This cartridge will disable your printer once it (the cartridge) tells your printer it's empty. The cartridge has a window that is closed (blocked) by toner. This window runs through the cartridge from one side to the other. When the toner is full, the window is blocked, when the toner is seemingly empty, a laser is able to shine through the cartridge one side to the other thus signaling to the printer to shut down for cartridge replacement. I have found that when you obstruct this window with a simple piece of masking tape, you will have at least 33-50% more toner left. I'll leave any manufacturer motive speculation up to you. Brother TN580 High Yield Black Toner Cartridge
I thought these toner cartridges were awful and overpriced. our office was going through these things like Little Debbie Swiss Roll Snack Cakes. That was until I started actually researching toner cartridges. At the current price of this cartridge, the yield is $.01 a page. Compared to the Ricoh business class printers with their toner cartridge yield of $.014, this is cheaper, and the printer is much less expensive.
These cartridges are also cheaper than the regular Brother TN550 (3,500 YLD) Standard Yield Toner Cartridge which currently have a yield of $.015 per page.
I was disappointed to find out that the toner cartridge stops working before the toner has run out. However, by obstructive the toner window on the cartridge with masking tape, the remaining print capacity of the cartridge is dramatically extended. I will leave it up to you as to whether you want to implement that solution or not.
I had another issue with toner build up on my drum unit from one of my toner cartridges. The problem was fixed by changing out the toner cartridge.
Biggest bang for your buck on the market. I have tried refills before but with awful results. Now I will only purchase original manufacturer, new cartridges. The only 'catch' is that on all the Brother printers I have owned, which is several, they all prematurely signal 'low toner' at somewhere around the halfway point. So, when the printer finally stops printing, I remove the cartridge and rock it back and forth a few times, re-insert it into the printer and it works great for a few more thousand sheets. I use this initial 'low toner' signal as the point to re-order another cartridge and, unless you print over a ream of paper per day, this should be plenty of lead-time. If not for this slightly annoying feature I would have rated this 5 stars.
After going through several of these and printing over 55k pages, I have made the following observations:
1. You can refill this cartridge somewhat easily. However, do not expect to get more than 15,000 pages out of it, regardless of toner use. This is because (and it has been consistent with this number) after 15k pages, the developer on this cartridge (yes, it is more than just a box) wears out, and either starts to unevenly apply toner to the drum, or starts leaking toner out onto the printer and paper in small specks to small puddles.
2. If you use the "cover the sensor hole" trick, the printer will keep increasing the charge on the cartridge as the page count goes up from when it was last replaced. This is because as it empties, it expects more of a charge to apply toner to the developer. You can do the trick, but in my experience, you'll have to adjust the density because printouts start coming out too dark.
3. This cartridge comes with a reset gear to signal the printer you installed a new toner cartridge. This also resets the charge the printer applies, which in turn gives that new slightly light look to printouts. If you didn't do the sensor trick and the printer says your cartridge is empty, you cannot print anymore until the gear signals the printer (this happens on my new HL-5240 purchased in Feb 09. It didn't happen with my HL-5250DN purchased in Nov of 07. Go figure.)
4. If you are experiencing the problems mentioned in point one, replace the toner cartridge. If you are experiencing defects every few inches, or have a growing vertical stripe of white forming, it's time for a new drum.
5. By the way, if you don't have the problems mentioned in point 4, but the printer wants you to replace the drum due to printing 25k pages, hold the go button until all the lights come on while the toner door is open. This resets the page count for the drum. BEWARE though, as the toner waste compartment in the drum assembly will fill up eventually and will spill into the printer if you do this. Check for this and you will be fine.
6. Don't like this whole business of replacing cartridges and want the lowest cost per a page of any printer? Consider a Kyocera printer. Of course, you get what you pay for, they are expensive. Do what I did, buy it on an online auction site. Some of their $1500+ printers are going for only $200, mostly because so few know about their reputation. Check out their knives and pens too. All of those products I mentioned use Kyocera's ceramic technology in one way or another to make their stuff top notch. - Brother Tn580 - Brother Toner - Brother - Toner'
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