Toner Cartridges: HP, Canon, Samsung, Brother

Best Multifunction Printers for the Home Office

2010-08-15T10:33:00.001-07:00

There are a lot of printers in the market that do a lot of different things. Unfortunately, most of these printers are doomed to be travelling wanderers for their lives; jacks of all trades but masters of none. Aww! Multifunction printers that do more than one thing well are difficult to come by, and often come with other drawbacks such as excessive laser cartridge or printer ink usage. So today we check out some top models of multifunction printer on the market that are more than one-trick ponies, and won't cost the earth.

Epson Stylus Photo TX710W

The Epson Stylus TX710W is a fabulous photo printer, and produces excellent quality CD and DVD prints also, along with fairly standard quality text. The printer cartridges run to the expensive side for this multifunction printer, so if you don't print often but want good quality when you do, this is the model for you.

Canon Pixma MP560

Another great little photo printer, this is an excellent multifunction mid-range offering. It prints, copies and scans (although doesn't include fax capability), and has a very easy to setup wireless connection. The ink cartridges come in a set of five, so you don't have to worry about constant waste from a tri-color cartridge if you do a lot of photo printing.

HP Photosmart Premium All-in-One C309g

HP make some fabulous printers ... even if there aren’t too many other electronics that they do a good job of! It has an automatic duplexer, has fabulous black and white text quality, and connects via either wireless, Ethernet or Bluetooth. It's a printer, copier and scanner, and while people have mixed reviews of its reliability, they do note that it uses printer ink quickly. If you want a good multifunction offering for infrequent printing, this is a good choice.

HP Officejet Pro 8500 Wireless
Another good HP offering ... as long as you are using it with a very standard setup. The software and firmware can be a bit troublesome, but for those using the most 'ordinary' of operating systems and programs with this printer, it is a wonderful complete home office solution ... even including a fax machine.

Lexmark Interact S605

This is not priced as an entry-level multifunction printer, and it doesn’t work very fast. That said, everything it does is fabulous quality. There is no compromise between text and photo quality. No fax machine, but it prints, copies and scans as well as handling a wide range of paper sizes.

5 Ways to Green Your Printing Habits

2010-08-08T18:39:00.001-07:00

We live in a world of very resource-intensive living. Electricity is used for the most basic of tasks, there are more and more trees cut down every year, and waste seems a natural part of life. Along with all that waste can come a fair bit of guilt, even if there are no immediate consequences, and the wasted paper, printer toner and printer ink that comes along with certain printing behaviors is actually a major source of guilt for many Canadians. Today we look at 5 ways you can green your printing habits, cut the guilt and preserve the planet for future generations.

Buy a duplex printer, and ...

Printers with the capability for duplex are actually fairly common ... but it seems that people simply don’t use the function. The technology is not well established, and there are often problems with this feature. You need to not only buy a printer that supports duplex printing, but one that will do it quickly and conveniently enough that you actually use the feature.

Start a re-usable paper stack
Reducing your usage and re-using what you can are preferable to recycling sheets of paper that are accidentally printed. So, start a stack of paper that has a single web address on one side, nothing but a document header just one sentence and re-use it either for notes and scrap, or printing non-critical documents.

Recycle your printer cartridges

There are quite a few depot points across the country that take used printer ink cartridges. The plastic from these can’t be recycled along with ordinary plastics, so start a collection and take them down to the recycling station once you have a few.

Use Draft Mode
Don’t print everything on high quality - this will save on printer ink, which is both environmentally friendly and wallet friendly!

Take stock

Pay attention to the type of stock you use in your printer. Cotton, hemp and bamboo papers are all more sustainable that standard printer paper. You may have to experiment with print settings a little, but you'll feel much better about yourself! Order ahead online and you won’t be tempted to run out and grab the first tree-killing ream you see in the grocery store.

