Purchasing ink or toner for your printer can be challenging, especially when there is such a wide variety of products to choose from laser toner, inkjet cartridges, OEM, compatible and remanufactured ink cartridges. It is therefore not always easy to know which one is right for you. Compatible printer cartridges have been the cheaper alternative of printer owners against the overpriced OEMs. So, here’s our question: Are remanufactured ink cartridges reliable? What’s the difference between remanufactured and compatible cartridges?
What’s the Difference Between Remanufactured and Compatible Cartridges?
Remanufactured Cartridges
Simply put, remanufactured cartridges are ones that have been used, cleaned and refilled.
When you buy an OEM cartridge and use up all the ink or toner inside, you have the option of recycling that used cartridge. This is through the office supply stores and online businesses that collect these empty cartridges for recycling purpose. A remanufactured replacement cartridge is essentially a recycled OEM cartridge that’s been cleaned, refilled with ink or toner, and inspected for quality. Generally, remanufactured cartridges are copyrighted and not allowed to be replicated by another manufacturer.
However, the quality and performance of the remanufactured cartridges depend on the business that you purchase your cartridge from. The printing quality generated by remanufactured cartridges may not be consistent among manufactures, and you may be risking some things like malfunctioning, the print fading faster, and the slightly less accurate colors. If eventually you’re lucky to find a good remanufactured cartridge brand, you’ll be able to save up to 70% on printer cartridges. In addition, unlike the OEM ones, remanufactured cartridges are filled to their full capacity, and help reduce your carbon footprint as well.
Compatible Cartridges
Compatible or generic cartridges are ones that have been manufactured by a third party.
Compatible replacement cartridges differ from remanufactured ones. While a remanufactured cartridge is a recycled OEM cartridge that’s been cleaned and refilled, a compatible cartridge is built from scratch to fit into your printer just like the OEM version. It will still offer you the same quality and performance as an OEM product or a remanufactured product, but it’s made by a third-party manufacturer and sold at a lower price in a slightly different packaging.
Compatible cartridges are referred to as generic as they have the quality, features, and characteristics of OEM cartridges, and have to be carefully tested and inspected for any faults by the supplier before leaving the factory. The performance of compatible cartridges depends on the trustworthiness of the supplier. If you go with compatible cartridges, you’ll be cutting down a lot of costs.
Are Remanufactured Ink Cartridges Reliable?
Even though there are a lot of “rumors” that OEM products are formulated differently than remanufactured or compatible ones, that’s just not true. Using a remanufactured or compatible cartridge doesn’t mean your printheads will be clogged or that you’ll get inferior print work; it will not void your printer’s warranty or otherwise damage your printer in any way.
Most remanufactured or compatible cartridges are just as reliable as the OEM brand but do your research prior to settling on a particular cartridge supplier. Often times the cheaper the cartridge, the poorer the quality. We recommend buying from a supplier that’s priced somewhere in the middle – in between the cheapest aftermarket cartridge and the OEM brand cartridge – to get the most comprehensive value.
Remanufactured or compatible cartridges offer you the same print quality, have the same page yield and shelf life (or even longer), the same basic performance as OEM ink cartridges and toner cartridges, and allow you to make so much savings that you can buy 2 at the price of 1 OEM cartridge.
Bottom Line
The bottom-line question you need to ask yourself is that “How do you want to spend your hard-earned money?”. Other than the topics mentioned above, perhaps one of the reasons why these compatible consumables are highly used and recommend is because of their relatively low selling price but without compromising to print quality and performance.
Now that you’ve learned a bit about “Are remanufactured ink cartridges are reliable?” and the differences between OEM, remanufactured and compatible cartridges, you can make a great buy for your printer. Remanufactured and compatible cartridges from TIANSE are an easy way to save on printing costs, offering you the quality and reliability you need at budget-friendly prices.
Post time: Jul-16-2019