Brother HL-2135W with TN-2030 Original Toner = Deceitful

seanbaussie on 07/09/2016 - 20:29

So, our genuine Brother Toner (I buy genuine because of bad experiences with non-genuine) told us it was out of toner. I did the usual shake it etc and got about another 25 pages out of it til it told me it was completely empty and couldn't print another single page even if it tried.

I reset the toner counter manually on the printer and it's now done another 115 (ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTEEN!) pages and still printing.

Honestly the toner companies are lying to us. I could understand if it gave the warning about 100 pages before running out, but to flat out refuse to print and still have that much toner left is deceitful. It should be against the law. Not only is it ripping people off, but imagine all the toner that is going into bins and ruining the environment.

[rant over] <for now>

Computing

Comments

  • hell0 on 07/09/2016 - 20:33
    +6

    Have you spoken to your printer about how it has been behaving?

    • seanbaussie on 07/09/2016 - 20:34
      +23

      It replied that it didn't like the toner my voice.
      I replied that it was a black and white issue.

  • scotty on 07/09/2016 - 21:49

    At least Brother provides a functionality to override the toner warning.

    I usually just buy compatible toners, but they often run out when there are supposed to be 25% left…

  • Diji1 on 07/09/2016 - 22:00

    Yes as I understand it this has been a long running practice in the idiotic, stupid world of desktop printing where they've put planned obsolescence right in your face by attempting to limit the number of pages you can print regardless of how much ink or toner is left.

  • bjdchwr on 07/09/2016 - 22:37

    I think Brother, or most of the printer companies use their formula / algorithm to calculate the toner usage. Given the fact different users have different behavior, it could not be very accurate.

    In your case, you might normally print out your job with less coverage / density so your toner may last longer. Tones that have reached the end of life may still work, but there is no guarantee for the quality of printing jobs.

    I am using brother as well because they mostly use gearing mechanism as their counter or indicator and it is very easy to reset (their recent inkjet ones come with chips). Other brands, like HP or EPSON, usually put a EEPROM chip to monitor the usage - that's a lot of hassle for resetting those toners.

    I would suggest just buy yourself a refill kit of eBay so you can do it your self. I have used this method many times and I haven't got problem so far.

  • MoneyPincher on 08/09/2016 - 09:51
    +1

    About 5 years ago I worked at a company that only used brother printers & MFC and started noticing that the newer machines would start saying they were out of ink allot faster then the older ones.
    After having a good look at cartridges I worked out they used a clear window to measure the toner level which was about 2cm above the bottom and simply putting blue tack in the window let the machine print until it really ran out.
    The next series of machine used a gear arrangement that would tell the machine it was empty based on how many times the drum was turned again getting anywhere near the full amount of ink out. A screwdriver and some fiddling allows you to reset the gear fixing this.

    As others have mentioned consider looking into trying some refill kits or try out some different OEM cartridges as they are not all bad.

  • Marble250 on 08/09/2016 - 14:37

    Brother's attitude to screwing users on lasers and ink-jets is (or should be) well known.

    Like the previous poster, I had an "incident" with a Brother at work where I had to get an important quote away….it stopped dead, and would not operate when the 1 x coloured ink cartridge, ran low!
    Nothing I could do would make the machine operate. I won't bore you with the upshot of this incident, but it was dramatic and caused me to keep two sets of cartridges on hand from then on….this is the behaviour that Brother, of course, wishes to instill and foster in their users!.

    Bearing this in mind, when I needed a home ink-jet, I tried to avoid the Brother brand like the plague but, as fate would have it, I came across a Brother 3 in one at Harvey Norman at half price and as greed would override sense I bought it!

    Long story short….exactly the same thing happened,as previously….constant automatic head cleaning, morning and nigh….each time using up ink! and the never ending battle using tape, texta colour, rejigging the counters etc….ONLY TO GET THE MACHINE TO USE THE REMAINING INK IN THE CARTRIDGE…. before shatting itself!

    After a year of this, I gave up and dropped kicked the piece of crap into the garbage and saw a deal on a Cannon on OB and have been using it for a couple of years. It may not print perfectly and still gives a warning on low ink but, it will still operate until the last drop of ink is used!

    If you want to retain control over your printing….don't buy a Brother!!!

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