Toner Industry Overview

2010-07-23T00:25:00.000-07:00

Direct Electrostatic Printing
Photocopying, laser printing and industrial digital printing all have their roots in electrophotographic technology invented almost 30 years ago. Since that time, companies such as AGFA-Gevaert, Xerox, Lexmark, Sharp, Hewlett Packard, and others have incorporated various forms of electrophotographic technology into their printers.

Direct electrostatic printing is based on a principle that is deceptively simple. A toner source delivers charged toner particles through a print head structure (consisting of a polymeric substrate with apertures and at least one set of control electrodes) to the image receiver (a sheet of paper, for example) in front of a back electrode. The propulsion field present between the toner source and the back electrode, means that negatively charged toner particles are attracted to the receiver on the back electrode, thus creating an image on the paper.

Toner Manufacturing Process
The traditional "pulverization technique" of toner particle production involves the blending of resin, charge agent control, wax, carbon black, and iron oxide. This is then heated and melted under high pressure, extruded through a dye and granulated.

The resulting flakes are ground by air jet milling. Air jet mills can produce micron-sized particles without generating heat, which would otherwise denature the toner product. Spinning classifier wheels at the top prevent particles leaving the mill before they have been ground to a size below the classifier cut size. Unground particles are returned to the bed via an internal mill recycle. The cut size is controlled by varying the speed of the classifier (the faster the spin, the lower the cut size). Superfines (whose presence often represents wastage in the milling process) are removed and additives may be blended with the toner before final bagging.

Toner particle size can be controlled to within ±0.3 - 0.5 µm, whereas the average particle size is 8 µm. Particle size distribution can also be controlled. Depending on specific requirements, the standard deviation of particle size distribution can be around 1.0 µm.

On-line particle size measurement is now used by many toner manufacturers to continuously monitor the particle size distribution and, by using multiple analyzers at different steps of the process, measure the unit operation yield in real-time.

Why is toner particle size distribution important?
A great deal of R&D effort has gone into improving print head design and toner transfer. The goal has been to produce simpler and increasingly more accurate systems with fewer components and improved imaging, which are suitable for a wide range of consumer and industrial digital printing applications. Final image quality though can be compromised by the quality of the toner itself.

Toner companies have therefore been faced with the task of improving the toner particles. While individual manufacturers have their own formulae for toners, most comprise around 90% thermo-plastics that are colored with 10% carbon black pigment and set with infrared following transfer to paper. Traditionally, dry toner particles are made by compounding, pelletizing and granulation, followed by micronization, classification and sieving. This results in a fine powder with a tight specification for particle size distribution. However, the method has several drawbacks, notably variation in particle shape and charge-to-mass ratio as well as the creation of dust particles. These can cause problems as the particles are propelled through tiny apertures in the print head. Larger or irregularly shaped particles can cause blockage while dust particles adhere to the print head surface and are too small to have enough charge to be controllable.

The ability to control the effects of electrostatic and electrodynamic forces lies with the way in which the toner is prepared. Preparation affects particle shape, particle size, particle size distribution, charge and surface treatment. The trend is to the smaller, narrower particle size and particle size distribution requirements needed for the production of higher resolution images.

Traditionally the electrozone counter method has been the standard for particle size analysis in toner manufacture, something that is now being replaced with on-line, real-time particle sizing that allows direct and immediate control of the production process.

Why is toner particle shape so important?
Recent years have seen the development of wet chemical toner processes such as suspension polymerization and emulsion polymerization, which do not involve a milling or classification stage and which have the merit of allowing much greater control of the size distribution, shape and material properties of the toner particles produced. Compared to pulverized toner the shape is far more regular. Many companies are now producing both monochrome and color toners using a wet polymerization process. The toners produced using this process produce material with a narrower particle size and particle shape distribution; this offers improved powder flowability, improved transfer ratio from the photoconductor to the paper and improved image quality.

