I had a contrary experience and I stopped buying laser printers. I had to toss two Brother lasers in the trash because Brother's customer service on warranty repairs required more hoops than I was willing to deal with.
Meanwhile, I ended up with an HP OfficeJet Pro 8620 that was recommended years ago by The Wirecutter and I use HP's ink subscription service. It's never failed on me. It never jams. No fuser or toner to worry about. Ink just magically shows up at my house when I need it. The old cartridges go back to HP for recycling. It is the most reliable printer I have ever owned, and I've owned dozens of printers since the early 1980s of almost every technology. I love it. It is one of the few devices in my home that I can say it Just Works. I will be sad if it ever dies and I can't fix it.
Edit: I purchased the HP for $150 in May 2016 on closeout from Office Depot. I've been on the $5/mo or $10/mo plan since then depending upon family needs, so let's say I've spent another $500 since then on ink costs, so I'm at ~ $650 since May 2016. I've printed 16,083 pages, so my lifetime per-page cost is ~ $0.04.
Maybe my mistake was going with a cheap color laser. But I've been thrilled with this particular HP and the convenience of their ink subscription program. Meanwhile, Brother's customer service on the laser printers which failed under warranty was terrible. It was the Brother HL-3170CDW. This isn't my review, but it matched my experience, except I mistakenly bought a second printer so I could re-use supplies I already had for the model:
You probably print a lot if an ink cartridge service is cost effective for you.
I’ve had 2 b&w laser printers my entire life, both Brother (after getting annoyed with Epson inkjet printers that were “affordable” in high school). The first got me through engineering school printing maybe 300+ pages a year, so like 2000 pages. Did not replace the toner once and don’t recall any meaningful problems. That printer stayed with my mom and works to this day for her odds and ends (maybe has had one toner replacement). The second is a printer I bought after I moved to California when I ended up needing a printer (went without for a while). It has also lasted a very long time without issues although maybe the toner hasn’t lasted quite as long (but I’ve done things like print out game manuals). It sucks that Google cloud print went away but that’s not Brother’s fault. The wifi connectivity is serviceable although a PITA to set up after a move. Other than that, works flawlessly. No drivers, no maintenance, nothing. Just print, wait ~10s and the printer starts printing at a quick pace.
My point is we all have our stories about the printers that work or don’t for us. Objectively though laser printers have lower maintenance on all fronts and used to have a higher upfront cost (although these days, they seem competitive). I’m not sure why you got a couple of lemons. I don’t claim the entire Brother product line is gems either. But I do my research and look for a no-frills standalone H&M’s laser printer that seems particularly beloved by the community. Some times you might need to look for it second hand if it’s not being sold right now or look for it’s spiritual successor. Hasn’t failed me yet but I also don’t buy and use enough printers at volume to have a complete comparative picture.
> You probably print a lot if an ink cartridge service is cost effective for you.
HP's service bills by page count, not by ink usage. So as you increase print volume, the unit economics get worse. I use it for photo print applications that don't require high quality or a print size greater than US letter. For that, which maximizes the ink-to-paper ratio, it works out splendidly.
(I suspect it works out as well for HP as for me, because the program also requires spent cartridges be returned in prepaid packaging. This allows them, and their expensively precision-manufactured print heads, to be refilled and reused.)
> You probably print a lot if an ink cartridge service is cost effective for you.
I did the math and showed my work. $0.04/page over the last 5 years.
Meanwhile, I had spent $400 on the Brother laser $199 each, and $70 on a full set of 3rd party toner cartridges. So, $470 on the Brothers out of which I got less than 3 years. No idea how many pages, or time lost in frustration dealing with Brother customer service.
What I noticed when you buy the printer is that for cheap laser printers, included tonner sometimes has just 1000 pages rating or so, and replacement tonners are rated for 2000 or more. Manufacturer is probably hoping people will not notice.
Since you’ve updated your comment, I think the key difference is that most people try to stick to B&W laser printers as those seem to be rock solid. Rather than going for new printers or printers that have an insane sale like a $450 for $150, look for reviews from forums for people who have been using the printer model for years (or join and ask on such forums if you can’t find anything). It sounds like the printer you happened to pick had a known design/manufacturing flaw and whose service life wasn’t up to snuff, which probably explains the huge discount. Remember. Laser printers make money on the printer, not the toner so much. That means if a printer is getting a huge discount, it probably has some kind of problem.
Color laser printers are also pretty solid these days without paying through the roof. It sounds more like OP just got unlucky with two lemons in a row.
For the amount I print, I will never have to replace the fuser in a lifetime probably. The toner I can get it cheap enough on Amazon, and I don't care if isn't original because it works just fine. I chose on purpose a printer that allows you to install third party toner without complaining.
I 5 years that I want to a laser printer I spent 100$ for the printer itself, and 20$ for 2 toner from Amazon, and I'm on the second one and it's still half full.
Meanwhile, I ended up with an HP OfficeJet Pro 8620 that was recommended years ago by The Wirecutter and I use HP's ink subscription service. It's never failed on me. It never jams. No fuser or toner to worry about. Ink just magically shows up at my house when I need it. The old cartridges go back to HP for recycling. It is the most reliable printer I have ever owned, and I've owned dozens of printers since the early 1980s of almost every technology. I love it. It is one of the few devices in my home that I can say it Just Works. I will be sad if it ever dies and I can't fix it.
Edit: I purchased the HP for $150 in May 2016 on closeout from Office Depot. I've been on the $5/mo or $10/mo plan since then depending upon family needs, so let's say I've spent another $500 since then on ink costs, so I'm at ~ $650 since May 2016. I've printed 16,083 pages, so my lifetime per-page cost is ~ $0.04.
Maybe my mistake was going with a cheap color laser. But I've been thrilled with this particular HP and the convenience of their ink subscription program. Meanwhile, Brother's customer service on the laser printers which failed under warranty was terrible. It was the Brother HL-3170CDW. This isn't my review, but it matched my experience, except I mistakenly bought a second printer so I could re-use supplies I already had for the model:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R32TEW142QU2G6/re...
Edit: reworded for tone. Thank you for the feedback below.