make an informed choice.
While the Valuetoner 67XL Ink Cartridges 2 Pack is an excellent choice for those looking to escape high OEM prices, it’s always wise to consider the bigger picture. If the cycle of buying cartridges, whether original or third-party, is becoming a source of frustration, it might be time to look at a different printing technology altogether. For a broader look at all the top models that can save you money in the long run, we highly recommend checking out our complete, in-depth guide:
- Print, Copy, Scan: The PIXMA TS3720 is a true colour printer scanner copier all in one that is compact, versatile and easy-to-use with a 60 sheet rear tray that reduces the need to refill paper as...
- Innovative Cartridge-Free Printing ― No more tiny, expensive ink cartridges; each ink bottle set is equivalent to about 80 individual cartridges (2)
- FROM CANADA'S MOST TRUSTED PRINTER BRAND – The DeskJet 2855e is perfect for homes printing to-do lists, letters, financial documents and recipes. Print speeds up to 5.5 ppm colour, 7.5 ppm black.
First Impressions: Unboxing the Valuetoner 67XL Ink Cartridges 2 Pack
The Valuetoner 67XL Ink Cartridges 2 Pack arrived in a compact, no-frills box—a clear indicator of its budget-focused mission. There’s no elaborate marketing or glossy packaging; just a straightforward cardboard box containing what matters. Inside, we found the two cartridges, one black and one tri-color, each individually sealed in a vacuum-packed plastic wrap to ensure freshness and prevent leakage during transit. A small, folded user guide was also included. The cartridges themselves feel solid and well-constructed, virtually indistinguishable from their HP counterparts at a glance. The plastic housing is sturdy, and the contact chips are clean and precisely placed. Removing the protective orange plastic cap required a firm snap, revealing the ink nozzles, which were clean and ready for installation. Our initial impression was one of cautious optimism. While the packaging is basic, the product itself doesn’t feel cheap or flimsy. It looks and feels like a standard ink cartridge, ready to get to work, which is exactly what you want from a product like this. The real test, of course, would come after installation. You can see the simple, effective packaging for yourself.
Advantages
- Exceptional cost savings compared to OEM HP 67XL cartridges
- High claimed page yield offers great long-term value
- Simple, straightforward installation process in compatible printers
- Good print quality for everyday text documents and drafts
Drawbacks
- Inconsistent print quality, particularly with fine details and small fonts
- Strict incompatibility with printers where HP+ service has been activated
A Deep Dive into the Valuetoner 67XL’s Real-World Performance
An ink cartridge can look perfect, but its true worth is only revealed under the pressure of daily use. We put the Valuetoner 67XL Ink Cartridges 2 Pack through a series of tests in our HP Deskjet 2755e (with HP+ disabled, a critical step), simulating a typical home office environment. We printed everything from multi-page text reports and invoices to color-coded charts, school worksheets, and even a few 4×6 photos to push its limits. Our goal was to move beyond the specs on the box and understand the practical, day-to-day experience of relying on this budget ink.
Installation and Compatibility: The Moment of Truth
This is often the most nerve-wracking part of using third-party ink. After unsealing the cartridges and removing the protective clips, we opened our HP Deskjet and waited for the carriage to center itself. We removed the spent OEM cartridges and slid the Valuetoner units into place. They clicked in with the same satisfying, secure feel as the originals—a good first sign. Upon closing the lid, the printer whirred to life and began its standard alignment process. The printer’s small LCD screen did flash a “Non-Genuine Cartridge” warning, which is entirely expected. We simply acknowledged the message on the printer’s screen and via the HP Smart app on our computer, and the printer was ready to proceed. We did not encounter any hard-locks or errors that prevented printing.
This seamless experience, however, is not universal. We noted user feedback where some had compatibility issues, with one user stating it “Does not work with the HP DeskJet 2652, as advertised.” This underscores the absolute necessity of verifying your exact model against the compatibility list before purchasing. The most significant landmine is the HP+ service. The manufacturer is very clear: if your printer is enrolled in HP+, these cartridges are guaranteed not to work. This isn’t a flaw in the cartridge; it’s a feature of the HP+ ecosystem. For those who have avoided HP+, our installation was a textbook success, taking less than two minutes from box to first print.
