What color laser printer is easily & cheaply refilled at home from non OEM toner?

I just realized that the color laser printer 'might' not work for pictures at home!

Here are some articles I'm reading, to determine if it can: Laser Vs. Inkjet Printer

I just googled "small business color laser printer", which came up with:

PC World: Top 10 Color Laser Printers February 2010

Consumer Search: Color Laser Printers : December 2011

About.com: Top 7 Color Laser Printers

1. OKI C610DN
2. Brother HL4570CDW
3. Lexmark C544DW
4. Brother HL-4150CDN
5. Dell 2150CDN
6. Xerox Phaser 6010N

I see the 'problem' with the small office color laser printers. a) They're pricey b) They're huge c) They don't do photos well

I have the HP CP4025dn. It has been a great printer for the last couple of years. No problems, great prints. I use HP toner. For the good jobs I use HP paper. Photo's look pretty good especially if you use HP photo paper however they are not as good as a inkjet printer. For photos I use an Epson R1900. I use Epson ink. I use Epson paper. Great photos. Good as any you buy.

They're pricey. They're huge. I am happy to pay it. When I replace these the new ones will be bigger and more expensive.

Not only are the printers large but the paper and supplies for them require considerable additional space and money.

Wow, 23 responses and not a single one answered your question.

I have a HP CP2025dn with four separate toner carts and I refill it regularly with toner from

There are also some cheaper cart sets ($56-$68) listed on Amazon, but they have mixed reviews. The stuff from tonerretillkits.com works. I have been using it for six or more years for several different laser printers.

Jim (at) Jim Winer (daht) com

I also have the P2015dn. Although it's been a good printer, the software sucks. Using it on the network is next to impossible (unstable) so I use the USB connection, which limits its functionality. I buy whatever paper is cheap (usually from Target) and buy toner cartridges from inkjetsuperstore.com.

Because the HP software is so horrid, it'll be the last HP printer I buy.

Yep. I've got a Dell inkjet AIO at work. I use it a lot, and it's expensive to feed. Something like $130 for 3 black and one color cartridge, ordered together.

OTOH, I have a Dell color laser at home, and although new cartridges are expensive, I have yet to buy any. It's a cost-per-page advantage of 5 or

This is a fantastic start!

What I like about it is: a) It's a recommendation of a color laser printer which isn't too expensive b) Refills are proven! And each color can be separately refilled! c) It works well enough!

Thanks ... this becomes the leading suggestion for what color laser printer can easily & cheaply be refilled from home!

At first I thought you were clueless ... until I read on! :)

Indeed! All the ones I had were sheer hell to refill (and, at the time, I knew what I was doing - yet they were STILL sheer hell!)

Mine were all separate 'tanks' and 'print heads'. :(

It does.

I had two fail on me.

All the HP inkjet printers I had, had separate print heads. My fault! Now I know.

It's getting harder and harder to find unchipped cartridges. See details here:

Very interesting observation!

Makes sense to use the B&W most of the time.

Good advice!

Makes the most sense of all! Now to convince them of that!

On Mon, 20 Aug 2012 10:50:34 -0700, SMS wrote:

Hi SMS,

At first I thought you were "clueless in San Jose", but then I read your wonderful post, and I realized you were right on the money!

One thing to add to your "choose your printer carefully" advice.

This HP web site tells us that there is no way to override the drop dead date in "some" HP printers.

The only solution (for those printers) is to NEVER BUY THOSE PRINTERS! Otherwise, attempting to re-fill the chipped ink will be sheer hell.

So that others benefit, we should add that list of printers to avoid in order to eliminate hell in your otherwise wonderful instructions! ... HP Officejet Pro K850 HP digital Copier Printer 610 HP Business Inkjet (all HP business inkjet printers!) HP Officejet D series (all) HP Officejet d125xi, HP Officejet d135, HP Officejet d145, HP Officejet d155xi, HP Officejet 7110, HP Officejet 7130, HP Officejet 7140xi, HP Fax 610 HP Officejet 7100 series (all) HP Officejet 9100 series (all) HP Professional series 2000 (all) HP Professional series 2500 (all) HP Color Inkjet cp1160 HP Color Inkjet cp1700 ... HP Officejet Pro 8000, HP Officejet Pro 8500, HP Officejet Pro K550, HP Officejet Pro K5300, HP Officejet Pro K5400, HP Officejet Pro K8600, HP Officejet Pro L7400, HP Officejet Pro L7500, HP Officejet Pro L7600, HP Officejet Pro L7700 Series HP Photosmart 3110, HP Photosmart 3210, HP Photosmart 3310, HP Photosmart 8250, HP Photosmart C5180, HP Photosmart C6180, HP Photosmart C6200, HP Photosmart C7180, HP Photosmart C7200, HP Photosmart C8100, HP Photosmart D6160, HP Photosmart D7160, HP Photosmart D7200, HP Photosmart D7360, HP Photosmart D7400 series, HP Photosmart Pro B8800, HP Photosmart Pro B9180 HP Designjet 510, HP Designjet 4000, HP Designjet 4500, HP Designjet 4X20, HP Designjet 5100, HP Designjet 5500, HP Designjet 8000, HP Designjet 9000, HP Designjet 10000, HP Designjet L25500, HP Designjet L26500, HP Designjet L28500, HP Designjet L65500, HP Designjet LX600, HP Designjet LX800, HP Designjet LX820, HP Designjet LX850, HP Designjet T610, HP Designjet T620, HP Designjet T770, HP Designjet T790, HP Designjet T1100, HP Designjet T1120, HP Designjet T1200, HP Designjet T1300, HP Designjet T2300 eMFP, HP Designjet T7100, HP Designjet Z2100, HP Designjet Z3100, HP Designjet Z3200, HP Designjet Z5200ps, HP Designjet Z6100, HP Designjet Z6200 series, HP CM8050 HP CM8060

