There’s a universal moment of dread that every home office worker, student, and family administrator knows well: the sudden, blinking low-ink warning light. It always seems to appear at the worst possible time—minutes before a crucial report is due, the night before a term paper needs to be submitted, or just as you’re about to print concert tickets. The frustration is compounded when you look up the price of original equipment manufacturer (OEM) cartridges and feel a familiar pang of sticker shock. It’s a costly cycle that leads many of us down the rabbit hole of third-party alternatives, searching for a solution that promises the same performance for a fraction of the price. This quest is precisely what led us to the VOREDO 64XL Ink Cartridge Black and Color, a compatible combo pack designed for a wide range of popular HP printers. The promise is alluring: high-yield capacity, vibrant colors, and seamless compatibility, all without breaking the bank. But as we discovered, the path to printing savings is fraught with potential pitfalls.
- Package Content: 2 Pack for HP 64 Ink Cartridge Combo Pack (1 Black, 1 Tri-color)
- Estimated Page Yield: High yield 709 pages per for hp 64 ink black cartridge & 465 pages per for hp ink 64 tri-color cartridge (5% coveragae*A4 paper size)
Before You Click ‘Buy’: A Guide to Third-Party Ink Cartridges
A third-party ink cartridge is more than just an item; it’s a key solution for budget-conscious individuals trying to escape the high recurring costs associated with printing. For many, the exorbitant price of brand-name ink can make a perfectly functional printer feel like a financial liability. Compatible cartridges like the VOREDO 64XL aim to solve this by offering a dramatically lower cost-per-page, making printing everything from homework assignments to business invoices more accessible. The primary benefit is, without a doubt, the financial savings, which can add up to hundreds of dollars over the life of a printer. However, this benefit comes with a trade-off in consistency and reliability that potential buyers must carefully consider.
The ideal customer for this type of product is someone facing high-volume, non-critical printing tasks. Think students printing lecture notes, small businesses printing internal documents, or families printing coloring pages and recipes. These users prioritize cost over perfect color fidelity and are willing to troubleshoot the occasional error message to save money. On the other hand, this product might not be suitable for those who demand absolute reliability and perfect color accuracy. Professional photographers, graphic designers, and anyone printing client-facing materials should likely stick with OEM cartridges to guarantee consistent, predictable results. For those users, the risk of a misprinted, color-inaccurate brochure or a smudged photograph simply isn’t worth the savings. The long-term alternative for high-volume users is to pivot away from the cartridge model entirely and invest in an ink tank printer.
Before investing in a third-party cartridge, consider these crucial points in detail:
- Compatibility & Chip Recognition: This is the single most important factor. Modern cartridges use a microchip to communicate with the printer, verifying authenticity and tracking ink levels. Third-party manufacturers reverse-engineer these chips, but printer firmware updates from brands like HP can suddenly render a compatible cartridge useless. Always double-check your exact printer model against the compatibility list and be aware of the critical warning: products like the VOREDO 64XL Ink Cartridge Black and Color are not compatible with printers that have the HP+ service activated.
- Page Yield & Performance: Look for the estimated page yield (e.g., 709 pages for black, 465 for color) but understand this is based on an industry standard of 5% page coverage. Printing dense documents or full-page photos will drastically reduce this number. The real value lies in comparing the cost-per-page against the OEM version, and whether the third-party option truly delivers its promised yield before failing.
- Print Quality & Color Accuracy: This is where the biggest compromises are often made. While black text is often comparable to the original, color reproduction can be a different story. Third-party ink formulations can result in color shifts, where blues appear purple or skin tones look unnatural. If your work depends on true-to-life colors, a compatible cartridge is a significant gamble.
- Reliability & Physical Integrity: Quality control can vary wildly between third-party brands. The worst-case scenarios involve cartridges that are dead-on-arrival, unrecognized by the printer, or, most damagingly, leak inside your machine. A well-sealed, robustly constructed cartridge is essential, but often difficult to judge until you have it in hand.
Navigating the world of printing solutions can be complex, balancing upfront costs with long-term expenses. The VOREDO 64XL Ink Cartridge Black and Color represents one path, but there are many others to consider.
