Original, compatible and counterfeit toner. Cartridge types

When buying a new printer, many users do not even think about the cost of consumables, preferring laser printing technology for reasons of speed or the sufficiently large resources of the cartridge included in the kit.

Sooner or later, any buyer of printing equipment will run out of consumables, carefully placed in the box with the device by the manufacturer, and accordingly, the question of replacing them arises. Here the user has several options:

1. Purchasing a new device with a set of consumables.
2. Purchasing a new cartridge.
3. Cartridge refilling.

Buying a new printer, of course, is an original way out of the situation, but quite stupid due to its high cost.

The most correct option is to purchase a new original cartridge. This is due to the fact that almost all manufacturers strongly advise against resorting to refills and the use of compatible consumables. Unfortunately, this option is also quite expensive. The price of a new cartridge for a personal printer can be 60-70% of the cost of a new device.

Many users choose to refill the cartridge. To carry out this procedure, you can contact a specialized company and hope that it was performed correctly, or you can do this operation yourself.

If it is decided to perform the action without the help of an outside organization, refilling will require skills and the toner itself.

What is laser printer toner?

A laser printer prints text and images onto paper using a special ink mixture.

Typically, laser printer toner consists of several components. Let's list them:

• dye;
• binders;
• baking powder;
• charge carrier.

Each manufacturer produces laser printer toner using its own technology; its exact composition is usually not disclosed.

Kinds

In any case, laser technology requires a special toner for printing. They can be divided into three main groups:

• original;
• compatible;
• fake.

Original toner

It can be found in a branded cartridge. It is produced by the printer manufacturer directly for each device model. It is ordered from large chemical plants of well-known companies, for example TDK, Fuji.

You cannot buy original toner for laser printers from Samsung and most other brands. Manufacturers of printing equipment earn much more on cartridges than on the devices themselves, and none of them wants to lose a promising market. Although there are exceptions to this rule, you can find truly original toner for a Canon, OKI, Lexmark laser printer.

Compatible Toner

Refilling cartridges for laser printing equipment can significantly reduce the cost of each print. For this, a so-called compatible toner is usually used.

Both large chemical companies and small suppliers are engaged in the production of compatible consumables. The latter usually purchase large quantities from toner manufacturers and simply package it in packaging equipped with their own brand. For example, compatible toner for an HP laser printer can be produced by the following companies: Uninet, Katun, Colortek, Hi-Black.

Fake toner

Some unscrupulous manufacturers and sellers relabel low-quality toner as well-known brands and try to sell it. This is a fake toner.

The packaging of counterfeit consumables may replicate the design of original or compatible products, but the quality often suffers. The jar may contain toner intended for a completely different model, manufactured in violation of technological standards, etc.

How to choose a toner?

Choosing the right toner is quite difficult due to the huge number of fakes. But even if we discard them, the choice on the market is very wide, although not all brands are of high quality.

Here are some tips to help you choose a good toner:

1. Don't buy generic toners. Remember, they don't exist. In most cases, you will experience reduced print quality.
2. Pay attention to the price. Too low a price for well-known brands may indicate a fake. When using a cheap compatible toner, you often have to deal with quality variations between batches and other problems.
3. Try to purchase compatible toners only from well-known manufacturers. This will avoid print quality problems and extend the life of the printer.
4. Pay attention to the packaging location. In practice, even a well-known brand, when packaged by a distributor in Russia, does not always guarantee high quality printing.

A good toner for a laser printer guarantees high print quality, the ability to carry out 3-5 refills without problems and reliable operation of the device itself. Therefore, pay special attention to his choice and do not try to save too much.

You can “go straight” and buy a new printer with a new cartridge: very simple, very stupid and very expensive. You can “go right” and buy a new cartridge: very correct, but also very expensive. This is correct because many manufacturers do not recommend refilling the cartridge. It’s expensive because the price of a brand new original cartridge is sometimes about 70% of the cost of a new printer. Most printer users prefer to “go left” and refill the cartridge. You just need to choose a refueling method. You can contact a cartridge refill company. In this case, all you have to do is pay the money and hope that the cartridge was refilled to you with high quality. Or you can refill the cartridge yourself. For this, in addition to skill, you will definitely need a toner.

Most toners contain four main components: the ink itself, a binder that ensures the ink adheres to the paper, an electrical charge carrier, and a disintegrant that prevents the toner particles from sticking together spontaneously at room temperature. The exact composition of the toner is a trade secret of the developer and is usually of little interest to the average consumer. Much more printer users are interested in print quality and how toner affects it. In addition, it is important that the toner treats the printer parts with care. In this sense, the abrasiveness of the toner particles matters. It is also important to remember about the compatibility of toner brands with printer brands, because there is no absolutely universal toner.

