Thinking about buying a color laser printer.

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  • Condoman44
    Established Member
    • Nov 2013
    • 178
    • CT near Norwich
    • Ryobi BT3000

    #16
    Sorry for not being clear. I mean I switched to laser printers. Believe me when I say I tried to not go there but ended up to frustrated with inkjets always being clogged.

    LOML had an inkjet that would not stay functioning, I need to free myself of that constant maintenance.

    Comment


    • LCHIEN
      LCHIEN commented
      Editing a comment
      Got it! Yeah, inkjets always clogged when I went to use it. That mean screwing around for 30 minutes trying to run the cleaning program which never worked then having to go out and spend 50 bucks on new cartridges. Just to print one page,

    • cwsmith
      cwsmith commented
      Editing a comment
      I found I was wasting more ink cleaning the nozzle than I was actually printing. Back then I was more hesitant on what I printed, and when I needed to print, the print head would take several minutes passing back and forth before it was ready to print. My first laser, a Dell monochrome, was a real bargain at $50 and I couldn't pass that up; and, usage proved just so convenient, not to mention the quality of my normal text printing. Photographs are a bit better on a photo quality inkjet, but color graphics are better on the laser and I do more of that than photos.

      CWS
  • daughterofgirl
    Forum Newbie
    • Feb 2021
    • 10

    #17
    Originally posted by mpc
    I too have had good luck with my Brother printers. I bought the first one because Brother is one of the few reasonably priced printers these days that supports Postscript, or at least Brother's quite good clone of Postscript. I have a few programs I've written over the years to do certain engineering stuff and those programs depend on Postscript for the output. Using normal Windows GDI (Graphics Device Interface... the part of older Winblows versions that user programs call to create output) was miserable as Winblows made very fat lines and took 20+ minutes to do what Postscript does in 15 seconds. Anyway, that BW printer with duplex is still going strong after 13 or so years, printing 3374 pages so far. Yeah, I don't print much per year.

    I now have a Brother color printer, the L3770CDW, which is a small/home office style color printer with duplex capability and an automatic document feeder as part of the scanner. It's physically pretty big but otherwise has been a good printer. It's about 2.5 years old. I've printed 572 pages through it according to its own page counter. 97% life remaining on the 4 drums, 40% black toner left, 50% average toner left on the 3 colors. I have not purchased new toner cartridges for it yet so I don't know how expensive they've become in the last 2 covid-screwed years. When I bought the printer the toner price was reasonable. The scanner and doc feeder have worked quite well the few times I've used them; I've probably run maybe 200 pages through the scanner. No jams that I can remember. The color printing is pretty good but not the glossy "photo quality" of a quality inkjet or dye sublimation printer. For my engineering output the color quality is excellent. It's also quite good for manuals, documents with illustrations, coupons, etc. Just not actual photographs.

    Looking around, this printer is available for $500 to $700 but Brother has frequent sale prices/promos. So a bit more than the model you mentioned. I got mine on sale from Office Max for $320 as a price match.

    One thing Brother does is to limit the number of pages a toner cartridge can print... on the idea that the printer will complain about an empty cartridge long before it really gets low on toner. This way you should never see a thin/poor quality print. My older printer uses a LED and photosensor to look through the toner cartridge; when the sensor detects the LED it thinks the toner is empty and sets the appropriate status codes. A bit of tape over either toner cartridge window tricks it into working again. Mine's been blocked for at least a year, if not two, so far...

    mpc
    I also really love my Brother printer. I just bought a Brother HL-L2395DW Print-Scan-Copy-Fax and couldn't be happier. Staples/Office Depot has it on sale for $75 - 80 periodically. I'm running it on a Mac with High Sierra and setup was fast, smooth and seamless. I can also print from my iPhone and iPad which is a big plus. Can recommend this source for observing different models.