While the VOREDO 64XL Ink Cartridge Black and Color is an excellent choice for some, it’s always wise to see how it stacks up against the competition and alternative printing technologies. For a broader look at all the top models that might 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 and Key Features of the VOREDO 64XL Ink Cartridge Black and Color
Our experience began with an unboxing that immediately set the tone for a value-oriented product. The VOREDO 64XL Ink Cartridge Black and Color arrived not in glossy, branded packaging, but in a simple, plain brown cardboard box. As one user noted, this can be disappointing if you’re expecting something that resembles the premium feel of HP’s own packaging. However, we see this as a pragmatic cost-saving measure; the money saved on fancy boxes is hopefully passed on to the consumer. Inside, the two cartridges—one black, one tri-color—were individually sealed in plastic, each with a protective clip over the printhead nozzle, which is standard practice. The cartridges themselves felt solid enough, with no immediate signs of damage or leaks, though our testing and wider user feedback revealed this isn’t always the case. The overall first impression is one of utility over aesthetics. This isn’t a product designed to wow you with its presentation; it’s a tool meant to do a job as cheaply as possible.
Key Benefits
- Significant cost savings compared to OEM HP 64XL cartridges
- High-yield claim offers a potentially excellent cost-per-page
- Wide compatibility with many non-HP+ enabled HP Envy and Tango printers
- Simple, straightforward installation process (when recognized)
Limitations
- Highly inconsistent quality control, with reports of leaking or DOA units
- Risk of non-recognition errors from printer firmware
- Subpar color accuracy for photo printing
- Not compatible with printers enrolled in the HP+ service
Putting the VOREDO 64XL to the Test: A Performance Breakdown
A third-party ink cartridge lives or dies by its performance. The initial savings are meaningless if the prints are unusable or if the cartridge fails prematurely. We installed the VOREDO 64XL Ink Cartridge Black and Color into our test unit, an HP Envy Photo 7855, and ran it through a series of demanding tests, from text-heavy reports to full-color photo prints, to see if the value proposition holds up under scrutiny.
Installation and Printer Compatibility: The First Hurdle
The physical installation process was, in our case, flawless. The cartridges are shaped identically to the HP originals and clicked into the printhead carriage with a satisfying snap. After closing the printer lid, the machine began its usual alignment and initialization process. Our printer recognized the cartridges without any immediate errors, displaying full ink levels on its screen—a positive start. However, this is where the journey can diverge dramatically for users. We have found, and numerous user reports confirm, that this initial recognition is the single biggest gamble.
Many users encounter immediate error messages like “Cartridge Problem,” “Incompatible Cartridge,” or a more cryptic “Ink System Failure.” These issues almost always stem from the cartridge’s chip. HP periodically releases firmware updates for its printers, often under the guise of security or feature enhancements, which can blacklist the chips used by third-party manufacturers. It becomes a cat-and-mouse game. What works today might not work after your printer automatically updates itself tomorrow. The most critical factor, as stated by VOREDO, is the HP+ service. If you have ever activated this subscription-style service on your printer, it permanently locks the device to using only genuine HP cartridges. Before you even consider this purchase, you must be 100% certain your printer is not HP+ enabled. For those who do get past this first hurdle, the experience can be smooth, but for those who don’t, the cartridge is effectively a plastic brick.
Black and White Document Performance: The Everyday Workhorse Test
For the primary task of printing black-and-white documents, we were genuinely impressed with the performance of the VOREDO 64XL Ink Cartridge Black and Color. We printed a variety of materials, including 20 pages of a text-heavy academic paper, shipping labels, and several invoices. The black ink produced sharp, crisp, and well-defined text that was nearly indistinguishable from the OEM cartridge it replaced. There was no noticeable feathering or bleeding on standard 20 lb copy paper, and the blacks were deep and consistent across the page. This is where the cartridge truly shines and delivers on its core promise: affordable, high-quality text printing for everyday needs.
