Strydent InkSaver

If you own a PC, the chances are you also have a printer. For most home users, that means an inkjet printer, as they are compact, versatile and cheap.

Unfortunately, although printers can be had for as little as £50, adding one set of ink cartridges can double that price.

Until now there have been two ways to reduce the cost of printing. Draft mode reduces the amount of ink used but usually produces poor quality results.

The second is to use compatible cartridges, or refill kits. Another alternative is now available in the form of InkSaver from Strydent Software. This clever utility intelligently reduces the amount of ink used each time you print.

After a straightforward installation, a sample page is printed which demonstrates the quality you can expect at the nine levels of ink saving.

With this to hand you are presented with a main menu where two sliders, one for black ink and one for colour, set the savings according to your requirements.

As you do this, a handy calculator estimates how much money you could save. Apparently by reducing the colour inked amount by 25 per cent, we would get an extra £8.75 worth of printing per cartridge.

In tests, the quality of photographs and colour diagrams was almost perfect at a 15 per cent ink saving, and quite acceptable up to 25 per cent, although blocks of solid colour fared less well.

Black text remained almost perfect at 25 per cent and acceptable at an astonishing 45 per cent saving. At the maximum setting, which uses 75 per cent less ink, colours appeared washed out and grainy.

Black text was decidedly grey but entirely readable.

Once set, InkSaver runs in the background and you print as usual. If you want to adjust the settings, such as to print a photo at full quality or a large report at the maximum saving, just click on the icon and adjust the sliders.

Only the most popular printers from HP, Canon and Epson are supported at present, so buyers should check the packaging to see if their printer is listed.

Strydent promises support for additional models and manufacturers in the future.

Minor drawbacks aside, InkSaver is supremely easy to use and is an effective way of reducing the everyday running costs of your inkjet printer when quality isn't the priority.

Note:Try out Inksaver by downloading a demo here.

DETAILS
Price: £30

Contact: Strydent 0870 120 2186
www.inksaver.com