But I Digress…

2010 Honda Fit Sport

My wife keeps egging me to put some pictures up of our new car as she is still stuck in Ottawa because the beaurocracy at the Montreal consulate can’t seem to process immigrants one tenth as fast as the Philippines. You know, the unending flood of illegal Canadian immigrants is such a problem these days. So much for the “friendly border”. Yes I’m just a tad bitter about the unreasonable wait and the even more unreasonable visiting restrictions at the border but that’s a digression I’ll save for another day and another topic. Today I thought I’d roll some pictures of the car together with a short review blog.

Given that there is no difference whatsoever between the 2009 and 2010 Honda Fit, I’m kicking myself for not investigating purchasing a Fit almost a year ago. If you haven’t read my last blog or two, I had an accident with the Yaris that seemed reasonably minor but I guess for such an inexpensive car and the fact that Toyotas are notoriously outrageously expensive to repair (in terms of auto body work), the insurance company decided to total it, leaving me car-less in a city impossible to get around in without one. So after a bit of research I narrowed the choices down to a used CR-V or similar other smaller SUV, or a new Honda Fit Sport. I test drove several cars before finally deciding but given that right now I don’t have a need for an SUV and you can’t beat the fuel economy of the Yaris, Fit, SX4 and others without going hybrid (and spending another twenty grand) so I went with the Fit. It had the best reviews, it had the best feel by far in the test drive, and was still big enough to haul a few things around. The Yaris could carry luggage and groceries but that’s about it.

Some Notes About the 2009 Toyota Yaris

Having the unfortunate experience of totaling a car within a year of purchasing it new, I’m also in the unique position of having experience with two very very recent model economy cars. I’m also in the enviable position as a reviewer of someone who really preferred SUVs up until a year ago. That said, throughout this short review (or long review depending on how “in the zone” I get) I’ll be making several comparisons of the Honda Fit to the Toyota Yaris. Let me say up front that the Yaris Hatchback is a great little car. It’s inexpensive (relatively speaking; I think it’s a bit overpriced for what you get), incredibly fuel efficient, and very reliable. I didn’t own the car long enough to know how truly reliable but I never once had a mechanical issue with it. I don’t like sedans and never have so the Yaris sedan was not an option for me. I didn’t have the decked out Yaris with all the options but it had power everything and cruise control, as well as four dours, five including the back hatch. I couldn’t imagine using the Yaris for anything but a back-and-forth-to-work car without four doors. The two door model is extremely difficult to get into the back of. One of the most notable things about the Yaris is it’s turning radius. That thing turns on a freaking time. It had better though it’s so small. Okay enough about the Yaris. On to the Honda Fit Sport.

Manual vs Automatic

2010 Honda Fit Sport gear shift (manual)

From lessons learned from the Yaris with its tiny little four-banger, I did not want another ultra-compact car with an automatic transmission. The Yaris had a five-speed automatic and was absolutely gutless from a standstill and revved extremely loudly if you weren’t careful to ease on the gas when starting out. Once you got used to babying it somewhat it was okay but a definite compromise. The dealership I bought the Honda Fit Sport at had one Fit left with a manual transmission in the exact color I wanted, and they also had the best price which was the biggest sway of all. I am so so glad I got the manual. The reviews mentioned the same lackluster sluggish performance of the Honda Fit automatic transmission that I experienced with the Toyota Yaris. The 2010 Honda Fit Sport that I purchased with a manual transmission has a very sporty feel to it for such a small economy car and does not necessarily suffer from the same sluggish shifting issues (unless you suck at shifting a manual yourself). Don’t expect miracles though. This is not a sports car nor could it have possibly ever meant to have been, but for such a tiny fuel-sipping powerplant it performs surprisingly well, and the manual transmission makes a huge difference. One of the Honda dealers I talked to said that Honda would only supply a limited number of manual transmission model Fits. That may have just been pseudo-truthful sales pressure but judging from the stock available at the several dealers I visited he could have very well been telling the truth. There were very few manual transmission models available at the dealerships I visited (four altogether).

