paralell ports and used printers and repacked cartridges

["Avrom" avromf@xxxxxxxx]

Dear Fellow Xywriters

I am not sure whether I should be called frugal or
cheap or whether my experience is relevant to anyone else. I have been using
repacked toner cartridges and buying reconditioned lazerjet printers for 25
years with significant cost savings and relatively minor aggravation. 
Since the savings is so dramatic ($14 to $15 a cartridge vs. $70 to $90 for new
HP cartridges and $50 to $60 for a used hp lazerjet 5 printer v $150 for a
comparable new laser hp printer, and I have the space to store the extra
supplies and printers I willingly put up with the drawbacks of repacked toner
cartridges  and/or reconditioned lazerjet printers even if they they go bad
from time to time.  If a printer goes bad it only takes 5-10 minutes to
swap out the bad printer.  Since I always have at least one backup printer
I have peace of mind.  Please note that  I only buy HPLazerjet
5.  It prints acceptable copies and is even today a fairly standard printer
which still works with almost all software and I have settled on the HP
cartridge for my toner medium.
 
If you are going to use repackaged cartridges and printers it is important
to have plenty of extra  repacked toner cartridges and at least one or two
extra reconditioned lazerjet printers so that without hesitancy or regret if
something goes wrong you simply throw out the problem cartridge and/or printers,
switch to the other printer and cartridge and promptly buy another Pinter or
cartridge. It does not pay to repair or clean a defective or dirty printer (the
cost of repairing and clearing is $100 vs $50 to $60 for a reconditioned printer
on ebay (if you patient in bidding.     
 
I always have at least two operational Lazerjet 5 printers and the moment
one goes bad, I chuck it out and buy another one on Ebay for about $50.00 to $60
(including shipping.)  If you have to pay shipping it doesn't pay)
Invariably I buy from a commercial dealer,  My experience has been that
dealers at least clean the Pinter and usually replace the gears and
rollers.
 
90% to 95% of the material I print never leaves my office, so I am not as
concerned about print quality as others are so long as one printer is capable of
printing pristine copies that go out of my office and the other one prints
readable copy.
 
For what it it worth, the only problem I find with Lazerjet 5 printer is
that when the gears or rollers go bad they start to jam.  As I have said It
is more convenient and cheaper to buy another reconditioned one than to repair
it.
 
I have never had a poor copy issue due to the printer. All the hardware
that controls print quality is in the toner cartridge with the exception of the
font controls and I have never had an issue with the font controls  
 
The
most common problems that I have had with repacked toner cartridges is poor
wipers within the cartridge which leave streaks on the copy or leaks. 
Since the cartridge is sealed you have no way of knowing what you are going to
get.  I am willing to risk a cartridge leaking, fairly rare, since as noted
above I have no hesitancy in dumping a problem printer.