A number of companies have patented chemical processes for growing toner particles of well-defined shapes. With the ability to produce toners with more precise shape and size distributions comes the need to characterize such materials. Most particle size analysis instruments are not able to measure shape but one exception is the Sysmex FPIA-3000. This instrument has wide use in the toner industry and many patents have been produced based on the optimization of particle shape. Methods have been developed using circularity as the key parameter. A circularity of 0.95-0.96 is optimum, lower than this the toner particles act as an abrasive, higher than this and they act as a lubricant.

Toner manufacturers invest heavily in novel production techniques in order to develop processes that will maximize the proportion of particles with high circularity.

8 Magical Steps for choosing a Printer.

2010-07-22T23:56:00.000-07:00

Usually Laser Printers provide better quality than InkJet Printers, but are more expensive. Keep in mind print quality, speed, reliability and price when deciding which printer to buy.

Step 1

You should decide what types of documents you will be printing (text, graphics, odd paper sizes, etc.).

Step 2

You should make a list of specific features you need, like the ability to handle large files, or the ability to print on various media (labels, envelopes) with-out jamming, a size to fit a specific desk spaces, more than one paper trays, and compatibility with popular software.

Step 3

You can even compare the print quality of different printers. Like resolution, DPI (dots per inch). You can use a magnifying glass to compare print quality if it is critical.

Step 4

You can compare speed specifications. The ratings are very useful for comparing printers.

Step 5

Comparing how much RAM the printers have, and if it is expandable or not.

Step 6

In order to handle "Envelops" the printer's paper path needs to be no sharper than 90 degrees to consistently pass the envelopes, labels, transparencies or card stock. If you plan to use special media often, avoid printers with 180 degree U-turn paper paths.

Step 7

Defiantly compare prices of consumables such as Toner Cartridges, Ink Cartridges, and Replacement Drums.

Step 8

You should compare "Warranties" and "Service Contracts".

How to reset Brother MFC-9440CN Drum Error Message

2010-07-22T23:09:00.000-07:00

There are different types of Brother Printers and Multi-Functions in the market now.

One of the best and reliable Printers which is made by brother Company is MFC Series.

MFC-9440CN Is a powerful colour laser Multi-Function for printing, coping, scanning and faxing with all network-ready.

How to Reset the drum error message for Brother MFC-9440:

When you replace the Drum cartridge with a new one, you need to reset the drum cartridge counter by using the following steps:

Turn the the machine’s power switch back on.
Press Menu > Machine Info. > Reset Menu.
Press the Up or Down Arrow key to choose Drum.
Press OK.
Press 1 to reset the drum unit counter.
Press Stop/Exit.

For this model there are two different types of toner capacity.

TN110 Low Capacity (Low Yield)

TN115 High Capacity (High Yield)

What is a compatible cartridge?

2010-06-23T08:44:00.000-07:00

A compatible cartridge is a cartridge that is not produced by the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM). These cartridges are designed to meet or in best case even exceed the standards set by the OEM in terms of performance, print quality and page yield. To achieve this, the making and quality level of the inkjet ink or laser toner is crucial.

Up until a couple of years ago, finding compatible cartridges for Epson, HP and Lexmark printers was hard. The reason was that printheads was costly and not all that easy to integrate into the cartridge making few compatible Epson cartridges to come out on the market. HP and Lexmark on the other hand had their cartridge design patented which effectively hindered cartridge copies to come out.

Nowadays, compatible cartridges are easy to find for all the larger printer brands such as Brother, Canon, Epson, HP, Lexmark, Samsung and Xerox.

How much can I save buying compatible cartridges?
Huge savings can be done on printer cartridge costs by buying compatible cartridges instead of OEM cartridges. Compatible cartridges are also in general a bit cheaper than remanufactured cartridges.

By segmenting cartridges into OEM/Compatible cartridges and printer brands we get the following results:

A- Compatible inks are between 30%-70% cheaper compared to OEM ink
B- Compatible toners are between 30%-60% cheaper compared to OEM toner

Individual results per printer brand follows below:

Ink Cartridges - Cost Savings Compatible over OEM
Brother 74 %
Canon 70 %
HP 62 %
Epson 65 %
Lexmark 30 %

Toner Cartridges - Cost Savings Compatible over OEM
Canon 60 %
Lexmark 57 %
Xerox 45 %
HP 49 %
Konica Minolta 39 %

Are you allowed to use a compatible cartridge in your printer?
You are allowed to use them in your printer and you will not void your warranty by using them.