TESTING
Printer manufacturers insist that after refilling a cartridge with non-original toner, print quality will certainly deteriorate. Some printer models come with "one-time" use cartridges, i.e. those that cannot be refilled. We decided to compare “native” and “non-native” toners for laser printers, whether they print equally well, or whether there is still a difference. To do this, two different printers were used to print with five toners of different brands, as well as print with toners native to each of the printers. The following brands of toners were used: Color Way, MK Imaging, WWM, Graphos and Static Control. Canon LBP2900 and Xerox Phaser 3117/3122(D1) printers were used for printing. Print quality was assessed three times: at the beginning of the cartridge's life, in the middle and at the end of its life. Yield refers to 2000 pages at 5% coverage for the Canon LBP2900 and 3000 pages at 5% coverage for the Xerox Phaser 3117/3122(D1).

As a result of this test, it turned out that the “non-native” toners are no worse than the “native” ones, since no difference was found between the tested toners. They all showed "excellent" printing not only at the beginning of the resource, but also at the end. Taking into account the cost of new cartridges, such a replacement looks quite justified, at least from consumers.

Labeling and packaging
The only point due to which some toners received a lower overall rating was the labeling. The labels of many samples do not indicate the manufacturer, date of manufacture, operating conditions, warnings for use, or storage recommendations. But toner must be protected from moisture and sunlight, and kept away from children. When working with toners, do not inhale it, try not to let the toner get into your eyes, and if this happens, rinse your eyes thoroughly with water. These simple recommendations will never be superfluous on the label. Especially in light of the fact that toners pose a certain danger to human health (if regularly ingested) due to the harmful substances they contain and very fine dust. It would also be useful to remind you that if toner gets on your clothes, you need to carefully shake it off and then wash it with cold water. Under no circumstances should it be hot, otherwise a toner imprint will remain on your clothes.

There were also comments about the packaging. The fact is that the containers in which toners are sold are not so small. Often these bottles are only half or 2/3 full.

Printer compatibility
Judging by the information posted by manufacturers on their toners, the range of their applications is quite wide for various printer models. In fact, there is compatibility between Canon and Hewlett Packard (HP) models, as well as between Xerox and Samsung. Moreover, each brand has specific printer models that can be refilled with these types of toner. The largest list is offered by WWM and Mitsubishi. Such a wide range can be explained quite simply - it is these models that have been TESTED for compatibility. Those. if other brands do not have such a list, this does not mean that they cannot be used, but only that the company has not tested them for compatibility and does not take responsibility for the recommendation. Although, it should be noted, in words, store employees voice a much more complete list of models. We have summarized all the named models and present them in a summary table.

	Canon - HP
Brand) 1	Canon (original toner)	Color Way	MK Imaging MK 1010
(according to the manufacturer)	Canon, LBP2900 printer kit	HP LJ 1010/ 1012/ 1015/ 1018/ 1020	Canon LBP 2900/ 3000 HP L.J.
	Canon Incorporated	not specified / not specified www.colorway.ua	Mitsubishi Kagaku Imaging Corporation, WWM / USA, Ukraine
	originally refilled for 2000 copies	100 / 23,0 / 23,0	100 / 24,48 / 24,48
terms of Use
	picture: "pull out the protective tape"
Overall rating (100%)	Great	Great	Great
Marking (15%)	-	satisfaction	Great
Packaging (5%)	-	satisfaction	satisfaction
Practical tests (80%)	Great	Great	Great
	excellent / excellent / excellent	excellent / excellent / excellent	excellent / excellent / excellent
resource, 2000 copies	Great	Great	Great
	1,57 / 1,53 / 1,54	1,53 / 1,54 / 1,54	1,59 / 1,59 / 1,59
Grading scale
Great
Fine
satisfactorily
Badly
very bad

