Brother HL-2170W 23ppm Laser Printer with Wireless and Wired Network Interfaces
by BROTHER
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Our Price: $305.00 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $75.00 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Brother HL-2170W 23ppm Laser Printer with Wireless and Wired Network Interfaces
Customer Review: Take your chances
Summary: 1 Stars
I believe some of these printers might have properly functioning network interfaces, but that has not been my experience. I bought one and the network interface did not work even through the wired connection. To put it in tech terms--it could grab an IP address from my router but was not responsive on the wired interface. I could print from USB (not wired internet), but what is the point? I managed to actually connect to this thing via the ad-hoc network only after pressing the wireless setup button for about 7 seconds and then power-cycling the machine. This was the only way to connect to the printer outside of the USB cable. Under these conditions, I could link to the printer as a rendezvous printer. However, this uses up my wireless connection on my computer so is a worse option than USB. I even got my router to join that network, known as SETUP, but the printer could not function as a proper network client under those conditions. Under no circumstances whatsoever was this printer visible from the wired network (AKA "ethernet") beyond simply grabbing an IP address. It was NEVER EVER visible for "infrastructure" wireless connections--the kind that it should use when properly functioning. The ad-hock "SETUP" network was never visible without the special procedure I discovered by accident. None of Brother's own software could ever locate this printer, even when resetting it (turning it on/off with the "Go" button pressed then pressing the "Go" button 7 times). I have custom firmware on my linksys router and did a wireless site survey under all states of the printer and not once did it appear to emit signal outside of the special mode I put it in. Trust me, I know networking and networks and I understand how this thing *should* function, but it does not work correctly. I have set up many, many networked devices, both wired and wireless, and I have set up many, many networked printers. The wired network interface should at least work when the printer is freshly reset--that's printed at the back of the instruction manual. I took back the original printer, got another one and it was defective in the same way: both from the same bad batch. Brother needs to get this straightened out. Perhaps they are trying to save money with shoddy network cards, but this cost me a lot of time to debug. My suggestion is that if it doesn't work just like it says in the manual, take it back for an exchange until you get one that does or just demand your money back. Your best bet is to buy a less expensive printer and a wireless print server. I'm taking this second printer back and getting my money back and never buying a Brother product again. That would be my advice to anyone else.Customer Review: Great printer, moderately difficult setup
Summary: 4 Stars
Like other reviewers I had issues with my setup - and I'm very proficient in networking. Fortunately I had my WEP keys, router password, and SSID on file. If you don't have these keys you will need significant patience.
I don't believe the "One Button Setup" works if you have high security enabled on your router - meaning the SSID is not broadcasted, the connectivity to your router requires a positive match on the MAC address, and/or you are using WAP/WEP keys. This all means the printer simply cannot "find" your network - just as you would hope an intruder wouldn't. If it does, your security needs to be tightened.
I was irritated that NO WHERE on the box or printer is there any mention of the MAC address. That would have helped me a lot. Instead I spent even more time thumbing through the setup guide trying to determine how to get the printer to spit it out. I think it's 3 hits of the blue button to get the current config settings.
Here is my recommendation: As the previous user with multiple printers stated, read the setup instructions but go directly to the CABLE setup method. Plug one cable into the printer and the other into one of the empty slots in the back of your router. If that means having to temporarily move the printer to an inconvenient location, so be it. That's what I had to do after tinkering with it for 2 hours!
Once connected, using the setup CD and knowing the SSID and WEP keys made connecting this little gem very simple. Don't forget you may have to add the MAC address to your router to authorize 2 way communication as a final step.
That was the chore, but I do think it was a very worthwhile exercise. I've been using this printer now for several weeks and have already run about 250 pages with no jams and beautiful prints. The resolution on this is to be seen to be believed - and that's only using 600 dpi. The ability to print from anywhere in the house far outweighs any short-term setup issues for me.
The primary reason why I went back to printing via laser was because like everyone else, I'm tired of buying ink cartridges. I truly believe they must evaporate. I hardly use any color and it still begs for more. The second reason is that I was sick of not being able to use a highlighter on any inkjet prints without the ink completely smearing across the lines.
Go ahead and give this machine a try - but do price shop since I've seen some excellent bargains lately. The worst case is that you temporarily cannot use it wirelessly - but that would likely be the same no matter what make or model you purchased.
Customer Review: Really Super Little Printer
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a wonderful little printer. I am completely pleased with it so far. (I've only had it a few days.) What do I like about it? Let me count the ways ...
1. Beautiful, crisp copies (better than the HP laserjets we've been using.)
2. Super easy to set up, even without using the one-button wireless method. It was so simple, I can't imagine having any difficulty with it, if your OS is recent enough. You may need one additional ethernet cable to temporarily connect the router to the printer, just for setup. This is the method I used.
3. It's about 10X faster than any inkjet I've used.
4. It warms up in about 15 seconds, max.
5. Super-easy to maintain: everything opens easily from the front side. Thinking of the wrestling matches you have with copiers and printers at work? Nothing like that here.
