Re: Brother laser (semi-O.T. ?)

[Harry Binswanger hb@xxxxxxxx]

Okay, I feel honor bound to report that last year I bought the highly rated
Brother color laser jet 4040nc, and it delivered unacceptably poor color
output. I kept meaning to call HP to get some possible tweak or fix, but
never got around to it, and meanwhile we had used up the original
(small-capacity) toner cartridge. So I never tried talking to them (if they
even have humans answering phones anymore).


--Harry

I have done well with Brother lasers, include MFCs. However, some years
ago, when Brother changed the HP emulation from 4.0 to 6.0, I suddenly had
huge formatting problems using Xy 3+. So my Xy work prints to an old HL
1440; everything else to an MFC 8640D.


Beyond the described wrinkle, I have found that Brother lasers are very
economical, rarely jam, and seem to go forever. And recently, when a
friend could not get connectivity with a very recent MFC laser, I spent
less than 30 minutes on the phone with a live person at Brother tech
support, blew away seven months' accumulated dust, and the machine worked
like a charm.


Fred Gross

J R FOX wrote:


[Caution: this is going to be more than semi-O.T.]

--- On Mon, 3/16/09, Patricia M. Godfrey
mailto:priscamg@xxxxxxxx wrote:





From: Patricia M. Godfrey mailto:priscamg@xxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Brother laser (semi-O.T. ?)
To: xywrite@xxxxxxxxxywrite@xxxxxxxx
Date: Monday, March 16, 2009, 12:35 PM
J R FOX wrote:



I was wondering if any of you have experience or



comments re the use of Brother (B&W) lasers

Not lasers, but I had a perfectly maddening experience some
years back with a Brother inkjet multifunction.




Thanks for your comments on this, Patricia. I've tentatively
decided _not_ to go inkket this time. The cartridges can dry out
on you, and I don't think the cost of consumables makes sense.
I still have a fair amount of research to do on this, because I
like to get these things right the first time and not have to
return something then replace it. (Due to some more pressing
priorities, I'm not going to rush this.)

In doing this kind of research online, with "professional"
reviews plus reviews from users, one generally finds Pro and
Con comments that differ widely and contradict each other.
(This is true for almost any product.) But issues emerge, and
hopefully there gets to be some consensus. Unfortunately, it
is looking like a lot of such products -- and here I'm leaning
more on in-store inspections -- are now flimsy junk, made as
cheaply as possible. It may cost as much as $400., but it is
still made to be a disposable product: when it wears out after
a year or two, the most sensible and economical choice will be
to take it to the dumpster or recycler, and get a new unit.
Gone are the days when you could buy something really solidly
built, and get 10 years out of it, like I did with that high
end HP Fax machine.

So, it becomes a matter of which deficiencies you can tolerate,
at the right price. Most of the units I've considered have some
major dealbreaker. An office equipment repair shop I've used
here for many years says that in fax-only, Canon is the way to
go. But they have this very large plastic piece jutting out
that would be right in my face, so forget it. Anyway, I want to
have the flatbed type for copies, so I don't have to run out to
Kinko's all the time, which is one of the considerations pointing
me towards the All-in-Ones.




BUT going through
the usual Uninstall software-Uninstall Hardware routines
wasn't enough; the Scanner software and it's
connected app, in particular, had to be pruned from the
registry by hand. (several hundred references). After doing
this two or three times, I decided my time was worth the
cost of a new printer




Yes, that sure sounds familiar. I'm all but certain the culprit
is ScanSoft, which seems to have gobbled up all of its former
scanning / OCR competitors. I avoid anything from them like the
plague, because it drives so many hooks deep into your Registry
that you need a block of C-4 to pry them loose. You can't
uninstall their stuff without Tech Support walking you through it.
It took close to an hour over the phone. I did this once, but
won't go there again.

, got an Epson, and kept the Brother as



a stand-alone fax and copier. IT did yeoman service in that
capacity for several years, then finally died.




If you got several years out of it, you're ahead of the curve.




Meanwhile, at the office, we had several Brother thermal
faxes in succession. The problem with them was--and is--that
it is absolutely impossible to reach even automated tech
support. You wade through voice mail hell forever. FWIW.




I read in one user comment that their tech support was in the
Phillipines. Can't really single that out these days, though.
Does *anyone* still offer tech support that is _not_ wretched
and abysmal ?


 Jordan






Harry Binswanger
hb@xxxxxxxx