List Price: $199.99
Sale Price: $115.00
Today's Bonus: 42% Off
UPDATE: See toner saving tips below under UPDATES. My review follows next.
I have never owned a Brother Printer before. I have always used either HP, Canon, or Epson. To my thinking, printers like those made by Brother and Lexmark have seemed to be less reliable in times past. The past 5 months have proved me wrong. This Brother is an astounding printer at a terrific price.
All features work flawlessly and print quality is outstanding for this price range. Brother have upped their game over the last 4 or 5 years and I was tempted enough (after my HP and Canon both gave up the ghost) to look elsewhere. This Brother Printer (and I still have a Canon Pixma Inkjet for occasional color needs) is just a work horse. Flawless printing in regular and duplex mode. Originally, I just hooked a USB cable to it... but then set it up (pretty easy) to Wireless via it's built in interface. Works great.
Noise: I have seen a few comments about the noise level of this printer. I find it extremely quiet. FIrst of all, it is most usually "sleeping" in what appears to be OFF position...in this mode, the printer is totally quiet. No noise at all. If I send it a print job to it wirelessly, it wakes up pretty quick.. wait... let me time: It woke up and printed a single page in 20 seconds. So, keeping the printer in standby mode is not a problem (unless 20 seconds is too long for you to wait.
The printer returns to a quiet state after another 10 seconds (after printing) and then stays in this "alert" state for about 10 minutes. It is during this time that the printer will make some noise. Quite frankly, I don't usually notice it, it is so quiet. Then the printer returns to SLEEP mode and goes totally silent. So, there really is not a noise issue at all. In fact, my HP printer was much more noisy. The fact that it is most usually in Sleep mode, means that it is almost always completely silent. (If I had read all the reviews that said this printer was too noisy, I likely would not have purchased it. And I would have lost out on a great, quiet printer).
Cost per page: I am averaging just under a penny a page to print with this... that is so much cheaper than my ink jet! I am using the "toner save" mode, however. In fact, the thought of buying another ink jet with their incredible high cost of ink was one of the reasons I bought this Brother printer.
I love that the printer takes an entire ream of paper. I just load it and forget about paper for a long time! And Duplex mode (front and back of page printing, without needing to flip the paper!) has been a great feature that I didn't have before. That too is another savings feature. The copier works fine. I haven't tried scanning with this printer yet. And the cost per page on this printer... well, that is why I purchased it... this is a money saving baby!
Cons? Yes. One. The message about LOW INK comes on too soon. Being cheap, I usually ignore these prompts until the thing truly runs out of ink. With this printer, I can print several weeks before it really runs out of ink. FYI.
Great printer!
--
UPDATE 1-15-2012: Still love this printer! I wanted to update this about the one "con" I listed... Ink. More specifically, the message that you get to change the ink ("toner low message"). My advice is to ignore it. I printed for over two months before it truly ran out of ink. Even then, I never got a single bad printed copy. No "light print jobs," no "missing lines of text." When this printer really runs out of ink (OK, toner), it will simply refuse to print. Then it is time to replace the cartridge. I replaced mine with a Brother branded High Capacity toner cartridge...at least this first time. I would love to hear comments from others who may have used cheaper 3rd party cartridges... do they work well? Or should I stick with a Brother branded cartridge? Enjoy this printer!
--
Update 9-1-2012: Still going strong...just replaced first full toner cartridge. I just ignore the low toner printer warnings (however, you can turn off... I turn off the STOPPING because of low toner, to do this, Go to General Settings, and then number 4. Replace Toner, set to Continue.). Wait until you see the ink not filling the page or getting streaky. Then replace. You will go months past the first low toner warning (depending on volume of printing obviously).
NEAT UPDATE 7-7-2013
Can't believe I hadn't found this function! :) I just printed another 200 perfect pages (and still going) after the printer refused to print. Let me describe the simple process and cautions.
First, the cost per page on this printer is already excellent (half-penny a page is what I figure)...so this next update may be "wallowing with the pigs" to save a few cents... but, I have never been one afraid to wallow... and it works well, so why not? Please note, I have only ever used genuine Brother Ink purchased here on Amazon. I can't vouch for refills or things like that. But this tip (found out of necessity), will allow even more bang for your buck. It is called Continue Mode.
I ran out of ink, and I had forgotten to order more from Amazon. I refused to pay my local box store prices which were, at the time, more than 50% more. So, I removed the cartridge and rocked it side to side gently and replaced it. And the result? NOTHING. Still refused to print. The printer tries to determine the optimum number of prints and doesn't want you to get bad or streaky copies, so it simply refuses to print once it determines you are at the bitter end of your toner. So, what's the tip!?
USE CONTINUE MODE.
Continue Mode will tell your printer "Hey, I know i MAY get some poor copies/prints, but I need you to continue and try to print any way." I turned this on, and VOILA, it worked like magic. :) Beautiful copies came streaming out of my printer. Over 200 and still going strong.
HOW TO DO IT?
To enable Continue Mode, please follow the steps from Brother's website:
Press MENU and choose General Setup => Replace Toner.
Use the DOWN ARROW key to choose Continue and then press OK.
That is it. Ain't it great! :) Now, I am clearly not expecting (nor should you) perfect print jobs from this. And I just received my order of Brother Toner from Amazon ($36!), so I can replace it at any time now. But, as long as my copies are good, I am going to let the toner "CONTINUE." Yes, I know that I have only saved about a dollar in ink costs (so far) in doing this, but the big reason to know how to do this is when you are completely out of ink, can't get to the store, and need to print out a few copies. A life saver for those times. Enjoy!
Printer update: Still loving this printer. I have recommended it to so many. Hard not to love this printer.
UPDATE 11-26-2013
I haven't updated for quite some time. I am still liking the printer. I can tell you that I print for under a penny a page. If I am printing mostly text on the page (which is normal for me), then the cost is closer to half a cent a page. Once I discovered this, I stopped tracking costs.
It was a great purchase (which I bought in 2011). I see that they have a new model now, and I don't know how it compares. But this one keeps doing it's job. And I love duplex feature and I love not buying ink jet refills. Needless to say, I won't be upgrading any time soon. This printer still looks and functions like new. Wireless printing is pretty cool too.
When I purchase Toner, I have only purchased the TN450 Brother brand toner... which fluctuates in price from Mid-30's to Mid-40's. Don't know why. I haven't tried refills or any off brands. Brother TN450 High Yield Toner Cartridge Retail Packaging Black
0 comments:
Post a Comment