What is Printer Yield on Ink and Toner Cartridges?

Over the years consumers have become more aware of the costs of printing with their printers.  Realizing that the true cost of owning the printer is actually how much the ink is going to cost rather than the initial purchase price of the printer.

In the past, different manufactures used different standards for calculating printer yield in their cartridges.  Several used the 5% area coverage to make their claims.  But this method is not consistent since several factors can alter the results, such as: type of image printer, page size, page margin size.

The ISO (Inernational Organization for Standarization) has developed standards now for testing printer yield for ink and toner cartridges.

• The ISO/IEC 19752 – used for determination of toner cartridge yield on momochromatic printers.
• The ISO/IEC 19798 – Used for determining toner cartridge page yield for color laser printers
• The ISO/IEC 24711 – The standard being adopted for inkjet and solid ink printing devices.

Check the cartridges you purchase for one of these standards.  The ISO has developed specific testing conditions for each standard.