Print Quality Under the Microscope: Text, Graphics, and Photos
With the cartridges installed, we began our quality assessment. For our first test, we printed a 10-page, text-heavy document. The black ink cartridge performed exceptionally well. The text was crisp, dark, and consistent from the first page to the last. We saw no smudging or streaking, and the quality was, to our eyes, indistinguishable from the OEM cartridge it replaced. This aligns with feedback from satisfied users, one of whom stated, “My copy looked just like the original.” For the vast majority of home and office tasks—printing reports, letters, recipes, and homework—the black ink is more than capable.
The tri-color cartridge is where we found the expected trade-offs. We printed a business presentation with several pie charts and bar graphs. The colors were present and clear, but when compared side-by-side with a page printed with an HP cartridge, we noticed a slight difference. The reds were a little less vibrant, and the blues had a subtle shift towards cyan. As one user aptly put it, the quality is “a bit less than that of the native ink, but totally beyond my expectation.” For internal documents or school projects, this is perfectly acceptable. However, our testing also confirmed the issues raised by less satisfied users. When we printed a document with very small, 8-point font, we experienced some of the “blotting” another user described, where the ink bled slightly, reducing the sharpness of the tiny letters. This suggests the ink’s viscosity may be slightly different from the original formula. When it came to photo printing on glossy paper, the results were mediocre. The colors lacked the punch and accuracy of the OEM ink, resulting in a slightly washed-out look. The takeaway is clear: the Valuetoner 67XL Ink Cartridges 2 Pack excels at text and is serviceable for basic color graphics, but it is not the right choice for high-fidelity photo printing or documents requiring precise detail.
Page Yield and Longevity: Does the Value Truly Last?
The primary motivation for buying third-party ink is value, and value is a function of both price and longevity. Valuetoner claims an impressive yield of approximately 705 pages for the black cartridge and 455 for the tri-color. While we couldn’t print over a thousand pages in our testing period, our experience corroborates the feeling of excellent longevity reported by users. One of the most telling pieces of feedback we found was from a user who prints from home: “This one is lasting FOREVER…This one said low ink 2 weeks ago…This one just keeps printing and printing and PRINTING!” This experience is very common with remanufactured or third-party cartridges. Because the printer cannot accurately gauge the ink level in a non-genuine cartridge, it often relies on an internal page counter or gives a premature “low ink” warning.
We experienced this firsthand. After about 100 pages, the HP Smart app began reporting low ink levels. However, we continued to print another 150+ pages with no degradation in quality, and the cartridges were still going strong. This is a crucial point for potential buyers: you must learn to ignore the printer’s software-based ink level monitor and instead rely on the physical output. When you see streaks or faded print, that is the true indicator that the cartridge is empty. For users willing to manage this minor inconvenience, the potential to get hundreds of extra pages after the first warning makes the value proposition of these cartridges extremely compelling.
What Other Users Are Saying
Across the board, feedback for the Valuetoner 67XL Ink Cartridges 2 Pack is decidedly mixed, painting a picture of a product that can be either a fantastic bargain or a frustrating failure, depending heavily on the user’s printer and expectations. This polarization is common in the third-party ink market and provides valuable insight.
On the positive side, many users are thrilled with the performance-to-price ratio. One happy customer succinctly said, “I am very pleased with the quality of the ink. My copy looked just like the original. This is a must buy. Good quality and Great price.” Another echoed this sentiment, admitting, “I had so much doubt about this ink, but it actually works… Most importantly, it is almost half the price!” These comments highlight the core appeal: for everyday printing, it delivers acceptable quality at a price that OEM brands can’t touch.
However, the negative experiences are just as significant and serve as a crucial warning. One user reported a complete breakdown in quality, stating, “It worked the first few prints then it can’t print small fonts its blotting the ink…just causing a lot of frustration.” Another had a more severe issue, sharing a photo of a terribly streaked and unusable print with the comment, “This is how it prints. Do not buy this.” These reviews point to potential quality control inconsistencies, where one cartridge might work flawlessly and another from the same batch could be problematic. This is the inherent gamble when moving away from OEM supplies.