    Comment

    • leehljp
      Just me
      • Dec 2002
      • 8429
      • Tunica, MS
      • BT3000/3100

      #18
      While this is OT from laser, it will note my experiences with inkjets - IF I used the expensive Epson OEM ink, I never had a problem with nozzles needing cleaning, even after 2 to 3 months of non use. But If I used a cheaper ink that advertised to be the same as OEM, I would get stopped up jet nozzles if not used within a month. Since this was my office printer, the price of OEM ink was a business expense. Most of the time, I used the Brother color Laser. My old Brother 3170 CDW could not do post cards, which was the reason for an epson inkjet.
      Hank Lee

      Experience is what you get when you don't get what you wanted!

      Comment

      • cwsmith
        Veteran Member
        • Dec 2005
        • 2737
        • NY Southern Tier, USA.
        • BT3100-1

        #19
        While I only used the OEM inks on my Epson and HP inkjets, I seemed to have cleaning nozzle issues, but honestly that was most likely because I rarely used the printers because the ink was so expensive. When I was working, if I really needed something, I could use the office laser. When I got let go in 2003, the inkjet at home was just too expensive to use with any regularity. (At that time we went almost a full year with no periotic income.)

        Plus I found the inkjets simply annoying as it always took a few minutes for them to cycle through the warm-up and knozzle-cleaning and even then the first page or two wasn't up to quality; ink jets need to be used quite regularly. Overall, I used about a half-ream of paper (maybe 200 sheets) a year with the inkjets. I do a lot more printing with the laser printers as all I have to do is turn them on, and they're ready in just a few seconds. As such, I use about a half carton (5 reams) a year.

        We have our preferences of course, but for my needs the laser works best and is more economical.

        CWS
        Think it Through Before You Do!

        Comment

        • leehljp
          Just me
          • Dec 2002
          • 8429
          • Tunica, MS
          • BT3000/3100

          #20
          Originally posted by cwsmith

          Plus I found the inkjets simply annoying as it always took a few minutes for them to cycle through the warm-up and knozzle-cleaning and even then the first page or two wasn't up to quality; ink jets need to be used quite regularly. Overall, I used about a half-ream of paper (maybe 200 sheets) a year with the inkjets. I do a lot more printing with the laser printers as all I have to do is turn them on, and they're ready in just a few seconds. As such, I use about a half carton (5 reams) a year.

          CWS
          Back in the early to mid '90s, Texas Instruments made and sold laser printers - Well, outsourced their printers. A friend of mine was QC for TI in the printer division. I was living in Japan at the time and one of the factories was about 7 to 8 miles from where I lived. We got to visit two or three times a year when he came over visiting the factory. One trip involved a problem with one of their laser printers, which was regularly jamming. Before he came over, he talked by phone with the Japanese engineers about the issue. The manufacturing company in Japan also produced the printer under their name, and it was exactly the same specs.
          The Japanese Engineer reported that there were NO problems with the printers in Japan. After a discussion, it was finally learned that first of all, there was a cultural difference causing the problem:
          1. in the USA at the time, it was not uncommon for people to print a copy for proofing. If mistakes were made, and there generally were, the paper was turned over and put into a box. the used paper was run again later on the other side, again for proofing. USA office culture was "re-cycle" paper that was still good on one side for proofing.
          2. Japanese did NOT do that.
          3. The heating process caused extra drying and introduced a slight curl to the paper.
          Result - Paper Jams.

          After finding this out, my friend and his TI department worked out the solution of moving one of the rollers - something like 1/10 of a millimeter or so. (I am just guessing, it has been so long that I have forgotten his actual figures.)

          Then he came to Japan with the solution for the Japanese engineers at the laser printer factory. He stopped by our house for a visit, spent the night and I took him to the factory the next morning. That evening, he called me all frustrated. I went and picked him up at his hotel and brought him back to our house. He said he ran into all kinds of resistance to the solution that he offered. I let him talk about it. These engineers could all speak English well enough and were all very friendly when they were in the US and making agreements and engineering decisions.

