Laser Printer – are 3rd party toner replacements OK to use?

I have a Brother HL-L2340D series laser printer. I’ve seen on Amazon and the like toner replacements for much cheaper than the official ones from Brother or refurbished ones from office supply stores near my house. What is the current wisdom on this from the power user crowd?

Conversation 5 comments

  • wright_is

    Premium Member
    03 September, 2018 - 12:23 am

    <p>It depends on the printer, as much as the replacement toner. We use Kyocera and the original toner has cermic mixed in with it, the third party toner generally doesn't and cause smearing and higher wear.</p><p>I haven't had much luck with third party ink or toner, but I know many who have had no problems – I tried it twice and one toner cartridge burst and one ink cartridge leaked ink all over the electronics.</p>

  • Bats

    03 September, 2018 - 2:37 am

    <p>The general answer is YES, as in it's ok to use 3rd party toner. However, you just can't use any old 3rd party toner from Amazon. You need to get toner from a really good vendor or manufacturer. If the toner is "cheap" as in the "dirt cheap" , then I would be really cautious of buying it. I would recommend that you (of couse) read the reviews, research the vendor, then research the manufacturer…..and then,….go with your gut.</p>

  • Rycott

    Premium Member
    03 September, 2018 - 3:22 am

    <p>At work we generally find that third party toners aren't fantastic. They normally don't last as long and have a pretty bad habit of leaking out all through the printer.</p><p><br></p><p>It's a huge pain to strip them down and clean them out.</p><p><br></p><p>We've also had them leak onto a power supply in the printer and burn it out.</p><p><br></p><p>In short cheaper third parties will most likely cost you more in the long run.</p>

  • karlinhigh

    Premium Member
    03 September, 2018 - 7:47 am

    <p>I have never yet used generic ink or toner that I couldn't tell was generic.</p><p><br></p><p>If a printer is used for high-volume print jobs where presentation quality isn't critical – maybe shipping department packing lists – generic might be fine.</p><p><br></p><p>But then, I did have one customer with a Dell C3765dnf that used generic toner, for high-ink-coverage color brochure sorts of things. The print quality was actually OK. But ever after, the printer would jam when doing auto-duplex printing. Something about that toner got things too slick and the printer couldn't pick up the paper properly. They ended up replacing various rollers and belt units because the problem persisted even after switching back to genuine Dell toner.</p>

  • Robert-Hostetler

    03 September, 2018 - 10:02 am

    <p>I should have said earlier my family doesn't print often, we only do black &amp; white prints, and we just want it to reliably work. Since the feedback ranged from don't do it to be very careful if you do, I think in my case <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">sticking with the official ones made by Brother seems to be the better long term approach. </span></p><p><br></p><p>If I over time find a 3rd party one with an excellent reputation, I might give that a shot and post my findings here, similar to what Bats was saying.</p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">Thanks for the feedback everyone!</span></p>

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