What does Toner Low really mean?

Several years ago I had a Lexmark color ink-jet printer. I enjoyed being able to print in color, but it always seemed like the colors never really came out as bright as I thought they should, and the ink was always running out. I think I had to buy a new ink cartridge about every 30 to 40 days, and they were about 50 bucks a pop!

So there I am, dropping about 600 dollars a year for the luxury of printing in substandard color. That's when my sister called.

Seems the company she was working for was downsizing, or moving, or something where they were dumping all kinds of computer stuff. They were getting rid of everything from computer and monitors to scanners and printers. She told me I could get a used Hewlett Packard Laser-Jet 4050 printer for $100. It would only be black and white, but it would be a laser printer.

While I was excited, I have to admit, I was a little skeptical. For all I knew, I was getting a printer that had been spitting out several thousand pages an hour for years. Not to mention the fact that laser toner is more than double the cost of an ink-jet cartridge. However, my lust for a laser printer won out, and I forked over the $100 for the HP Laser printer.

So I get this new laser printer, plug it in, and get ready to do some serious printing. I don’t know if you’ve ever used an ink-jet printer, but after you print something the ink is still wet, and smears easily. Not so with the laser! I was giddy with anticipation of my first laser print job.

Sadly, the first page I printed didn’t have the crisp clean lines, or the rich dark tones I was expecting from a laser printer, so I set out to solve the problem.

What I didn’t have was an owner’s manual, but I’ve played around with, and self-diagnosed enough with electronics in my life that I was quiet sure I could figure out how to adjust this machine without the manual.

I quickly figured out how to run a diagnostic page, and in seconds was looking over the complete usage history of my printer.

One of the first things I noticed was that the page count was at just at 15,399. Then I saw that its first preventive maintenance (which I assume is like a tune-up) is at 200,000 pages, and I was a long way from that there!

Next I noticed a toner gauge at the bottom of the page. It was on empty. I went online and saw that I was going to have to spend another 100 bucks for toner. Suddenly this was looking like I had made a bad decision. But I got the new toner, and ran a second diagnostic page.

This page looked completely different! The first page had all the same words, but the background was white and the letters seemed at tad sketchy and a bit faded. The second page had crisp, clear lines with an almost 3D look. And there was an HP logo background over the entire page. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

At this point I had spent $200 dollars for this new printer, but I still wasn’t sure if it was going to save any money. Remember, I was spending about 600 dollars a year for ink-jet ink, and if this laser toner didn’t last at least twice as long, I was in for a substantial increase in printer costs.

I stuck a piece of masking tape on the toner cartridge and wrote the date, and page count. That way, the next time I had to change the toner, I would have an idea of how much money this machine was costing me.

Recently the printer’s little screen stared saying, “Toner Low.” I checked the date on the masking tape, and ran a new diagnostic page just the other day. The diagnostic page showed my page count to be 22,872. That means I’m a mere 7,473 pages closer to my 200,000 page preventative maintenance. I also checked the toner gauge and it’s slightly above the 50% mark. The date on the tape was November 12, 2001. In four years, I’ve printed close to 7,500 pages, and only used half of my toner. I haven't even had to think about toner for over four years! But I still get this "Toner Low" message.

I wonder what that means?