This is clearly stated in the Magnusson-Moss Warranty act issued by the Federal Trade Commission. The printer maker cannot force you into only buying their cartridges, it’s up to you as a consumer to make the choice on what you want to buy.

What about the quality of compatible cartridges?
Third party ink producers don't have the financial resources to invest as heavily in R&D as the big printer manufacturers. Still, compatible cartridges holds good standard nowadays as independent research shows. A test by TrustedReviews showed that many users actually prefers the printing results from compatible cartridges while PC World showed that compatible cartridges most often yields more printouts than OEM cartridges.

If you are worried over the quality of the compatible ink or toner please remember that it is not the only factor affecting the print quality. The capabilities of the printer and the quality of the printing paper also have significant impact on the end results.

Compare the Samsung ML-2010 to other Laser printers

2010-06-22T12:25:00.000-07:00

The good: It is a fairly fast, inexpensive with a good quality text and very easy to set up to use by PC, Mac and Linux.

The bad: It has a small paper capacity and mediocre graphics quality. This printer doesn't include USB cable.

The bottom line: The Samsung ML-2010 markedly improves on its predecessor but remains a personal laser printer rather than a serious business printer.

Review:

The Samsung ML2010 Printer ia a small, affordable and reliable monochrome laser printer suitable for a home office.

It is a modest for business use, or a well-equipped printer for dorm room. Like any low cost laser printer, the ML2010 has its limitations, such as a small 150 sheet capacity main paper tray and only 8MB of memory, neither of which you can expand.

That should be no problem if you do only occasional black and white document printing at your home or small shop.

In Fact, the ML-2010's clean, compact design and decent output make it desirable for anyone with limited office space, especially students.

You can buy compact toner cartridge for this printer from www.TonerParts.com for almost under $30.

Top 5 Best Brands of Printers

2010-06-21T20:25:00.001-07:00

You've analysed your printing quantity and the quality you need ... decided on a laser or inkjet ... and now you just want to know that when you buy a specific brand of printer, it won't fall apart on you two weeks after the warranty expires! There is still a lot to be said for buying 'respected brands' within any industry, whether you're looking for a car, a refrigerator, a printer or toner cartridges. Today we do a reputation-check on printer models, and find the 5 best.

HP Printers

Hewlett Packard only grew to be big enough to infiltrate the laptop market and general computing industries on the strength of their awesome printers. Looking through the 'editor's top picks' of printers, 4 out of the top 10 models of printer come from the HP brand. Their HP Ink Cartridges and HP Toner Cartridges last quite a while compared to other printers, and their printers are good all rounders without the problems of many other brands.

Canon Printers

Canon are a well-known printer brands, but their excellence is expressed in far narrowed niches than HP's. Canon do Photo Printers well, and they do high-end Laser Printers well ... however their all-rounders are known to have some problems. Canon printers don't enter the 'top ten' list until position number 7, and a single model (the Pixma) takes up positions 7, 9 and 10).

Brother Printers

Brother doesn't always rate on 'best brands of printer' lists - mostly because they aren't as well known in the printing industry as HP, Lexmark, Canon or Epson. Brothers aren't outstandingly good in any category - but neither are they outstandingly bad! They are considered workhorse-type, dependable printers for InkJet Printer and Laser Printer.

Lexmark Printers

Lexmark printers are generally low-priced in initial cost, and also in terms of their Ink Cartridges and Lexmark toner cartridges. The Lexmark Impact was listed at number 4 in the 'editor's choices', for its low price and great swathe of extra features - however it is only intended for intermittent printers.