The Color Rule

2010 Honda Fit Sport rear view

I was informed of one of the unwritten rules of new car buying by a co-worker recently, that “thou shalt not buy a new car of the same color” which subconsciously makes some sense if somewhat irrational, but the Yaris blue is a bit of a boring grey-ish blue (I got a deal on it or I may have opted for bright yellow ). Why they can’t offer the same fantastic bright blue I’ve seen on some of their trucks on all their cars I don’t know but there you go. The 2010 Honda Fit blue is a nice deep blue. I would prefer a little lighter blue but I’m guessing my preferences might fall on deaf Honda ears. Besides beggars can’t be choosers. You don’t buy a cheap little four-banger like this because you’ve got tons of money to throw around to get exactly what you want. If that was the case I might have gotten a Ridgeline with all the bells and whistles or a monster gas guzzling SUV in bright blazing blue. The other colors available for the Fit I just didn’t like. My wife thought the lightest blue might be nice and judging from the Honda site I would have agreed with her but up close it’s a boring grey-ish light blue. Why the car manufacturers can’t key off of this more I don’t know. As soon as a really nice color comes out of some model car (not just blue) you seem to see them freaking everywhere. It’s obvious to me what people like. Why the car manufacturers don’t realize this and make it available on lots of models who knows. I don’t like red and neither does my wife, and black and white show the muck immediately (that’s more of an issue in Ottawa than here in northern Virginia). The “blackberry blue” is so dark it might as well be black but I could see the appeal of that color for some people in bright daylight.

Sport vs Basic

This is probably the biggest decision to make for anyone considering the Honda Fit. Oh and before I forget, let me just mention I did consider an older 2007 or 2008 Honda Fit but compared to the design change in 2009 they are truly ugly by comparison. At least the Toyota Yaris hatchback has the “cute factor” going for it. Back to the sport or not-to-sport issue, it simply wasn’t an option for me given the way Honda packages them. The basic model is just that – basic. No cruise control, cheap rims with hubcaps (which is what I had on my Yaris), a lesser stereo system, no uber cool USB interface in the glove box (more on that later), and not even an armrest for the driver’s side seat. I don’t really need the nicer rims, the spoiler, the chrome exhaust tip and other things, but the inside of the Sport model is noticeably nicer and less “plasticy” than the Basic model. Outside it does look nicer. I test-drove a basic model at one dealership that had a manual transmission model, and I can attest that besides the beautifully done guage layout (more on that later too) on both models, the Sport model just looks a lot nicer and the gear shifter is much nicer as well.

The Guages

2010 Honda Fit Sport Steering Wheel and Guages

Oh the guages. This is something I’ve seen Honda does right in a lot (maybe all?) of their cars. The guages are not just nicely colored without being gaudy, they are large, very easy to read, and well placed. Compare this to the Yaris. They use the same ugly yellow for everything everybody else uses. Putting the one big speedometer in the middle of the dash and a glove compartment where the guages goes is unique but in practical use it doesn’t work. The glove box is awkward to get at so I rarely if ever used it, and I just don’t like the guages in the middle of the dash. Right in front of the steering wheel is just the best place for them which is probably why almost every other car on the planet puts them there. The Toyota Yaris also has no tachometer. Maybe the manual transmission version does but none of the dealers in my area had one with the options I wanted at the time. I really don’t like not having a tachometer. Back to the Honda Fit, the guages are absolutely great. They are easy to read in daylight and even easier to read at night. The backlight level is adjustable from barely visible to truly blinding. It even beeps when you hit the maximum – just a nice little extra – and a little indicator on the dash shows the level from minimum to maximum. The mini-display between the speedo and tach toggles between milage, which also shows current and average mileage with a little progress bar indicator for current mileage, trip, odometer, and something else I think but I can’t remember The backlighting of the dash is also very well done in a soft bluish cyan and all of the controls are backlit not just the absolute essentials like the Toyota Yaris. I hated that about the Yaris. Because I drive a lot back and forth to Ottawa, often at night, not being able to find controls absolutely sucks. I got used to it but hurray for Honda for thinking of the little things that are highly annoying. The non-decked-out Yaris also had a horrible hard plastic steering wheel that necessitated one of those rubberized surrounds from WalMart. The steering wheel of the Honda Fit Sport model is leather wrapped. Note that the Basic model has the same horrible hard plastic steering wheel. You’ll note the cruise controls on the steering wheel, also something the Sport model has that the Basic doesn’t. The next step up “Sport with Navigation” also puts volume controls on the other side. I didn’t opt for navigation because 1) it’s too expensive for what you get, and 2) the navigation system offered by Honda is several years old. I already have a Garmin Nuvi I’m totally happy with that works just fine and also has bluetooth for my phone so I don’t need to shell out even more for that. I would absolutely not recommend getting the model with navigation for the reasons stated above and you can’t get a manual transmission version with navigation. Why who knows but that’s how Honda packages it.

