Frequently Asked Questions

Five cartridges, four slots — what is the fifth one for?

Insurance. This set covers the full machine — GPR-51BK black, GPR-51C cyan, GPR-51M magenta, GPR-51Y yellow — and puts one extra cartridge on the shelf, so the first slot to run dry, whichever it turns out to be, is refilled from stock in minutes instead of waiting on a delivery. On a production machine, the spare is the difference between a toner warning being a note and being a stoppage.

How does the price compare with the 4-color set?

The 4-color set is $288.49; this set is $341.90 — a step of $53.41 for the fifth cartridge. Spread across the box, the per-cartridge average falls to $68.38, the lower figure of the two sets. You are effectively buying the shelf spare at the set's averaged price rather than at the $90.69 a color single costs on its own.

Which slot is most likely to need the spare first?

The black, on the family's own numbers: the GPR-51BK is rated at 19,000 pages against 21,500 for each of the GPR-51C, GPR-51M and GPR-51Y. Your color mix can overrule the ratings — a run of green-heavy work will drain cyan and yellow early — but as a planning rule, expect the black's lower rating and the heaviest-used color to fight it out for first place.

How does a shelf spare change the reorder rhythm?

It moves the trigger. Without a spare, you reorder when a cartridge dies and print defensively until the delivery lands. With one, the swap happens instantly and the reorder is placed the same day, against a freshly installed cartridge's full life — weeks of runway instead of days. Stock management becomes a calendar habit rather than an alarm.

Any storage rules for the spare that stays behind?

The usual ones: keep it sealed in its packaging, flat, away from heat, damp and direct sun. A spare held for one swap cycle lives an easy life. If you run several GPR-51 machines, label the box with its arrival date and rotate oldest-first, so no cartridge sits forgotten at the back of the shelf.

What cover applies across the set?

Every cartridge — installed or still on the shelf — carries our one-year warranty and one year of free returns, each unit covered individually. A fault in any of the GPR-51BK, GPR-51C, GPR-51M or GPR-51Y is sorted on its own. Terms are set out on our shipping and returns page, and the set ships from the nearest of our Illinois, Pennsylvania, Georgia and California warehouses.

About This Canon GPR-51 5-Color Toner Set

A full Canon GPR-51 machine refresh plus a shelf spare: five cartridges spanning the GPR-51BK black (19,000-page rating) and the GPR-51C, GPR-51M and GPR-51Y colors (21,500 pages each), for $341.90. Sized for production sites that refuse to let a toner warning stop a run, it averages $68.38 a cartridge. The rest of the GPR-51 combinations — from the 3-color set upward — are in our Canon toner range.

Its GPR-51 companions: the black cartridge (GPR-51BK), the yellow cartridge (GPR-51Y), the magenta cartridge (GPR-51M), the cyan cartridge (GPR-51C) and the GPR-51 8-cartridge set. This 5-cartridge set fits the ImageRunner Advance C355iF, ImageRunner Advance C250iF, ImageRunner Advance C255i, ImageRunner Advance C255iF, ImageRunner Advance C350iF and ImageRunner Advance C355i — every machine on the GPR-51 list takes this same cartridge family.