Frequently Asked Questions

Copies off our MF731Cdw are coming out pale, but prints look fine — what is going on?

That split personality usually points at toner level rather than a machine fault. Copying tends to lay down toner a little differently from printing, so a black cartridge near the end of its life often shows on copies first — greys lose their depth while text prints still read acceptably. This Canon 046H black (046HBK), rated at up to 6,300 pages, is the replacement the machine is asking for; fitting it is also the cheapest diagnostic, because a cartridge this close to empty needed changing anyway.

Why does a multifunction machine eat black faster than a plain printer?

Because it has two jobs feeding from the same cartridge. Every printed page and every photocopy on the MF731Cdw draws on the same 046HBK, and copying is easy to forget in the page count — a stack of copied handouts never appears in anyone's print log. Offices are routinely surprised by how quickly the black goes; the color cartridges, rated 5,000 pages each, usually trail far behind because copies and documents are mostly black text.

What does this cartridge cost us per page?

About 0.56 cents: $35.28 spread over a 6,300-page rating. Set that beside the standard Canon 046 black, which sits on our shelf at exactly the same $35.28 but is rated at 2,200 pages — around 1.60 cents a page. For a multifunction machine that copies as well as prints, choosing the 046H nearly triples the pages between changes at no extra shelf cost.

Is this the Canon-made version?

No — it is a compatible cartridge, built by a third-party manufacturer to the Canon 046H specification, with the same 046HBK code and yield target as the original for machines in this family. It is our own product standing behind it: a 1-year warranty and 1-year free returns, rather than Canon's cover.

Can one person swap this cartridge without a technician?

Yes — toner changes on this class of machine are designed as a user task, not a service call. Open the machine's toner access, slide the old cartridge out, rock the new one gently to settle the toner, slide it in until it seats. No tools, no settings to reset. Most people are printing again inside two minutes, and the first dense black page confirms the swap worked.

And if the replacement itself has a problem?

Then it comes back to us free. The cartridge carries a 1-year warranty and 1-year free returns, covering a faulty unit within the year and an unopened box ordered in error. The full terms are set out on our shipping and returns page.

About This Canon 046H Black Cartridge for the MF731Cdw

One compatible Canon 046HBK black sized for a machine that prints and copies all day: up to 6,300 pages at roughly 0.56 cents a page, the same $35.28 shelf price as the standard 046 that yields 2,200. We ship from warehouses in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Georgia and California — closest one to you wins — and our team answers Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM CST. The 046H color cartridges for the same machine are in our Canon toner range.