I have an HP laser printer, and the toner is running low. Pretty much everybody tells to to get “compatible” toner, which is much cheaper than the HP-branded stuff, but in the past, I have always had problems with the non-HP stuff (usually, it ran out much quicker, so I can’t really say that the cost per page was much lower).
Do any of the Dopers use “HP-compatible” toner on a regular basis? If you do, what brand(s), and where do you usually get it?
At work it’s always been the branded toner. Various worksites have tried various compatible toners and always quickly reverted after experiencing various problems.
The trick with HP toner is to get the larger toner cartridges: they cost more up front but the cost per page is lower. And if you’re printing on a colour printer, to make sure you have colour thoroughly turned off if you’re printing something in black & white, else the printer uses colours to enhance the blacks.
This.
But we are now see large copier/printers with technologies that recognize non-brand cartridges and will not function unless we buy only the branded replacements.
Same here. Off-brand stuff is false economy.
I buy the toner and ink for the printers where I work. I also change most of the toners and service the printers (to a point).
35 laser printers (and dozens of ink-jets and label printers) - we’ve got a couple work-horse HPs, but all the new ones (5 - 7 yrs) are Brother (essentially disposable, but still a better value for ‘small’ network printers).
I really like Rhino-Tech toners. But we do have a couple printers that simply do better w/ OEM toner.
But, my provider (CDW) stopped carrying Rhino-Tech, so now I buy a lot of Print Logic - but they’re a bit slow to come out with new toners for new printers. I’d rather have Rhino-Tech.
Toner or Ink?
Toner, as in “laser printer”.
I figured that HP toner would be the best choice, but it’s a color, and they don’t make larger size cyan/magenta/yellow cartridges. (On the other hand, I did manage to score a couple of large HP black toner cartridges (new, not refurbished/refilled) for $60 each instead of the usual $95 each.)
Xerox. They’re OEM, reliably excellent quality and very reasonably priced.
My HP5550 costs around $1200 retail for a set of carts. For a while, I could score a set for $3-500 on eBay. Now it’s $8-900 at best. Cheap carts are legion but they leak and smear. A Xerox set is about $400 and barring one failure, which was replaced by Xerox, they are as good as HP branded ones.
Best price and availability are on Amazon and TheNerds.net.
I just bought a replacement set of cymk cartridges from these guys. They cost me about 1/10 as much as genuine HP toner, and the print quality was superb - maybe better than HP!
My printer (M451dn) has integrated toner/drum cartridges, so there is no real risk of damaging anything by using non-hp replacements.
I’m very happy with these guys.
A significant percent are defective but they have always replaced them pronto and without hassle.
Huge savings over brand names.
I always figured much of the risk on non-OEM cartridges was toner spillage, and toner is difficult to clean up once it’s in the innards of a printer. From what I understand it’s too fine to stay in vacuum cleaner bags.
Any vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter will work for toner (Dyson, for example). I don’t think that toner spillage is a significant risk with a non-OEM cartridge. Maybe for a refill.
The ones I linked to had the “pull tape” seal just like HP’s.