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There's so much open source software, firmware, and hardware out there for FDM 3D printers, I doubt they'll ever get as bad as regular printers. It's much more a tinkerers world than 2D printing ever would be.


Are regular printers that bad, if buy brother?

I bought a B/W laser printer and have been generally impressed with the lack of BS that came a long with it.

It did ask for toner once, so I bought something from a third-party.


Some are good, some are bad, buyer beware.

No direct experience, but I recently read[1] Brother HL-L3220CW counts printed pages, and refuses to print after a set number of pages, even if there's still toner in the cartridge. Some models have a way to reset the page count but this one apparently does not.

[1] https://spicausis-lv.translate.goog/2025/01-brother/?_x_tr_s...

(I also use a Brother B/W laser printer, got it second hand for almost nothing, works fine)


Does the printer also refuse to print when using toners not part of the EcoPro subscription, though? Or is this just another case of people expecting their subscription toners/cartridges to last beyond their payment? I can't blame them, the marketing is sneaky about it, I just see it often on threads about HP.

The post did mention the other toners that came with the printer also locked, but I think I remember reading elsewhere that those printers are cheaper precisely because they come with EcoPro-only toners in the box.


I have a L2395DW and its factory cartridge just ran out!

Factory setting is to stop printing. It can be changed to basically print anyway.

That worked, delivering increasingly crappy prints until replacement toner cartridges arrived.

Swapped one in and the machine is back to printing fine.

I did buy aftermarket, cheap as I could find for replacement.

The factory cart still had 5 percent or so, when compared to the new ones, of toner in it.

Haven't had the sam

All said and done I am pretty happy. Toner got well used, replacement was cheap.


I've only made good experiences with laser printers, from very small ones to full-sized copy machines. Some of the more expensive inkjet printers are reportedly also quite good. You are still stuck with the usual horror show that is software from hardware companies, but otherwise it's not so bad. And the occasional paper jam, but 3d printers are no better in terms of reliability

The bad reputation is just from HP's tactic to sell printers cheaper than everyone else, in more stores than anyone else, then make the money back with the scummiest tactics imaginable.


Yep laser printers are the equivalent of modern CoreXY printers with solid auto calibration


Could you name one? Other than the X1. I think I might be in the market for a new printer, but I don’t want to lose quality.


Prusa core one, but given the lack of features I can see why people might choose X1.




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