Home > Consumer Reviews > Brand New Canon CRG-104, L104, 104 Compatible Laser Toner Cartridge for Canon ImageCLASS Canon LaserBase MF4100, Canon Faxphone L100, L120, L75

I'm now on my 3rd CRG-104 compatible toner cartridge, and if there is any difference between this cartridge and Canon OE, I can't tell.

I was deeply skeptical of aftermarket cartridges, so much so that the first 4-5 replacements I bought were genuine Canon. Still, I print easily 1,000+ pages a month, and at $70 a pop, the cost of Canon OE cartridges for my MF-4150 laser multifunction printer was really starting to add up. I figured that for 1/3 the cost of genuine Canon these cartridges were worth a try. Thousands of printed-pages later, I would never go back to being so shamelessly ripped off by Canon. There is something wrong with this world if this no-name company (I have no idea who actually makes these things) can sell a cartridge this good for 1/3 the price charged by Canon.

One caveat, the cartridge is rated to print 2,000 pages at 5% coverage, but in reality prints only about 1,400 pages. I attribute this to the fact that "5% coverage" is actually pretty skimpy and a typical densly-worded page of text is closer to 10-15% coverage. Anyway, the OE-Canon cartridge turned out roughly the same number of pages before going dry. Now, for the cheap among us (and if you're buying this cartridge--and still reading this description--there's a good chance you're pretty friggin cheap) it's possible to squeeze out about 150 extra pages after the printer tells you it's empty by removing the cartridge and shaking it in the same manner as when you first installed it (plus a little side-to-side shake for good measure).

I ordered two of these cartridges and both had problems. One had horizontal lines every inch or so and the other had little boxes going vertically down the left side.

Abacus was great about delivering and returning the cartridges. I guess I'll stay with OEM.

I am a little wary of these third party cartridges. I've not had much luck with them in the pass but the savings were too significant to ignore. So I bought this and another Canon cartridge at the same time in case I was unhappy with the quality of this unit.

My print is very clear. I see no problems with this and will buy these cartridges in the future.

This "compatible" toner cartridge is not the same as the original one from Canon. It prints just great on regular paper. I print post cards for my business. I found that the toner won't stick to the post cards at all. The toner is smeared all over the place. I didn't have this problem with the Canon toner cartridge. So to me, this toner cartridge is useless. That is why you see the reviews are either very good or very bad. When it works, it is great. You pay less than half of the real thing. But when it doesn't work, then it is useless. I am not going to buy another printer to print the things that this toner catridge cannot print.

I know the cost of genuine Canon cartridge is very high per page. But this "compatible" one is simply not compatible. If you print more than plain printer paper, do not buy this.

We decided to try a generic as a way of saving a few dollars. The toner works as advertised and we've had no problems as a result of using the product. Toner is toner.