With prices going up left and right, more and more printer users have decided to forego purchasing brand new printer cartridges and begun patronizing cheaper alternatives. This brought about the advent of universal refill kits for printer cartridges.

What are Universal Refill Kits?

As the term implies, these refill kits were designed to allow a user to refill printer cartridges regardless of the printer model unit or manufacturer. These kits often come with a syringe to transfer the toner or ink into the ink cartridge and vials of colored and black toners or inks.

Common Brands Included in Universal Refill Kits

Most of the universal refill kits that are available in office supply stores, computer stores and over the Internet cater to the following brands:

• Hewlett-Packard
• Brother
• Dell

This is because, compared to other printer manufacturers, the cartridges manufactured for these printer units are those are easy to refill.

Disadvantages of Universal Refill Kits

Although universal refill kits are able to save users a considerable amount as opposed to buying brand new printer cartridges, this has been discouraged for a number of reasons:

• Deterioration of printing quality. Universal refill kits use generic inks and toners both for black and colored printer cartridges. Oftentimes, the inks and toners do not provide the same bright, vibrant colors needed to produce high quality print outs for documents and images. These would often result to some print outs to look pale or faded.
• Damage to the printer cartridge and printer itself. Despite being made by one printer manufacturer, printer cartridges developed for particular printer model units require a specific kind of refilling process. If the refill process is done incorrectly, the user would be sure to experience a number of setbacks ranging from the printer cartridge not being filled at all to damaging the printer cartridge itself and the printer itself. This would eventually cause you to have your entire printer repaired or worse, replaced, making it more costly on your part.

Alternatives to Universal Refill Kits

Here are a number of alternatives that you can choose from which would provide you the same savings that universal refill kits can give minus the risk factors:

• Leave it to the professionals. Printer cartridge refilling and repackaging have become a booming business. So, it would not be hard to find a number of printer cartridge refilling stations where you can bring your used printer cartridges to be refilled. To ensure that you would be provided with the same high quality images and text documents without jeopardizing your printer, they only accept original cartridges that have not been refilled.
• Use Printer-specific refill kits. While these refill kits are slightly more expensive than universal refill kits, they have been made specifically for a particular printer model unit. This means that the ink quality and the manner how the cartridge is refilled would not damage the printer cartridge or the printer itself.
• Send it to your local recycle stations. Not all printer cartridges can be reused. Even those that can be reused cannot be reused forever. When you have exhausted the printer cartridge completely, you can send this to recycling stations where they could be used for other purposes.

Related posts

• Compatible Inkjet Printers for Brother LC61BK and LC65BK Ink Cartridges (1)
• All About Ink Cartridges (3)
• 4 Reasons Why Universal Refill Kits Just Do Not Cut It (2)
• Where to Find Manuals for Old Dell, Lexmark, Samsung and HP Printers (0)
• Why Generic Cartridges are Non-Recyclable? (0)
• Pros and Cons of Refilling Your Inkjet Cartridges (0)
• Troubleshooting Common Dell Printer Problems with Ease (11)
• The Pros and Cons of Owning a Lexmark Printer (0)

Tags: bright vibrant colors, computer stores, inks, office supply stores, print outs, printer cartridge, printer cartridges, printer manufacturer, printer manufacturers, printer model, printer users, printing quality, quality print, toners, universal refill kits | Category: Inks, Toners, Ribbons, Refill Kits | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL