2 ms·

I don't know Brother, but Xerox and HP do their own toner/ink R&D and both have in-house labs. Inks are not "simple science". I don't object people using 3rd p

I don't know Brother, but Xerox and HP do their own toner/ink R&D and both have in-house labs. Inks are not "simple science". I don't object people using 3rd party replacements, but if/when quality goes down with 3rd party refills, blaming the manufacturer is the easy way out. I prefer to use original cartridges because even if my printer's color inks are dye based, they do not fade and change colors after 5+ years under normal conditions (I print photos with it sometimes), and I don't know the dye/pigment quality of the 3rd party cartridges yet alone their color rendering. Heck, even something relatively simple like fountain pen inks have thousand different properties, and they all behave slightly differently. Some inks do not work well with some pens, even. Everybody has their favorite pen, without even noticing, too. Thinking that a much more complex assembly to work as equal to its first part counterpart is a bit optimistic. Esp. if you're going for the cheapest.

tonyarkles 2y ago
I agree with you wholeheartedly and definitely have my favourite (refillable, only refilled with genuine ink) pen. My bias with respect to the headline is that it seems, to me, highly improbable that Brother specifically would pull a stunt like this because their laser printers seem to be bulletproof. Plus their genuine toner cartridges aren’t ridiculously overpriced. HP? Lexmark? I wouldn’t be surprised even a little bit. These two definitely seem like they’re in the razors and blades market. They sell you the printer and then pull all sorts of stunts to get recurring revenue out of you. Epson? They’ve historically been pretty good about not disrupting inkjet refills and recently have started selling inkjets where you just refill them with a relatively cheap bottle of ink. Brother? As far as my own experiences go they seem to be in the business of selling you a printer that’s going to last a decade and then hope you come back for another one down the road. My current HL-2270dw was purchased in 2012. I can still get toner for it at Staples. It still works amazingly well. I might replace it soon but only because I’m starting to need to be able to print 11x17 mechanical drawings. Or maybe I get an Epson inkjet with the refillable ink wells and keep the brother for day to day use.

tonyarkles 2y ago

I agree with you wholeheartedly and definitely have my favourite (refillable, only refilled with genuine ink) pen. My bias with respect to the headline is that it seems, to me, highly improbable that Brother specifically would pull a stunt like this because their laser printers seem to be bulletproof. Plus their genuine toner cartridges aren’t ridiculously overpriced. HP? Lexmark? I wouldn’t be surprised even a little bit. These two definitely seem like they’re in the razors and blades market. They sell you the printer and then pull all sorts of stunts to get recurring revenue out of you. Epson? They’ve historically been pretty good about not disrupting inkjet refills and recently have started selling inkjets where you just refill them with a relatively cheap bottle of ink. Brother? As far as my own experiences go they seem to be in the business of selling you a printer that’s going to last a decade and then hope you come back for another one down the road. My current HL-2270dw was purchased in 2012. I can still get toner for it at Staples. It still works amazingly well. I might replace it soon but only because I’m starting to need to be able to print 11x17 mechanical drawings. Or maybe I get an Epson inkjet with the refillable ink wells and keep the brother for day to day use.