Which ink does the HP OfficeJet Pro 8730 use?

The HP OfficeJet Pro 8730 runs on the HP 952 family. Our listing holds the standard 952 black plus the high yield 952XL in black, cyan, magenta and yellow, which is the set most owners end up buying.

The XL black is the better buy but not dramatically so: about 2.25 cents a page at 2000 pages and $45, against 2.8 cents for the standard 952 black at 1000 pages and $28. The real gain from the XL is halving the number of cartridge changes. Each 952XL colour is rated at 1600 pages for around $38, roughly 2.38 cents, so black and colour cost close to the same on this printer and a page that uses all four inks comes to about 9.38 cents.

The firmware position is the thing to settle before buying anything third party. The 8730 is on our lockout list, and the 2016 OfficeJet Pro range is where HP's Dynamic Security rollout did most of its damage: printer updates began refusing cartridges with non HP chips that had been working for months. The update that causes the trouble usually installs on its own, so the sequence matters more than the cartridge you buy. Go into the printer's embedded web server and turn automatic updates off before the first compatible goes in, and check what firmware version a seller tests against. Our guide on declining HP firmware updates covers where those settings live.

When this printer refuses a cartridge, the message it shows is the same whether the cause is firmware or a dirty contact, which is why the timing matters. A genuine 952 that stops being recognised after months of service is usually mechanical: take it out, wipe the copper contacts with a dry lint free cloth, and reseat it until it clicks. A refusal that appears the moment a compatible goes in, and repeats with a second cartridge from the same batch, is coming from the firmware instead.