Epson Printers

The Epson Workforce series of printers is very highly regarded for business needs - it prints fast, with decent quality and an agreeable price tag. They have been known to have print head problems, and to crash out without warning ... so get an extended warranty on your Epson printer!

What You Should Know Before Purchasing a Compatible Toner Cartridge Online

2010-06-21T12:05:00.000-07:00

When people hear how much they can save by purchasing compatible toner cartridges online, they rush to buy. Often they pay too much or don't get the quality they deserve. If you follow a few simple guidelines, you will get a quality compatible toner cartridge that will give you the same quantity and print you've come to expect. The best toner suppliers will also give you a no-nonsense money back guarantee and service second to none. Here's what you need to know about a company before you order your toner cartridges online.

1. Company Information
The longer a company has been selling toner cartridges online, the better. Look for companies that have two or more years of experience online. Next, be sure you are able to contact the company in multiple ways. For example:

Street addresses are better than Post Office boxes.
The toner company should provide a toll free number.
The company will provide an email address to answer any questions you have about your compatible toner cartridges.

2. Website Information
Good online companies provide easy to understand and easy to use websites. They usually offer such information as:

A Glossary of Terms to explain all the details about the toner cartridges they sell.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) answer the most commonly asked questions received by the toner vendor.
The company Refund Policy should clearly explain how to receive a refund, if necessary. It should also state the period of time for which refund is available.
The company Exchange Policy should explain how to get an exchange on a toner cartridge, the time required and procedures the company will follow.
If for some reason you decide to cancel your compatible toner cartridge order, how do you do this. At what point can you ask for a cancellation. Normally, when your toner cartridges are shipped, you'll have to request a refund.

3. Easy Product Selection
Finding and ordering the exact compatible toner cartridge should only take a couple of minutes. Most companies allow you to search by laser printer name or toner cartridge number.

4. Discount Prices
The reason you purchase toner cartridges online is to save money. Be sure to verify the complete cost, including shipping cost (if any). You total cost should be considerably less than what you have been paying... and you won't spend your gas money or waste your time standing in long lines.
5. Money Back Guarantee
Your toner cartridges should have an unconditional money back guarantee. That means if you're not satisfied with your compatible toner cartridges for any reason, you will get a prompt and full refund.
6. Shipping Information
As you finalize your toner cartridge order, be sure to verify three things:

A. What is the shipping cost of your toner cartridges? In most instances, it will be free.

B. When can you expect to receive your compatible toner cartridges? Most online companies ship the same day, if possible.

C. What company will deliver your compatible toner cartridges? Is it US Postal, UPS or FedEx? This lets you know what to look for and expect.

7. Privacy Policy
You give personal information when you order toner cartridges online. What does the company do with this information? You really don't want the company to sell you information to other companies so you can get more junk mail or spam!

8. Secure Server
Always verify the company uses a secure server. This will insure your personal information remains private. It is actually safer to order using a secure server than to pay by mail. Check out the FAQ section to learn about site security.
9. Order Tracking
Many online toner cartridge merchants provide a way for you to track your order. Sometimes, this is through the shipping company. Although this is not essential, it is convenient. It's nice to know where your toner cartridges are and when they will arrive.

10. Referral from a Friend
Always take the opportunity to talk with others that have ordered compatible toner cartridges online. Ask them what they paid? What was their experience with the toner cartridges? Would they buy another compatible toner cartridge from the company? Did they have to contact the company? If so, what was their experience?

If you follow the guidelines above, you can expect to receive the best warranty, service and compatible toner cartridges in the industry... not to mention the money you'll save.

Are you paying way too much for your replacement toner cartridges?

2010-06-21T11:56:00.000-07:00

What do you really know about Compatible Toner Cartridges? Do you know how much a quality compatible toner cartridge will save on your printer budget? Every time you purchase an OEM replacement toner cartridge, you pay twice what you should pay. I know. I did this for several years.

