Personal computing discussed

Moderators: renee, mac_h8r1, Nemesis

 
bigjohn888jb
Gerbil First Class
Topic Author
Posts: 148
Joined: Wed Aug 31, 2011 9:41 am

compatable toner

Sun Dec 16, 2012 3:19 pm

I am once again looking at compatable toners for lasers. They are very attractive price wise. But I also see a lot of manufactures saying it will void the warranty etc. So If your laser is out of warranty, how harmful is using a compatable toner cart. If you have done this for a number of years with no problems, what vendors do you recommend?
 
ryko
Gerbil Team Leader
Posts: 256
Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 3:58 pm
Location: new york

Re: compatable toner

Sun Dec 16, 2012 4:25 pm

best to avoid the compatible toners and go with an original from the printer manufacturer if you can afford it. I have used many many compatible toners in a ton of different laser printers and they all worked fine, but it is not like getting an original. they usually run out way before their estimated number of pages printed. You get about half of the life you should from a compatible toner. the original toner will last very close to the estimated number of pages.

so if the compatible toner is much cheaper (like a third of the price) than the original then i say go for it. you will replace it a few times but still end up spending less.

if this is for a company, just get the original. you will save yourself time and the effort of replacing toners more frequently. and someone else is footing the bill...
 
ludi
Lord High Gerbil
Posts: 8646
Joined: Fri Jun 21, 2002 10:47 pm
Location: Sunny Colorado front range

Re: compatable toner

Sun Dec 16, 2012 10:31 pm

If it's a black and white printer, and especially if it's a low volume unit, then third party cartridges can be okay, but the cheapest remanufactured cartridges tend to use low-quality components (especially the print drum, if contained in the cartridge rather than in the printer). The Xerox-branded cartridges I've seen appear to be somewhat better quality but my experience with them is limited.

If it's a color printer, and especially a high-volume office printer, third-party cartridges are a source of all kinds of problems. At work, we had to fight with our corporate overlords to get back to using HP OEM cartridges in our HP 55xx printers because although the four cartridges costs a whopping $350-400 each from HP, the third-party cartridges caused so many problems that the cost savings were totally lost in downtime, service calls, and cartridges that had to be prematurely replaced. My favorite was the cartridge that was somehow running out of synch with the other three, creating a color skew that looked like a belt problem.
Abacus Model 2.5 | Quad-Row FX with 256 Cherry Red Slider Beads | Applewood Frame | Water Cooling by Brita Filtration
 
bigjohn888jb
Gerbil First Class
Topic Author
Posts: 148
Joined: Wed Aug 31, 2011 9:41 am

Re: compatable toner

Mon Dec 17, 2012 10:39 am

The printer in question is a high volume black/white laser. I have stuck with oem toner down through the years. I never paid that close attention, but I started recording the page count and noticed on a 10K cart. I was only getting a little under 5K. When that happened twice in a row I contacted the manufacturer and they said I should contact support. The laser is clean, and prints fine, but I would expect a little closer to 10K than 5K. It's at a legal office and they are almost exclusively printing text. That's why I started looking at alternatives, if I'm not going to get the volumn promised, I'd at least like to get a better price. The laser is a Samsung ML-4050.
 
kvndoom
Minister of Gerbil Affairs
Posts: 2758
Joined: Sat Feb 28, 2004 11:47 pm
Location: Virginia, thank goodness

Re: compatable toner

Mon Dec 17, 2012 10:54 am

bigjohn888jb wrote:
The printer in question is a high volume black/white laser. I have stuck with oem toner down through the years. I never paid that close attention, but I started recording the page count and noticed on a 10K cart. I was only getting a little under 5K. When that happened twice in a row I contacted the manufacturer and they said I should contact support. The laser is clean, and prints fine, but I would expect a little closer to 10K than 5K. It's at a legal office and they are almost exclusively printing text. That's why I started looking at alternatives, if I'm not going to get the volumn promised, I'd at least like to get a better price. The laser is a Samsung ML-4050.

Curiously, what print quality is the printer set at?

You cannot take manufacturer print volume claims with a grain of salt; you need a friggin cowlick. Usually their estimates are at the highest "toner saving" settings, and they always say "up to" ##### sheets. Of course 5000 pages is still "up to 10,000" kinda like my toilet bowl cleaner lasts "up to" 2000 flushes...
A most unfortunate, Freudian, double entendre is that hotel named "Budget Inn."
 
riviera74
Gerbil Elite
Posts: 897
Joined: Mon May 29, 2006 6:14 am
Location: FM, FL, USA
Contact:

Re: compatable toner

Mon Dec 17, 2012 11:37 am

Go here and find your toner.
Omen by HP Desktop: Core i5-7400, 8GB RAM, GeForce GTX 1050, 256GB SSD and 1TB HDD
 
ludi
Lord High Gerbil
Posts: 8646
Joined: Fri Jun 21, 2002 10:47 pm
Location: Sunny Colorado front range

Re: compatable toner

Mon Dec 17, 2012 11:47 am

Based on the (USD) prices I can find, your toner cost per sheet is in the range of three to four cents. If this legal office is producing a lot of material for internal review that eventually ends up in the locked shredder box, I would focus more on saving money on paper suppliers, because lower-quality paper is less likely to create downtime.

You might find that some third-part replacements are adequate, but I would have at least one OE cartridge on-hand in case it doesn't "take."
Abacus Model 2.5 | Quad-Row FX with 256 Cherry Red Slider Beads | Applewood Frame | Water Cooling by Brita Filtration

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest
GZIP: On