What Is the Meaning of the Duty Cycle of a Printer?

Industry standards for determining duty cycles vary among companies.

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Printers, like people, sometimes run out of steam. Your printer's duty cycle measures how many pages it can print in a month without straining. You damage the printer if you print above the defined duty cycle for the printer. Choose a printer with a duty cycle that handles your printing needs even in a busy season. However, it's not the only factor to consider when shopping for hardware.

Related Searches: The Duty Cycle

When you compare printers, the specifications include the duty cycle for the model you're reviewing. A typical home printer has a 5,000-page duty cycle. Office printers run from 20,000 pages a month for a low-end model up to 100,000 pages a month or more for top-of-the-line printers. The duty cycle sets the absolute maximum you can print before the printer fails. However, many printer specifications also include a recommended maximum, which is often a limit lower than the duty cycle.

Printer Lifespan

Manufacturers determine the duty cycle by stress-testing their printers to the breaking point. The same stress tests help manufacturers estimate how many years the printer can run before the parts wear out. However, the industry doesn't use standard guidelines for stress testing and measuring duty cycles. As a result, comparing duty cycles on different manufacturers' printers does not define clearly which printer is better. Some manufacturers use different interpretations for life-cycle stress testing: One manufacturer declares its printer dead when a key part breaks, another decides that since a key is an easily replaced part, the printer can run a while longer.

Heavy Usage

Some printers don't come with a manufacturer-recommended maximum. A standard rule of thumb in such cases is to look for a printer with a duty cycle three or multiples of the number of pages you print. If your office prints heavily, PCMag recommends you think about other aspects of printing as well, such as how often you'll have to restock the machine's paper. Ideally, you want a model that holds enough paper, when full, to last you a week.

Considerations

If your printing needs are slight, duty cycles may not be a key issue in your purchase decision. However, if you print enough material that the cycle matters, also look for a printer with a stacker and a sorter to make large jobs easier. Look for a fast printer so that heavy-duty printing doesn't take too much time. Output quality and price are important, however much you print. If you can't find a printer that meets your needs exactly, decide which characteristics are most critical and which are worthy of compromise.

ReferencesPCWorld: Printer Buying Guide: The Specs You Need to KnowPCMag: How to Buy a Business PrinterAllBusiness: How to Ignore Duty Cycle Shopping for a PrinterPCMag: The Best Office PrintersResourcesConsumer Reports: Printer GuidePhoto Credit Hemera Technologies/Photos.com/Getty ImagesRead Next:

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