Navigation

2010 Honda Fit Sport with Garmin Nuvi installed

As I mentioned I opted not to get the model with Navigation built into the dash. I have to admit it would be nice to have it all nicely integrated into the dash but for an extra grand and change it’s just not worth it and the way Honda packages it you can’t get a manual transmission model with navigation anyway which in my mind is more of a necessity with a car with such a tiny powerplant. Here is where the Toyota Yaris and Honda Fit are pretty much in the same boat, except for the fact that the Yaris is not available with navigation at all. Both cars have a large cab forward windshield that leaves plenty of room to tuck your little Garmin or TomTom or whatever you use in the corner out of the way of your visibility. Both cars having such a deep dash does mean it’s a bit of a stretch to reach, but you shouldn’t really be messing with it while driving anyway. The same thing happened with the Fit as with the Yaris as well with my particular Garmin Nuvi. The power transformer that plugs into the 12V power outlet, that is in virtually the same place in both cars, has a loose claw (the part that makes contact with the barrel) and it’s pretty easy to short the contacts of the power outlet if you’re not careful plugging it in. The very first time I tried, in both cars, I did just that and had to replace the fuse to get it working again. The fusebox in the Yaris is easier to get at as it’s under the hood whereas all the internal fuses are under the steering wheel in the Honda Fit. At first glance I couldn’t figure out how to open the dash to get at it as the manual is a bit vague but once I got it open it was fairly obvious. In a way I guess it’s a good thing that the large lid than swivels down isn’t obviously a lid allowing access to a lot of the electrical guts behind the nicely sculpted dash. All of the fuses in the Fit are also of the stubby variety the same as the Yaris which is a bit of a pain as most of the fuses generally available are of the longer contact variety. Both will fit but you need to trim the contacts if you get the wrong kind. I basically did the same thing with the Honda Fit as the Toyota Yaris, running the power cable up, around and over the steering wheel and up across the far left of the dash to the navigation unit, stuffing the excess into the cavity between the steering wheel and the dash out of sight. Yes there is a small cable running along the top of the dash but they’re both the same color so it’s not that big of a deal aesthetically and it’s not in the way at all. It was pretty much the same deal with the Toyota Yaris. Not a big deal. With the Garmin Nuvi (others may work similarly) there is an added bonus of the unit turning itself on and off with the when the power from the outlet turns on and off so it comes on when you start the car and shuts itself off when you turn the car off. When we used the unit in our Ford Freestar van that leaves power live to all the power outlets regardless, we always had to use the power button on the top of the unit.

USB Interface

2010 Honda Fit Sport USB Interface

The 2010 Honda Fit Sport (not the Basic model) and Sport model with navigation, have a small USB interface cable in the top glove box that is a really nice little extra. I like to listen to podcasts on long drives and it’s a fantastic option to just load up my thumb drive and plug it in and I have hours of podcasts or music or whatever available. The controls on the dash are easy to use to access the folders and files on the drive. It’s also iPod compatible so the dash controls can operate your iPod if you have one, which is good news for my wife who has one. It wouldn’t work with my Creative Zen, but there is also an “Aux” port that can be used in that case that will work with anything with a headphone or line output. The dash controls work really well with my little 8GB thumb drive which is perfect for me. I haven’t tested it with an iPod yet as my wife is still in Ottawa right now. You use the up/down controls to move through the various folders the Fit’s computer found on your thumbdrive and the left/right (seek) controls to move through the files in each folder. Pressing the title button on the dash toggles through display of folder, file, artist, track title, album title and maybe one or two others I don’t remember. My Toyota Yaris had an Aux port in the center console I used a lot with my Creative Zen MP3 player but I imagine the convenience of having access to the thumb drive I carry around with me anyway will get used almost exclusively now.

