TSGL: Oki laser printer.

[Gary]

I don't know about other color laser printers, but I've learned my OKI 
C5100 is the same way.

I've had to replace the black drum a year ago. It has since gone bad 
after only one toner (warranty on drum is six months). I'm also at a 
point were I need to replace all the drums and toners soon. This will 
cost well over $600. OKI advertises this concept as being cheaper to 
only replace the toner or drum as you need to, but I find their prices 
are such that when it comes time to replace all of them it is cheaper to 
buy a new printer. Not a very environmentally sound principle. There is 
also a life span for the belt and fuser unit, but they are much longer.

I have an older HP laser printer (mono, not color) I've had for 12 
years. It's slow, only 4 pages per minute, but every 5000 pages I 
replace the tone/drum (all in one unit) for around $45. The OKI black 
toner alone costs more than that, and the color are even more expensive.

Sorry I can't give you any good news Don. I love the quality of my 
printer, but at the expense, I'll be looking for something other than 
OKI next time.

Don Penlington wrote:
> I belong to a local Art Society which, about 2 years ago, bought a new Oki 
> 3400 color laser printer. The machine has had  light office use and has 
> used 3 sets of toner during that time. On loading a 4th set of toners, we 
> are now finding the print quality is very poor.
>
> The local Oki service dept. have now told us that the drums need replacing 
> at a cost of around $600, and that drums are not included in the warranty 
> (3 years). This is nearly the cost of a new machine.
>
> We cannot believe that a laser printer should need new drums so 
> early---this goes against all the advertised claims of suitability for 
> commercial use.  It would make the machine highly uneconomic to buy.
>
> Is this sort of maintenance normal for color laser printers--or for Oki in 
> particular?
>
> Don Penlington
>  From the Beach at Surfers Paradise in sunny Queensland.
> Computer tutorials, local scenery,  and other things at my website:
> http://users.tpg.com.au/deepend/index1.html
>
>
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