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Home > Choosing a Cartridge
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Choosing a toner cartridge for your laser printer
When ordering a new cartridge, it is always best to specify the printer model, the cartridge part number and the page yield.
This provides an element of redundancy that enables mistakes to be identified by cross-checking. You should also specify
whether you require an original or a remanufactured toner cartridge. We charge a re-stocking fee for the return of cartridges
that were ordered incorrectly.
Do not order more cartridges than you expect to need in the next 12 months. Cartridges have a limited shelf life:
the OPC drum will gradually loose its sensitivity to light; toner particles will degrade the drum surface; seals and wiper blades will
harden and their constituent materials will deteriorate; and the toner will absorb moisture from the atmosphere and the fine particles
will tend to clump. For these reasons, do not open the sealed bag containing the cartridge until you are ready to install it in your printer.
If you have only one printer of a particular model, do not accept promotional offers for six or more cartridges
at a bargain price, no matter how good the price. The cartridges may deteriorate before you are ready to use them and most
cartridge warranties have a time limit. In addition, your printer may fail and you will be left with a cupboard full of cartridges that
you can no longer use.
Should you buy a genuine or a remanufactured toner cartridge?
Should you buy a genuine cartridge manufactured by the company that made your printer or a remanufactured
toner cartridge made by an after-market manufacturer? The answer to this question depends on what type of printing you wish
to do and the size of your budget. For example, if you are a graphics designer producing samples of your work to show clients,
you should probably buy a genuine cartridge. This will give you the best chance of producing high quality graphics prints. On the
other hand, if you are using the printer to print invoices at a point of sale, a premium remanufactured toner cartridge will do the
job and save you up to 50% of the cost a genuine cartridge.
You should be wary of very cheap remanufactured toner cartridges as they may only be re-filled as opposed to remanufactured
or they may use poor quality components such as drums and toner. They may be poorly assembled and leak toner. They can wreck
your printer. Do not choose between remanufactured toner cartridges on the basis of price: look at warranties and evidence of
quality in manufacture and packaging. Read our articles on remanufactured cartridges: see below.
Some manufacturers such as Canon and HP market very similar model printers based on the same laser engine. They each offer
new genuine cartridges for their own products that will also work in the other manufacturer�s products. In this situation,
choose the cheapest option.
Should you buy a low yield or a high yield toner cartridge?
Should you buy a low yield or a high yield toner cartridge? The high yield cartridges are obviously more expensive but are cheaper
on a page yield basis. Your choice will depend on the number of pages you expect to print per year and the expected coverage of
toner per page. The rated capacity of a toner cartridge is based on 5% coverage of toner on an A4 page (estimate for an average
business letter). If your coverage is 10%, you will use twice as much toner and get half as many printed pages. As described above,
cartridges do deteriorate over time. You should choose a cartridge that will last you two years or less: if you do not do much printing,
buy a low yield cartridge.
Should you buy a special purpose toner cartridge?
The third issue is whether you should buy a standard or a special purpose cartridge. Lexmark, for example, makes a special
cartridge for use when printing labels: it incorporates a special fuser cleaner that helps to prevent labels from sticking
to the rollers in the fuser. It is also possible to buy (from us and others) special cartridges for printing cheques:
these cartridges use a special toner and are referred to as Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) cartridges. MICR is a
language used by bankers on cheques. It consists of Arabic type numbers printed on the bottom of each cheque. The special
toner used to print these numbers provides a magnetic signature that facilitates scanning and processing. Call us to enquire
about the availability of MICR cartridges for your printer.
More information about remanufactured toner cartridges
If you would like to gain a greater understanding of some of the issues involved with remanufactured toner cartridges,
you should click on some of the links below:
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