Could anyone please recommend a cheap laser printer for the home use? We only need to print about 50 pages a year. Both of us go to the office every day but we don't want to use the office for person things. I don't care so much about WiFi or printing speed. Our last laser printer lasted 13 years (Cannon, about $400 in 2010, probably bigger than I need). Thanks.
Cheap laser printer
sunshinenz on 07/01/2024 - 15:07
Comments
Well here is my argument for Brother laser.
I have this Brother HLL2375DW Mono Laser Printer bought 4 years ago. I probably print around 20-30 pages/month on avg at home. Still running the original cartridge. No complaints what so ever. Only regret sometimes I have is wish had bought the all in one of the same model as once in a while need to get copies of official documents.
I bought it after 2 of my friends have similar one for more than 5 years now. Also, I know someone who has few of the same one across multiple businesses and no issues either.
There is a cheaper model on sale currently which is without wifi
Brother Home HLL2310D Mono Laser Printer
Second hand is a good option if you can get some business model. One downside I had was the size of the printer for home use.
Would like to know what is really awful about brother laser though?
Maybe I just had a bad run, but I'm happy with the alternatives I have chosen instead. Of the few brother printers I've had the misfortune of owning, borrowing or attempting to repair (sorry, can't give numbers, but I'm guessing 4-5 over the years), all had quirky or half-baked features, or had a weird error code that basically bricked it (two from memory with this issue). Also it seems to me that Brother has cornered the "dirt cheap printer, expensive toner" market, one I disagree with, like DRM, on principle.
Maybe they've gotten better over the years, but once bitten, twice shy. I'd much rather spend $50 and save a far better printer from landfill.
Yeah, we've had great value from our Brother HL-1210W mono laser we bought many years ago now for $100. I don't print too often so it's great to not deal with inkjet drying out.
A cartridge lasts forever too, I think we're on to our 2nd one.We use it plugged directly in, the built in WiFi wasn't the best.
Also after a while the drum or whatever gets dirty and you get black dots all over your print outs. Not an issue for us, but could be for others if looking at the HL-1210W. (though Brother did give us a free replacement when we complained about it a few years ago, but a year later the black dots/spots came back)Other then that, it just work, all of the time. It can sit there dormant for months, and you can send it a print job and out it pops.
Oh also, you can get aftermarket toner, at least for our model, which is much cheaper, seems to work the same as Brother's (this isn't the cause for our black dots, as it happened on official toner too).
But, buying a 2nd hand office laser printer does sound like a solid idea. Our place uses a Xerox printer and that thing prints so much and just works forever (and has no black dots issue).
Where do you find the good ones second hand, trademe? I looked for exlease one but didn't come up with much.
Yep, I've had success on TM. You may have to keep an eye on it, like the retail stores most of the second hand laser printers there are Brother or HP. Last year it took me a few days, this year it was a few weeks before I found one that was on for $1 reserve with $75 buy now. I opted for bidding, which worked out well and as always used BidBud to seal the deal.
As with all printer purchases, check online reviews to make sure the model you're getting isn't a dud, and ask for photos with recent printouts, including the status page, which should show the number of pages and toner/drum life. Also check the cost of name brand and after market toner so you know what you're getting yourself into.
Good luck!
Not many if at all (I didn't see any) laser printer deals and cashbacks last year compared to pre 2021
I have https://www.noelleeming.co.nz/p/hp-mono-laserjet-printer---m…
Its cheap, handy to print off phone etc. Works fine if you need a basic B&W printer.
Like you, only print very rarely.
Any particular reason you want to go laser?
For me I'm also a fan of second hand. But ink-jet. Main reason is with a slightly older model cartridges are dirt cheap via aliexpress, Trade Me etc. and you get colour printing plus scanning still with a small footprint.
Current printer is a Epson XP-540 with scan, copy, wifi etc cost me $20. Full set of cartridges around $15
I got a Canon colour ink jet printer for a net price of $19 (after cash back, deal posted on cheapies) a few years ago. The sample cartridge lasted about 50 pages, bought a third-party cartridge from trademe for $65 from a seller recommended by a cheapie), it lasted something like 20 pages. Never again.
In addition to the absurd cost, I also like the way that ink jet cartridges will just dry up if you don't use your printer often "enough".
Our laser printer is one of the best things I ever bought (an HP, decades ago, back when they weren't evil).
I think you mean, you don't like the way inkjet cartridges dry up. Anyway, I agree, this is the biggest reason we got a B&W laser too. That and inkjet gobbled up the ink like you wouldn't believe, especially when you don't use it for a while to prevent it from drying up… at our cost.
But if you want to print photos or something, there isn't really any way around inkjet. Laser colour just doesn't hit the same.
We bought this one last year and like it. We don't usually print very often (although wife is now studying), but got fed up with ink printers drying out etc. And the document feeder/scanner is very useful even if you seldom use it.
https://www.thewarehouse.co.nz/p/brother-mfc-l2713dw-mono-la…
Just went through this looking for a cheap colour laser, and I recommend going second hand.
Short rant: The "new" market is flooded with HP and Brother printers. Brother is just awful and don't last (many will vehemently argue against this, so ymmv), and HP printers (once at the pinnacle of laser printer quality) are so encumbered with DRM these days, I can't on principle recommend them.
So for the second time in as many years (once for the office and now for home) I've ended up with an excellent second hand Fuji Xerox colour laser printer for around $50, about 3/4 full of toner, and it's only done a bit over 2000 pages.
Brands I would recommend: any office grade printer from Canon, Ricoh or Fuji Xerox. Oki I think are OK, but they seem to be disappearing.