We've got ~12 laser printers, all by the same company. The drum units on 2-3 have started to play up (indicator warning light and manual confirms needs new drum). The drums, brand new, are in the order of £110. Generic compatible units are around £45-50.

Has anyone used generic drum kits or are we better off buying OEM? We already use generic toner.

I've never had a failure with oem, but I have with generic. However only one and it was replaced foc, so I'm not against generic at all. It depends on the printer and the supplier though. Certainly worth trying especially if there's a significant saving to be had.

I have had lasers from HP and Lexmark and have never experienced problems. It would appear that they are exhibiting more failures than would normally be expected. It could be a bad batch or bad design. So I would think contacting the supplier and see what can be done. How old are the printers?

I always go for originals for anything business related.

The main reason is the even HP haven't found a way of refurbing or refilling old printer parts reliably so some bloke filling them in his spare room has no chance.

I think that they like the margins from selling whole units. The refilling of Laser toner kits seems haphazard. I usually return my drums for a new one.


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Well thankfully if you reset the printer (through a dizzying combo of buttons), it clears all of the faults. If they reappear, then there's a problem. So far it's been fine.