Toner refills - does anyone still do this?

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Hatch

797 posts

Ultimate Geek

#223909 24-Oct-2017 10:28

I was looking into refills for our consumer grade Canon printer.

Took the empty cartridges into Cartridge World and the cost of refills was almost exactly the same as the cost of genuine cartridges from computerfood (less shipping).

Doesn't seem like there is any financial advantage unless I refill by hand DIY, which I am not that keen to do.

1101

3122 posts

Uber Geek

#1888416 24-Oct-2017 10:35

Are you sure the computorfood toners are genuine ?
They may be Chinese refills .

Some of the chinese refilled carts are truly bad
Also, is it laser toner or inkjet ink ?

Hatch

797 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1888417 24-Oct-2017 10:41

1101:

Are you sure the computorfood toners are genuine ?
They may be Chinese refills .

Some of the chinese refilled carts are truly bad
Also, is it laser toner or inkjet ink ?

Yes I'm fairly sure they are genuine, I bought a set 6 months ago and it came in official Canon packaging, also marketed as genuine.

Ink jet printer.

old3eyes

9120 posts

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#1888510 24-Oct-2017 12:46

I've found this with my new Canon pink printer that I can buy new Canon ones from PB Tech for the same price as the refills from Cartridge World. Been buying new ones..

For my laser I buy refills from Cartridge World as they are way cheaper than the Brother original and seem to be good quality.

Regards,

Old3eyes

1101

3122 posts

Uber Geek

#1889137 25-Oct-2017 09:18

Hatch:

Ink jet printer.

When I was in that industry, we were bringing in inkjet carts from as little as 50c each
So no, not really worth refilling .

I just buy compatibles , 1/4 the price . Sure I get the occasional dud, and the colours are no where near as good as genuine, but hard to
argue with the price of compatibles

ObidiahSlope

260 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1889187 25-Oct-2017 10:39

I recommend Mainlanders wanting laser cartridge refills check out these folks;

http://www.nztoner.co.nz/

Obsequious hypocrite

scuwp

3886 posts

Uber Geek

#1889196 25-Oct-2017 11:01

I also just buy compatibles at a fraction of the price. I only have basic printing requirements though and as long as colours are close enough that's fine by me. Never had an issue but they are that cheap it wouldn't worry me if I did have a dud. Grabone or Treatme often have good deals for non OEM's.

Lazy is such an ugly word, I prefer to call it selective participation

sbiddle

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#1889213 25-Oct-2017 11:28

I don't see any point in buying inkjet refills. I've had some bad experiences with them in the past.

Toner on the other hand is a very different story. I've used refill toner in many printers without any major issues (have certainly encountered issues and the supplier has replaced them).

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Batman

Mad Scientist
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#1889226 25-Oct-2017 11:51

I bought some refill cartridges from trademe and now my wife wants to kill me.

Where else can i buy quality refill cartridges?

old3eyes

9120 posts

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#1889228 25-Oct-2017 11:52

sbiddle:

I don't see any point in buying inkjet refills. I've had some bad experiences with them in the past.

Toner on the other hand is a very different story. I've used refill toner in many printers without any major issues (have certainly encountered issues and the supplier has replaced them).

On my old Canon inkjet Cartridge World refills never had a problem..

Regards,

Old3eyes

1101

3122 posts

Uber Geek

#1889244 25-Oct-2017 12:15

Batman: I bought some refill cartridges from trademe and now my wife wants to kill me.

Where else can i buy quality refill cartridges?

Want true High quality : get genuine

inkjet or laser Toner ?
What printer ? Some laser carts were so badly designed that even genuine had a high fail rate, so little hope for those refils
Had a 100% fail rate on one particular type of toner cart we used to refill, they kept buying them (new also had high fail rate on that one)

The problem with toner cart remans was and is allways: quality costs money (parts, time & effort). Its that simple
generally, a toner reman will never be as reliable as the original. Many are good enough though.
Spent 7 years in the refill industry. Most simply didnt
know how many pages the refill has done so when it fails people(staff) assumed it was empty or due replacing
Staff in companies didnt care . Pull out the faulty & stick another in . Ive seen never used, still sealed, genuines sent out for a refill.

Some carts are dead simple to refill : pour in toner, job done
Others needed to be stripped, cleaned , new drum, blades & seals , reassembled, tested , check for leaks . The cheapies skip some
of these parts & steps so thats why they are so bad .

Same with 3rd party inkjets, some types are hard to get right , others had no issues being so simple a design

Batman

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#1889302 25-Oct-2017 14:12

Guess I learnt the hard way!

It's a Canon Pixma 5760 by the way, if anyone has any suggestions.

And btw I bought this wife said spilt everywhere and broke the printer

MadEngineer

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#1889309 25-Oct-2017 14:22

Oh God I do not miss repairing printers from people that insisted on using refills.

At least HP printers back then were as they were built for repair/servicing

You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.

SepticSceptic

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#1889793 26-Oct-2017 12:26

Have you tried the likes of Aliexpress for ink carts ? Not that I have used Aliexpress for ink carts ... I gave up on ink cart printers years ago. Have a basic b&w laser for home printing, and I have good access to all manner of printers at work for any colour or high quality requirements.

As an aside, I have purchased heaps of Brother Touch TZe labels via Aliexpress, and never had an issue - many more colours, and a fraction of what is charged for the genuine variant. ($45 each locally vs $50NZ for 10 from Ali)

Hatch

797 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1892402 30-Oct-2017 08:56

Thanks for all the comments and interesting discussion.

In the end just went with original Canon carts. Cost was $70 with free shipping. The cheapest non-genuine carts I could find were $52 + shipping so not much of a saving.

To be honest my main gripe was that the cost of refilling (cartridge world) was basically the same as the cheapest genuine carts.

Not going to risk non-genuine carts for the sake of $10.00.

Cheers