There is a LOT of confusion out there.

Some ink chips 'can' be overridden with 'hacks'.

Some just plain can not!

The trick is to never buy the printers that can not. And to avoid the printers which require the hacks.

I, for one, love my B&W laser printer which lasts far longer on one fill than any ink printer ever did for me, and which can be easily refilled with 250 grams of toner for about $5.

The quest is to find a color laser printer which is as easy yet still somewhat cheaply refilled!

Yeah, when I was working I went thru several color laser printers with the idea they would be able to do color photos better then the "expensive" inkjet process. After wondering why the printed photos weren't all that good I came across similar articles to your links. Based on my past experience, if all you want to print in the way of color photos is stuff to place in a work file to document then the color lasers are fine for that. Or if you just want to be able to quickly and easily print color flyers with action photos for your Rock Band's upcoming concert the lasers are great for that. But if you want to print a really nice copy of Antie Ems's 101 birthday party and see the sparkle in her gray hair you won't be happy with what you get from the laser color unless you buy a very expensive one and use the proper glossy paper. At that point they have lost any advantage over inkjet cost.

All I've heard and seen about Brother is that they are always breaking down - lots of horror stories. Maybe that's changed in the past couple years.

Another thing to consider with lasers is startup time. With an inkjet, there is usually only a few seconds startup time from when the print job hits the printer. On lasers there can be a delay while the fusing drum warms up, some printers have a fairly long delay.

I've got an HP7280 and it will accept "out of date" ink carts, you just have to agree to the printers admonition that using them might void the warranty. I've had one ink cart refilled at Costco and they appeared to have replaced the chip on it. This is for the 02 series of ink carts. Print head is separate.

I'm slowly coming to the following hard-won realization, much to my chagrin, regarding printing color photos at home:

1. B&W laser writers (such as my HP 3200m) are trivial & cheap to refill
2. Most color laser writers are also trivial & cheap to refill.
3. However, color laser writers stink at printing pictures at home!

Given that, we are FORCED to look at ink-based printers:

1. IMHO, all ink-based printers from HP are to be avoided at all costs!
2. Kodak/Canon/Dell ink-based printers 'may' be a viable alternative.
3. The key is to buy the printer based on the ease of "replacing" the ink!

Drat! Color lasers, which are the subject of this task, are slowly dropping off the radar screen ... and the dreaded ink-based printers are rising up, again.

Why is finding a decent printer to print photos at home at a decent price such a miserable process? :(

I print maybe one page every two or three days, on average.

I generally leave the printer on all the time.

However, I 'could' just as well turn it off, for all it has been used.

But, when I had the HP d135 AIO printer, I remember admonishments to keep it running all the time - otherwise it wasted ink (I was told).

And, we all know, HP ink costs more than it's weight in gold.

So, what's the general consensus for leaving printers on which are only used sporadically a few days of the week?

Does that play a role in our printer selection decision?

Gosh to you remember what it cost to bring in a roll of film for processing? You had to drive both ways, and maybe make a phone call to see if it was ready? And you had to wait a few weeks to see pictures of your thumb! The good old days, huh? : )

It's supposed to be. Walgreens and others spend many $thousands for photo printers. They print photos cheaper than ever because of volume. Probably gave their business analysts and purchasing departments many miserable days. I rejected home photo printing out-of-hand by looking at costs. Didn't want to get miserable.

energy hogs, i would guess. they have to be kept at a hot temp for the toner to be fused to the paper, so you're paying to keep it hot, and then the a/c costs to keep the room cool. i guess in winter, if you're in a place that needs heating, it's a wash.

True of inkjets (and to stop them clogging). Nonsense for lasers.

Most lasers (even old ones) go into a power saving mode after a while, and the fuser heater is turned off. But they still use power. We use a 20 year old HP LaserJet 4M+, which does that after 15 minutes. But they use a lot of energy, so I generally turn it off. To encourage me, I have a wireless power control on it now, controlled from my desk (on the other side of the room).

We use that printer for all B&W stuff, and an ancient-ish Xerox C20 (Lexmark Optra 45 clone) for the occasional colour.