          Finally, I asked him: "When you talked with the engineers in the making of the printer, were all of you in the USA at your TI offices? He said yes.
          Me: Did you sign the engineering and manufacturing agreements in the USA also?
          Him: Yes.

          Me: Well, now you are in Japan! The culture and process CHANGES with venue change, especially since you are now IN Japan, regardless of the way you did it in the US. DIRECT instructions in their HOME territory is often seen as an insult and condescending. (shortening this conversation to its basics) Me: "Tomorrow, go into the engineers office, Tell them the problems you are having. ASK Them if they have a solution instead of telling them how to fix it. See what they come up with. I took him back to his hotel late that evening. The next day by 10 AM, I got a call from him: "IT WORKED". "They listened, huddled together and came back with the same solution we had already offered."

          TI had a laser printer working again.



          Last edited by leehljp; 08-14-2022, 02:35 PM.
          Hank Lee

          Experience is what you get when you don't get what you wanted!

          Comment

          • LCHIEN
            Internet Fact Checker
            • Dec 2002
            • 20920
            • Katy, TX, USA.
            • BT3000 vintage 1999

            #21
            I did in fact get the Brother printer HLL3270CDW and Amazons price was high and the Brick and Mortar stores were out of stock so I ordered it direct from Brother with free shipping and it arrived in 2 days.
            Overall, I am happy with it. Solved three issues, color printing (reliable I hope, don't expect ink jets to clog with limited use), networked no longer has to be served by a PC, and wireless, no longer tethered to a hub or PC. On the latter I can park it in a convenient place or I can wheel it to be close to where I am working.

            It didn't take to long to set up initially, but having to install each one to four different PCs and laptops took a lot longer than expected.

            Loring in Katy, TX USA
            If your only tool is a hammer, you tend to treat all problems as if they were nails.
            BT3 FAQ - https://www.sawdustzone.org/forum/di...sked-questions

            Comment

            • cwsmith
              Veteran Member
              • Dec 2005
              • 2737
              • NY Southern Tier, USA.
              • BT3100-1

              #22
              Congratulations on the printer!

              I've had mine a year now and abolutely no problems so far. I don't recall having any challenges with setup of the Brother, it's just there as a selection on the LAN and I can print from either laptop. I haven't tried it from my cell phone though.

              Both my Dell monocrhome laser and the Brother were simple, but I just can't get the Dell C1660w (color laser) to connect through the LAN, for whatever reason that's been a struggle, so I have it directly connected to my larger and most frequently used laptop.

              Hope you enjoy the 3270,

              CWS
              Think it Through Before You Do!

              Comment

              • cwsmith
                Veteran Member
                • Dec 2005
                • 2737
                • NY Southern Tier, USA.
                • BT3100-1

                #23
                My Brother HL-L3270 CDW just died on me this past Monday. I bought it in April 2021 and it has performed really well for my needs, so this was a surprise and certainly a disappointment.

                I've been thinking of buying a 3D printer with which I could get my grandson involved in something we could do together. He came over this past Monday and I was printing out the 48-page instruction and assembly manual for him. That printing went perfectly, except that along the way I had to replace first one color, and as the pages continued, a second and third toner cartridge (I've been expecting that). The third cartridge went in at about the 30th page and the project finished the rest of the pages just fine. Then I thought I'd print the second manual on general 3D printing.

                The very first page, jammed, wrapping itself around the fuser roller at the back of the printer. I have never had a jam on any of the three laser printers that I've owned, so this was a complete surprise. It took me awhile to remove the sheet from the fuser roller, and I was extremely careful not to scratch or mar the roller in any way. Once the sheet was dislodged, I carefully rotated the roller, manually moving the drive gear. No marks of any kind so I plugged it back in and pressed the power button. It came up to the normal screen for a couple seconds and then went into "Self Diagnostic" stating it would restart within 15 minutes where it gave me a "Print Unable 05" and asked me to turn it off and then back on. It repeated the Self Dianostic again. This cycle repeated itself multiple times before I finally gave up and called the manufacturer.

