I've had printing problems (fading and streaks) with at least three cartridges of different brands (two generic, one HP brand) in the last two years. HP fixed some banding but no fading. I assumed the printer was broken but decided to try the ejector cartridges before throwing the printer away. Surprisingly, ejector cartridges fixed everything. Of course I only printed about 30 pages so I hope these cartridges continue to perform as well as they have for the past two months.