We'll see how long it goes before the fuser carks it, but so far it's been pretty cost effective, considering the thing itself was £200.
But I think making a simple inkjet printhead is still beyond a hobbyists effort. Laser printer or dot matrix likewise.
update[.]brother[.]co[.]jp -> I blocked this domain and my printer is unable to query for updates. I can still download binaries from Brother's website.
firmverup[.].brother[.]co[.]jp & update-akamai[.]brother[.]co[.]jp Other domains found by people sniffing their printer firmware updates.
I did see posts about HL-L3290CDW and MFC-L8900CDW with the same No Toner symptom but it wasn't clear they ever had firmware updates.
From what I can tell from your link, the OP there had a HL3070CN. It doesn't appear that he updated the firmware or ran into any No Toner errors. He was sharing reports about the 3750. My similar HL3040CW takes 3rd party cartridges (orig firmware).
My vibe is Brother is test-fouling the water to see how it goes. For my part, I'll research how block firmware updates (not all models have an auto update to disable, IP & url blocking might block driver downloads. We shall see).
Just don't give a default router to it. Can't update if can't go out.
"The printers keep track of every page that goes through it whether or not you use any consumables and forces you to replace the toners the belt the drum and the fuser regardless of the actual condition of these parts."
And many other reports.
Note: I have a Brother monochrome laser that is great, but it seems like there are no printer companies left standing that I would buy a printer from now.
My experience is that a, sometimes complicated, series of button presses for a specific amount of times resets the counter and it continues printing like usual. For the model I have the reset procedure is just holding the power button while turning it on for a specific number of seconds.
It does add watermarking (feels like USSR, where KGB took fingerprints of all typewriters), which is despicable, but I think all modern printers do that.
I get stuff printed at the local library now. Yeah, the per-page costs are relatively high, but I'm not amortising the cost of a printer, I don't have to worry about any kind of ink/toner/printhead/other mechanical issues, and any "profit" that's being made goes towards my local library - which I'm totally fine with.
At this point I print so infrequently that going to the print shop for $1 is a more sound decision than spending $100 on a printer i use a handful of times a year.
My wife makes the Christmas cards every year carving a linoleum block, ink-roller, that sort of thing. She also used the laser printer to transfer a design.
Papercraft....
Occasionally a recipe though to add to my recipe book, ha ha.
Main use is that I write music scores which I print (reading them off a tablet won't do). This would be several times a week.
Weekly or so (sometimes more, sometimes less) I print tickets (those with bar codes or QR codes) for concerts and the like. I don't want to rely on a phone for that, my normal phone isn't actually online when I'm not in wifi range and it's cumbersome to drag up a PDF on it. Way easier to bring out a piece of paper from my pocket. And reliable. And yes, boarding passes for flights as well. Reliability is even more important there..
EditAdd: And labels for post packages. It's cheaper to prepare that online and print the label myself, then bring the package to the post office where they'll clamp a transparent plastic sheet over it. If they have to do the label at the post office it'll cost more. It's because when I enter the address etc. online then it'll go directly into their database, and that's why it's more expensive if the post office has to enter it.
My wife has a small class for which she needs to print learning material she's made for her pupils, each time. She also occasionally need to make color prints, and for that we use an HP bought years ago (and deliberately never given Internet access). For the other mentioned stuff we use a b/w laser printer.
None of the above is really feasible for printing at a print shop, would have to drive ten minutes and (these days) go through a toll booth as well. In fact I'm very close to buying another b/w laser printer so that I don't have to go upstairs to get my printouts - I would like to have one real close. Was looking into a low-cost (and small) Brother laser printer for that - now I see they're into shenanigans as well, will have to check carefully before I go further.
So, unlike some other commenters here, I find having a printer (or several) at home is still a must for me. I use print shops only for printing photos (at dedicated photo shops).
Oh and return labels for packages.
Also coloring pages for kids.
If I print the label myself I can just leave it in a box in the store without waiting in line, or better yet, give it to the delivery man next time he comes around.
Seems like a small inconsequential, or rare benefit. But with three kids the delivery guy is by our house every other day
(There's an easily-found way to reset toner counts, for example, and get anther 25-50% more pages from a cartridge. Although I no longer use it as running out of toner mid-job is a hassle. The toner is cheap enough, and long-lasting enough, that I happily set-and-forget with their auto-order system.)
The only thing that's bothered me about them is they're making it harder and harder to figure out how to return toner cartridges for recycling.
The other one (with the bigger Pagewides at least): they had a problem with the formulation of the black ink, where the constituents would separate over time. They changed the formulation and that formulation doesn't dry properly on their own photo paper. I wanted optimal quality photos, so I went through the specific calibration function for the HP Advanced photo paper. Because of the way the machine shuffles the page back and forth in the machine to perform the calibration, all the black was smudged and the calibration would fail every time. When HP support eventually realized I had a point, they told me calibration on HP Advanced photo paper is "not supported." I bet they remove it as an option in later firmware, if they haven't already. I have never dealt with a more user-hostile company than HP.
That said, I find business grade HP laser printers superior to the Brother printers at that price point, and they don’t have any of the shenanigans you find in consumer-grade printers from most brands.
Still printing with it.
I returned a cartridge at Staples, a few years ago. I think they offered $1-2, not much, but happy they took it. Also try Office Depot.
(Jets clog, hard to unclog)