                That proved to be of no help whatsoever. After waiting several minutes I finally got a Tech, who said he was sorry I was having a problem. I explained the steps I had gone through and he repeated that he was sorry, but offered nothing. I repeated the "Print Unable 05" error that I had received and again he repeated that he was sorr y! "Yeah, I am too... what does that mean?" He told me to take a picture of the display and send it to them. I told him I had told him exactly what it said, word-for-word, please interpret that for me! He said he didn't know until he received my photo ????

                At that point I wished him a nice weekend and drove down to talk to the Tech at my local Staples (where I bought it). There I was told that they don't service printers and he didn't have any idea, but that I should call Asurion, because I had purchased the 4-Year protection plan. I called there and they didn't have any idea either but did tell me it was obviously a "hardware issue" and I should simply box it up and send it to them via UPS at their expense and they would send me a shipping label and as soon as UPS processed the return, they'd send me a voucher for the $249.99 that I had paid.

                I had kept the box of course and all the packing materials, so yesterday afternoon I took it to the local UPS store and am now waiting for the voucher so I can go buy another one. The local store has only one, it's now $300, but I like that printer, so I'll give it another try.

                Before I returned it, I did look on YouTube. I found two video's related to the error code. One was without sound and the second foreign, difficult for my old ears. But what I could understand was that behind the fuser was a metal strip with two thyristors that may be damaged, perhaps by the paper jam as it's in a place I couldn't possibly stick my fingers. Certainly more disassembly than I want to get into, especially the way my brain has been working lately. I'm glad that I have the Assurion protection. Hopefully they'll come through before that remaining printer is purchased by someone else.

                CWS
                Last edited by cwsmith; 08-27-2022, 03:35 PM.
                Think it Through Before You Do!

                Comment

                • LCHIEN
                  Internet Fact Checker
                  • Dec 2002
                  • 20920
                  • Katy, TX, USA.
                  • BT3000 vintage 1999

                  #24
                  I've had my HL-L3270CDW for a few weeks now. Hope it lasts longer than 18 months!

                  So far no complaints.

                  How many prints did you get from the original toner set? Was it a starter with partial fill?
                  Did you keep your new nearly full toner carts and put the old ones back in before returning the unit?

                  did you buy Brother toner carts or much cheaper third party ones?
                  Last edited by LCHIEN; 08-27-2022, 05:19 PM.
                  Loring in Katy, TX USA
                  If your only tool is a hammer, you tend to treat all problems as if they were nails.
                  BT3 FAQ - https://www.sawdustzone.org/forum/di...sked-questions

                  Comment

                  • cwsmith
                    Veteran Member
                    • Dec 2005
                    • 2737
                    • NY Southern Tier, USA.
                    • BT3100-1

                    #25
                    Hi Loring,

                    The HL-L3270CDW has run perfectly since the day I bought it on April 9, 2021. I primarily only use it when I need to print duplex multi-page articles or documents, so it doesn't get a tremendous amout of use. For everyday printing I usually use my Dell B1160W monochrome. That said, the Brother does get used several times a month and as I recall I went through the black cartridge in about four weeks. The prices on OEM cartridges I found ridiculous and after some research I ordered a pair of third party black cartridges on May 7th from Amazon, the 'Toner Kingdom' brand. The price on those were $33.05 for a package of two.

                    That cartridge installed without any problem (no resetting of anything) and the quality was exactly the same as the OEM. The only indication was that the printer LCD noted that it was not OEM. (I forget the exact wording). So I used the printer for a small project and over the course of the next day or two I was satisfied and thus ordered a set of four 'Toner Kingdom' cartridges so that I would have a complete backup set. Those were all high-yield cartridges at a cost of $56.00 for the set. I had not opened that package until this past Monday when I was printing a manual and was running out of the OEM toner as previously described. And each of those worked fine to complete the printing with the last cartridge printing about 15 pages or so. The only thing that may have caused the problem was a few weeks ago I was using 28lb paper for a project instead of my normal 20 lb. and I'm wondering if a couple of sheets of that were still in the paper tray. I wouldn't thing that should cause the problem as I've used it before, but who knows.

