Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review
(243 customer reviews) 161 of 162 people found the following review helpful
Almost Perfect,
April 8, 2006 Derek Hofmann "traal" (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Brother HL-5250DN Network Ready Laser Printer with Duplex (Office Product)
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...Read more
106 of 111 people found the following review helpful
Clarifying UPS problems,
January 31, 2006 Martin Unsal (Sunnyvale, CA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Brother HL-5250DN Network Ready Laser Printer with Duplex (Office Product)
I have this printer and I am very happy with it. It performs exactly as advertised, and it is very fast.
I'd like to clarify the power supply issue that so many reviewers have commented on.
First of all, this problem is NOT limited to users who plug their printer into the UPS. Many UPSes will detect the line voltage drop caused by this printer as a brownout and go online to protect the attached equipment. This happens even when the printer is plugged directly into the wall (as it should be). This is not just a matter of reading the instructions, it is a real problem.
Whether or not you see this problem in practice depends on a number of factors, including whether the printer is plugged into the same circuit as your UPS, whether you have 15 or 20A service, how far the printer is from the breaker panel, how old your wiring is, whether your UPS has undervoltage regulation or not, etc.
When this printer is heating up and printing, I have seen...Read more
37 of 38 people found the following review helpful
Nearly perfect,
January 28, 2006 Jay Kinney (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Brother HL-5250DN Network Ready Laser Printer with Duplex (Office Product)
I first saw this printer at the MacWorld Expo and I was impressed by its output, its networkability, and its price. I literally bought one the next day to replace my old HP Laserjet 4M which was finally becoming erratic.
I've been very pleased in almost all respects, with just a few minor criticisms. On the one hand, it is quiet and unobtrusive in energy-saver mode. On the other, when it is sleeping there is no indication that it is still on, short of looking at the on/off button. See what I mean by minor? I didn't run into the power supply issues that another reviewer had complained about.
The duplex function is handy and works well, which is something I can't say about my other printer, an HP Officejet 7310xi All-in-one, which came with a duplexer and a little notice saying that you have to do duplexing manually. The Brother's duplex function can be set as the default, which may have inadvertantly been the case where another reviewer griped about it doing the...Read more