Brother HL-5250DN Network Ready Laser Printer with Duplex
by BROTHER
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Our Price: $649.88 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $148.00 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Brother HL-5250DN Network Ready Laser Printer with Duplex
Customer Review: Fast printer, easy network set up
Summary: 4 Stars
I just got the printer this week and compared to an ink jet it is very fast. As other reviewers have noted, the paper tray seems a little flimsy and the paper comes out curled at the edges, but I can live with that. Update (Jan 9, 2008) - I set the paper type to "thin" and page curling was reduced. I've started using 24 lb Xerox Laser paper and the curling reduced significantly - it seems the heavier the laser paper used, the less curling will occur. I'm still using the cartridge that came with the printer and I've printed over 1,000 pages so far.
Printer driver installation was easy on a network. I connected the printer to a wireless broadband router after the drivers were installed on one computer. I didn't disconnect the printer when I installed the drivers on a wirelessly connected computer and it installed without any problems. It was fun to be able to print via the network rather than by printer sharing.
The only faults I have with the printer so far are:
1) I connected it to a spare 275 W UPS I had and it apparently drew too much power so the UPS started beeping and tripped out. However, when I connected it to the surge suppressor side nothing happened.
2) The power button is on the back at the bottom right of the machine.
3) When it goes into sleep mode, no lights show on top, so you could accidentally leave it on. Since the manual stated that the machine must be plugged in to an easily accessible plug so that it can be plugged out in an emergency, I prefer to know if the machine is on or not.
4) Printing at the lowest setting with toner saver on doesn't seem as bright or as sharp as draft printing on my old HP 710C. PDF documents do not print well at the lowest settings either.
5) Don't print charts with text on the lowest settings and toner saver on - better to use the highest quality with toner saver off.
6) Not very good at printing photos, even at the highest settings (HQ 1200 dpi) - banding seen.
I still like it though :-)
Customer Review: I love this printer
Summary: 4 Stars
Okay first let me start off by saying that I researched many different printers before I decided on this one. It finally came down to the Brother HL-5250 or the HP-1320.
I was hesitant to get the HP because so many user reviews stated how cheap and flimsy it was made. HOwever my hesitation with the Brother was due to the power surge/drain problem that I read so much about.
Now that I've had the printer for a few months I can say with confidence that this printer is the best- I love this printer!
First the power issue. I live in an old home (built in 1960) and have old wiring so I was sure that I was going to experience the power problem! But surprisingly the first time it powered-up... nothing! No power drain, no lights flickering, nothing! And this printer is even plugged into the same outlet as my computer! So no power issue here.
Secondly, I read so much about paper curl. It is true that the printer curls the paper just slightly. But if you let the paper cool down and relax, the pages go right back to normal.
Next, this printer churns out pages like our huge "big bertha" printer at work! I cannot belive how fast this thing is! I haven't printed any large print jobs yet- but when I do it is going to be a breeze. For single page printing- it is so fast that it actually takes more time to power up than it does to print several pages.
Lastly I have to say that the construction is pretty decent. It is a sturdy little device that doesn't take much room at all. I love having the paper stored inside the printer so it doesn't get dusty and warped like paper does when standing in the back of most printers. If you are looking for a printer that you won't outgrow in a year or two (or three)... then you will most likely love this printer as much as I do.
Oh did I mention... the print quality is great too! I haven't even needed to use the 1200 x 1200 setting much cuz text and line art looks smooth and crisp in the 600dpi mode!
Customer Review: Excellent Duplex Printer
Summary: 5 Stars
I was originally going to purchase an HP LaserJet, but due to it being out of stock, I opted to order this printer. I have to say I am glad I did. My first impression was that it reminded me of my old Samsung QwikLaser, but the print quality and machine quality exceeds what I had expected for $250. My main reason for purchasing this machine was to print duplex technical reports, which my HP Color LaserJet can't do (can't print duplex), and toner for that machine is exponentially more. I have read that the print cost for this machine is about $0.02 a page, which is good in comparison to others costs, and I do not see any "chip" in this toner cartridge, as most new lasers have.