A lot fits in the Fit

2010 Honda Fit Sport Back Hatch Open

Bar none hands down the Honda Fit is much more practical than the Toyota Yaris. One of the things everyone raves about the Fit is the fold-up back seats. There is a slight depression in the floor where the handle/footing for the back seats fits into. Since the back seat bottoms sit slightly lower, the seat backs fold down perfectly flat making for much more room than the Yaris. Maybe not tons more actual room but a lot more practical room. You never buy an ultra compact for its hauling ability, but the the Fit is much more practical for packing around the little stuff or that big box of whatever you just picked up at Home Depot. While I’m waiting for my wife’s immigration to be finalized, I just keep the back seats folded up since it’s handy to just open the back door and swing my backpack in there and go. The rear hatch of the Honda Fit is also much bigger than the hatch on the Toyota Yaris. Granted the Fit is longer and wider than the Yaris, but not much, and the practicality makes a huge difference. The storage area with the back seats up in the Yaris is truly tiny whereas the storage area in the Fit is about twice as big. It should be big enough for even a large haul at the grocery store whereas the Yaris I always needed to throw a few things in the back seat.

More inside Pictures:

2010 Honda Fit Sport One Rear Seat Folded Down Flat

2010 Honda Fit Sport Rear Seat Bottoms Folded Up

Driving the 2010 Honda Fit Sport

I test drove the basic model but the traffic was so crowded at the time I couldn’t say with any certainty how much difference in suspension stiffness, etc. there really is between the Basic and Fit models. There is a noticeably tighter feel with everything in the Honda Fit Sport compared to the Toyota Yaris. The suspension is much stiffer and the steering is much tighter. The Yaris had a tighter turning radius but it was also smaller. That was actually one of the fun things about the Yaris was that it could turn so incredibly tight. The steering in the Fit Sport is almost too responsive. Slight steering movements result in immediate steering movements that takes some getting used to (if you’re not used to a car with such tight steering). The transmission is geared a tad on the low side but that’s to be expected in such a small car. The sluggishness of the automatic transmission complained about in several of the reviews I read is obviously not an issue with the manual transmission model I purchased. Shifting at about 3000 RPM from first to second gives the Fit plenty of umph from a standstill that was always a problem with the Yaris and its even tinier engine and automatic transmission. The engine in the Fit is a slightly more powerful 117hp compared to the 106hp of the Yaris and the 16-valve i-VTEC technology actually does appear to make a slight difference on the low end.

The one complaint I have about driving the Fit, and it’s the same complaint that other reviewers had, is engine noise. If the Fit was a sports car you’d probably want to hear the engine but Honda needs to work more on isolating the engine and road noise from the cabin of the vehicle. I haven’t driven the Fit enough at freeway/highway speeds to know if it will be an annoyance on long trips but if city driving is any indication it will likely be a bit louder than the Yaris, and the Yaris had the same engine and road noise problem too. After I’ve driven the Fit more and taken it on at least one long jaunt, I’ll try to update this blog with my experiences.

More Pictures:

2010 Honda Fit Sport Driver Side

2010 Honda Fit Sport Dash Center Area

2010 Honda Fit Sport Rear View

One other thing I wanted to mention quickly, not to harp on, is the mug/cup holder placement. While the cup holder placement in the Yaris was indeed clever given the limited space, the cup holders in the Fit are far more numerous (10 in total I think) and more conveniently placed. I splashed many a drink and coffee and other sticky crap all over the side of the dash in the Yaris because the only convenient cup holder was a holder that flipped out of the front of the dash which while clever was awkward especially while driving. The Honda Fit places two of them much more conveniently in the center in front of the gear shift. While still not perfect and tall mugs might fight for room below the overhanging dash, I think they may be more convenient. Time will tell on this one though. The Toyota Yaris may have made a good compromise given the limited space in these teeny little cars.

Final Thoughts

If I had it all to do again, I would prefer not to have had the financial impact of totalling a less-than-one-year-old car and having to purchase another, but that issue aside, the 2010 Honda Fit is a superior choice in my mind to the Toyota Yaris. If the Yaris was priced several thousand less, it would be a much more worthy competitor to the Honda Fit. The difference in price between a similarly equipped Toyota Yaris and Honda Fit just leaves the Honda Fit as the better choice in everything except absolute mileage where the Yaris is slightly more efficient, but given the greater utility and much more nicely equipped Honda Fit, especially the Sport model, the Fit wins hands down, which is why I decided on the Fit instead of replacing the Yaris with another Yaris. Besides the Fit looks cooler too

EarnieShoes Reviews, Opinions and Experiences

It’s pretty rare you come across a product that just works.  You set it up, plug it in, and forget about it because you never have to fuss with it.  The Belkin Powerline network adapters are just such a product, at least so far.