Most people don't know enough about compatible toner cartridges. Some think compatible toner cartridges will void their warranty. That's not true. In fact, it's against the law. Others believe the Quality and Quantity of print will not be as good. That's also not true. Compatible toner cartridges are manufactured to the exact OEM standards of your laser printer. They are guaranteed to be as good or better than the original cartridge. They will print the same number of pages with the same quality.

Perhaps the real reason most people haven't discovered how to cut their replacement toner cost in half is they believe what major printer companies are saying. Major printer companies spend thousands of dollars every year to discourage you from trying a compatible toner cartridge.

I think it's ironic. Did you know many major printer companies are selling you compatible and remanufactured toner cartridges? The problem is, you're paying full price for their brand name toner cartridge. Look at your package label. See if it says, "Manufactured from new and recycled parts"... enough said.

When you purchase original replacement toner cartridges, you will pay nearly seven times as much for toner cartridges as you paid for your laser printer. This is based on a normal printer life expectancy of five years. If your laser printer lasts more than five years, which many do, you will pay more.

I was very happy with the laser printing results I was getting. I was quite reluctant to try a compatible laser toner cartridge. Finally, I decided it wouldn't hurt to try just one compatible laser toner replacement cartridge. After all, it was half the cost of my original toner cartridge.

The first thing I noticed was the print of the Compatible Toner Cartridge was as good as the original toner cartridge. I figured that wouldn’t last… I was wrong. In fact, the compatible cartridge actually printed more pages than my original HP toner cartridge.

After doing some extensive research, I found out that many original toner cartridges are not filled to capacity. These toner cartridges print the number of pages given in the company specifications. However, I found that when the toner cartridge was completely filled with toner, you get more pages from the same toner cartridge.

I guess I accidentally purchased my first compatible toner cartridge from a reputable company. They had filled the toner cartridge to capacity. I not only got more pages of print with the same quality, but I also paid less than half of what the original HP toner cartridge had cost. When I calculated the cost per page, I was saving 70% by using a compatible laser toner cartridge.

Needless to say, I purchased another compatible toner cartridge and I got the same results. The only thing that has changed over the years is I now pay much less for compatible laser cartridges.

I must confess that over the 15 years period I did purchase one compatible cartridge that simply didn't work right. I contacted the company to report the problem. The company actually sent me another toner cartridge the next day… at no cost to me.

What I have learned is this… To cut your printing budget in half, purchase compatible toner cartridges..

Should I Buy a Laser or Inkjet Printer?

2010-06-17T19:43:00.000-07:00

It seems like a trivial decision - after all, both types of printers eventually spit out your documents and photos. However, in terms of cost and quality of printing, the choice between inkjets and their printer ink costs, and laser printers with toner cartridges can make a big difference to your future printing life! We help you decide between inkjet and laser.

How many pages per month do you print?

The easiest way to understand the difference between inkjet and laser at different printing volumes is with a representative set of numbers. Do remember that these figures are averages across all different models tested in s survey - your chosen printer could vary quite significantly.

Inkjet printers: Cost $50 for an entry level printer, with a per-page cost of 16c thereafter

Laser printers: Cost $150 at entry level, with a per-page cost of 2c thereafter

Speed of printing

If you do a lot of printing, you may well find yourself standing at the front of an inkjet printer, tapping your fingers while you wait for a page to come out ... laser printers are much faster.

Printing types

Your ideal choice of printer from a quality perspective will vary according to the dominant type of printing you do, also. The three main print profile types, and their associated choice of laser printer and toner, or inkjet and cartridge are:

Mostly black and white documents: A laser printer will suit you best, giving you both speed and economy. However, you may want to keep a cheap inkjet on hand in case you absolutely have to print something in colour, rather than outlay a fair bit for a color laser printer.
Mostly photographs: Inkjet cartridges and printing processes produce far superior image quality for photographs. Don't use them as your main printer if you print more than 50 sheets a month, though.
A mixture of coloured and black and white documents: Your choice of printer will vary depending on the volume of printing you do. Large volumes will be best served with a color laser printer, smaller volumes with a colour inkjet.