Right out of the box I ran a 10 page report, 50 copy count, duplex, and it handled it without a single problem. I'm using a Mac with OS X 10.4, btw. The document I printed was a technical report with many screen captures, and the screen shots were very legible, and the print speed was exceptional. I would estimate about 12-15 pages per minute double sided. Machine is fairly quiet in operation. The loudest noise is the obvious "click" when it loads a sheet of paper. Machine is quieter than my HP Color LaserJet. Like all lasers, after a few copies it starts to warm up and smell a little. Not as badly as I had expected, though.
Overall very pleased with my purchase.
Update: 10-30-06
I have now printed well over a thousand pages, duplex, and it works wonderfully. I have never had a jam, a wrinkle, or a dog-eared page. Printers works perfectly with Mac OS X Tiger and Windows XP.
My only complaint would be that the buttons and lights are on the top, and as I have this on a high shelf, I can't see them, but you never need to turn the machine off (automatically sleeps after a set time), and your computer will tell you that you are out of paper.
Excellent Printer!
Customer Review: Almost Perfect
Summary: 4 Stars
I purchased this printer because I wanted something cheaper to run than my HP Deskjet (toner is much cheaper than ink), I wanted to be able to print from multiple computers and put the printer anywhere I wanted (instead of being tethered to a specific computer), I wanted the printer to be Mac-compatible, and I wanted the printer to have a duplexer to save on paper (it prints on both sides of the page). This was the only printer in its price class I could find that had all of these features. I bought the printer on sale locally and got it for a good price.
I ran into one problem, which is why I'm only giving this printer only 4 stars. After I hooked it up and installed the software, I noticed that as soon as it went to sleep, it would no longer print. It's supposed to wake up when it gets a print job, but it wouldn't. I finally figured out that I needed to upgrade the network firmware from the Internet. For someone like me with experience as a PC technician, this was no problem, but I think the installation software should guide you through checking to see if everything is up to date, and help you upgrade the firmware.
The paper tray only holds 300 pages, which is less than a ream of paper. At 30 pages per minute, you could run out of paper in only 10 minutes! So it may not be the ideal printer for all but the smallest office settings (but still better than an inkjet for b&w printing). However, I believe you can add an additional paper tray, and there are other models with extra paper capacity built-in.
When I ran into my problem with sleep mode interfering with printing, I e-mailed Brother's technical support (they don't give you a number you can call), but I don't think a human actually reads your e-mail. It was pretty frustrating. Next time I'll try calling their customer service line and see if they can transfer me to tech support.
Customer Review: Almost the perfect home printer
Summary: 4 Stars
I purchased this a year ago to replace my HP4ML, which had served me faithfully for over 13 year.
Set-up was totally effortless on my Mac, as is typical. OSX already included the latest drivers and PPD file, so I was ready to go. It wasn't quite so easy to set up on my Windows machine, but that's to be expected.
The one thing that prevents me from giving this 5 stars, is the lack of a straight-thru paper path. I am dumb-founded as to why in the world any semi-intelligent person would omit this feature in a printer. I almost gave this 2 stars because of this flaw, but I found that my labels and envelopes print without too much curling, so I am only docking 1 star.
On the other hand, I've never had a problem with regular paper curling, even when printing duplex (which I do most of the time). This is with 3 different types of paper.
Also, unlike some other reviewers, I've never experienced light dimming or any other problem when printing. I keep the printer on a separate plug, but the same 15 amp outlet as a electricity-hogging tube TV, halogen lamp, DLS model, wireless router, and other electronics.
Other pluses:
- Nearly instant printing from sleep.
- Very quiet operation.
- Very light.
- Fast duplex printing.
Some minuses:
- Postscript is emulated (not an issue for most people, if they even care about Postscript capability).
- Lack of straight-thru paper path.
- Large power draw when printing (other than maybe affecting my electric bill, hasn't been a problem for me).
- No LCD display-have to rely on blinking lights to diagnose problems.
I was initially concerned about quality and durability as opposed to the HP printers, but I'm now sold on Brother.