6. It's a LASER printer instead of inkjet: no issues with smearing, water-damage, etc.
7. Very quiet (much better than our inkjets.)
8. Holds a half-ream (250 sheets) of paper.
9. We can print from our laptops now, without transferring files, etc.
10. Cost per print. Even discounting what Brother claims for toner duration, the cost is down in the $0.03 (3 cents) per copy range. $44 per "high-yield" cartridge, for which they claim 2600 copies at 5% coverage. I pay about that for a color high-yield for our HP inkjets -- and they only do about 200-400 copies, max.
11. PRICE! I could hardly believe my eyes. It was a no-brainer for price.
12. Size! It's tiny. Much smaller than anything I've used except the tiny HP (I think P165?) all-in-one inkjets we have. I'm kind of amazed they can package a laser printer in this small a package.
Did I mention how easy it was to set up?? Dead simple. Follow the step-by-step instructions. Takes about 5 minutes, max.
Setting up the other computers for wireless printing was just as easy. Just ran the install printer driver SW from the disc and the computer linked to the Brother printer automatically and printed with no issues.
I can't comment on the durability, yet, obviously.
Equipment in the house:
I have a vintage 2003 Dell desktop Dimension, 1.25GB RAM, ~2.3GHz processor, running Windows XP professional of approximate vintage 2005. This was the computer used to set up the printer wireless (I used the "temporary ethernet cable from router to printer" method.) The other computers linking wireless to the printer (through a Linksys wireless router) are: vintage 2008 macbooks, vintage 2004 Mac G4. NO ISSUES.
Customer Review: Great utilitarian printer
Summary: 5 Stars
I've been frustrated lately with printers. 12 years ago, I bought an HP color inkjet printer that was great. It lasted for years and years. 2 years ago it finally broke down and I began looking for a replacement. I wanted a good all-in-one that would let me photocopy, scan, print photos and do regular printing as well. After much research, I purchased the then-highly rated Canon Pixma MP530. Soon after, I realized how much printers (and their manufacturers) had changed over the past decade. Whereas you used to pay a pretty good price for a printer and then pay an insignificant price occasionally for replacement ink, now printers are dirt cheap and you pay several times more than the printer in replacement ink over just a few years. This was the case with my Canon, although the printer itself was not cheap. I found myself having to replace the ink cartridges very, very quickly. And they're quite expensive. The most frustrating thing was that, even if I just wanted to print a black and white document, all cartridges had to be working in order for the machine to print black and white. This, in stark contract to my old HP, where I could even remove the color cartidge and just use black and white if that's all I needed.
So a few months back, I began my hunt again for a printer - this time for one that would print black and white like crazy and not ask for new ink every month. After much research, I landed on this Brother HL-2170W wireless printer from Amazon.com. It took me a while to figure out the wireless set-up, the instructions try their best but they're still confusing. But after I got it set up, I can print from my wireless network and the performance is fantastic. This little machine is a work horse. It goes and goes (due mainly to the high capacity toner cartridges), and replacement cartridges aren't much more expensive than inkjets but last much, much longer. I truly love this little machine and wish I had gotten it years ago. Doesn't do color, but if all you're looking for is a utilitarian printer that will love you inspite of use and abuse, then this machine is it. Invest a little time in the set-up, and you'll be off and running. Oh, and some of the feedback I saw talked about the toner cartridge getting low on ink prematurely. I tried the resolution mentioned in the feedback and problem solved. All you do is put dark tape over the little "windows" on either side of the cartridge, give the cartridge a few shakes, plug it in, and keep on printing until the quality tells you you're low. Happy printing!
Customer Review: One Button Set-Up - Not So Much
Summary: 3 Stars
I just spent about 3+ hours trying to set up this printer. First some background....
I had previously owned the Brother HL-2070N Network Monochrome Laser Printer (Black) printer for a few years and really liked it. For an inexpensive home laser printer it was great. Then it suddenly lost connectivity to my computer. Although the printer seemed to be installed it simply was not communicating from my computer (or my other computer as well). I tried every trouble shooting tip but I could not for the life of me get that printer to print from my computer. I eventually gave up and thought perhaps my old printer was broken and thought buying a new printer might be my best bet. Given the good reviews and the fact that I liked my old Brother, went with this model.
In a lot of ways it is like the 2070N in terms of size, shape, print quality, etc. The one difference is that it is configured for wireless set up, which I thought would make it easier and probably solve my problem.
The problem is - really you need to connect it wired to your router to set up the wireless network. The one-touch set up did not work for me. I have an automatic one touch router (NETGEAR WNR2000 Wireless-N Router) but following the directions basically just reset my router and put me on the phone with the Neatgear tech support for about a half hour. I tried multiple, multiple times to get it connected. At one point it was finally connected - but then - no printing. I started over again (and again). I was FINALLY able to get it to work when I set it up for a wireless connection (using the temporarily wired option), but set up the wireless connection separately from installing the driver. For some unknown reason this seemed to have worked. I've printed 4 test documents just to make sure and it is printing, and seems to be printing just like my old 2070N.
Given I was already having a networked printer issue, I suspect that this is not the printer's fault entirely and may reflect some sort of printer-router interface problem. So, if you are attempting to connect via a Netgear Wireless-N router - you may proceed with caution. Additionally, the advertised "one-touch" connection really doesn't seem to work - in the installation instructions it is even not recommended.