Having recently moved back to the United States at the very beginning of the year, I decided to rent for a year before committing to buying a home.  The problem is, very few homes for rent are pre-wired for ethernet.  The problem is the internet router is in the basement but my network printer and linux server are two stories away, making it impractical to run ethernet cable, especially in a home I know I won’t be living in permanently, thus one solution without using wireless bridges that are very difficult to find and are expensive anyway, are powerline network converters that use your home’s existing electrical wiring.  They are available from a few manufacturers but I decided on the Belkin as they were reasonably priced at the time (actually I don’t think the price has changed much) at around $180 for one transmitter and one receiver with a claimed 200 Mbit speed, which is all I really needed.

Since my Verizon router is only 100Mbit and I don’t have a gigabit router to test with, I can’t say with any certainty that I can get anywhere close to 200Mbit even in bursts, but I can say that I regularly get between 70Mbit and 100Mbit rates between the studio PC that is very near the router and transmitter and the linux server upstairs that I regularly copy huge audio files up to from the studio to work on upstairs.  While that’s not stellar and gigabit would certainly be nice, I am regularly maxing out the current network and the powerline converters aren’t causing an obvious bottleneck.

They have the capability to encrypt the traffic between the transmitter and receiver but I haven’t enabled it.  If somebody wants to spend that much effort to sniff my network with a powerline receiver, I guess they deserve whatever they can get.  Nothing personal is being transmitted across the network that isn’t already encrypted anyway.  I suppose it’s a nice feature if you’re that worried about it or you have nosy neighbors that may be using the same product, but I didn’t bother.

The transmitter is plugged into a short six-foot CAT-5E ethernet cable directly to one of the Verizon FiOS router ports and plugged into the same power outlet the router is plugged into.  The studio PC also connects directly to one of the router ports via about 30 feet of CAT-5E ethernet cable.  The receiver is plugged into the bedroom on the second floor (the router is in the basement) in one of the rooms being used as an office.  The receiver has three ports, all three of which are being used, two with permanent always on connections; one is a linux server mainly a file server, the other a network laser printer.  The third is an ethernet connection for my laptop when I’m using it in the office.  I’ve never had any network problems with either the server or the printer ever.  I may have lucked out and rented a house with decent wiring so that physical electrical connection is never an issue.

The only networking problems I’ve ever had are related to the FiOS router that once a month or so decides to lose its brains and needs to be power-cycled.  I may or may not continue to use these little gems when we move into our own home but it is reassuring to know I can get wired connectivity anywhere in a home where it’s either impractical to run wiring or just not necessary, like the kids’ rooms.  If your kids have to have gigabit ethernet they’re probably doing something they’re not supposed to

I must say gigabit ethernet is addictive.  My last job had gigabit throughout the building and being able to transfer enormous files in seconds is certainly a luxury.  Eventually I’d like to wire my home at that speed but it’s a nice option to be able to get sustained 100 Mbit speeds anywhere in your home, assuming the wiring is reliable.  Given that I regularly do get close to 100 Mbit speeds, I tend to believe the stated 200 Mbit burst speeds claimed by Belkin.  I doubt they can sustain that speed but until I have a gigabit router and network to test them with I’ll just have to make that assumption based on how well they’ve worked so far.

Conclusion?  I highly recommend this product for anyone who needs a wired network connection and running standard ethernet cable isn’t an option.  They have been running non-stop for about nine months now with zero problems and they are used heavily about three days out of the week.  Never a problem.  I like that.  You just forget they’re there after a while because they always work.  I like that.

