There is a myth among manufacturers of printers that if you use a remanufactured toner cartridge that you’re going to damage your printer. The argument is that remanufactured toner cartridges are inherently inferior, and that they’re a cheap way for you to get a little bit more printing done at the expense of the more sensitive bits of your printer. There are urban legends that companies will deny warranty or insurance claims because you used remanufactured toner, even in cases where it’s clean that the toner and the cartridge were not responsible for the damage to the printer. Of course like any urban legend once you start tossing in a few facts, the case for this being true starts to seem a lot less probable.
Let’s begin at the beginning. Remanufactured ink and toner cartridges are rebuilt from the ground up to be the same as any newly minted cartridge. The only difference is that these cartridges are recycled and retooled, which has the noted benefits of being cheaper for your wallet and better for the environment. Of course the people that remanufactured toner cartridges aren’t good for are the companies that make the printers, and who really need customers to keep buying new ink and toner to keep turning a profit.
When you get down to the comparison between remanufactured ink cartridges that’s really the only functional difference. Assuming that the remanufactured cartridge is put together properly and there aren’t any material defects, the same assumption you should make for the new cartridges, they’ll function just as well and just as long as a new cartridge will. It’s the same as using a remanufactured part on your car. As long as the part meets all of the mechanical specifications and it fits with your car, it will get the job done and work just as well as a brand new component will. If you want to examine an argument to the contrary then you need to examine the facts of that argument as well as what the side making it stands to gain.
Lastly, there’s actually a legal standing that shows you can’t discriminate against remanufactured cartridges. The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Improvement Act is a federal law that essentially states no manufacturer can void a warranty because you didn’t use their product or service as part of your maintenance. So there is actually a law against voiding warranties based purely on using a remanufacturer toner cartridge in your printer rather than buying a new one from the company that makes your printer. So, if you have the incentive to save money and to be a little bit greener there is absolutely no reason not to use a remanufactured toner cartridge in your printer.