brother HL-5370DW Monochrome Laser Printer with Wireless Networking and Duplex

Pros: Cheap and runs well, when it runs. Consumables not too expensive.

Cons: I've purchased two of these in the past 3 years. The first one died six months ago, having run well for a little over 2 years. Then it died. It died hard. The firmware somehow got corrupted and it would have been too expensive to fix. Ordered a replacement. It has lasted 6 months. The fuser unit died. Not covered under warranty. More expensive to fix than the printer is new. Brother just lost a customer.

Pros: It's cheap. Not a bad buy for the money. It prints larger print jobs without any trouble. Generic toners are pretty cheap.

Cons: These printers have a bad habit of losing their static IP addresses. I have two of these setup in the office. They are set with static IP addresses. They will randomly lose their IP address and the only way to fix them is to do a factory reset, and then reset the static settings back into them. Last week, both of the printers I have did this with 24 hours of each other.

Other Thoughts: If you buy one of these with the intention of setting a static IP on it, be prepared to factory reset it once in a while. The reset steps are:
1) Turn the printer off.
2) Hold the GO button down and turn the printer on.
3) All the lights will stay on solid. When the status light goes out, let go of the GO button and then press the GO button 6 times.

This will reset the print server in the unit. After that you will have to use the Brother network utility to access the printer on your network and set the static IP back into it.

Pros: Nice quality printer, simple driver for the desktop (does not load a bunch of useless tools like HP), drivers for all major operating systems, cheap consumables

Cons: Same as below, I also have 5 of these at various client locations and experience the same wireless bug on 2 of them. For no discernible reason it goes from a static wired connection to a wifi only connection. Stepping through the 'GO" reset sequence always brings it back but I should not have to do that in the first place. The latest firmware is from 2009, so no joy there. Have found no way to manual/permanently turn off wifi (i.e. jumper or is the wifi card a mini pci that you can pull?).

Other Thoughts: I'ma fan of Brother printers and AIOs. If they fixed this issue I would purchase more of them. These are ideal for the 2-5 workgroup users. Right now I'm pushing clients to the MFC-8480DN instead. I *think* the MFC-8890DW is the same base/wifi setup but I have not had issues with the wifi bug on that platform.

Pros: Very fast, easy to set up, toner is cheap as dirt.

Cons: Wired network bug. I have bought about 5 of these printers in the last 2 years for a small office network. They seem to work perfectly for about 6 months, then, to a unit, they start randomly losing the static IP address and reverting to a useless APIPA generated address. The network tool on Brother's site is useless in this scenario as it will never find the printer when the IP is meaningless on my network.

After about a year I have trained the users on my network to do the "6 button press reset to default DHCP" dance when it goes offline, but I still have to login to the network and reset the IP to the designated static address.

If it weren't for this bug, I would love these printers. As it stands, I put up with this because the toner is wickedly inexpensive and they just keep humming along with little other maintenance.

Other Thoughts: I cannot for the life of me understand why Brother does not fix the firmware on this thing. If they did, it would have no competition in this market segment.

Pros: This is the best value printer we have ever owned. It has a massive yield per cartridge. Regular users may not have to replace the cartridge for several years. We put this through it's paces printing to it daily and had to finally replace the toner after 6 months. In the same time, we've put about 15 cartridges into a similar printer. You can save a ton of money printing to the HL-5370DW over some ink-hog.

Cons: It's black and white!

Other Thoughts: It's the best monochrome printer in it's class. If you're looking for a starter laser jet printer, this is the one to get.

Pros: Duplex printing, and the ability to load different types of paper into each paper tray (letterhead in one and 2nd page in second).

Cons: I replaced my 6 year old Brother laser printer that had duplex printing and two paper trays because a part broke and could not be replaced. I loved my old Brother printer. It was very fast and produced excellent quality printed pages. I miss my old Brother printer. This new 5370DW has the same features, but it is clearly an inferior product. It is noisier. It is slower. The toner does not stick well to the paper -- no matter what settings I adjust. The paper curls. Envelopes wrinkle even when sent through the straight paper path and the "levers" in the back are adjusted correctly.

Other Thoughts: I really cannot recommend this printer. It is such a disappointment compared to my old Brother. I have switched to printing any checks or envelopes on my HP OfficeJet. If I am printing something that I need to keep for a while, it too must be printed on the OfficeJet to ensure that there is legible printing (not smudged) on the page at a later date. I would actually give it only two stars except for all the features that are very handy. But in the end, when the toner rubs off the paper so easily, what good is it?

Pros: Fast. Good quality printing.

Cons: This is a great printer EXCEPT the toner cartridge sensor is programmed to show "empty" when there is lots left. Worse, the printer will not print without a new cartridge! BAD, IMMORAL DESIGN BROTHER. Shame on you, Brother. You can get around this purposeful "mistake" by putting black tape on the sensor hole on the cartridge. This hole is on the right side of the cartridge (as you pull it out) and looks like a porthole on a ship. It will work for MANY more pages with the sensor disabled. Spread the word.

Pros: Fast, feature-full, solid functionality, easy software, uses little ink. Been using the toner that came with it for 1.5 years and still no need to replace. Double sided printing is awesome. Great price for the amount of features.

Cons: Wifi can be spotty at long range, but not been much of a problem.

Other Thoughts: I love this printer.

Pros: This printer had all I wanted in a low-cost laser printer, namely:
Fast
Duplex capability
Wireless connectivity
Small footprint is an added bonus
Manual feeding is a breeze
Setup and documentation are relatively painless

Cons: I may have picked a lemon, but this printer is not built well at all!
As soon as I bought it, I set it up for wireless printing. Whenever I wake up in the morning (usually about 6 hours after hooking up to network) I'd discover that the printer has completely frozen. The light won't blink, it won't print, etc. Only after a quick switch off and on, it would start printing again. I RMA'd it and after about 5 phone calls (customer service was friendly and competent but had very long wait time) they sent me another one. The same problem persisted. They couldn't figure out what the problem was and I decided it was my off-brand wireless router that was causing the problem and gave up on wireless printing, which was probably one of its biggest selling points for me. I used it as a wired network printer.

Other Thoughts: After about a year's use, the Ethernet stopped working as well. The two lamps (Tx and Link I think) that are next to the RJ cable jack never lit up, which signaled that it was a hardware problem. I've tried factory-resetting and everything else I could think of to no avail. By that time, my warranty had expired. I went to a local "certified" dealership to get it fixed. The repairman was highly incompetent and charged me $80 for basically hooking it up to his computer and seeing if it "worked." The replacement of the Ethernet unit would have cost me additional $150, which is almost the price of the entire printer. So I've been just using it as a USB printer and it works just fine. The duplex printing is very nice but I miss my wireless (or even wired Ethernet) connectivity. I am not at all I would ever buy a Brother printer again. I REALLY wanted to like this printer, but the whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth.

Pros: Nice sheet feeder.
I have bought two of these because of their 50-Sheet Multi-purpose Tray

Cons: None yet