HP Laserjet printers & aftermarket toner

paulri · Nov 24, 2019

I am thinking of replacing my current HP laser printer with a newer model (it is 6 years old, although it is still working--if I can sell this for half of what I bought it for, it would probably be worth my while to upgrade).

I am reading on the HP site a lot of references to uses only HP ink or something to that affect. I have not noticed this before, when going to their site.

I only want to use aftermarket toner. Would this be a problem with an HP laser printer (say in the $100-$200 price range)?

928 · Nov 24, 2019

I doubt you will get 1/2 of what you paid. I have an old workhorse Laserjet 4 - now about 20 years old and use re maned toner cartridges from- https://www.ebay.com/str/imagewarehouse
never had a problem. I think it's like only use dealer parts on your car...

fcjeep · Nov 24, 2019

I have an HP Laserjet that is about 16 years old and have used aftermarket toner for many years with no problems.

97prizm · Nov 24, 2019

The HP printers seem to do fine on aftermarket ink. The Epsons not so much.

paulri · Nov 24, 2019

Holy mackerel. I had no idea that HP lasers could last that long!

I do print 11,000 pages a year (I only know that from the printer web browser interface, which keeps track). Right now I'm about 70K, and I've had this for 6.5 years. So perhaps that might make my printer last less long than yours? Mind if I ask how many pages you two print up?

paulri · Nov 24, 2019

Well here I was thinking my HP lasers were heavyweights if they printed 70-90K pages over a lifetime. After reading a couple of the responses up above, I googled and found folks talking about 500,000-1,000,000 pages on their HP lasers.

https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/1615898-what-is-the-average-lifespan-of-an-hp-printer

https://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?t=730450

I think I'll just ride this into the sunset and see how far I can go. This is a working printer, so why pay $50-100 net after selling it and buying a new one, just to give myself potential problems if I get a lemon? If I can get a few hundred thousand pages out of it, it would be cheaper just to milk this for all I can get out of it.

fcjeep · Nov 24, 2019

Originally Posted by paulri

I think I'll just ride this into the sunset and see how far I can go.

Yep, just keep changing the oil and filter every 5,000 pages.

paulri · Nov 24, 2019

But if I get a used toner analysis, I might be able to stretch it to 10,000 pages, although that is only advisable if the printer is out of warranty.

Originally Posted by fcjeep
Originally Posted by paulri

I think I'll just ride this into the sunset and see how far I can go.

Yep, just keep changing the oil and filter every 5,000 pages.

dogememe · Nov 25, 2019

Stick with the old one. The newer a printer you get the worse they seem to be (especially HP).

I'd highly recommend Brother over HP when it comes to laser printers although at work we use Lexmark printers and they are super reliable, albeit a little slow.

MoneyJohn · Nov 25, 2019

Originally Posted by paulri
I am thinking of replacing my current HP laser printer with a newer model (it is 6 years old, although it is still working--if I can sell this for half of what I bought it for, it would probably be worth my while to upgrade).

You will be lucky even if you get a quarter of the price.
Stick with it as long as it works. Newer printers have a lot of bells and whistles which can be controlled remotely. The printer at my wife's work (not so fancy printer) is restricted in number of pages they can print. Nobody knows how this limit was set but HP wants them to pay up to be able to print more pages (!!!) Newer ones also seem to have a built-in mechanism to detect aftermarket ink and they just don't work. I am currently playing around with one on how to disable such a feature in terms of hardware.

I personally would not touch HP printer from a foot pole with my own money. I have Brother printer and except the one that came with, it never saw OEM toner cartridge and champ is working very well.

lyle · Nov 25, 2019

I have a couple of HP Laserjet 4000 printers circa 1996 and both have been running for 10+ years on aftermarket toner. They don't see heavy usage, but they're always on and always print when asked. They even work with Win 10 so I see no reason to "upgrade" them. They're perfect for documents as they only do black, but again, they've been very reliable.

Andrew1972 · Nov 25, 2019

There is no resale on Laser Printers. Very little people are interesting in 6 year old printers unless price point is low enough($40-$50) and includes a working cartridge.

Keep it till it dies if it works.

Donald · Nov 25, 2019

I will put a plug in for Xerox. I bought a Xerox Phaser and the toner is in small soda can size container, not the width of paper. It prints flawless two side color copies.

Also check out what other printer parts may need changing along the way. My Samsung laser needed a imaging unit after xx pages (a lot) and it would not print anything when it hit that limit. Imaging unit as expensive as OEM toner.

Gebo · Nov 25, 2019

Originally Posted by dogememe
Stick with the old one. The newer a printer you get the worse they seem to be (especially HP).

...

I agree as I have only used only HP for a long time and it does seem they get a little cheaper feeling every time I replace one.

Right now I have 5. Two at home (upstairs and downstairs) and 3 at work.

I buy only from their website. Printers and cartridges.

JLawrence08648 · Nov 25, 2019

I use tonerrefillkits.com for many many years for various brand printers including HP

Very good, reputable, cheap, quality

paulri · Nov 25, 2019

Strange, you and one other poster don't like HP printers. I have found them incredibly reliable. Apart from their long life, HP printers do not require a separate drum, unlike brothers, although with some newer HP printers that is no longer the case.

Originally Posted by dogememe
Stick with the old one. The newer a printer you get the worse they seem to be (especially HP).

I'd highly recommend Brother over HP when it comes to laser printers although at work we use Lexmark printers and they are super reliable, albeit a little slow.

Y_K · Nov 25, 2019

I have Brother and HP. Brother has the drum nuisance - adds up to total cost if you print a lot. Both are dependable. if you want an alternative for the sake of alternative, search for an older OKI - those are built like nothing else. Certain folks in certain circles still search and grab HP LJ 4 with low page counts. Never a problem with an aftermarket ink on any of the aforementioned brands.

HP Laserjet printers & aftermarket toner

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