I have a HP3600N colour printer. My black toner cartridge is getting low and the other 3 colours are soon to follow (I usually get about a year out of a set of cartridges). I was in Staples on Saturday and totally grossed out at the current cost of toner - $197 per cartridge!!!

When I put toner in the printer a year ago, the toner cost about $650 in total; now it's going to be over $800!

I can buy a new colour laser printer for half that cost and the toner costs half that amount to replace. I like to be green, but at what cost? Spend twice the cost on new toner or half the cost on a new printer and throw the old printer out.

What would you folks do in this situation?

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Julia

Boy Julia, what a bummer. I think I'd have to err on the side of budget ultimately... perhaps you can trade in the old one or sell it on Craigslist?? I'm sure you'd only get a fraction of what you paid but even that would be put to good use toward the new machine.

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I've been using this an excuse to be printerless for far too long- I have a weird fear that my printer will be broken or unable to be used after I buy ink. I also saw a fax for the price of two toner cartridges- so torn!

Maybe you could donate it somewhere like a school or a job center? Or freecycle it to someone?

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Magic Satchel

Julia,

Have you thought of searching out a discount toner store? I know we have an amazing store here that sells re-conditioned toner cartridges for a huge discount over buying new.

I notice you are in Oakville, but a quick search garnered the following store in Mississauga: http://www.tonerexpress.ca/index.asp and this page looks to be your model: http://www.tonerexpress.ca/product/p...roductid=11104 You have to sign up to get a price on the toner, but it might be worth checking out.

Hope that helps!

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Kate V. Kerans
Kerans Virtual Assistance

I used to work for companies that used remanufactured toner and it was never great - the toner cartridges were never completely full. They seemed to run out more frequently. Maybe things have changed over the years, but I always felt that re-man toner was a case of being pennywise and pound foolish (IMHO).

Selling it isn't an option. You can buy this same printer for about $400 so why would anyone buy this thing used when they can buy a new one full of toner. I don't believe toner sales people when they say that printers come with "starter" toners. The initial toner lasted about as long as the cartridges I replaced with last year. I may have gotten a month more out of them.

The puzzle is buy the Brother 4040 CDN (which does automatic duplexing) (and comes with toner) for $400 and $85 per cartridge or pay HP $197 per cartridge. Interesting enough, when I did a search on epinions, the Brother 4040CN (no duplexing) got a better rating than the HP3600N (no duplexing) and the Brother is a little bit less expensive.

I'm also less than enchanted with HP. I think they are resting on their laurels from their good repuation over the years; the last two printers I bought from them weren't the greatest. Nothing like my old 6P which lasted for years and died last year so I replaced with a small 1020 which is no where near the printer the 6P was. My husband took the old 6P into our friendly computer guy and he's going to see if he can fix it.

Thanks for the suggestion for Toner Express, Kate. I actually know people there (at my last job, they did our pritner service and I ordered toner from them). I'll give Joan a call today and see what their pricing is like. I'd completely forgotten about them.

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Julia

I found this website that has pretty decent prices. I placed an order for an inkjet but have not received it yet

http://www.1ink.com/index.asp

~~Kim

I am researching fast feed scanners to cut down on paper output and to offer document scanning as a service. Ebay has some at reasonable prices.

I refill my color/black toner cartridges myself. Your printer information is http://www.fillserv.com/tonerprinter...LaserJet+3600n. I find it very easy to do and have been pleased with the results. It cut my toner costs down to a 1/4 of new cartridges.

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Lisa Olinda of Olinda Services
Keeping you on the path to success!
www.olindaservices.com

Originally Posted by Prime Admin Solutions

I used to work for companies that used remanufactured toner and it was never great - the toner cartridges were never completely full. They seemed to run out more frequently. Maybe things have changed over the years, but I always felt that re-man toner was a case of being pennywise and pound foolish (IMHO).

Julia, I agree completely and the only reason I suggested it is I have been so spoiled by the company we have in town here. They deliver the toner (a big deal for my last employer who were located way out of town), have replaced any toner for free that shows the slightest problem and have generally been amazing at customer service. If you had a company that was similar, I would think the benefits outweigh the negatives.

I too, have an HP and have been less than enamored of it although I must say, it hasn't given me any problems lately (knock wood :cool.

Good luck, let us know how it goes!

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Kate V. Kerans
Kerans Virtual Assistance

I buy my toner from http://www.inkjetsuperstore.com/ They have all kinds of toners, they are remanufactured, but I've never had any problems with them. I find that they actually last the same or even sometimes longer, than the toners I buy at Office Max, for a whole lot less money.

HP doesn't make money on printers. They make money on ink. That's really their profit strategy. Sell the printers cheap, and the ink high. It's why you can often get an inkjet printer with starter cartridges for cheaper than it costs to buy new cartridges! I've known people to go buy 10 inkjet printers while they were on sale for $50, because they could just toss them when they used up the ink, and STILL be saving money!

Toner remanufacture, especially with laser toner, has gotten a LOT better over the years. I remember the days when remanufactured meant cheap, crappy, and messy. Now, I notice no difference in print quality between name-brand and remanufactured toner, and the savings is considerable. Toner for my little black and white laser printer is $75 a pop. I can buy it for $25 remanufactured, and it lasts just as long!