Samsung colour laser printer toner

[AW10]

About 18 months ago I bought a Samsung colour laser printer, model C1860. My understanding was that it contained "starter" toner cartridges that would print a limited number of pages (1000 pages in black, 700 pages for each colour cartridge) and that I would then buy normal cartridges good for many more pages (2500 pages in black, 1800 for each colour cartridge). I was OK with this.

Fast forward to Jan 2018 and the printer reports it's running low on toner. No worries; I order a full set of cartridges to have them on hand so that I can print without interruption.

It's now Jan 2019 and the cartridges have been reporting themselves as empty for months yet printing (easily 4-500 pages, albeit more BW than colour) carries on without issue. Did Samsung just program the cartridges as smaller than they really are? So obviously not complaining, just puzzled by what's happening.

Edited by AW10 on Tuesday 22 January 08:12

[sgrimshaw]

Toner usage is all based on "average" page coverage.

If you print with less than average coverage then you'll get more pages per cartridge than is quoted.

Similarly, the amount left is all based on calculated values.

[AW10]

This is my third laser printer, both previous ones started printing faint pages not long after they reported being low on toner. This seems to have a perpetual toner supply. I know, good problem to have etc.