Hey guys, I've owned a Brother printer a few years ago and it was excellent, never missed a beat while scanning/printing for me, the reason I ask is it seems (going off the Officeworks reviews), they can be hit or miss, some of them either working perfectly or completely not working, losing the Wifi connection randomly, etc. I'm actually after a new printer, I've got a HP Laser Jet M234sdwe, it's also a mono laser printer, it used to be really good, used to work flawlessly for me, now. not so much, I've got the desktop HP Smart program which I also used to use and the Android HP Smart app, the guy who recommended it to me told me that he just uses his phone entirely for it, I used to use the desktop, I've got the printer right next to my pc and it can't find it on the network even when I put in the Internet details into the program, it just doesn't work, I was considering going to Officeworks tomorrow and picking up a Brother printer, now, I'm not sure. Do you guys have an opinion?
Are Brother Printers Still Reliable?
Comments
Avoid new HP consumer-grade printers like the plague. You have to create a HP "Smart" account and register your device before you can use a lot of basic functionality on the printer (e.g scanning). The entire printer setup and software installation process is designed to be as painful and time-consuming as possible if you opt not to create a HP Smart account.
Generally speaking, Brother should be the default choice for consumer-grade laser/inkjet printers but the cartridge/toner costs can be a little higher than the competition, depending on the model.
I've g t a Br ther Printer, it has been reliable with n pr blems singing n t Wi-Fi.
Shame they don't make reliable keyboards too.
Having some o trouble there huh
Here’s an O for you!
I got a colour brother laser. But too scared to use it, don't want to have to buy new colour toner. But the few times I did use it, printed with no problems. The quoted page coverage of 5% is way too low for me, if you're printing colour images then you're probably closer to 40% coverage of even 70%, which means 14 times fewer pages than the toner carts say they will deliver.
Look up how to reset the toner counter. :)
Before pulling the trigger on a new printer I read reviews etc and see for myself whether I can buy and use generic ink/toner at a reasonable price.
https://www.inkstation.com.au/
(edit: before buying from inkstation google around for a 20% off discount code - shouldn't be that hard to find)
Best practice I find is to never install printer updates either, often these updates serve nothing more than to update your printer to reject 3rd party inks.
I wouldn't know. My Brother MFC laser printer/scanner is still going strong after over a decade. May well be the most reliable piece of tech I've ever owned.
I’ve got a brother too
Useless at printing though. Actually the more I think of it, he is useless at most things.
After the extremely negative experience I've had with a P-Touch labeller, I've gone right off Brother, and wouldn't recommend them to my worst enemy.
A product that doesn't work.
Support that provides no support.
Management that doesn't even respond when you complain about the product and the support.
They got one star out of five from me on a review site. But only because it wouldn't let me give them none.
OK, one of you four (so far) people who negged my comment about my negative experience with Brother, YOU tell me how to make the damn thing work! Brother has utterly failed to. For my money all I get is error messages.
I have had Brother and HP in the last few years. The Brother is definitely proving more reliable, but I will say that I will never again try and set-up a Brother printer to use wireless, couldn't get it to work reliably. Connected via Ethernet it is fine.
Only had 2 Brother printers, and currently using the 2nd one.
- Bought the first one (a mono laser) in March 2000, died in June 2014
- Bought the second one (mono laser again, HL-2270DW) in July 2014, and it's still working. Only printed around 11k pages though.
Lots of cheap compatible toners around.
Which Brother Printer should I keep an eye out for? Any recommendations?
List the features you want then google it.
Okay, it seems like Officeworks doesn't have the printer I need, I wonder if it's just easier to buy online?
I have used Canon and Br printers, and they are both good, except for the scanning, BR 2750 is the best. Just find a model that suits your needs, then google it for the best price.
I wish I got one that has generic toner cartridges. Maybe mine is too new and will have them when I run out, but I would consider that when buying too
No problems with the ones I've purchase.
Multifunction Lasers and dedicated B&W duplex printers.
You after a Multifunction or pure printer? how much do you plan to print a month?
Sorry, mate. I'm after a Multifunction, it changes, I have family that I print for so I can't really say exactly.
https://www.brother.com.au/en/products/all-printers/printers…
The Mono Laser Multi-Function Printer MFC-L2750DW is good choice.
Duplex scanning and printing are a non-negotiable for me.
After market toner is cheap enough that running costs aren't a factor.
Hey mate, I rang up a few local shops from that link, "where to buy" and none of them stock the Brother printers, the link does say Officeworks as well but according to their site, I can't find it. I'm not sure what to do.
@jiminycrickets9000: My bad.
I think that model has been superceded- the replacement looks to be Brother MFC-L2880DW Mono Laser Multi-Function Printer
https://www.centrecom.com.au/brother-mfc-l2880dw-a4-mono-las…
$275
Printers are all a little bit bad, because it's a mechanical device with primarily plastic parts, controlled by electronics that do not get the big development dollars. And that's before Windows even gets involved.
That said, Brother is the best of the lot. Anecdotally, Our HL-3170 has been chugging on for many years without issue. I have never bought new/genuine toner for it, always Ebay ones which are very affordable and last a good long while. It prints over Wi-fi from our Android, Windows, iPhone and even Linux machines without any complicated setup.
Unless you're printing photos on glossy paper, avoid Inkjet like the plague. If you do want to print photos, do it at officeworks or kmart, it's not that much more than buying packs of special paper and paying for overpriced ink.
HP is the worst printer company I've ever had to deal with. It was many years ago, but I still remember wanting to go all Office Space on that piece of shit.
Hey guys, I've been considering both these printers, the MFC-L2710DW and the MFC-L2880DW, I think they're both similar but I'm unsure on which one to pull the trigger on, the cost doesn't bother me but I wonder how if buying online is a good choice or not, if one of them does screw up how am I able to fix it if without a warranty, the MFC-L210DW does look a bit shit but I don't really care how it looks, I know it''s a workhouse. Thanks.
I ended up buying the printer in your link, thanks, still want to know how you guys normally fix them with no warranty.
Brother should have service centres, otherwise contact amazon
best. make sure get laser. and brother. so, brother laser it is