In my experience, noname inkjet printer ink sucks. What about noname laser toner?

I have never had a problem with no-name inkjet. I even have a CISS system so that I don't have to keep changing ink. That way the ink stays on the outside of the printer, and lasts forever.

BartekD596 wrote: ↑I have never had a problem with no-name inkjet. I even have a CISS system so that I don't have to keep changing ink. That way the ink stays on the outside of the printer, and lasts forever.

For no-name inkjet ink, what I've found is sometimes the cartridges wouldn't work, or else they'd cause more banding or clogging. Also, the colour balance was sometimes off. This is with multiple printers, including both Epson and Canon. If I just stuck with black ink though for monochrome printing, it was often OK, esp. if I printed a lot so there'd be less risk of clogging.

BartekD596 wrote: ↑I have never had a problem with no-name inkjet. I even have a CISS system so that I don't have to keep changing ink. That way the ink stays on the outside of the printer, and lasts forever.

sorry sidetrack here.

@BartekD596 where did you buy your CISS?

mind sharing links or locations in toronto?

BartekD596 wrote: ↑I have never had a problem with no-name inkjet.

+1

I've been using the eBay sellers for the last 5 years and zero issues. I've actually had issues with the printer functions themselves (automatic feeder won't work, the network feature disconnects itself periodically and I have to re-install the printer drivers, etc.....-don't buy HP! lol)

EugW wrote: ↑For no-name inkjet ink, what I've found is sometimes the cartridges wouldn't work, or else they'd cause more banding or clogging. Also, the colour balance was sometimes off. This is with multiple printers, including both Epson and Canon. If I just stuck with black ink though for monochrome printing, it was often OK, esp. if I printed a lot so there'd be less risk of clogging.

In terms of "not working", most cartridges have chips, which may be the trouble you encountered. I know for a Brother printer a family member has, I bought them ink cartridges but it had the v1 version of the chip, and their printer needed the v2 version (because Brother had updated the printers to try and reject after market ink). That may have been that issue.

In terms of "banding" or "colour balance", there's usually a "clean printer heads" feature that helps resolve those issues. Sometimes you have to run it multiple times to get any air out of the system. This can happen with any cartridge as it depends on your use (frequency) of the printer.

In terms of "clogging", I can't speak to that as I've never encountered it. All I know is that most recent printers tend to have periodic self-cleaning to keep the printer heads wet (and avoid having ink dry). Printing often also helps avoid this as if you only print once every blue moon, it increases your chances of something clogging (at least in older printers).

Lastly, sticking with black ink or setting the printer to monochrome (black only) is not recommended. I did this with my first printer and since I'd print maybe once or twice a year in colour, the colour eventually wouldn't work at all (due to it not being used, I guess something dried up in the printer head and it could no longer have ink flow)

FWIW.

Anyone have any recommendations for reliable brands of toner for Samsung printers?

Alexandero2 wrote: ↑In terms of "not working", most cartridges have chips, which may be the trouble you encountered. I know for a Brother printer a family member has, I bought them ink cartridges but it had the v1 version of the chip, and their printer needed the v2 version (because Brother had updated the printers to try and reject after market ink). That may have been that issue.

Yes. However, the other issue is sometimes the cartridges would work inconsistently, whereas the OEM cartridges would work every time.

In terms of "banding" or "colour balance", there's usually a "clean printer heads" feature that helps resolve those issues. Sometimes you have to run it multiple times to get any air out of the system. This can happen with any cartridge as it depends on your use (frequency) of the printer.

True too, but in my case I was getting this problem a LOT more often with the non-OEM inks. I suspect it is because it is due to crappier ink formulations. Also, running this function takes a while and wastes a lot of ink.

In the end I decided it just wasn't worth the headache. Now I have a main monochrome-only laser, and dedicated colour photo printer, but even then I rarely use the latter because it's usually better just to go to Costco and spend the 10-20 cents for a print.

---

But that's besides the point. My main question now is what about laser toner?

OMGSALE wrote: ↑sorry sidetrack here.

@BartekD596 where did you buy your CISS?

mind sharing links or locations in toronto?

I have a HP 4620 printer, so bought mine here. Works great

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/CISS-For ... 80444.html


Regarding the use of inkjet, it does may clog but only if you don't use them. I try to print a page every week or 2 to prevent that from happening.

