Question for Brother laser printer owners

[Misha]

I'm printer shopping, which means I look and research and research some more. 

My main question regarding Brother laser printers (most likely a monochrome) is how often do you need to change the drum? Toner? 

 

 

I hate being wasteful and don't want to throw out a perfectly good printer and just buy a new one like I've had many friends suggest. 

 

 

Answers appreciated. TIA!

 

 

[bagel270]

I just got mine a few months ago, and I haven't had to change the toner yet. So, not an answer to your question. But I love the printer. We had a long line of HP printers that last two or three years. The thing is fast. Just wait until yours dies, and then get a new one.

 

[jewellsmommy]

We have a pretty simple Brother laser jet (B&W). It does print on both sides of paper (auto) which is important to me as it saves paper. When I was doing heavy duty printing for curriculum and what-not for 2 kids, then we replaced the toner about once every 9 months to a year. This last toner has lasted about a year and a half. We have not changed the drum yet. I have had ours for about 6 years.

 

eta: ours was $99 on sale from officemax

Edited April 14, 2017 by jewellsmommy

[Guest]

I'm shocked at how long our toner lasts.  We don't print a lot anymore, but even when we did, it was at least a year or maybe more.  

 

I have to say I get extra life out of the toner by doing this:  when you get the "toner low" light, don't run out and replace the toner cartridge. Take it out and shake it gently side to side.  Keep it level, just go side to side.  Put it back in.  You'll get about 20% more life out of that cartridge, I think.  It's all a guess, but when I do this, it prints dark again for quite a while.

 

[itsheresomewhere]

We get the high yield to we and change it once a year ( we are heavy use printers). We have owned this printer for 5+years and just changed the drum last year.

[bethben]

I've had mine a little over 10 years. I replaced the drum about year 7 or 8. When I was printing more, I changed the toner about once a year. I never had luck with he knock off brother toner cartridges. I always buy name brand.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jewellsmommy]

I'm shocked at how long our toner lasts.  We don't print a lot anymore, but even when we did, it was at least a year or maybe more.  

 

I have to say I get extra life out of the toner by doing this:  when you get the "toner low" light, don't run out and replace the toner cartridge. Take it out and shake it gently side to side.  Keep it level, just go side to side.  Put it back in.  You'll get about 20% more life out of that cartridge, I think.  It's all a guess, but when I do this, it prints dark again for quite a while.

:iagree: we do this too!

[sarasue7272]

Mine lasts a long, long time. Recently I bought off brand toner for the first time. It included directions for reseting the printer to get more pages out of the old toner. It worked! 

I have the HL-2270 wireless. It is a great printer, I have had it close to 10 years and it is still great. Even paying $80 for name brand toner, it hurts to buy it, but I get over it quick since buy it less than once a year.

[SparklyUnicorn]

We've had ours for oh gee 10 years and only now need to change the drums.  The other stuff about once a year.  Sometimes more if we use it a lot.  We have a scanner/coper/printer combo.

 

It's an MFC-9010CN

[kbutton]

I've had mine for three years or so, and I changed the drum recently. I used an off-brand drum, and it's working fine. I make copies for our small co-op as well, so it's really been used a ton.

 

I bought off-brand cartridges for the first time, and they are doing all right.

 

The brand name high yield cartridges last a long time, and the shaking trick sometimes works several times! 

 

We had an ink jet for a long time before this, and it was crazy expensive. I buy a lot more .pdf curriculum now, and that has also saved me considerable money even when accounting for printing stuff. 

 

I buy paper on sale, rebate, etc. since we have a Staples close by.

[mamaraby]

I print a lot and have two Brother lasers (color and b&w). I use non-OEM for the B&W from one place only. Haven't had luck with the others. I use Brother cartridges with the color. With the B&W, maybe not quite twice a year? For the color, I'm still using the cartridges that came with the printer after resetting them. So maybe once a year on that one.

[PeachyDoodle]

We've had our laser monochrome Brother two or three years and have had to buy toner twice. However, the second time was several months ago, when the printer first started saying the toner was low, and we've yet to actually have to install the new one (getting close though). I would say that we're medium-quantity printer users.

 

We have never had to replace the drum. I consider our Brother an extremely good buy.

[gstharr]

each work station at my office has a hl-2320d. great work horse. each station goes through 2-3 per year. have had no problems using generic replacements.

[slackermom]

Dh is a fairly high volume user of his Brother laser printer. I estimate that the drum is replaced every 2-3 years, and the high yield toner is replaced about every 6 months.

[extendedforecast]

We have model mfc9970 I think. Dh uses it daily, while I use it less often, say once a week I'll print out a few things. I would estimate that we change black toner every six months and color every 9-12 months. I highly recommend buying brother toner. We once purchased a knock off to save money. It was a mess that ended up with us having to dump the cheap toner and get the printer serviced.

