Color Ink Cartridges all running out very quickly

Question

Hi,
  I have an HP Officejet Pro 8600 Premium. I purchased it because the store display bragged at how much more econimical it was to run compared to a laser printer. I mainly print in black, but I occasionally print some color pages here and there. When my black cartridges started getting low, I received a message on the screen saying it will need to be replaced soon. At the time, all of my color cartridges were between 50 and 75% full. When the black cartridge did run out, I replaced it and within a few minutes, the first color cartridge said it was empty and I could not continue printing until it was replaced, even though I was trying to print only in black anyway. 
  I could not understand why it would have ran out when it was still well over half full a few minutes before and I was only printing with black ink. I went ahead and replaced it anyway. A few minutes later, the same thing happened again with the next color and then after that with the last color. I had to replace all 3 color ink cartridges in order to even be able to print just black text. 
  This was a couple of months ago. Today I ran a printer status report and saw my page count. I have printed only 1325 black pages and 312 color pages. That means I went thru close to $100 worth of color ink for only 312 pages?! The number I actually got out of those cartridges is actually even less because I have printed quite a few since then to come up to that number. How is a printer like this anyway economical like their display said? That's over 33 cents per page and I'm not talking about printing out hi quality photos or anything like that....these were just a few flyers with a few small pics and some colored text. 
  I don't understand how if I prnt mainly in black at draft quality, how I can run out of colored ink so fast. I have loved the way the whole machine worked, but if it goes thru ink that fast, I'd be better off having anything I need printed in color done by a professional printing service....it would be cheaper than what I've been paying per page with this! 
  I really wish HP would step up to the plate and either take this printer back or figure out a way to make it use less ink. By the time I get a years worth of use out of it, I'll have spent well more in ink than I have on the printer itself. 
  Has anyone else experienced problems like this, or is there something wrong with my printer? 

Answer 1

Hi tom19382,
Welcome to the HP Forums!
I see that your HP Officejet 8600 premium is running out of ink quickly.
I have some questions for you:
1.) What Operating System are you using Windows or Mac? What version? That way I could provide the settings for black ink only.
2.) Are you using regular or XL size cartridges?
3.) Are these cartridges HP Genuine or re-fills?
Hope to hear back, and have a great day.
RnRMusicMan
I work on behalf of HP
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