mrs.m Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 How often do you have to replace the print drum in a Brother laser printer? The HP guy at Best Buy told me every two cartridges. :glare: I'm pretty sure he wanted me to buy an HP. ;) He said HPs get a new drum with the new cartridge. The price of the HP on Amazon isn't too bad right now but I was set on the Brother until this conversation. Opinions either way on either one? Has this drum replacement been an issue? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrs.m Posted July 22, 2012 Author Share Posted July 22, 2012 sorry. I meant to post this in the General Forum. Feel free to respond, but I'm x-posting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in VA Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 I have a Brother all-in-one I bought in 2008 and have never replaced anything but the ink cartridges. I don't know anything about HP printers. Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itsheresomewhere Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 (edited) My Brother laser printer is about 5 years old and I haven't replaced the drum yet. I probably should sometime in the next year. No offense to anyone on here who has a family member who works at Best Buy but I would not take any advice from an Best Buy employee. They just seem to know the brands they sell but nothing really technical. Go to a office supply place and talk to them. Then price compare on the internet. Edited July 22, 2012 by itsheresomewhere Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HiddenJewel Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 I've never replaced the drum on my HP Laser. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrs.m Posted July 22, 2012 Author Share Posted July 22, 2012 I've never replaced the drum on my HP Laser. His point was that you will never have to. It is built into the ink cartridge. Have you been satisfied with it? A lot of people here love Brother. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aoife Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 I love brother and HATE HP :lol: That said I do not have to replace my drums but I do clean them when I refill them with toner. I get my toner bottles really cheap off ebay and it is super easy to replace the toner on your own and drastically reduces the cost per sheet which adds up when you print a lot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beth83 Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 I love brother and HATE HP :lol: That said I do not have to replace my drums but I do clean them when I refill them with toner. I get my toner bottles really cheap off ebay and it is super easy to replace the toner on your own and drastically reduces the cost per sheet which adds up when you print a lot! How do you do this? Can I probably google it? Did you have any prior experience? I would hate to mess up the brother that we just bought, but this idea appeals to me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizzyBee Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 (edited) How often do you have to replace the print drum in a Brother laser printer? The HP guy at Best Buy told me every two cartridges. :glare: I'm pretty sure he wanted me to buy an HP. ;) He said HPs get a new drum with the new cartridge. The price of the HP on Amazon isn't too bad right now but I was set on the Brother until this conversation. Opinions either way on either one? Has this drum replacement been an issue? I had a Brother laser printer and now have an HP. The HP print cartridge includes a drum, so you never have to replace just the drum. The Brother print cartridges don't include a drum, so they're cheaper, but when the drum goes out, a new one costs more than replacing the printer. I will never buy another Brother. HP printers last practically forever and I'm very happy with mine. I've had my HP for at least 6 years and it's still gong strong. My Brother printer only lasted 2 or 3 years. Edited July 22, 2012 by LizzyBee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ecclecticmum Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 I broke my brother laser printer....maybe it needs the drum replacing....but since I don't know whether I just broke it or its the drum, I'm certainly not paying out the $$$ for the drum to find out. Its coming out with splodges everywhere, so I assume I broke the reflective roller thing. :001_huh: Which I think is part of the drum. I purchased an Epson Workforce 633, it doesn't tell me to do anything other than replace the seperate ink cartridges, and I usually ignore that until it won't print no more (DH has more than once covered the sensor, as theres always way more ink in there). I'm looking into a continuous Ink system (I found a person doing a tutorial on youtube for how to install it) trouble is, I know I want pigment dyes, and trying to figure out cost per page for pigment vs cartridge is info I can't find. Another problem with the CISS is that I'm afraid the kids would get at the bottles. I want a colour laser system thats cheap, cheap to run and doesn't want me replacing parts all the time....I can dream, but somehow, I don't think thats going to become a reality. I love laser printers, I hate HP. Every single HP I got has broken (like dang kaput), the Brother printer was