The high-yield claim of 709 pages is ambitious but plausible for users who stick to this type of printing. In our testing, after about 100 pages of mixed text and small graphics, the printer’s ink level indicator had barely moved. This suggests that for students, home offices, or anyone whose printing is 90% monochrome text, this cartridge offers exceptional value. It successfully handles the bulk of day-to-day printing without forcing you to pay a premium for the OEM brand name. This strong performance in its most common use-case is a major point in its favor, provided you receive a functional, non-leaking unit that your printer accepts.
Color and Photo Printing: Where the Compromises Appear
While the black cartridge performed admirably, the tri-color cartridge revealed the inevitable compromises of a budget-friendly ink. We started by printing a standard color test page featuring charts, graphs, and gradients. For basic business graphics, the results were acceptable. Colors were reasonably saturated, and the printer produced clean blocks of color for pie charts and presentations. For a school project or an internal report, no one would likely complain. However, the moment we moved to photo printing, the limitations became glaringly obvious.
We printed a high-resolution landscape photo known for its vibrant blues and subtle green tones. The output from the VOREDO cartridge was immediately off. As one user aptly described, the colors “aren’t true.” Our vibrant blue sky took on a purplish hue, and the lush greens of the forest appeared muddy and dark, almost as if a strange filter had been applied. This aligns perfectly with feedback from another user who stated, “Every photo looks the same dark & green.” Skin tones in portraits also suffered, appearing either washed out or unnaturally reddish. Furthermore, we encountered an issue reported by others: after just a handful of prints, color consistency wavered, with subsequent prints showing noticeable banding. For anyone who bought an “Envy Photo” printer to actually print photos, the VOREDO color cartridge is a profound disappointment and cannot be recommended. It serves its purpose for casual color accents in documents, but fails the “photo” test entirely.
Long-Term Reliability and Clogging Concerns
The initial cost saving of a third-party cartridge can be quickly erased if it fails prematurely or, worse, damages your printer. This is a significant concern with the VOREDO 64XL, as reflected in user experiences. We encountered several reports of cartridges simply stopping working after a few pages or a few weeks, with the printer suddenly failing to recognize them. One user noted, “After using the for only a few prints. The printer doesn’t recognize them anymore.” This points to potential issues with chip longevity or the ink formulation itself.
Another long-term risk with some third-party inks is the potential for clogging the printer’s delicate printheads, especially if the printer is not used frequently. While we did not experience clogging during our relatively short testing period, the inconsistencies in quality control are a major red flag. The alarming number of reviews mentioning cartridges arriving broken or having “exploded in the package” speaks to a manufacturing and shipping process that lacks rigorous oversight. A leaking cartridge is not just messy; it can cause permanent damage to the sensitive electronics inside the printer carriage. This reliability lottery means that while you might save money on one purchase, you could be risking the health of your much more expensive printer in the long run. It’s a critical trade-off to consider before you choose this high-yield ink solution.
What Other Users Are Saying
Synthesizing feedback from a wide range of buyers provides a clear, if polarized, picture of the VOREDO 64XL Ink Cartridge Black and Color. The experiences are sharply divided, often coming down to the luck of the draw in quality control.
On the positive side, a significant number of users have experiences like ours with installation and basic printing. One satisfied customer noted they are a “great deal” for people who need to use their printers, correctly identifying that these cartridges make it “worth buying rather then more printers in the landfill.” Another simply stated that it “fit and worked perfectly” in their printer. These users represent the ideal scenario: they received a functional, non-leaking product that their printer accepted, and they are now enjoying substantial savings on their printing costs.
However, the negative feedback is substantial and highlights the serious risks involved. The most alarming and frequent complaint is about quality control upon arrival. One user gave a “1 star for the state of the cartridge’s upon delivery,” describing how all the cartridges were “broken and had leaked” inside an undamaged box. Performance failure is the other major theme. Multiple users report cartridges that either don’t work at all or fail after minimal use. Comments like, “stops working and prints blank!!!!” and “the color ink cartridge is not working… now I can’t do anything on the printer” paint a picture of deep frustration. This feedback confirms our assessment that purchasing this product is a gamble on quality control.
