Printer giants back cartridge comparison standard

Printer industry giants Canon, Epson, HP and Lexmark have thrown their weight behind a new standard which could help users judge which monochrome laser printer is best for them.

The companies claim that the standard, International Organisation for Standardisation/IEC 19752, will help customers more objectively and accurately evaluate how many pages each cartridge can produce on average.

The ISO standard is designed to define the key attributes that affect cartridge yield to allow for comparison. It is hoped that the information will be made available for consumers at the point of sale.

It aims more accurately to represent the potential customer experience by taking into account manufacturing variations in the performance of the cartridges and printers.

For instance, instead of testing one or two cartridges on a single printer, the new standard requires that averages be taken from at least nine cartridges tested on a minimum of three separate printers.

The standard can be applied to help evaluate original equipment manufacturer, remanufactured and refilled toner cartridges.

"The new ISO standard for determining monochrome toner yield puts a solid foundation in place to evolve standards for colour laser and inkjet technology," said Mogens Molgaard Jensen, executive vice president of Canon Europe, and head of consumer imaging for Canon EMEA, in a statement.

Seiichi Hirano, director and chief executive of the imaging and information products operations division at Seiko Epson, added: "Widespread adoption will ensure that customers have access to yield information they can rely on when making the purchase decision."

Details of the ISO standard can be found here.