Generic cartridges / Toners

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bhangie

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Hi Guys

I have been instructed by my boss to start buying generic cartridges and toners for our printers as a cost saving measure as in some cases the generics are half the price of an original. What do u guys think about generics are they any good? is it worth it, would u use them on your machines?

What i have been told is that they dont last as long, ink leakage wich mean i will have to service the printers more often.

Thanks :(
 
I've been using generic cartridges (or home refilling kits) for years without ever experiencing any major problems. Home kits can be messy, but are even cheaper than buying generics. It is not my experience that generics don't last as long, as you suggested, but very occasionally I have found the ink quality to be less consistent than originals -- mainly on Epsons, less so on HPs.

You could be unlucky if using HP generics or having your own HP cartridges refilled by one of the many ink shops, because uniquely HPs usually have the printhead built into the cartridge, so that they do tend to wear out after several re-uses. But -- and again this is my own experience -- this seems to make them less susceptible to blockage if not used for a while, where Epsons and Canons don't like to be left standing unused for too long.
 
I have an Epson printer and the available generic inks refuse to work in it.
 
bhangie said:
Hi Guys

I have been instructed by my boss to start buying generic cartridges and toners for our printers as a cost saving measure as in some cases the generics are half the price of an original. What do u guys think about generics are they any good? is it worth it, would u use them on your machines?

What i have been told is that they dont last as long, ink leakage wich mean i will have to service the printers more often.

Thanks :(
Click to expand...

I have a friend who sells generic cartridges for HP and Canon laserjets. If you're interested PM me and I'll put you in touch with him.
 
As long as the printer is out of warranty, no problem.

For laser printers, use remanufactured cartridges and not "refilled" cartidges.

It also depends on what you are printing and your archiving period. Certain cheap and nasty generics cause fading after a few years.

In which town/city are you based? Can also point you to some suppliers...
 
Two entirely different things, you get Generic ink and toner cartridges and then you get those refill kits, the latter one leaks and breaks printers.
 
We have been using generic/refilled laser toners for about 7-8 years now. Firstly we were using mainly canon but upgraded to hp.

You do get the occasional faulty unit ie: the hp printers sometimes refuses to print and keeps on telling you that the toner is empty, which is bull as it is full. But this mainly happens because of the sensor on the toner not making contact. But if this happens i just return them as faulty and they replace them for me.

I never buy original toners, some of these thing are R800 a pop. That's insane.

To the OP what toners are you currently using ?
 
Based in PE, for creditors and debtors departments some of the documents will be kept for quite a while, i will stay away from the refills.
 
Laser Toner cartridges yes.... ARGEO Technical Services
97 General Alberton, Alberton, Gauteng 1449
phone: 011-908-3101

Wet Ink cartridges... NO!!!
 
Unfortunately you never know how much generic laser printer cartridges are filled. You usually only find out afterwards after you've wasted your money.
Soooooo....i'd get it only if i was in a bind. Rather use originals, there's a reason why it's more expensive.
 
The OP is from my home town so I have put him in contact with a person that deals with this and who will give him an honest opinion.

Through my own experience with laser cartridges, I will only buy OEM high yield cartridges. They work out to be cheaper than remanufactured cartridges due to yield and other unexpected 'glitches'.

And, yes, there is a difference in print quality and longevity that is not immediately visible or even detectable.

/cleaning a printer after a non-OEM cartridge has leaked is not fun!!!

//my wife has just phoned and told me that my printer drum needs replacing ($$$$)...
 
Cost of my HP Laser: R750
Cost of 12 A Toner: R850 upwards
Cost of generic: Max R500

Three generics and I can buy a new HP. HP will never see me buy their overpriced carts!
 
I use refills in my HP BIJ 2230 with no problems, I have also used generics before on it but decided to rather refill them as the price difference was huge.

Used to pay R99 per generic (original is over R230) but refills works out to less then R10 per refill, trick is to know which ink to buy and not stick to that type of ink.

Tonertech is a wonderful shop to get refill ink, and they have quite a large selection, for over 6 years I've used their inks and there isn't a single problem with my machine.

As with toners and refilling them I'd say if your toner cartridge comes with a drum then go ahead and refill the cartridge, the only thing that does get damaged in a laser printer is the drums since it picks up the "refilled" toner, so if a certain toner is of poor quality then when you see quality degrade just get a new toner cartridge.
 
We were sold a refill earlier last month for our old HP5 Laserjet. It took a 3909A cartridge and the salesman @ (major IT vendor to offices) told us to get the HP09a. Except when it was delivered we phone back to ask why we are not informed it was a refill. ( It looked battered, and we were expecting a new cartridge)
He said to try it out, and if there was any problems to return it. So we did, and the toner leaked all over the printer, and the paper jammed with the toner at the fuser, the toner formed a plastic solid mess on the fuser. I cleaned it the best I could, and they sent another refill in its place. Except the fuser was badly damaged, lucky I found a spare from another old printer. We also got them to send a tech to clean and service our printer.
The new refill is working fine.
 
Between us here in head office and all of our branches we do about 35k prints per month, that's a rough estimate, could be close to 40k.

So i would rather be using refilled laser toners for much less and deal with the occasional faulty toners than spend that much on new hp toners.
 
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