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I skimmed this, but the topic is a known issue with SOHO Brother printers (e.g. 2140, 2170, their 22xx replacements, etc.). There's an optical sensor. When it

I skimmed this, but the topic is a known issue with SOHO Brother printers (e.g. 2140, 2170, their 22xx replacements, etc.). There's an optical sensor. When it triggers, a significant quantity of toner remains in the cartridge. Cover the cartridge's window, and it looks like it's still full of toner. You can get dozens or perhaps a few hundred additional pages, depending on what you print. BTW, this class of Brother has a reputation for being trouble-free (well, one odd day-of-the-week driver bug that I'm aware of) including in *NIX environments, while being dirt cheap if you look for sales. A 2270W network printer having Ethernet, USB, and wireless occasionally drops to $80. You're left deciding whether to purchase a new toner cartridge or an entire new printer (albeit with a lower-capacity "starter" cartridge). These days, you can get a color laser for a couple of hundred. But if you're cranking out a lot of black and white, one of these Brothers makes a good "beater" printer. (The one caveat being the eventual drum replacement. If your printing is really high volume, you might want to look for something with a more durable drum -- although again I think people manage to take Brothers past their official metrics.)

andyking 15y ago
My Brother HL-1250 was rescued from a skip outside a closing-down local authority office where a relative worked. There were at least ten just thrown out in the street. I got it home, it worked perfectly and has done ever since, with no toner change. This was FOUR YEARS ago--they must have thrown it out with a full cartridge. (I still feel a bit guilty when I look at it and see "Property of Cheshire County Council" stamped on the front, but they shouldn't have skipped it!) I agree, the thing is built like a tank. It's not the fastest machine in the world, and it's about as elegant as Kryten from Red Dwarf's head, images are an indistinct mass of foggy grey, but for what I do, churning out black and white text documents, the quality is perfect. It works flawlessly under Ubuntu too. You can't argue with the price, either--but even if you can't nick one from a skip, they're about £20 used. (I've been beaten in the "beater" printer category, though. The workplace I left this week has an HP LaserJet 5 of a 1995 vintage still clunking away in the corner printing news scripts for the radio, with a page count in the 300,000s. I believe it could soon be coming to the end of its life, though, not because it's knackered, but because they've stopped selling the cartridges. I love using old tech like this, for some reason.)
- pasbesoin 15y ago
  There is still a significant used market for the old HP printers, for reasons such as you describe. There have been several posts mentioned/referred to here or elsewhere about how they differ from the current HP SOHO line -- plastic and much less durable, as I understand it. Actually, I'm reminded that a relative has a 4MP purchased... a decade or more ago?, that is still chugging along just fine. It's awfully slow by today's standards, but -- while small and designed for the SOHO -- it is indeed "built like a tank", for the most part. By the way, the Brother 2[1|2]40, 70, etc. look all right, and their image quality is ok (for a basic B/W printer -- don't expect an Ansel Adams print ;-).

andyking 15y ago

My Brother HL-1250 was rescued from a skip outside a closing-down local authority office where a relative worked. There were at least ten just thrown out in the street. I got it home, it worked perfectly and has done ever since, with no toner change. This was FOUR YEARS ago--they must have thrown it out with a full cartridge. (I still feel a bit guilty when I look at it and see "Property of Cheshire County Council" stamped on the front, but they shouldn't have skipped it!) I agree, the thing is built like a tank. It's not the fastest machine in the world, and it's about as elegant as Kryten from Red Dwarf's head, images are an indistinct mass of foggy grey, but for what I do, churning out black and white text documents, the quality is perfect. It works flawlessly under Ubuntu too. You can't argue with the price, either--but even if you can't nick one from a skip, they're about £20 used. (I've been beaten in the "beater" printer category, though. The workplace I left this week has an HP LaserJet 5 of a 1995 vintage still clunking away in the corner printing news scripts for the radio, with a page count in the 300,000s. I believe it could soon be coming to the end of its life, though, not because it's knackered, but because they've stopped selling the cartridges. I love using old tech like this, for some reason.)

pasbesoin 15y ago
There is still a significant used market for the old HP printers, for reasons such as you describe. There have been several posts mentioned/referred to here or elsewhere about how they differ from the current HP SOHO line -- plastic and much less durable, as I understand it. Actually, I'm reminded that a relative has a 4MP purchased... a decade or more ago?, that is still chugging along just fine. It's awfully slow by today's standards, but -- while small and designed for the SOHO -- it is indeed "built like a tank", for the most part. By the way, the Brother 2[1|2]40, 70, etc. look all right, and their image quality is ok (for a basic B/W printer -- don't expect an Ansel Adams print ;-).