EarnieShoes Reviews, Opinions and Experiences

I have an HP MP1312nfi multi-function network Color Laser printer, or also known as an “all-in-one” printer that acts as a scanner, photocopier, fax machine and printer in one.  Almost everyone has one these days, especially people who do any amount of business from home to warrant it, or simply because they’re incredibly handy to have when you do need one.  It’s nothing high end as far as color laser printers go but I’m totally happy with it.  There is actually an interesting story attached to this little gem I could elaborate on for a good five or six paragraphs but I’ll save you the eye rolling and just give you the short story.  I had another HP network color laser printer (I can’t remember the model number offhand but I think it was a 2600 somethingorother).  It wasn’t an all-in-one but had more paper capacity, manual feed and bigger toner cartridges so it managed better as a light duty network workhorse printer but had no scanner or anything built in.  If you want to be saved the story about the warranty issues with my old printer that led to my purchase of this one, just skip all the text in indented blue.

So anyway – and don’t worry I’ll get to the subject in a minute – my wife noticed it started making a horrible crinkling noise after printing something out one night.  It turned out one of the belts that ran the large plastic sheet against the fuser(s) let go, then snapped and basically destroyed the sheet and some of the gears where the belt got all tangled inside.  Okay, well I had purchased the extended warranty when I bought it at Best Buy so I brought it back for repair.

Well it took forever, well over twice as long as I was promised, for anything to be done, and I had to prod for details constantly for anything to even be done at all.  HP basically took one look at it and some lazy technician surmised it to be user damage even though it would be absolultely impossible for me to deliberately damage it where the damage was and even if it was possible why would anybody do that?  So they send it back to Best Buy where it sits for a good two weeks with no call to let me know what’s going on, that it has been returned, nothing.

After making a scene at customer service I finally got somebody to actually go in the back and actually look for it and sure enough it had been sitting there for weeks and nobody got off their duff to do anything.  Then they tell me that the damage isn’t covered under warranty even though when I bought the extended warranty I was explicitly told no matter what goes wrong it will be fixed or replaced.  Otherwise why would anybody buy extended coverage?  There would be no difference between that and just taking your chances.

So after having to go back three times, making a scene the last two times, talking to two or three people until I actually finally get to talk with anyone who is actually a manager (it seems every other post-pubescent nameplate clad pseudo-expert is some sort of manager of something), I’m told this model has been discontinued and they wanted to replace it with some cheap fifty dollar piece of crap photo printer.  After arguing for a good half hour they finally resolve to replace it with a printer that is very close in value and functionality to what I had for about twenty bucks more so I said okay, paid the little bit extra, and was on my way about two and a half months after what was promised to be two weeks.  So that’s why I have this printer now.

Although I’d like to skin the bean counters at Best Buy alive for selling worthless warranties to people unless you’re willing to threaten court action (and it was discussed and the law was indeed on my side – I had a lawyer friend look into it so it wasn’t an empty threat), in the end I think God was looking after me as this all-in-one little gem has been incredibly handy with all the paperwork my wife and I have had to go through for her U.S. immigration.  The sad thing is the printer isn’t even worth that much it’s just the principle of getting out and out lied to and laziness just make me go crazy.

Sorry about the rabbit trail but I feel compelled, both for the sake of just venting as well as honestly warning people, to know what they are purchasing with an “extended warranty” with Best Buy and likely most other big box stores.  I’ve had friends with similar problems with Future Shop that is owned by Best Buy in Canada.  I should mention I’ve had issues with stuff I’ve purchased at Future Shop in the past and they were courteous and helpful and I did not get the runaround like I did at Best Buy.  It may just be a local issue and not every Best Buy has such lazy employees as the one on the east side of Ottawa, but anyway, you’ve been warned.  So on to the subject…

After about a year, I finally ran out of black toner.  I still have about a third of the toner left in the color cartridges.  I don’t print tons of stuff so your milage with this or any other color laser printer may vary widely.  I knew the cartridges were refillable so when I finally ran out I checked out what was available on eBay and found a black toner refill kit available for a little over twenty bucks, as opposed to over $70 for the cheapest retail cartridges available, usually a lot more than that.  I figured I’d just refill the black cartridge so if refilling a cartridge, something I hadn’t done with a laser printer before, was a nightmare, it would be a twenty dollar lesson and I’d just replace the cartridges next time.

The kit I received was comprised of a 65g bottle of toner, a nozzle cap and a replacement chip so the printer thinks the cartridge is brand new.  The instructions were pretty sparse, and the kit I ordered didn’t come with a tool for drilling a hole in the top of the toner cartridge so I just used a 3/8-inch carpenter’s bit and a cordless drill.  The instructions also showed some sort of extension nozzle that was supposed to fit into the nozzle cap on the toner bottle but my kit didn’t have that either.  I just got creative and cut a fat pen to size and hockey-taped it to the nozzle cap and it worked just fine.

