Although the fax machine could be considered a dying breed with the increased popularity of e-mail, many people still have use for them on a regular basis, especially businesses.
The ongoing running costs of a fax machine vary tremendously depending on the manufacturer of the machine and so rather than looking at the initial purchase price it is often a better idea to the long term costs.
The four main types of printing technology employed in a fax machine are listed below:
Thermal Paper
This technology doesn’t require any replacement cartridge whatsoever but instead relies on heating up a special heat sensitive paper which turns darker when heat is applied. Due to numerous problems associated with this design, not least poor quality of print and the fact the paper tends to darken naturally over time due to environmental heat, thermal paper fax machines are now pretty much obsolete.
Thermal Rolls
Unlike a thermal paper fax, a machine which utilises thermal rolls actually uses standard copier paper. The machine uses heat to then transfer the material from the thermal roll on to the paper therefore creating the print. The cost of running these machines depends primarily on the cost and length of the replacement rolls. Some of the more common manufacturers of plain paper fax machines are Brother, Sharp, Sagem, Panasonic and Philips.
It is worth checking the market to see if compatible rolls are available as these can offer substantial savings when compared with the original products; Brother thermal roll fax machines in particular tend to have a thriving market for compatible fax rolls.
Certain manufacturers such as Philips include a SIM Card style device which has to be inserted in to the machine at the same time the roll is changed over. The chip on this card can only be used the once and the idea is that producing compatible rolls for these machines will be made more difficult as not only will the third party manufacturer have to research a legal way of reproducing the software within the chip but also, each roll will have to be shipped with its own card.
Inkjet
Uses the same method of printing as an Inkjet printer and as such the same considerations have to be placed when it comes to the cost of the replacement cartridges.
There are several large players that make dedicated fax machines which rely on inkjet technology in the fax market including Brother, BT, Philips, Sharp and Samsung. Whereas Brother produces machines that predominately have the printer head built in to the machine the other four prefer to include the printing technology in the cartridge.
As would be the case in any inkjet cartridge, one which has the print head enclosed within it will have the benefit of having the entire printing mechanism replaced every time the cartridge is changed. The disadvantages are a potential higher purchase price and the fact that, due to the unique nature of the print head, the only third party products would be either remanufactured or refilled cartridges due to copyright restrictions. Although these third party products would be undoubtedly lower priced than the original cartridges they wouldn’t be as low as compatible ink tanks produced for a machine which contained a fixed print head.
It is also worth checking that the machine you are contemplating purchasing doesn’t require you to provide a unique SIM style card every time you swap a cartridge. One major manufacturer who utilise these cards are Philips as it is designed to prevent people refilling their own cartridges. It also hinders the production of remanufactured units as the third party manufacturers have to research a way of legally re-creating the software present inside the chip and provide a unique card with the sale of every cartridge.
Laser
Dedicated Laser Fax Machines are increasingly rare nowadays as a relatively expensive technology would in many circumstances be wasted on such a little used machine.
Major manufacturers that have produced toner based fax machines include Brother, Samsung and Panasonic and many do still mass produce multi-function laser printers with fax machines included as an additional feature.
As with any laser printer, it would be wise to check the availability, price and page life of the cartridges. In many circumstances remanufactured toner cartridges would be available for those looking for an alternative to the manufacturer original product. These remanufactured units are created from previously used cartridges that have been stripped down, cleaned out, refilled and then thoroughly tested. As these are produced by a third party rather than the original manufacturer they are usually available at a lower price without sacrificing print quality.