Center of Expertise TEST ("CONSUMER GUIDE")
	Xerox - Samsung
Brand) 1	Xerox (original toner)	Color Way	Mitsubishi Samsung ML1210
compatibility with printer models (according to the manufacturer)	Xerox Phaser 3117/3122(D1)	Samsung ML 1210/1250	Samsung MLIBM Info Print 12 MT Express T 9412 C/I/br /> NEC SS 1400/1450/br /> Lexmark E210 Xerox
manufacturer, country of origin		not specified / not specified www.colorway.ua
weight, g / price of packaging / price of 100 g, UAH) 2	originally refilled for 1000 copies) 4	100 / 23,0 / 23,0	100 / 34,79 / 34,79
terms of Use	Symbol: "Shake before use"	shake before use	shake well before use
Cautions for use. Storage	symbols: “open with hands, not with scissors or a knife”; symbols: "do not store in the sun, store at temperatures from 0 to +35 0 C"	do not inhale, avoid contact with eyes and skin. If toner gets on your skin, wash it off with water. Symbol "do not wet", "do not store in the sun"	If toner gets into your eyes, rinse with water. Store in a cool, dark, dry place and out of the reach of children
Overall rating (100%)	Great	Great	Great
Marking (15%)	-	satisfaction	Great
Packaging (5%)	-	satisfaction	Great
Practical tests (80%)	Great	Great	Great
print quality: at the beginning / in the middle / at the end of the resource	excellent / excellent / excellent	excellent / excellent / excellent	excellent / excellent / excellent
resource, 2000 copies	Great	Great	Great
Laboratory tests (not evaluated)
optical density: at the beginning / in the middle / at the end of the resource) 56	1,32 / 1,33 / 1,33	1,46 / 1,49 / 1,47	1,45 / 1,47 / 1,48
Grading scale	Test results only apply to samples that took part in the test. We do not monitor future product changes.
Great	1) - brands are arranged by ratings in descending order, if the ratings coincide - in alphabetical order
Fine	2) - prices are indicated for January 2009.
satisfactorily	3) - led to a decrease in the overall score
Badly	4) - in fact, the cartridge is designed for 3000 copies at 5% filling
very bad	5) - optical density (D), average value over 5 points (i.e. 15 points on the page). Taking into account the test error, there is practically no difference
	6) - optical density measurement was carried out on a DM 400 densitometer (Fingerprints. Densitometric standards. Method for determining SOU 22.2-02477019-05:2006)

Until now, in our country there is no single universal terminology related to various consumables. This creates significant definitional confusion with different users applying different terms to the same cartridges.

Licensed and original cartridges, refilled and recycled, counterfeit, remanufactured, etc. are incorrectly identified. Therefore, there is an urgent need to clarify the terminology on this topic. Let's briefly look at the main types of cartridges and their differences.

• Restored is a cartridge that has served its full service life and then undergone diagnostics and comprehensive restoration. After each restoration, the print quality of the cartridge is lower than before. One cartridge can be remanufactured 3-5 times.

• Demo cartridge usually comes with a new printer and has a life of no more than half a cartridge. Each cartridge has its own resource, so with a cartridge with a resource of 1400 pages there will be 700 copies, and with 2600 there will be 1300, respectively. Cannot be refilled.

• Drum cartridge- otherwise called a copy cartridge. Used in laser printers or copiers. Consists of a drum and a system for cleaning it. Sometimes a waste toner bin is included.
Refilled (refilled) - a cartridge that has run out of toner and was then refilled with fresh toner. Each refill must be preceded by complete cleaning of the cartridge parts from remnants of old toner and rinsing.

• Licensed- this is the name of a cartridge produced by a third-party company that has received a license from the manufacturer of this office equipment. It is rare to buy a cartridge of this type, since purchasing a license to produce products from another company is unprofitable.

• Spent- a cartridge that is no longer able to perform its functions. They should not be thrown away like regular garbage, as plastic takes two centuries to decompose. A used cartridge can be refilled, restored, or disposed of according to all rules.

• Original- such a cartridge is produced specifically for a specific printing equipment of a particular brand and produced by the company that owns the same brand. For example, the Canon company produces Canon cartridges for its own Canon printers.

• Recycled- Recycled plastic was used to make this cartridge. Since cartridges cannot simply be thrown away, they are recycled and new cartridges are made. As a rule, cartridges can be remelted no more than 6 times.

• Fake- these cartridges are produced by third-party companies that do not have a production license. At the same time, such manufacturers try to imitate as much as possible the corporate colors, markings and packaging of the original manufacturing company, but do not bear any responsibility for their goods. These cartridges are cheaper than the original ones.

• Print cartridge- this is the name of a separate unit from a printer device, which includes a developing unit, toner and sometimes a photodrum with a cleaning system.

• Compatible- similar to the original, but produced by a third-party licensed company. A compatible cartridge, the price of which is less than the original one, but more than the refurbished one, is intended for use with a printer or copier from the same company. Consists of new, unworn components.

• Toner cartridge is a replaceable unit in the form of a tube filled with toner. Designed for copiers and laser printers. Includes a compartment in which fresh and waste toners are present.

• chipped- this cartridge has a built-in chip that stores information about the number of all copies made, and also shows the remaining toner level. The countdown is carried out in the opposite direction. When the counter reaches zero, the operation of the cartridge is blocked by the chip. Refilling a cartridge with a chip is quite difficult. To do this, they need reprogramming or changing the chip.

The main difference between original consumables and their “clones” is the price. A “native” cartridge, produced by the same vendor as the printing machine itself, costs 30–70% more than a compatible one. But for this money, the consumer receives stable print quality guaranteed by the manufacturer and compliance of the actual number of prints with the declared cartridge resource. In addition, even a one-time use of compatible cartridges may void the warranty for equipment repair.

