Stinky Ink News

Seven common misconceptions about Remanufactured Laserjet Toner Cartridges

1. Remanufacturers just replace the Toner in the Cartridges
   

   Single re-use remanufacturers (so called ‘drill and fill’ merchants) are cheating you and the environment. Professional remanufacturers replace every worn or damaged component in the cartridges. Imaging Drums (OPC Drums) should be cleaned, tested or more usually replaced. The OPC Drum is the most expensive part of many toner cartridges, but is crtical for the quality performance of your cartridge. The majority of remanufactured cartridges stocked at Stinkyink.Com have Brand New OPC drums, Charge rollers and other mechanical parts. Microchips must also be replaced to restore the full functionality and compatibility of the cartridge .

2. Third Party Toner is not as good as the OEM’s
   

   Since the advent of Chemical Toner about 7 years ago (read article here), almost all of the major OEM’s are shipping printer cartridges using this new technology. About 18 months ago, this toner became available for the Remanufacturers and I would say that the quality of both colour and greyscale achieved by the Remanufactuers is equivalent to the quality that the OEM’s achieve.

3. Remanufacturers reuse Toner in their cartridges
   

   Ha!, if they did the none of the cartridges would work. Toner becomes contaminated during the printing process by paper dust and electrical charges redering it unusable. Every different Manufacturers cartridge model also requires different toner formulation. Combining contaminated toners would compound problems.

4. Defective Toner cartridges damage printers
   

   Toner Cartridges are largely self contained and make limited contact with the rest of the printer. The worst that can happen is that toner from a failed cartridge must be removed from the printer. All cartridges deposit some toner inside the printer, and many of the new printers have a waste toner box to collect this. Properly remanufactured cartridges do not damage printers or create more wear than cartridges that are properly assembled by or for printer makers. Removing toner deposits is often part of routine maintenance for the printer.

5. Empty Cartridges returned to HP, Canon, Lexmark et al are Reused
   

   Only about 20% of cartridges are ever re-used. Independent cartridge remanufacturers recover more empty cartridges than all the OEM’s put together. A recent Infotrends report which you can see here said that:

• 1. The OEM’s own program to collect empties generally results in them being broken down into their constituent parts and then the base materials recycled
  
• 2. 3rd party remanufacturers will almost always re-use the cartridges that they collect following inspection and cleaning.
  

1. Remanufactured Cartridges are inferior to Manufacturers Originals
   

   Here at Stinkyink we always use remanufactured toner cartridges where available for our printers. I have to be absolutely honest and say that we cannot notice any significant difference in quality or printed output between the Original Equipment Manufactures (OEM’s) cartridges and the remanufactured cartridge. There is a significant saving in price and there is also the feelgood environmental factor to consider.
   

2. Use of Remanufacture Cartridges will void your printer Warranty
   

Following pressure from the European Union and American fair trade laws, the OEM’s are not allowed to void your printer warranty for using compatible or remanufactured toner or ink cartridges. HP have this information on their website (Click Here) which is quite clear. Our experience here at Stinkyink is that most of the issues we see are actually user generated, but because Remanufactured ‘is not OEM quality’ the problem is perceived by the customer to be with the cartridge rather than the user