[Mergath]

We have the monochrome basic version. The toner gets changed about every year and a half to two years, depending on how much I print out. We've had it for around four years now, and still haven't had to change the drum. I paid under a hundred for the printer itself and I buy generic (but reputable and with great reviews) toner off Amazon for something like ten bucks. It was a fantastic investment.

[Misha]

Wow, thanks everyone! Such great information and it's making me certain about going this route!

 

I really appreciate everyone who took the time to read my post and respond. Again, thank you.

[Forget-Me-Not]

Ours is color. I'd say the toner cartridges get changed every 12-18 months. I keep it on default B&W and toner save mode and just manually change the settings if I want something different. I do print out our Math Mammoth and some other things in color.

[luuknam]

We've had one for a few years and I replaced the black one a few months ago. But I used to not print stuff very often, and that's beginning to change. 

[Suzanne in ABQ]

The first cartridge may be a starter cartridge, and may not have as much toner as a full one.  It should say in the paperwork if this is the case.  Don't worry if you don't get as much out of it as you expect.  

 

Also, read the directions carefully when you set it up.  It may have been tipped during shipping which will cause the dry toner to bunch up on one end of the cartridge.  Take the time to hold it level and gently shake it right and left, to even out the toner.  

 

Make sure you get all the tape and other packing items out of the machine before you power it up.  There may even be a bracket or two that have to be removed with a screwdriver.  Follow the instructions and you should be fine.

[kitten18]

For my home printer, I change toner ever 6-10 months.

 

We own a business and have several Brother printers at our office. They all need new toner every 2-6 months. I think only the oldest one (9 years old) has had a new drum.

 

I buy only generic toner (from E-Z Ink on Amazon). We've never had any problems with the dozens of cartridges we've used. The money saved by buying 3-4 rounds of generic toner could buy a whole new printer.

[RootAnn]

I was starting to get worried because other "high use" people can go a year without changing their toner. We are high use b&w users and reverberating 6-8 months per cartridge with the shaking and extended use tips.

I think some people's high use and other people-s high use are different.

I have tried both off brand and name brand cartridges, but don't have a good feel yet for a difference. We are only in year 2-3 of ownership, so fairly new!

[SparklyUnicorn]

I was starting to get worried because other "high use" people can go a year without changing their toner. We are high use b&w users and reverberating 6-8 months per cartridge with the shaking and extended use tips.

I think some people's high use and other people-s high use are different.

I have tried both off brand and name brand cartridges, but don't have a good feel yet for a difference. We are only in year 2-3 of ownership, so fairly new!

 

Oh very true!  I am sure there were some years I was changing it a lot more than once a year.  As it is now I've only got 2 kids.  They type most of their things and just save it rather than print everything out.  Nobody is really doing anything like worksheets anymore.  I don't have e-books that I print out.  Beyond school stuff I hardly ever use the copier/printer for anything else.  Maybe tax forms and the occasional other random document. 

 

But even at its highest use I probably got 6 months out of it.  It's an expense for sure, but overall not too bad I don't think.

[RootAnn]

I have a Lexmark color 3-in-1 that was my dedicated workhorse before the Brother. I changed out the B&W cartridge on that 4-6x per year and the color one 2-3x per year. The ink costs almost as much as a Brother toner cartridge (using brand name replacements & not refilling because the Lexmark is very finicky about generics & refills). Now, I change the B&W out 2-3x per year and the color one a solid 2x/year. It ends up slightly cheaper for me to have the Brother & run my B&W printing on it.

 

I go through 10-15 reams of paper a year, I think. Some years more, some less. (500 pages per ream x 10 reams = 5,000 pages. My brother toner says it'll go 2,600 pages.)

[Misha]

Next question - color or monochrome??? Our inkjet printer died a couple of years ago and anytime I've wanted anything printed, my husband prints it out for me at his office or at Staples.

 

We don't print a ton in color, but I keep thinking what if I realize I need a color printer. My husband suggested seeing if I spend more than $150 per year on color printing, and if so - get a second color laser printer, and if not - don't. Again, I hate to spend money that I don't need to. 

 

 

In case anyone thinks I'm being ridiculous worrying over this (and I know I am) - I've been so anxious about world affairs that I've become extra focused on little things in my own life that I can control.

[TrixieB]

There is a Brother laser printer toner "secret" -- you can change one of the settings to tell the printer to keep printing even when the toner is low.

 

You'll have to google for the instructions; they might be model-dependent.

 

My Brother laser printer has been telling me "low toner" and "replace the toner" for MONTHS but the printouts look fine IMO.  Before I changed the settings to "keep printing" the printer stopped when it thought the toner was low, and wouldn't print anything until I replaced the cartridge.

[TrixieB]

Next question - color or monochrome??? Our inkjet printer died a couple of years ago and anytime I've wanted anything printed, my husband prints it out for me at his office or at Staples.

