To often users of Brother Printers ask about generic ink cartridges or toners. A good starting point on which cartridge to buy is to consider the pros and cons. Granted the generic brother ink cartridges are cheaper but what is the downside? To fully answer this question we need to understand the process of how ink cartridges print. It breaks down to; A nozzle contains channels covered with a piezoelectric ceramic actuator. This is essentially the bit which squirts the ink onto the page. A brother print head has four nozzles for the four colours. It isn't as straight forward as you think but the pump is essentially triggered by a small electric charge which fires out the ink. To further complicate matters the print head moves across the page and sprays ink as required.
So I hear you say what is so hard about that. Well imagine how many times that need to happen to fill a page. If your Brother printer prints at 4800 dpi that means for each inch of printing the ink cartridge squirts 4800 dots on to the page. I bet you’re more impressed now!
Brother ink cartridges are made especially for your brother printer and have undergone months of expensive research and development to design the correct nozzles to fit the right ink. Inks and toners are often over looked and play a critical role in how your Brother printer prints. It can be assured that generic manufacturers are more interested in copying and less interested in research and development. Often generic ink cartridges have low quality ink or toner and this will make your printer print low quality images and text with blurring or smudging evident.
In additional to the lower quality prints generic ink cartridges can make your printer malfunction by clogging nozzles in the print head. Although the print head can be replaced this will not be a warrantee item as warrantees don’t cover damage by the user. This is obviously more important if your printer is still under warrantee but it is also a consideration if you rely on your printer and can’t afford any down time,
So think carefully about buying your next brother ink cartridge or brother toner cartridge. It’s not as clear cut as saving a few bucks and if you want the best results your brother printer can produce stick to original ink cartridges. What value do you put on high quality prints and a long life of your brother printer?