PRINTER CARTRIDGE DEFINITIONS

Are you confused with all those different expression describing printer cartridges, and how relevant are they? I know I was.

LATELY, you have bought your first printer and it is time to get another print cartridge so you research the internet, to be confused with a plethora of expressions about printer cartridges that confuse you.  It can make it hard for you to make the correct decision about to what to get.

We will define some of the expressions used here to help you understand what they mean:

Compatible/Genuine/Refill/Remanufactured: You can have all of these types of alternative cartridges even though they apply to the one printer.For a fuller description of these types of cartridges, click here.

Drum Cartridge: The drum cartridge can also be called the drum unit or drum roller.

They are used with toner cartridges - the latter generally fit inside the drum cartridge. Whereas the toner (laser) cartridge holds the toner powder. The purpose of the drum cartridge is to distribute the powder in image /text form via electrode charging onto the paper. When the quality of your printing is deteriorating it is usually the drum cartridge that needs replacing, normally after every 3 to 4 toner cartridges have been used. 

Laser Cartridge:  A laser cartridge is really a cartridge that uses toner powder. It is not the cartridge itself that is laser but the printer that uses a laser ray to focus a beam of magnetic charged light to transfer images and text onto the paper. The expression laser cartridge really means a toner cartridge that disperses powder onto the electronical charged paper as dictated by the laser beam.

Mono: This type of printer only uses black cartridges - it does not have colours. More often used in an office environment for text printing, usually at higher speeds.

OEM Cartridge: Means Original Equipment Manufacturer, and refers to the model code for the cartridge as supplied by the original manufacturer. For example Brother TN2150....TN2150 is the OEM cartridge as supplied by Brother.

Toner Cartridge: refer to Laser Cartridge above.

Yield: This is the amount of available toner or ink that determines what quantity of print you will achieve. It will normally be measured in millilitres or pages that can be printed. The term is often not a good measure in that there are many variables that effect yield, including the efficiency of any particular printer, the density of print (image/text) to the page, the mix of black, cyan, magenta, & yellow etc. There is now an International standards organisation accepted measurement that determines a page as approx. 5% of an A4 size sheet in text printing. So when a user sees yield 5,000 pages, in fact it might be more like. 1,000 pages achieved, or if images, less again.

We thank our sponsor, ABC Print Supplies, for their support

DO I BUY A GENUINE, COMPATIBLE, REMANUFACTURED, OR REFILL PRINTER CARTRIDGE?

Four different choices for the one printer cartridge, which is the best for me?

It can be a difficult decision to make, yet once you make it, you very rarely dwell on it.

There are four possible areas for concern here: here, reliability, quality, yield, and price.

But first of all, what are they? It doesn't matter whether they're InkJet or cartridge, the four choices remain the same, we'll explain them here as follows:

Genuine Cartridge
As the name suggests, its the one originally produced by the printer manufacturer. Hence a Canon printer cartridge is either made directly by Canon, or under licence to them. The interesting thing with the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacture) cartridge is that some of the componentry can be produced by another brand manufacturer or manufacturer.
They are normally very reliable and sometimes do not advertise the yield, because they are what they are, ...original.


Compatible Cartridge
Compatible Cartridges are giving the genuine ones a real shake up for their money.
Although their unreliability  was questionable 5+ years ago, this is not so much the case today.
The compatible is manufactured by companies that specialise in this area, such as G & G, Print Rite, Uninet etc. If their product was unreliable they wouldn't still be in business, as simple as that.
Having said that, their reliability is not quite to the level of the genuine cartridges, but close enough that suppliers are willing to replace any that fail to work, or when quality is not acceptable
Copyright laws are obliging compatibles to make up to a 35% alteration in the shape of the cartridge, although this can be a detriment to the genuine brands, as the compatible can be altered to hold a greater quantity of ink/toner, therefore higher yield.


Remanufactured Cartridge

This cartridge is the genuine one which has been taken back to a factory,where it is taken through a process of cleaning, examining, replacing worn out parts, filling it with ink/toner and post tested for quality, in a sterile environment.  In most cases, the body of the cartridge is the original body actually made by the same manufacturer that made your printer.  Many of the parts inside the cartridge are reused original components that may have been cleaned and left for a second cycle.  Many users swear by remanufactured inkjet cartridges and say that they can't ascertain differences in print quality over more costly OEM products. 

Refill Cartridge

The refill cartridge is also a genuine cartridge which is refilled by drilling a small incision into the tank of the cartridge at both ends, and using a needle type instrument to refill it. Refills might also have the heads cleaned to prevent clogging when reinstalled. 

So back to reliability, quality, yield, and price.

The reliability will vary little between the first three cartridge types above from reputable suppliers, although if you are operating a business where reliability is of upmost concern, then genuine is the way to go. At the bottom end of the scale is the refill, owing to the lack of quality control or replacement parts (seals etc.). Compatibles & remanufactureds do have a  high reliability, and for most users should not be a consideration.

Quality will again be 100% from genuine cartidges, so that if you were a professional photographic firm, you would probably not want to risk compromise. Having said that, many photographers have experimented with compatible/remanufactureds and stayed with them. But one bad experience will normally have you scurring back to genuines. Again refills are suspect in this regard. For the home user though, probably not a problem.

Yield and Price are very related. But compatibles and Remanufactureds have usually the same yield, or greater yield than the genuines. But how can that be for remanufactureds you say, as they are the same. Well unfortunately the genuines are not filled to the maximum, so don't have the same yield. 

So the Price issue is a no-brainer. Genuines really struggle against the other types here, and that is what has let the non-genuines into the market big-time.

We thank our sponsers at ABC Printsupplies along with other suppliers for providing this information.