Color laser - longevity of carts?

[canon-do]

After years of using a printer bank comprised of several Canon inkjet MFC's plus a single Brother mono laser, I'm considering replacing the whole lot with a single Brother MFC Color Laser.

I'm thinking that the new Brother (or other brand, haven't decided yet) will only come with starter carts.

So, seeing as I don't do a lot of color printing now, I'm thinking I could replace the starter black cart when it runs out, with a regular cart, and replace the color starter carts at some unknown future time when necessary.

My question then, is do the color laser carts deteriorate in any way, over time, from not being used? In other words, if I did mostly black printing with very occasional use of color, would those starter color carts last for some time or do they deteriorate?

With my current inkjet color printers, I've found that it's necessary to do some color printing from time to time to keep the cartridges 'alive'.

Is there a similar fishhook with color lasers?

 

[The Hat]

My question then, is do the color laser carts deteriorate in any way, over time, from not being used? In other words, if I did mostly black printing with very occasional use of color, would those starter color carts last for some time or do they deteriorate?

The colour laser will still use all the carts when printing black, unless you specifically choose to print using greyscale..
The belt may also suffer from lack of use..

 

[Andreas S]

There is only a risk if you lives in a place with very humide air aka the amazonas to cause some detoriationg as pigments don't "move". Even pigment inks can be used much longer as the date indicated and ther is some chemistry in the base which might be much more sensible than the solid composants of laser toner.
On behalf of The Hat's post: If someone uses a well made profile every printer - laser or inkjet - will only use black. Another mistake is that the "black" in your file is in reality "rich black".

 

[Artur5]

My experience is only with monochrome lasers but I soon learned that high humidity is a deadly enemy of toner powder. If you leave unattended for months a printer in the Amazonas or Singapore, this powder becomes a sticky paste that will play havoc inside your printer. You’ll get messy prints at the very least and possibly damage of the imaging drum as well.
I imagine that this will happen too in the case of color toner cartridges.

 

[canon-do]

Thanks, guys. I think you've answered my questions.
Re the humidity here in the lower South Island of New Zealand, it's generally in the 50's. Right now, as I type this (in early Spring), it's 54 in the house, 51 outside.
I've seen it as high as 70 but that's not common. But more to the point, I've been using mono lasers for 20+ years in the northern and southern parts of the country and never had any issues with 'sticky paste'.

And re not constantly using the color carts doesn't mean I'd never use them at all, just not daily. How about if the color carts were removed every say, two weeks and given a nudge? Or used to print a colored test page?

 

[The Hat]

And re not constantly using the color carts doesn't mean I'd never use them at all, just not daily. How about if the color carts were removed every say, two weeks and given a nudge? Or used to print a colored test page?

Nice try but no cigar, if you remove the carts, you’d have to run the registration alignment again and problems only arise when the printer has no access to electricity, because it uses standby power for self-maintenance..

Home printing is an expensive luxury and there are no alternatives, except maybe a pen…

 

[canon-do]

Nice try but no cigar, if you remove the carts, you’d have to run the registration alignment again and problems only arise when the printer has no access to electricity, because it uses standby power for self-maintenance..

Home printing is an expensive luxury and there are no alternatives, except maybe a pen…

You're right, Hat.
It's a bit like a small country maintaining a professional rugby team that'll never win the World Cup.

 

[Andreas S]

To canon-do: Do you remember? Best Match ever. I will remember all my life, I watched the match in the squadrons club during a mission in Djibouti. We were so drunk that night… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UVbA9ZZixI

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I reactivated an old Samsung CLP300 compact color laser printer from 2008 which was stored away for about 5-8 years. I only can report that it is printing - with the old toner cartridges still installed. The first 10 pages looked somewhat strange but it all cleared up . The latest driver works on Win10 but the status monitor does not find the printer on the USB port anymore. So it all depends - humidity - the printer - the toner - all that together - whether it'll work after some shorter or longer idle period .

 

[apetitphoto]

Nice try but no cigar, if you remove the carts, you’d have to run the registration alignment again and problems only arise when the printer has no access to electricity, because it uses standby power for self-maintenance..

Home printing is an expensive luxury and there are no alternatives, except maybe a pen…

The pen? Those have been known to dry out. Try a pencil or chunk of graphite...

But in all seriousness, use it or lose it.