Re: reconditioned toner cartridges?

[Steve Fouts <sfouts -at- ELLISON -dot- SC -dot- TI -dot- COM>]

|} We used reconditioned toner cartridges for our HPLaserJet III-class
|} printers and were somewhat less than pleased with them.  They did cost
|} less, but in our experience they leaked toner and caused maintenance
|} problems (enough to give us major headaches).
|}
|} I am also not sure if using reconditioned toner cartridges compromises the
|} warranty on an HP printer.
|}
|} My unsolicited suggestion is to use the real thing; you might very well
|} save the cost of maintenance.  (In our case, it was definitely a reasonable
|} decision.)

We use exclusively recycled toner cartridges for our NewGen printers. The
printers use a special high resolution toner (800x800 dpi). We bought a
supply of OEM cartridges that is enough for our purposes. When one goes
empty, we send it to our vendor (Magnatron in Dallas). They refill _that_
cartridge and send it back to us.

The first time they refill it, they replace the cheapy disposable drum
with a high quality, reusable one, then they replace the toner four or
five times, and eventually replce the drum again.

Magnatron had some initial leakage problems with our cartridges because
they had never done any 800 dpi ones before, but we worked with them until
they figured out what they were doing wrong. It's been a long time since
I've seen a leaky cartridge from them. We used to have an occasional leaky
OEM cartridge as well.

The benifits are reduced waste, the cost of replacing the drum and refilling
the cartridge is about the same as an OEM cartridge, but they only replace
the drum when needed (about once every four or five refills) so the long
term cost of running the refilled carts is about 1/2 to 2/3 of the OEM
cost.

It is worth the cost to find a reliable vendor to refill your toner
cartridges IMO. Especially for pubs groups that go through so blinkin'
many of 'em.

    _______________   _____
   /  ___  __/__\  \ /  / _\    Steve Fouts
  /___ \|  |  ___\  |  /  __\   sfouts -at- ellison -dot- sc -dot- ti -dot- com
 /   /  \  |      \   /      \
/_______/__|_______\_/________\ "She understood, as he did, that all writing
was infernally boring and futile, but that it had to be done out of respect
for tradition"                  --Stanislaw Lem