Brother HL-2170W 23ppm Laser Printer with Wireless and Wired Network Interfaces by BROTHER
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Digital camera reviews of Brother HL-2170W 23ppm Laser Printer with Wireless and Wired Network Interfaces
Digital camera Review: A solid and cost-effective printer - with stupidly complicated wireless setup and deceptive low-toner sensor
Summary: 3 Stars
This printer is fairy easy to set up and get going - if you don't deal with the wireless set up.
And the unit itself and laser printing is more cost effective than inkjets - if the goofy toner sensor doesn't prematurely indicate you're out of ink.
I'm not a technophobe, but it took me over an hour to set this printer up on my wireless network. The instructions were like 20 pages long. Really? I felt like I completed a Rubic's cube when I finally got it to print wirelessly. The same process with a Lexmark inkjet was idiot-proof and took 10 minutes.
More recently, the "toner" light indicated the printer was out of toner and refused to print. Again, really? I just bought it a few months ago and maybe printed 200 pages with it. An internet search showed me that the issue was likely caused by a sensor that (in effect) caused people to replace the toner cartridge before it was empty. There was even a [...] article by someone who went through the same experience. [...]
Anywho, by putting a small piece of electrical tape over the lens, the printer was fooled into thinking it had a fresh cartridge and has been printing fine.
Digital camera Review: A step backwards for Brother Printers
Summary: 2 Stars
I've been buying Brother printer and fax products for over 20 years because they historically treated their customers with far more respect than other printer companies, such as HP. Sadly, those days are gone.
My older Brother networked printer bit the dust last month when I changed the toner cartridge, after running just one year. Since I had liked it (except for it's early demise) I went looking for the current version of the same item, and ended up with the HL-2170W. Unfortunately this brother printer has the following obnoxious qualities, which were NOT a problem in the older one:
* It ships with a "teaser" nearly empty toner cartridge, so I have to buy a new one soon (my old Brother died when I replaced the cartridge - will this one die too?).
* The Driver installation copied hundreds of files to my hard disk and made numerous entries to the windows registry. 95% of this mess is NOT printer drivers, it's bloatware and spyware which my firewall caught "phoning home".
* It does not use the same toner cartridge as my other Brother printer - they gratuitously changed the form factor.
* It sucks power - the lights dim whenever it prints.
HP, Dell and Canon all do similar things, (in fact HP INVENTED sleazy printer marketing) but I thought Brother was more honest. Sadly, not anymore.
If this printer lasts a few years and I can find a "decrapified" version of their driver online, I MAY someday buy another Brother product. The Canon Pixma my kids use seems to now be a better product - it's only fault is it too comes with nearly-empty ink tanks.
It gets a few stars since it makes decent prints so far, and the Wifi works and was reasonably painless to install. After all, Brother is just sinking to the low levels of their competitors.
Digital camera Review: A terrific printer
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this printer because it was small, wireless, fast, and outputs a ton of pages on the cheap. The wireless set up was a breeze. Now that it's set up, I can print from anywhere using my Macbook Pro. This is a terrific printer for the price. It will handle all of your everyday printing needs flawlessly.Digital camera Review: A very good laser printer for home or small office use
Summary: 5 Stars
Brother HL-2170W is a very good laser printer for personal or small office use. I bought it for my personal home use. Initially I though that I would buy a color inkjet printer. However, after a lot of research, I settled on this one.
I am not disappointed at all. The printer is comparatively easy to setup, though I am using it hardwired, through an USB cable.
It takes less than 10 seconds, which is really a charm, comparing to the bigger HP laserjet printer at my office, that can take upto a few minutes. It is a bit noisy, but
is bearable.
The quality of the printer is excellent event compared to that of the bigger ones. Overall, this is really a value for money.
Digital camera Review: A workhorse for the home office!
Summary: 4 Stars
I purchased this printer in November, 2007, and it has been a champion ever since! As a graduate student pursuing a Master's degree, I burned through a whole toner cartridge in one semester printing journal articles, web postings, and draft and final papers I needed for school. The reliability has been great, print quality is awesome, and speed is excellent. The graphics and text are very good, even at draft setting, which is a great way to save toner. As indicated in other reviews, when you're low toner light comes on, place some electrical tape over the windows on the cartridge, and you will get several hundered more pages of output before needing to replace it. (I find this bit of "planned obsolesence" on the part of the manufacturer to be a bit disengenuous to say the least).
My only concern is that setting up the wireless printing with my router can be a bit of a challenge, and heaven forbid you upgrade to Windows Vista or Windows 7, as finding the correct drivers and running setup is an incredible challenge. Having said that, it is well worth the money I've invested in it ($99 for the printer at Costco, $75 for two toner cartridges in 3 years). Far more cost effective than any ink jet out there. I believe Brother also makes a color version that is inexpensive as well.