HP 68 Ink Cartridges Review: Genuine Quality Worth the Price?

Quick Verdict

If you own an HP Envy 6100e or 6500e series printer, the HP 68 ink cartridges 2-pack is the straightforward, no-hassle choice. Print quality holds up reliably across long print runs, the Instant Ink integration works seamlessly, and the G5 technology genuinely solves the early-cartridge fading issue I used to notice with older HP sets. Yes, you pay more than third-party options — but for text clarity and color accuracy on photos and documents, genuine HP ink is hard to beat. I rate this 2-pack at 4.4 out of 5.

What Is the HP 68 Ink Cartridges?

The HP 68 Black/Tri-Color Ink Cartridges (model 6L6S2TN) is a 2-pack bundle designed for HP Envy 6100e and 6500e series printers. It includes one high-yield black cartridge and one tri-color cartridge that houses cyan, magenta, and yellow in a single shell. The combo covers both everyday document printing and occasional photo work without buying separate SKUs. What sets this apart from older HP 65 or HP 64 series cartridges is the updated G5 printhead technology — HP rebuilt the internal architecture to keep ink flow consistent from page one all the way to the last sheet, which is a real pain point in budget cartridges.

I unboxed this set on a quiet Thursday evening when I needed to print a batch of contract pages for a freelance gig. The cartridges came in a compact two-slot cardboard tray — no excessive plastic, which I appreciated. Installing them took under three minutes, and the printer recognized both cartridges immediately without prompting a firmware update or alignment page, which has happened to me with off-brand sets in the past.

Key Features

• Compatible with HP Envy 6152e, 6155e, 6552e, 6555e, and 6558e printers
• Approximate page yield: 160 pages black, 120 pages tri-color
• G5 technology delivers consistent print quality across the full cartridge lifespan
• Eligible for HP Instant Ink automatic replenishment service
• New black ink formula produces sharper, darker text on plain paper
• 2-pack format covers both monochrome and color printing needs in one purchase
• Genuine HP formulation engineered specifically for HP thermal inkjet printheads

Hands-On Review

After installing the HP 68 cartridges, I ran my first test print — a 20-page contract draft in black and white. The text came out crisp, with no feathering along letter edges, even at the default draft mode setting on my Envy 6555e. I compared a few lines against a page I had printed two months earlier with a third-party set, and the difference was immediately visible: the HP 68 black ink sat on the paper with a denser, more opaque finish.

Color printing is where I really wanted to push this. I printed a 4×6 photo on HP's own photo paper and a mixed-media page with gradients and pie charts. The tri-color cartridge handled gradients smoothly — no visible banding, which I have encountered on cheaper cartridges when printing large color fills. The cyan in particular has a satisfying vibrancy that does not look washed out next to the black text on the same page.

What surprised me was the end-of-cartridge performance. By the time I hit page 145 on the black cartridge, I half-expected a slight drop in darkness — that gradual lightening I noticed on older HP sets. G5 technology seems to genuinely address this. The black on page 145 looked nearly identical to page 10. That steadiness matters more than it sounds, especially when you are printing anything where consistent shading matters, like legal documents or design drafts.

The tri-color cartridge, however, taught me a lesson by week three. I printed mostly text but occasionally needed color. When the tri-color finally gave out, the cyan had plenty of life left while the magenta was bone dry. This is the trade-off with combo cartridges: convenience versus efficiency. If you print heavily in one color, individual cartridges would save you money. For light-to-moderate home use, the 2-pack works fine.

Who Should Buy It?

This 2-pack is an obvious fit if you own an HP Envy 6100e or 6500e series printer and want to stick with genuine HP ink without hunting for separate black and color SKUs. Students printing essays and occasional color reports will appreciate the 160-page black yield — that covers a solid semester of coursework. Home office users who rely on their printer for contracts, invoices, and client-facing documents will benefit from the text clarity and Instant Ink integration, which removes the "I forgot to check ink levels" problem entirely.

Photography hobbyists printing 4×6 or 5×7 prints on glossy paper should find the tri-color cartridge satisfactory for casual work, though if photo quality is your primary use case, you might want to explore HP's photo-specific cartridges instead.

Skip this if you print less than 50 pages a month and want to minimize cost above all else — third-party cartridges are cheaper upfront, and low-volume users may not notice the quality gap. Also skip it if you own a non-HP printer or a model outside the Envy 6100e/6500e range — these cartridges will not fit, and forcing compatible models is never worth the clog risk.

Alternatives Worth Considering

If the HP 68 price feels steep and you print moderately, the HP 68XL high-yield versions are worth a look — they cost more per cartridge but deliver roughly double the page count, bringing your cost-per-page down meaningfully over time. The trade-off is a higher upfront investment and a larger cartridge footprint.

For budget-focused buyers who do not mind sacrificing some print longevity, third-party compatible cartridges from reputable brands (look for those with strong return policies) can cut your ink cost by 30–50 percent. You lose Instant Ink eligibility and may notice a slight dip in text density and color vibrancy, but for draft prints and internal documents, they get the job done.

Users who print mostly in black and rarely need color might prefer buying individual HP 68 black cartridges separately, avoiding the forced replacement cycle of the tri-color cartridge when only one ink depletes.

FAQ

Final Verdict

The HP 68 Black/Tri-Color 2-pack earns its place as the default recommendation for HP Envy 6100e and 6500e series owners. G5 technology delivers the consistent print quality that makes these cartridges worth the genuine HP premium, and Instant Ink compatibility removes the annoyance of unexpected dry cartridges. The tri-color design is a minor trade-off — convenient for most users but wasteful if you drain one ink faster than the others. Overall, this is a solid, reliable purchase that does exactly what HP promises.