🖨️ Printer ink costs more than buying a whole new printer at this point

Went to buy a replacement ink cartridge set for our home printer last week, and the total cost for a full set of color and black cartridges came to almost seventy percent of what a brand new similar printer costs on its own, which genuinely made me stand in the shop for a minute questioning whether replacing the ink even makes financial sense compared to just buying a new printer that would come with a starter set of ink included. This printer is only about two years old and otherwise works completely fine, prints reasonably sharp documents for the occasional homework assignment or important document we need physically, so it is not like there is any actual functional reason to replace it beyond this specific ink pricing situation feeling increasingly absurd every time a cartridge runs dry. Looked into ink tank printers as an alternative after this specific frustration, apparently they use refillable ink bottles instead of individual cartridges and work out significantly cheaper per page over time, though the upfront cost for the printer itself is somewhat higher than a basic cartridge based model, meaning the actual savings only show up if you print regularly enough over a longer period to make up that initial price difference. A neighbor mentioned refilling cartridges myself using ink refill kits as another option, apparently cheaper than buying fresh cartridges each time, though I have read mixed reviews about print quality dropping and occasional printer errors from using refilled cartridges instead of the manufacturer's own ones, so I am hesitant to try that without hearing from someone who has actually done it successfully themselves. Not sure whether to just grit my teeth and buy the overpriced cartridges one more time, switch entirely to an ink tank printer instead, or actually try the refill kit route despite the mixed reviews I have come across so far. Has anyone actually made the switch to an ink tank printer specifically because of this same cartridge pricing frustration, and did the long term savings genuinely work out the way it is advertised to?