Advice re "compatible" toner cartdridges for laser printers

Do any of you use compatible aftermarket (non-OEM), or recharged OEM, toner cartdridges in your laser printer(s)?

We do very little printing at home, and I got seriously POd at how many ink jet cartdridges we wasted. Epson IJCs have (had?) a reputation for clogging, and that was our experience. Also the manufacturers fail to mention that while you can print very nice color images, you will also quickly deplete your color ink supply.

We now have a Brother HL-2040 laser printer (you wouldn't believe the deal I found). It's showing low toner, & I'm researching replacement cartdridges.

 

My experience with refurb cartridges, is less than stellar. It just wasn't a good place to save money.

I also use a Brother laser printer. The toner cartridge that come with them is a "starter" one and didn't last too long. I bought a Brother branded High capacity toner cartridge about a year and a half ago. I still don't know how long it will last.

 

I concur with Stan. Refurb toner cartridges have been nothing but trouble for us. We have used HP and Oki printers and have never gotten good service from a refurbished cartridge.

 

I did some price shopping on the net. Have y'all dealt with any of the following companies? Please keep in mind we do very little printing.

SuppliesOutlet, $16.99. Dirt cheap for a compatible, recharged is my guess.
CartridgeWorld, $58.39. We have local stores, a plus in my book, but I'd need to ask about their return policy, & their price is only about $15.00 under new OEM.
4inkjets, $25.99.
LD Products, $25.99.
Walmart, $48.48. Cheaper than Cartridge World $58.39, Staples $72.99, & Office Depot $72.99.


I paid a $1.00 (yes, one dollar) for the Brother HL-2040 at an area ministries thrift store. It was on their clearance table with an original price of $26.00 and a tag that reads "Excelllent - has cartridge." Much to my surprise it does work just fine .

 

Worked inbound tech support for HP years ago and the official response was "we do not support them" or something along those lines. Of course your $1 printer is far out of warranty at this point. I would buy the OEM cartridge myself, but if you can find a refurb option cheap enough no harm in trying it.

 

I spent somewhere around $60 for a new OEM cartridge for my Brother laser printer when I needed to replace my starter cartridge a few years back. Still going strong for me and my printing is light at most. I still would pass on a re-furb option as I think the savings are not worth it.

 

We went with an OEM high capacity toner cartdridge from Office Depot, about $72.00.
For no more than we print, that cartridge will probably still be in the printer when our estate is being settled .

Have I mentioned how much I hate how Epson ink jet cartdridges clog?

 

One of Epson's, and other manufacturers, selling point for their better ink jet printers is the quality of the photo prints. Quite a few of them are truly impressive. What they don't tell you is how much fucking ink it takes to print just one decent sized photo; the colored ink jet cartridges ain't cheap. And the Epson cartdridges, including the black ink ones, had (have?) a bad habit of clogging if you don't use them on a regular basis, which we didn't. Using the cleaning function in the printer also took a lot of ink, and sometimes didn't work that well. I got sick of having to buy new cartridges when the old ones were actually full of ink, but clogged beyond repair.

I followed several suggestions regarding how to stop the clogging, namely don't leave the IJ printer on if it's not being used, and print something once in a while just to keep the jets clean. The former didn't help, and the latter gave poor quality printing.

 

Still working on replacing my unicorn-tears-and-gryphon-blood HP inket but back when they used to actually run tech news /. had some commentors saying they would refill black toner cartridges with bottles of xerox toner for cheap.

Of course your mileage may vary. This may inadvertently turn you into a minstrel character, ruin several articles of clothing, stain the carpet/floor, and break something in your printer.

 

I found that when I factored in the failure rate of refilled cartridges (smearing, inconsistent print quality, short service life were the most common headaches), OE cartridges were a comparable value with very few quality/service issues. In a business environment, print quality and reliability totally trump the minimal savings.

 

I attempted to refill an ink jet cartdridge using one of the kits. It took 45 minutes to clean the mess in the kitchen, and one of my better long sleeved shirts was totally ruined despite immediately being treated & washed several times.

Important tip: The aborbant material in the cartdridge is very, very slow to accept the ink. Or maybe it once it dries out it can't be easily "rehydrated" with fresh ink (this wouldn't surprise me since it was an Epson cartdridge and I've many problems with Epson IJ cartdridges).