Why do we need a universal toner for our laser printers in the first place? The general concept is to only have a one – toner formulation standard that could be used for laser printers. The reason is obvious so a user can refill the empty OEM toner cartridges without the risk of getting fake or low quality toner. This is like when your car runs out of gas, you simply do not buy a tank full of gas but you go to the service station and gas-up your tank. But because we have over a hundred toner formulations in the market, selecting the exact toner formulation that suits your printer’s specification is a hard bargain. We pick one reliable toner product reseller and when the result is satisfactory, we immediately stick to them.
Gas is entirely different from toner because gas comes from substances extracted out from the innards of the earth. So, whether oil comes from the Middle East, Asia, Europe and the Americas all exhibit the same characteristics, being fossil based. However, in the process of refinery, it produces by-products like regular or premium quality gas (for cars and classified as leaded or unleaded), diesel for heavy equipment and utility vehicles, high-octane for aviation use, and bunker fuel to run our oil-fed power plants. With a universal toner, a user can only be given a choice for general use (for regular laser printers), high-speed toner for very fast printers and special toner for photo printing. This arrangement suits well with most consumer demands.
Is the creation of a universal toner really possible? Of course it is probable, particularly when aided by government legislation. But such move will stunt the growth of the laser printing industry, remember that toner is a formulation of substances and by creating a standard it deprives manufacturers of the desire to improve the product. And how can HP Hewlett Packard coax Samsung, Brother, Lexmark, Canon to name a few to accept their toner formula and vice-versa. Certainly each printer manufacturer believes on their toner product as the best in the industry and no amount of laboratory tests could sway their belief otherwise. Besides, having only one toner formula would void their printer design, requiring OEMs to rearm in order to suit the new toner standard.
So, in the end a universal toner is no longer necessary as each laser printer exhibits different specifications, not only from toner formulation but also in granule size (in microns) and melting properties as well to sustain print quality requirements. And the only option left for the industry is to weed out unscrupulous toner retailers to help consumers make a precise choice.
To produce decent laser prints and yield at a reasonable price, refill OEM toner cartridges with toner refill kits. The toner refill kit line of Laser Tek Services is cheaper by as much as 80% than the prevailing retail price of OEM toner cartridges.
