Ink and Toner Articles

Ink & Toner Choices

It is well known that printers either run on ink or toner. It is also well known that 'ink shock' is a pain almost everyone experiences at one time or another. An entire industry has been built around the inflated prices of ink and toner cartridges. There are several options available to the consumer in the forms of remanufactured cartridges, compatible cartridges or refill kits for both ink and toner cartridges.

Over a billion ink and toner cartridges are sold every year world wide. Sadly, most of these products are thrown away, plugging up landfills and wasting the resources used to manufacturer them in the first place. We live in a world where desktop ink and toner printers are relatively inexpensive, and ink and toner cartridges are needed as a vital part of a small, medium or large business, or simple home use for homework for the kids. Environmental impact is becoming a very real and current issue. But not everyone realizes that oil isn't just used to power cars and other vehicles or to heat homes, it is used in the manufacturing processes of just about everything. Ink and Toner cartridges are not exceptions. So how can we do our part to lessen the impact these necessary items have on our planet?

The most effective way is to purchase recycled cartridges, or recycle them yourself (with refill kits). Not only does your wallet get a break, the remanufacturing process of an existing ink or toner cartridge is significantly less than a new one. And refilling them yourself? That is the ultimate recycling, and most cost effective. These products could easily save you 50%-80% and sometimes even more with refill kits.

So where to get started? This website is an excellent source for these products. But what brands have these remanufactured products or refill kits? Brother ink cartridges come in either compatible, remanufactured form and a wide range of refill kits are available. Canon ink cartridges are also a relatively even split between compatibles and remanufactured cartridges and of course lots of refill kits or ink refills available for them as well. Some brands such as Epson used to be more compatible cartridges. Compatible cartridges are new cartridges, but are sometimes referred to as 'clones' where they are new, just significantly less expensive. Epson ink cartridges however have become more and more remanufactured.

Hewlett Packard is a major brand and the largest of the ink and toner cartridge manufacturers. HP ink cartridges are typically all remanufactured with a few compatibles here and there. HP also enjoys a wide range of refill kits that work to lower the cost per cartridge quite significantly. HP toner cartridges are a fairly even split and can be refilled as well! In fact most major toner brands such as Brother toner, Canon toner, Xerox toner can be refilled using relatively easy to use refill kits.

Lexmark and Xerox round out the more popular brands of ink and toner cartridges. Remanufactured cartridges and refill kits are available for most Lexmark ink or Lexmark toner cartridges, and Xerox ink and Xerox toner cartridges.

So whether you run a large business with a variety of printers and copy machines, or you are just a student or individual that has a printer in your house used for the kids homework or your dorm room, you can save money and the environment by making the right choices for your supplies. You can choose a recycled product, new lower cost new products or easily refill your own cartridges for the best possible scenario. So get going and Happy Saving!

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Comparing ink across different vendors is not as simple as it seems

Ok, so we're obviously partial to remanufactured cartridges - thats the lifeline of any ink vendors business for obvious reasons (in case you're wondering, the OEM ink cartridge suppliers don't offer any reseller much margins. Check with Dell or Lexmark for example, try to become a reseller of theirs, and you'll be lucky with 5% margin on printer ink if they afford you that). No business would survive with such low profits. Another reason why we recommend remanufactured ink cartridges is because of course its cheaper and better for the environment. That being said, it is very difficult to compare inks across vendors. There are many resellers for inks, such as inkfilling.com (focused on ink refills), inkjetcartridges.com (focused on inkjet cartridges) for example, but how can you compare a vendor with another? All vendors offer an ink cartridge for a specified use, but there could be differences between 2 vendors offerings. The ink could be different, the cartridge quality could be different (wear and tear), the parts and testing procedure could be different, etc. So its not as easy to compare inks between vendors, so if you find a vendor that works out well for you - stick with them. Don't expect 100% success 100% of the time, but look for quality and reliability and you'll be happy you did.