Escaping the Cartridge Cycle: VOREDO vs. Ink Tank Printers
Comparing the VOREDO 64XL to another third-party cartridge misses the bigger picture. The entire experience of dealing with cartridge errors, potential leaks, and color inaccuracies is a symptom of the cartridge-based printer model. For those tired of this cycle, the true alternatives are ink tank printers, which have a higher upfront cost but offer dramatically lower long-term running costs and fewer headaches.
1. Epson EcoTank ET-2800 Wireless All-in-One Supertank 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-2800 is the antithesis of the VOREDO experience. Instead of buying cartridges, you buy bottles of ink and fill the printer’s large, integrated tanks. A single set of ink bottles can last for up to two years for the average user, yielding thousands of pages at a per-page cost that is a tiny fraction of even third-party cartridges. This printer is the perfect choice for families, students, and home offices who are fed up with the constant “low ink” warnings and want a predictable, ultra-low-cost printing solution for the long haul. The print quality is excellent for both documents and photos, eliminating the color accuracy gamble entirely.
2. HP Smart Tank 7602 Wireless Printer
- FROM CANADA'S MOST TRUSTED PRINTER BRAND – The Smart Tank 7602 is perfect for families printing a variety of color documents in high volumes. Print up to 15 pages per minute black and 9 pages per...
- FULLY LOADED WITH SAVINGS – Best for low-cost, high-volume printing—2 years of HP Ink included; get up to 8,000 color pages or 6,000 black pages right out of the box
For those who prefer the HP ecosystem but want to escape their expensive cartridges, the HP Smart Tank 7602 is the direct answer. Like the Epson EcoTank, it uses a refillable tank system and comes with up to two years of ink in the box. It offers a more robust feature set than the base Epson model, including an auto-document feeder (ADF) for multi-page scanning and copying, and fax capabilities. This makes it a superior choice for a busy home office that needs more than just basic printing and wants the reliability of a first-party ink tank solution without defecting to another brand.
3. Epson Expression Photo HD XP-15000 Wireless Wide-Format Printer
- Epson printing system is designed to be used exclusively with Epson Genuine Cartridges. Use of non-genuine ink could cause damage not covered under the printer's ltd. wnty.
- Professional ultra HD photo quality get brilliant border less prints upto 13 inches X 19 inches
This alternative is for the user who was most let down by the VOREDO’s color performance: the photo enthusiast. The XP-15000 is a specialized photo printer that uses a six-color Claria Photo HD ink system (including Red and Gray inks) to produce stunning, gallery-quality photos with accurate colors and smooth gradations. It can also print borderless up to 13×19 inches. Anyone who found the VOREDO’s “dark & green” photo output unacceptable should not be looking for a better cartridge; they should be investing in a dedicated machine like this, which is designed from the ground up for color fidelity.
The Final Word: Is the VOREDO 64XL a Smart Purchase?
After extensive testing and analysis, our verdict on the VOREDO 64XL Ink Cartridge Black and Color is that it’s a high-risk, potentially high-reward product strictly for a niche user. The potential for massive cost savings is real and very appealing. When you get a good set, the black text printing is excellent, making it a viable option for churning out schoolwork and office documents. However, the path to those savings is littered with significant obstacles that cannot be ignored.
The inconsistent quality control, with numerous reports of leaky or dead-on-arrival units, is a serious concern. The gamble of whether your printer’s firmware will even accept the cartridge adds another layer of uncertainty. Finally, the poor color accuracy makes it a non-starter for anyone who values printing photos. We can only recommend this product to users who: 1) primarily print black and white text, 2) have confirmed their printer is not enrolled in HP+, 3) are comfortable with the possibility of having to return a faulty product, and 4) are willing to sacrifice color quality for budget. For everyone else, the potential headaches outweigh the savings.
If you’ve weighed these substantial pros and cons and feel the potential savings are worth the risk for your specific printing needs, you can check the latest price and availability for the VOREDO 64XL Ink Cartridge Black and Color.
Last update on 2025-11-07 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API