my fault, for getting "all up in its stuff" :lol: so don't blame that on the brother. My old work had Brother printers & copiers that were all years and years old (about 10-15 years) they went in for a service every now and again (maintenance, not anything unusual) and they worked all of the time, never had a problem. If you do get a Brother, I advise you through all that is great, do not touch the reflective roller :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aoife Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 How do you do this? Can I probably google it? Did you have any prior experience? I would hate to mess up the brother that we just bought, but this idea appeals to me! the toner comes w/ pretty detailed instructions. on our old printer the hubs made a small home with a soldering iron to inject the toner into then used a special sticker included in the kit to cover said hole. In our newer brother the replacement drum we bought right off the bat because the replacements have a stopper in them so all you have to do is pop out the stopper and refill. there are also instructions on how to clean the drum ect. the hubs does all these things but I am pretty sure it involves rubbing alcohol and a lintfree cloth. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HiddenJewel Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 His point was that you will never have to. It is built into the ink cartridge. Have you been satisfied with it? A lot of people here love Brother. I got my HP Laser off Freecycle 4 years ago and it still going strong. I even use the knock off cartridges. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondeviolin Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 We've had our HP for 6 years and it still runs fine. The toner replacement has gotten significantly cheaper in the last little bit. I can replace one cartridge for $15-$20 depending. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrs.m Posted July 22, 2012 Author Share Posted July 22, 2012 (edited) well, it sounds like either one will be good. I have no opinion on either brand. My ink jets have been Canon and Kodak. I'm happy with the Canon's photo printing but I prefered Kodak's lower price ink. I still have both. I found a Brother compatible replacement drum on Amazon for $15. And the actual replacement drum says it works for 12,000 copies! Surely the first one would last that long? I'm still thinking on it though... Edited July 22, 2012 by jannylynn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mystika1 Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 (edited) I have two printers. One brother dcp 7040 laser printer that I have had for at least 5 years. The drum is going out. I have printed well over 12,000 pages and I can get a replacement online for $30. Bestbuy sells them for over $100! Toner refill bottles on ebay is super cheap. My advice is to purchase toner and any needed drums online. My second printer is a Brother mfc j430w inkjet. I have purchased a refillable ciss(continuous ink system) set of cartridges for my printer on ebay. http://www.ebay.com/itm/130695548057?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649#ht_2221wt_1041 This is wayyyyy cheaper than buying cartridges. They hold over twice the ink that the normal cartridges do. Now I buy ink in bulk. Just thought I'd pass this on to inkjet users. Penny Edited July 22, 2012 by mystika1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 The Brother drums usually last about 12,000+ pages, so no, you don't have to replace it every other toner replacement. The high yield toner cartridges are 2600+ pages (I get more than that). The starter toner that comes with the machine is 700+ pages (I got 1000, using "toner save" mode). The drum that comes with the machine is a regular drum, so it should last a long time. By time the drum needs replacing, I'll probably be ready to upgrade the printer anyway, though if it's only $30, that's not a big deal. My brand name toner is $44 on Amazon, and generic is even cheaper (I use brand name for now). I've had to replace toner once, and I've had this printer for about a year and a half, I think? I would recommend comparing cost per page of toner/drum for the printers you're looking at. If there is a significant price difference, that could help your choice. For example, if the HP toner cartridge with drum included costs more than the Brother, you may find it all evens out in the end. Also look at features. Make sure you're only looking at printers that have automatic duplex. It's worth its weight in gold. :) And are you wanting copy/scan features, or just a printer? My DH has an HP OfficeJet 8600 Plus (ink, not laser), and the scanning capabilities on that thing have been soooooo wonderful. It claims to have cheaper cost per page than a laser printer, but I don't know if that's true. We haven't had it long enough to need to replace any ink. It is a monster of a machine though, so takes up lots of space. I just love sticking in a stack of papers and having it scan them in, both sides (!), and save the scans as a single PDF on my USB stick. Then I can print it out on my laser whenever I need to. It can scan up to 50 pages at a time (100 sides total). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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