Considering the Alternatives: Is It Time for a New Printer?
If the potential for inconsistency with third-party ink gives you pause, or if you’re simply tired of the high-cost cartridge model entirely, it might be time to evaluate a different approach to printing. The Valuetoner 67XL Ink Cartridges 2 Pack is a solution for extending the life of an existing cartridge-based printer, but the alternatives below offer entirely new systems that eliminate the traditional cartridge altogether.
1. Canon PIXMA TR150 Wireless Portable Printer
- Take your printing on the go with the PIXMA TR150 Wireless Mobile Printer.
- Print without wires - even on the go - thanks to multiple WIRELESS PRINTING options
The Canon PIXMA TR150 represents a completely different use case. If your main frustration with your current printer is its bulk and immobility, this portable powerhouse is the answer. It’s designed for professionals, students, and anyone who needs to print high-quality documents and photos on the go. While it still uses ink cartridges, its focus on portability and convenience might be a more valuable feature for you than the rock-bottom cost-per-page of a third-party solution. It’s an excellent choice for those who value flexibility over sheer volume printing.
2. Epson Ecotank Photo ET-8500 Wireless All-in-One Printer
- Package dimensions: 101 h x 173 l x 207 w (in inches)
- Great quality product
For users who were drawn to third-party ink for photo printing but were disappointed by the color accuracy, the Epson EcoTank ET-8500 is a significant upgrade. This is a ‘supertank’ printer, meaning it uses large, refillable ink tanks instead of cartridges. The upfront cost is much higher, but the replacement ink bottles are incredibly cheap and last for thousands of pages. The ET-8500 is specifically designed for photographers and creative professionals, offering six-color ink for outstanding dynamic range and color fidelity that third-party cartridges simply cannot match.
3. Epson EcoTank ET-4800 Cartridge-Free All-in-One Printer
- Innovative Cartridge-Free Printing ― No more tiny, expensive ink cartridges; each ink bottle set is equivalent to about 80 individual cartridges (2)
- Dramatic Savings on Replacement Ink ― Save up to 90% with replacement ink bottles vs. ink cartridges (1) – that’s enough to print up to 4,500 pages black/7,500 colour (3)
The Epson EcoTank ET-4800 is perhaps the most direct competitor to the *idea* of saving money on ink. Like the ET-8500, it’s a supertank printer, but it’s aimed squarely at the home office user. It does away with expensive cartridges in favor of low-cost, high-capacity ink bottles. A single set of replacement bottles can be equivalent to dozens of traditional ink cartridges. For someone who was considering the Valuetoner 67XL Ink Cartridges 2 Pack to manage high-volume text printing, the ET-4800 offers a more reliable, albeit more expensive upfront, path to achieving the same goal of drastically reduced long-term printing costs.
Final Verdict: Who Should Buy the Valuetoner 67XL Ink Cartridges 2 Pack?
After extensive testing and analysis, our verdict on the Valuetoner 67XL Ink Cartridges 2 Pack is a conditional recommendation. This product is not for everyone, but for the right user, it represents outstanding value. If you are a budget-conscious individual who primarily prints text-based documents, has a compatible HP printer (with HP+ service disabled), and is willing to overlook software ink level warnings and potential minor color shifts, then this product is an absolute win. The cost savings are substantial, and the performance for everyday tasks is more than adequate.
However, if you require precise color accuracy for photos or professional materials, print documents with very fine detail, or are simply risk-averse when it comes to your printer’s performance, you would be better served by either sticking with OEM cartridges or investing in a different printer technology like an EcoTank model. The Valuetoner 67XL Ink Cartridges 2 Pack is a calculated gamble: one that, for many users, pays off handsomely in savings. If you fit the profile and are ready to break free from the high cost of OEM ink, we encourage you to check the latest price and confirm its compatibility with your printer.
Last update on 2025-11-07 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API