 

We don't print a ton in color, but I keep thinking what if I realize I need a color printer. My husband suggested seeing if I spend more than $150 per year on color printing, and if so - get a second color laser printer, and if not - don't. Again, I hate to spend money that I don't need to. 

 

 

In case anyone thinks I'm being ridiculous worrying over this (and I know I am) - I've been so anxious about world affairs that I've become extra focused on little things in my own life that I can control.

 

Does your library let cardholders print for free?  I have a card for a library that does this, and can print 25 color pages per day for free.

 

[prairiewindmomma]

I'm printer shopping, which means I look and research and research some more. 

 

My main question regarding Brother laser printers (most likely a monochrome) is how often do you need to change the drum? Toner? 

 

 

I hate being wasteful and don't want to throw out a perfectly good printer and just buy a new one like I've had many friends suggest. 

 

 

Answers appreciated. TIA!

 

Drum = 10-11,000 prints

Toner = 2,000 prints

[Misha]

Does your library let cardholders print for free?  I have a card for a library that does this, and can print 25 color pages per day for free.

 

That's a great idea (lucky you!) but our library is all about the money.  

[PeachyDoodle]

There is a Brother laser printer toner "secret" -- you can change one of the settings to tell the printer to keep printing even when the toner is low.

 

You'll have to google for the instructions; they might be model-dependent.

 

My Brother laser printer has been telling me "low toner" and "replace the toner" for MONTHS but the printouts look fine IMO.  Before I changed the settings to "keep printing" the printer stopped when it thought the toner was low, and wouldn't print anything until I replaced the cartridge.

 

Yep. Mine does this, and I haven't had to change any settings. It pops up with a notice every time I print, but I just ignore it. I ordered toner back in September when it started saying it was getting low, and it's been sitting unopened ever since. I've only recently started noticing a real change in print quality, so I think it's about time to switch it out.

 

As for b&w vs. color... We went with b&w because it was cheaper, and we just don't HAVE to use color that often. If you don't print much in color, it might be worth it just to pay at Staples or someplace when you do need color copies. We have an old HP inkjet that does color, but the ink is so ridiculous I've really quit using it. I hated that all the ink cartridges must be full to print anything, even just b&w. It's a rip-off, IMO. I had a color laser (not a Brother) eons ago but it was a very finicky piece of equipment. I personally probably wouldn't go that route again, but YMMV, obviously.

[Misha]

PeachyDoodle - I LOVE your homeschool name. I've loved the Narnia books so much since I was nine that we gave our youngest the middle name 'Aravis'. 

 

Edited: to clean up a sentence

Edited April 16, 2017 by Misha

[kitten18]

Drum = 10-11,000 prints

Toner = 2,000 prints

I've seen that before. That would mean you're changing the drum for every 20 reams of paper. Our drums have lasted at least 3x that long.

[kitten18]

Next question - color or monochrome??? Our inkjet printer died a couple of years ago and anytime I've wanted anything printed, my husband prints it out for me at his office or at Staples.

 

We don't print a ton in color, but I keep thinking what if I realize I need a color printer. My husband suggested seeing if I spend more than $150 per year on color printing, and if so - get a second color laser printer, and if not - don't. Again, I hate to spend money that I don't need to.

 

 

In case anyone thinks I'm being ridiculous worrying over this (and I know I am) - I've been so anxious about world affairs that I've become extra focused on little things in my own life that I can control.

I did ok with a monochrome for several years, I just had Dh print color stuff at the office for me.

I've had my color printer for a almost two years and I love it. More important is that it's a copier, my old one was just a printer.

 

I have the MFC9330. It's awesome. ðŸ˜

I think a monochrome with the same features would be significantly less.

[prairiewindmomma]

I've seen that before. That would mean you're changing the drum for every 20 reams of paper. Our drums have lasted at least 3x that long.

 

I wonder what you're doing differently that it lasts so much longer.

 

Our light came on at a little over 11,000 prints this last time. I went a few hundred prints more, and then it developed a blank spot that indicated that it clearly needed to be replaced.

[kitten18]

I wonder what you're doing differently that it lasts so much longer.

 

Our light came on at a little over 11,000 prints this last time. I went a few hundred prints more, and then it developed a blank spot that indicated that it clearly needed to be replaced.

I don't know. The printers are at our office and I know no one is taking extra good care of them. I'm pretty sure the only machine we've replaced the drum in is 9 years old.

[PrincessMommy]

Ours has lasted a long time.  One of the things I do like is that it will remind you that the toner is low of course.  Don't believe it.  Keep going until YOU see a difference in the quality.   I don't remember the last time we changed toner - over a year for sure.   My previous printer (not laser) would stop working when it decided the ink was low.   The only thing I miss about the ink jet is  the color printer.