5% average coverage is the estimated amount of coverage on the page of printing coverage and is a standard figure for comparison of prices, print yields. Used to see approximate values on original OEM ink and toner cartridges.
The figure is used to estimate the number of pages that an ink cartridge or toner cartridge may print.
What does 5% average coverage look like?
Most websites use a comparable printing stat to compare printer toner and ink cartridges at ‘5% average coverage’.
The measurement was based upon the ISO (International Organisation of Standardisation) document for calculating the output on an average document business letter.
The standards allow producers and manufactured to predict the page yields approximations before the ink or toner runs dry.
Tested on specific printers in comparable conditions we can give some examples of printing average pages using the black and white printing ink cartridges.
The 5% average coverage is supposed to be used as a guideline to and some comparison of data and page yields, however these can all be changed by a number of factors such as:
Type of Font
Weight of Font
Font Size
Page Width
Colour use and Coverage
The idea of using the 5% page guideline is to use it as a rough guide for comparison purposes.
For example, if you buy a black ink cartridge with 220 pages at 5% average coverage, then when you print you only get 150 pages out of the cartridge, these may be the reason you got less pages than you expected:
You only print occasionally – The ink residue may have dried up in your cartridge from lack of use. They may be ink in the cartridge still, clean the cartridge and place in lukewarm water to try and get the ink flowing.
You print a lot of documents with bold text, nice borders and add in graphs and bar charts – All these items will add to your print coverage and cost you more ink per page.
You were printing regularly with more than 5% average coverage.
If you print with more than 5% average coverage for example 10%, your page yield would be halved to approx 75 pages. 20% would be halved again to approx 37 pages.
How to Get the Best of Your Page Coverage?
When printing look at some of your formatting on printing your pages. If you’re looking at getting the best value, then follow these simple tips;
Use simple formatting and limit the amount of underlining, bold text
Experiment with different fonts and font sizes, depending your document and what you need out of it.
Do you need larger text or can it be smaller yet still readable?
Do you need that border, picture or graphic can it be used without it?
Check out other printers to see if changing you printer you can save money.