I've generally had good luck with swapping toner cartridges at local refill stores. No obvious difference in the quality of the print with whatever toner they use for refills. Normally you just quickly swap your empty cartridge for a full one, but you can get yours refilled if you want to wait. The cartridges do wear out after several refills, and you might get an old worn-out one when you swap. It's important to find a reliable shop. I've had shops assure me that they test 100% of their refilled cartridges, even including a test print page - only to discover that the cartridge had a burned-out fuse and could never have worked. Don't believe everything they tell you.
Also watch out for under-filled cartridges. Check the weight if it seems light.

JamesA1 wrote: ↑I've generally had good luck with swapping toner cartridges at local refill stores. No obvious difference in the quality of the print with whatever toner they use for refills. Normally you just quickly swap your empty cartridge for a full one, but you can get yours refilled if you want to wait. The cartridges do wear out after several refills, and you might get an old worn-out one when you swap. It's important to find a reliable shop. I've had shops assure me that they test 100% of their refilled cartridges, even including a test print page - only to discover that the cartridge had a burned-out fuse and could never have worked. Don't believe everything they tell you.
Also watch out for under-filled cartridges. Check the weight if it seems light.

A "10000 page" cartridge is about $220 for the OEM, and $100 for no-name. It's closer to $145 and $75 respectively for "5000 page". Maybe I'll give the no-name a shot.

I have a "3000 page" OEM starter cartridge and it says I have 37% left after 1200 pages, which means I'd only get around 1900 pages out of the "3000 page" cartridge.

I do note that 123inkcartridges.ca has this 2014 toner test on their website:



The non-OEM cartridge is worse, but then again I'm just printing business documents, mostly text, and the biggest difference in the example is with graphics. Also, they don't actually specify what model laser printer.

Just like with inkjet inks, the compatible toner manufacturers are likely reverse-engineering the OEM stuff and trying to get around patents, so the actual material is not the same. My concern wouldn't really be as much about print quality but rather what happens inside the machine. The same way that inkjet inks could give you good prints but still cause clogging because they evaporate too quickly or don't flow correctly, the compatible toners would probably give acceptable results but cause problems elsewhere in the machine that may not show up until later.

Even in the example you posted above -- though it's hard to tell how the images were printed and scanned -- you can see that the "Compatible" print is darker than the "OEM", so there's a clue right there that the "Compatible" material is not the same (possibly has more carbon in it).

The low-end printers are fairly disposable these days, so it might not be a big concern overall, depending on what kind of device you have and how much you intend to use it.

JHW wrote: ↑Just like with inkjet inks, the compatible toner manufacturers are likely reverse-engineering the OEM stuff and trying to get around patents, so the actual material is not the same. My concern wouldn't really be as much about print quality but rather what happens inside the machine. The same way that inkjet inks could give you good prints but still cause clogging because they evaporate too quickly or don't flow correctly, the compatible toners would probably give acceptable results but cause problems elsewhere in the machine that may not show up until later.

Even in the example you posted above -- though it's hard to tell how the images were printed and scanned -- you can see that the "Compatible" print is darker than the "OEM", so there's a clue right there that the "Compatible" material is not the same (possibly has more carbon in it).

The low-end printers are fairly disposable these days, so it might not be a big concern overall, depending on what kind of device you have and how much you intend to use it.

Arrggh. Now you have got me worried (again). This isn't exactly a cheap printer, as it's a printer meant for a small to medium sized business (complete with user accounts and all that), even though I'm using it at home. Mind you I didn't pay all that much for it because I got it on a great sale. I think I paid something like $200 or $225 for it, even though it retails for $600 and usually sells for around $400-450.

To add fuel to the fire, there is also the issue of warranty service -- you may void the warranty using non-OEM toner.

Using noname toner from 123inkcartridges. No problem here

Dinujan wrote: ↑Using noname toner from 123inkcartridges. No problem here

Which printer?

For toner quality - http://www.tonerrefillkits.com/. With the exchange rate however, it's no longer such a good deal.

I've gone with these guys instead - https://www.inkowl.com/. So far so good.

EugW wrote: ↑Which printer?

hp m1319f mfp

I've been using refill toners for many years now. My "newest" printer is a Samsung CLX-3100 series that is still running strong (and printing flawlessly) after at least 6 years of ownership using refill toners. To be honest, I've been waiting for the thing to die so that I can replace it with a wireless/duplex model.

I used 123ink for brother laser toner. Works p erect. Before I had hp1018 and used it for 4 years never had probs.

I buy bulk toner powder for my Canon laser printer from aliexpress. The good thing about my Canon laser printer is you do not need to replace the chip everytime you refill. Although it will tell you that your toner will run dry any moment from now, just ignore it and refill when it starts to fade.