                    I had asked several people and read several reviews before I attempted to use any 3rd party toner and as I just described, the Toner Kingdom black cartridge has been in my machine for over a year. My office area is temp and moisture controlled and the toner was in the original box and protected. I also asked the person at whole handled my claim and was told they had no problems with non-OEM toner. (Actually, I had recently read an article that the manufacturers do not hold you to using just their own brand of toner. If that was the case, I'd think it would be noted on any attempted installation.

                    In any case, I did asked the Asurion person about it and whether she would like me return the printer with the newly installed toner cartridges. She asked if I had the old OEM cartridges and I replied 'yes' and she said there was no sense in wasting my money, so I should pull them out and re-install the originals. I just noted that they sent me the credit voucher, so I think tomorrow I'll go pick up the new printer if it's still there.

                    Point is I wanted to let you know, seeing that you just bought the same model.

                    CWS
                    Think it Through Before You Do!

                    Comment


                    • LCHIEN
                      LCHIEN commented
                      Editing a comment
                      thanks cws!
                  • leehljp
                    Just me
                    • Dec 2002
                    • 8429
                    • Tunica, MS
                    • BT3000/3100

                    #26
                    Sorry to hear about your printer CWS. That sucks. I bought my 3170 home with me from my office and hooked it up to the WIFI. It is going into its 11th year.
                    Hank Lee

                    Experience is what you get when you don't get what you wanted!

                    Comment

                    • mpc
                      Senior Member
                      • Feb 2005
                      • 979
                      • Cypress, CA, USA.
                      • BT3000 orig 13amp model

                      #27
                      You mentioned the temp and humidity controlled office where the printer lives... that reminded me of something the Xerox techs at my former workplace mentioned for the large high-speed printer/copier/scanner/fax machines scattered about: they recommended NOT opening packs of paper until it was time to load them into the machine. And for the paper sizes that were less frequently used, do not fully load the printer. Why: he said opened bond paper packs, and paper sitting in the printer trays for weeks at a time, tend to absorb some humidity which leads to more frequent jam problems. The A/C in the building was shut off in the evenings and weekends so it did get hot/stuffy in there... When I posted a sign saying "don't open paper packs until they are ready to be used" on the storage cabinet our jam rate went way down. Most jams after that could be attributed to feeding damaged paper into the machine... like the next example.

                      The other issue I've seen cause jams on those Xerox printers and on smaller printers (the HPs that co-existed with the big Xerox units) was that if a corner of a page got dog-eared as it was removed from the packing, or when it was stuffed into the paper tray, that dog-ear would snag the page just above it causing that page to feed skewed.

                      I haven't used my Brother MFC-L3770CDW color all-in-one a ton since buying it March 2020... it's log says a total of 639 pages have passed through it as of this moment. It's on the original toner packs; the color ones are shown as half-full and the black cartridge is about a third full. So it hasn't been worked too much. No jams so far. I keep about 50 pages of paper in it at any one time. The rest of the new paper stack is wrapped in its original paper covering which I fold close as much as possible based on that Xerox tech's recommendation. My older Brother HL-5250DN black-n-white printer has handled 3436 pages it claims, also with no jams. It has had one toner cartridge replacement I believe; the one that is in there now is getting low

                      As for shipping the damaged printer... I'm surprised they wanted any toner cartridges installed! A printer loaded with toner cartridges is going to get shaken/vibrated quite a bit during shipping which will scatter toner EVERYWHERE. It's a nightmare to clean up... if they plan to do anything with your old printer.

                      mpc

                      Comment

                      • cwsmith
                        Veteran Member
                        • Dec 2005
                        • 2737
                        • NY Southern Tier, USA.
                        • BT3100-1

