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Comment on Refill cartridges cost more than a new (fully loaded) printer

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A lot of folks point toward much-less expensive third party toner cartridges and refill kits. I tried that route with my two Konica Minolta color laser printers and had horrible experience with cartridges/kits from several vendors: toner leaking in the printer, streaks, squeaking, colors that were off, etc.

YMMV but for know I'm sticking with OEM toner. And yes, the toner 4-pack is more expensive than a new printer. So much so that when I used up the toner on my printer I bought a new one since I wasn't all that satisfied with the printer I had.

Same here, with a recent HP color laser printer. It's not worth the hassle for me to use the third-party cartridges.

I picked up a HP LaserJet 4000 for $10 at a thrift store a few years ago. $40 for some RAM, a NIC, new toner cart, and a duplexer and I've enjoyed one hell of a great printer.

The 3rd party black toner carts have never given me issues. Is there something different about color toner? Has the fact that my printer is 15 years old allowed 3rd party toner/cart makers time to "get it right"? Or are new printers just crap in comparison to older models?

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