Be careful if you use a drill bit to drill a hole in your cartridge that you don’t let any of the plastic shards fall in the hole.  A carpenter’s bit works great for this since the wide outer edges scrape the plastic away far enough from the center hole that you can stop every couple seconds, peel the plastic away and keep going.  Take your time though.  Eventually the spot they tell you to drill at will let go.  I almost lost the big center piece inside the cartridge.  It folded inside and had enough plastic left holding on that I just left it rather than risk it falling inside.  A carpenter’s bit has an added bonus of making a tapered hole that holds the nozzle/tube from the bottle pretty firmly.  If I had it to do again I would have made the hole a little bigger since it’s really tough to tell when the cartridge is full.  I think my cartridges are the smaller ones so they won’t hold a full bottle’s worth of toner.

Even though I was really careful I can’t see anyone refilling one of these cartridges without making at least a small mess.  I placed my cartridge on a large sheet of paper and then just folded it half when I was done and poured the toner I spilled back into the bottle when I was done.  Once the cartridge is as full as you can get it, just put the sticky that comes with the kit over the hole (just don’t make an enormous hole!) and you’re done.  I took mine outside real quick and blew the slight dusting of toner mess off.

The instructions didn’t mention anything about the chip or how to install it.  The cartridges in my printer have them on the left-hand side when the cartridge is installed and are clearly visible.  Use a small jeweler’s screwdriver or other small tool to break or lift the plastic overhang that holds the original chip in place.  My replacement chip was just slightly wider than the original so it stays in firmly, probably moreso than the original, without the plastic nubs anyway.  I imagine every cartridge is different but that’s the way mine is designed.  The replacement chip I received has a small indent on one side.  This is the side that goes on the inside side (not the edge).  My chip also had a row of gold colored contacts along the edge that go on the edge side of the cartridge.  In case you’re worried about size, the chip I received was just a fraction of a millimeter wider than the original.  Not too wide not to fit, but actually perfect as it really sits in there snug.  You may need to push it in with the blunt end of a screwdriver or something as mine was really snug.  If you put the chip in backwards the printer will gripe about a memory error on the new cartridge.  Don’t ask why I know that   If you make this mistake just take it out and put it in the other way.

Once the chip was in in the right direction the printer recognized the cartridge as a bonafide HP cartridge and happily started printing again.  Even though filling the cartridges can be a bit messy if you’re not careful, it’s worth the savings.  I’ve tried refilling ink cartridges that were hit and miss and could also make a mess – the kind that doesn’t clean up easily – and leave you with a printer that doesn’t print properly anyway.  If I had been more careful I could have probably done it without spilling anything and if you get a kit with a hole drilling tool you can probably save yourself the grief of accidentally getting plastic shards inside the cartridge although it may not work any better than a power drill.  Now that I’m satisfied with the results I have no quams about getting a color refill kit when one of the color cartridges is done.

What I learned:

• Drill as big a hole as possible.  Somewhat larger than 3/8-inch but make sure it’s smaller than the sticky that covers the hole.  It’s very difficult to tell if the cartridge is full or not (unless your kit comes with a clear bottle) and a bigger hole would have helped.
• The chip goes in indent first.  It’s really hard to tell though since both sides have a slight indent.  The side with the biggest indent goes in first.  My chip had a row of contacts on one side the original didn’t have so if yours looks like that the row of contacts go on the outside edge.
• Take your time.  Toner is an incredibly fine powder and just looking at it wrong will get it on something.
• The design of this printer appears to be much smarter than my 2600.  I think HP may have learned some things along the way.  Much of the wearable parts appear to be built into the cartridges which explains why they are so expensive.  Although more expensive printers use cheaper toner cartridges, cheaper printers aren’t meant for heavy duty printing so this makes more sense I think, and makes for fewer warranty headaches.  I have never had a problem with the MP1312nfi.

So save yourself some money and spend half an hour with a refill kit.  Don’t think you can refill the cartridges forever though.  Eventually they are going to wear out and you’ll have to buy new ones.  I’m told they’re good for three refills or more though.  It’ll take me a while to prove that point though…

EarnieShoes Reviews, Opinions and Experiences