                        #28
                        mpc,

                        Good points. My experience with laser printers goes back to about 1985-86 when I was trying to introduce my employer to the PC world and desktop publishing. The Systems department (who was the master of anything digital) conjureds up a Xerox laser printer. Similar to their 4045, but it didn't have the scanner or copier mechanism. You dumped the toner dust out of a bottle into the back reservoir. The print looked nice to most people because it was black and shiney and raised, you could actually feel it; but, the actual type image was ragged edged and looked pretty awful under a magnifying glass. Worse was the fact that you couldn't send standard typefaces to it. Every typeface has a defined pixel width and so before you could actually print matching line width within a paragraphy those letters have to be defined through a coded profile, I spent a lot of time writing those profiles for the typefaces that we used in our manuals. Albany Law School was the only other place that I knew of that had the same printer and Xerox asked me to help them out. I did, and the school sent me two boxes of Omaha Steaks, which was pretty cool of them.

                        Over the years I've picked up a lot of do's and don'ts with such gear. My computer work space is located here in the basement of this old 1887-built house. The basement is relative cool with roughly eight-inch thick, poured concrete walls, insulated and semi-finished on the inside and steel-siding with insulation on the outside. We also have central A/C, so year-round it is between 62-70 year round with 50 to 60 % humidity. The only problem is that with heavy rain over a few days, I sometimes get water on the floor, lasting a day or two. Because of that, I have the floor covered with Dri-Core panels that keep the moisture underneath and with the help of a dehumidifier I don't see the humidity rise very much.

                        I buy my paper by the half-case, which from Staples office supply is five reams. I do have other weight or color papers which I buy by the ream and every thing, including toner is kept in the original box/packaging, on a shelf well above the floor.

                        I really don't know what happened to cause this jam, and I've asked Assurion to please let me know the cause. I'll probably never find out, but the request is there. I received my $249.99 voucher late last night and plan go to Staples this afternoon and purchase a new HL-L3270. This past Friday they had only one left, but wouldn't hold it for me. So I'm hoping it is still there. Best Buy has been out-of-stock for awhile now. However, this was the same stocking problem when I purchase mine well over a year ago. They seem to be in short supply!

                        Regarding shipping the damaged unit back, they asked for the toner cartridges to be installed, but didn't care if they were the new or the old and when I explained that I had installed the new color toner cartridges, the tech said to take those out and put the old cartridges back in, which I did. I had all the old packaging, including the plastic straps that lock in and protect the toner cartridges, so everything left here as well protected as when I first opened it up, including the plastic wrap.

                        Thanks for your advisement, it is much appreciated,

                        CWS
                        Think it Through Before You Do!

                        Comment

                        • LCHIEN
                          Internet Fact Checker
                          • Dec 2002
                          • 20920
                          • Katy, TX, USA.
                          • BT3000 vintage 1999

                          #29
                          FWIW, I ordered mine direct from Brother and it was $300 with free shipping and arrived well packed in 2 days by UPS.
                          All the local stores were out and Amazon was ridiculously priced.
                          Loring in Katy, TX USA
                          If your only tool is a hammer, you tend to treat all problems as if they were nails.
                          BT3 FAQ - https://www.sawdustzone.org/forum/di...sked-questions

                          Comment

                          • cwsmith
                            Veteran Member
                            • Dec 2005
                            • 2737
                            • NY Southern Tier, USA.
                            • BT3100-1

                            #30
                            That probably would have been my next exploration step. I was fortunate that my local Staples had the model NIB and the Tech said he hadn't sold one in a couple of weeks, but I was still anxious this morning. I finally got the store gift card late this morning and just now returned with the replacement printer. I had to pay the difference of course and purchase a new 4 Yr protection plan of course. Hopefully this will last a longer time. I'm also inquirering to the toner company, to see if that might have been part of the problem.

                            I appreciate everyone's experience and advice,

                            CWS
                            Think it Through Before You Do!

                            Comment


                            • LCHIEN
                              LCHIEN commented
                              Editing a comment
                              How much was a 4 yr protection plan?
                          Working...