Mechanical and chemical toners

Manufacturers of “clones” often put mechanical toner in their cartridges instead of chemical toner - it is cheaper, but objectively worse. The main difference between chemical toner is the correct shape and size of the particles. The smaller and more homogeneous the particles, the better the quality of the printer’s prints, the lower the melting point of the toner and its consumption.

Mechanical toner contains larger and more heterogeneous particles and is designed for different temperature conditions. As long as the thermal block in the printer is new, the difference does not affect the print quality. But as the fuser wears out, the toner adheres less well to the sheet, and print quality decreases. In addition, with equal printing parameters, the consumption of mechanical toner is higher than chemical toner. Therefore, the lifespan of compatible “consumables” filled with mechanical toner does not correspond to the parameters of the “original”.

Cartridge design

Manufacturers of compatible consumables cannot simply copy the body of the original cartridge - this will be interpreted as a violation of the vendors' copyrights. Therefore, the geometry of the “clones” is subject to some adjustments. The most common are enlarging the toner and trash compartments. Everything is simple here: higher consumption of mechanical toner means more toner is added. As a result, the resource can be relatively equal to the original one.

Also, manufacturers of “clones” often, in order to reduce costs, install magnetic rollers of a smaller diameter on new models, which leads to a change in the toner transfer speed and ultimately also increases wear on cartridge parts and printing machine components.

If you compare the original and compatible cartridges after they have worked one full cycle, the comparison will also not be in favor of the “clone”. In the original cartridge, the transfer roller, photo roller and pre-charge roller are kept in almost perfect condition, which allows you to refill the cartridge several more times without any noticeable loss of quality. Under the same conditions, the rollers of compatible cartridges wear out already during the first printing cycle. Defects are created that cause serious deterioration in print quality and the appearance of black streaks on the page.

Versatility

Many manufacturers of compatible consumables make their cartridges universal so that they can be installed in models of the entire line. This is convenient for the consumer, but increases risks for printing equipment.

For comparison, the original cartridge is securely fixed in the printer at four support points (key-protrusions on both sides, photo roll support and contact support). A compatible cartridge has only one movable key - it is springy and can no longer act as a fulcrum. In the machine, such a cartridge “hangs” on only two points, which is why it vibrates during operation, wearing out the printing machine. The movable “key” often breaks off unnoticed by the user during installation in the printer. This piece of plastic remains in the device and can cause the fuser to break.

Assessing risks

Compatible supplies are inexpensive and can print. Although the percentage of defects that manufacturers allow is quite high. But the use of non-recommended toner and changes in the design of the cartridge lead to increased ink consumption, unstable life and a decrease in the number of prints. The wear and tear on printer components also increases.

I am sure that after getting acquainted with Korean cosmetics, you have a question about what is the difference between a toner and a toner. Let's try to understand this issue?

Sometimes the word toner is just a translation of the word “Tonic” into English. In this case there is no difference between . This is a tonic in our usual understanding.
It's a different matter when it comes to a fundamentally new skin care product. Why is it important? The thing is that tonic and toner are products from different skin care systems - European and Asian.

In the European system of basic care, tonic is the end of skin cleansing. Tonic washes off the remnants of skin cleansers, it tones the skin and cleanses it as much as possible. The main difference between tonic and toner is texture. Tonic is liquid, like water.
But the toner is created not for cleansing, but for moisturizing.

It is the toner that moisturizes very well; it contains a lot of moisturizing components. Toner - in other words, it can be called a semi-cream. This is the first and most important step in moisturizing the skin after cleansing. Toner is the product that needs to be applied in the first 3 seconds after washing. At the same time, it does not need to be wiped or blotted.
Toner can be of different consistency - it can be a little thicker than water or a gel consistency. The toner is applied only with your hands, patting movements, no cotton pads. Mist toners are sprayed into a fine mist so it can be applied quickly to the entire face.

Koreans believe that after washing, the skin very quickly begins to lose moisture; within 30 seconds the skin becomes 50% dehydrated. Therefore, Korean women have learned to quickly apply toner to their skin. Maybe we can try too?

The toner nourishes the skin with valuable substances, deeply moisturizes the skin and protects it from moisture loss, preparing it for the application of other cosmetics. The toner also helps the active ingredients of the main product used in the next stage of facial care to penetrate into the skin. Many creams contain moisture-retaining components and when applied to toner they actually work better. For example, products with hyaluronic acid. If you apply them to dry skin, there will be no water to hold them. The toner acts as a source of water molecules.
The beauty secret of Korean women is moisturized skin. And it is right. Water is life. Otherwise, enlarged pores, uneven complexion, and wrinkles appear. That's why it's so important at the washing stage.