On Wed, 14 Sep 2011 19:57:30 -0700
Keith Lofstrom <[email protected]> dijo:
>Anyone have good luck with "brand X" toner cartridges (specifically
>for the HP1600/2600, Q600[0123] {KCYR} )?
>
>In the past, I've refilled my own cartridges with toner from
>tonerrefillkits.com, but that is a little messy and time
>consuming. Though their refill toner for most machines is
>excellent, the Q6000 black toner comes out gray. So, I am
>looking for substitutes.
>
>I've had OK luck with Cartridge World toner, but it isn't
>much cheaper than original HP. I've had terrible luck with
>Office Max branded substitutes - their red cartridge spilled
>toner into the optical calibration paths, and on circuit
>boards, and I had to disassemble the entire printer and
>clean it one part at a time.
>
>So, who is cheap and good for toner cartridges, especially
>mail order?
I have used thousands of toner cartridges over the years, mostly
remanufactured. However, I am not familiar with your printer, so I
don't have any specific brand recommendations.
I have bought the majority of my cartridges on eBay. If you buy from a
seller with a good rating and the listing gives you the right to return
defective products, all you will be out is return postage. Still, it's
an iffy process. I've had brand new genuine HP cartridges fail. And
you can have warranty issues even buying OEM cartridges. I currently
have a brand new Lexmark cartridge that failed after the first 100
pages, with a lifetime warranty from Lexmark, but they won't honor the
warranty because I bought it on eBay instead of directly from Lexmark.
The problem is that a printer cartridge contains a number of components
besides just the toner, and any one of them can fail, rendering the
cartridge worthless. As you discovered, having a seal fail creates a
miserable mess. But you can also have failures of the mag roller, drum,
wiper blades, and several other parts.
A quality remanufacturer will do more than just test a few pages of a
remanufactured cartridge. There is expensive test equipment that can
predict a failure of a component, but cheap remanufacturers do not own
such equipment. The worst ones are the "drill and fill" people, who
just add more toner to the existing cartridge. They don't even open the
cartridge.
If you buy an OEM cartridge directly from HP it is likely
remanufactured. All printer vendors encourage recycling of used
cartridges, and they actually do use the old cartridges to make new
ones. The secret to their success is that they replace almost
everything inside the cartridge.
Internal components were engineered to last the lifetime of the toner
the cartridge originally shipped with, plus a safety factor of
typically 50%. The drum (the most expensive component) is usually good
for twice the original toner. With luck you can get most of the life out
of a drill and fill before one of the components fails. If your
remanufacturer replaces additional parts you may get the entire use of
the cartridge.
A good tip is to avoid old stock. The mag roller eventually fails in a
cartridge just sitting on the shelf.
If you have specific brands that you are considering, let me know. I
have bought a lot of different brands over the years and I may have
some scar tissue to share.
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