3rd party printer consumables

[azc]

I've been very much against the idea of using re-manufactured or compatible printer consumables for many years now, but unfortunately today's financial climate is forcing my hand to look at this again.

I'd like to hear your opinions. Do you use remans or compats? Laser toner, inkjet ink, inkjet printheads, or perhaps you mix and match depending on the usage?

Thanks.

[dgsmith]

Popular question and alot of past discussion; you may find doing some searches on this useful and an interesting read. Briefly though, we only use compats/remans now. We have had a 75% budget cut to the consumable budget in the past 2-3 years which has meant having to continually find cheaper products and suppliers. This has regrettably meant having to stop using some suppliers I had good relations with simply because we didn't have the budget. I personally have spent considerable time with a number of suppliers, evaluating products, building relations and negotiating pricing over the past year.

Thing with compatibles is that there is no set standard or consistancy like there are with OEM cartridges (such as are they fully remanufactured down to individual components, or just refilled/drill&filled etc). Don't let some people with bad experiences put you off. Likewise, don't let any previous bad experiences put you off either. I've spent considerable time to achieve what I thought was impossible but am very happy with the quality of the cartridges we use now and the service we receive. I was also happy with the service provided by previous suppliers but unfortunaly because of lack of budget had no choice but to change.

As a sidenote, I tend to only deal with companies that remanufacture their own cartridges as opposed to buying in from distribution centres. This does mean problems can be addressed very quickly (and even then problems are rare).

[36Degrees]

Do you use remans or compats? Laser toner, inkjet ink, inkjet printheads, or perhaps you mix and match depending on the usage?

I tend to use compatibles for toners and genuines for inkjet cartridges, the latter because of the area they are used in so it's important that they produce good quality prints (plus they don't have a high usage). IME Delacamp, Longbow and Xinia cartridges have always been reliable and any faulty items replaced very quickly.

[bladedanny]

We buy compats that come with a guarantee. If they don't work or damage the printer the company will foot the bill (supposedly). So far we haven't had to pursue that option.