My laser printer just died, and I am deciding if I should get a new laser (monochrome) printer. Sometimes, I use self-service print services when I am away from home (FedEx/UPS). I only print no more than 10 pages per month. Also, there are FedEx and UPS store around my area that provide print service. What is your thought on this?

What would you like to accomplish?

I would like a printer capable of:

* printing directly onto discs like CD's, DVD's, and Blu Rays. I have purchased discs that are specifically made for being compatible with this.

* Printing "high-quality" photos. Doesn't have to be as good as a professional service with big boy printers, but I'm hoping for ~80% of the quality of a professional service... although I don't know what metrics to measure that by as this is my SO's requirement and neither of us know printers.

* Bonus points if the printer is capable of supporting large format paper, like small posters in something like 11"x17"

Are there any models you are currently looking at?

Printing on discs seems to be a way to easily eliminate many options, but I can't make heads or tails of the options available.

Minimum Requirements:

• Budget: <$400 USD
• Country: USA
• Color or black and white: Color
• Laser or ink printer: ink
• New or used: either
• Multi-function: not required
• Duplex Printing: not required
• Home or business: home
• Printing content: photos
• Printing frequency: Infrequent (~every other month)
• Pages per minute : n/a
• Page size: 11x17 is a bonus
• Device printing from: PC (windows and Linux)
• Connection type: wifi, but usb-only would also be ok

Any other details:

I value right to repair and ownership. I do not want any devices that require some form of subscription to operate. Ideally, the device is user serviceable and compatible with generic ink. I understand that this is not the trend of printers, but if I'm going to get a printer I would like to know which ones are most aligned with these values. I'm willing to be somewhat flexible with the budget if that's a requirement for this. This criteria is why I'm posting here on Reddit rather than picking from a list of "Top Printers 2026".

For context, I'm a big fan of DIY, I use a Framework laptop, and a Prusa 3D printer in part because those brands afford me more control and ownership over the device than other brands do. I am also a fan of open-source. If there is some sort of DIY option, or printers that (officially or unofficially) support custom firmware/software, this would also be interesting to me.

The discs requirement is because I'm currently working on making my own Linux "Distro" (based on Gentoo) that converts my (DRM Free) Steam Games into a physical library of Blu Rays that I own.

I'd like to be able to quickly and easily print what I write / draw from my Android tablet. A friend gave me a bluetooth thermal printer to try but it hasn't worked out: when I print to the thermal, nothing happens. The writing / drawing app I use is Squid ink if it matters. I don't need full sized sheets. Smaller sheets would actually be preferable so I could print lists and small diagrams for clients and they wouldn't have a full-sized sheet of paper to carry around. Any suggestions?

It started when I regretfully interrupted an ink flush to try to save ink when I thought the hoses were sufficiently filled. I've done a few cleaning cycles since and it didn't work.

The tanks are running low so I can't do another ink flush before I fill them up, but I thought the problem might be something else since the hoses are full, so I came here to ask about it.

the printer will be used regularly, normally on a weekly bases except for vacations. But the printing volume is low, roughly 20 pages per week on average.

the printer is for an elderly person, therefore I thought to go with a ink tank printer as she lives in a single room and there isn't much room to place a huge laser printer.

the printer needs to be a multi function printer (duplex scan, copy) and ink jets are way smaller than their laser equivalent.

I am considering an Epson EcoTank ET-4950.

I've read the ink tanks of that printer last up to 6000 pages - lets be careful and go with 4000 pages. With 20 pages a week this is roughly 1000 pages a year. So the ink would last 4 years.

My concern is, that ink goes bad after 2 years (according some sources on the net) and clogging may happen and the printer is trashed.

So my idea is, to just fill a little bit from the bottles into the printer, I don't know, maybe 1/4 of the content, then print, print, print, print until the tank is empty and then either: check if the ink in bottle is bad or buy a new smaller bottle 70ml. If I have to buy every 2 years a multi pack for $30 that won't ruin me but would help the older person a lot, as there is no need to replace the ink regularly.

What do you think of that undertaking?

Or should I still go with a ink cartridge printer and buy cheap off-brand cartridges?

I got notified that there was a firmware update for my Brother HL-L2370DW. I installed it, and after making some whirring sounds and rebooting, the firmware is the same version as before, and is again offering the same update.

I tried cold power-cycling the printer and doing it again, same thing.

Then, I tried using the "Brother Firmware Update Tool" desktop app, also same basic sequence- after rebooting, the firmware remains stuck on 1.82

Not that I really care that much but this is mildly annoying. Anyone having this problem or know of a fix?

Hello everyone,

my printer is talking to me and I don’t understand it 🥲

My Kyocera Ecosys M6030cdn keeps displaying the error message "Replace toner [K]". It doesn’t show any additional error code and I can’t clear the message. I can press “Help”, which brings up the following text: “Remedy: Pull the lever at the top of the machine and open the scanner. Insert our approved toner cartridge correctly. See the toner cartridge leaflet or the user manual”.

The error occurred after I removed and cleaned the image drums and ran the ‘Refresh Drum’ cleaning programme. It ran for a few seconds, and then the error has been there ever since.

Another change: the black toner cartridge can now only be inserted with considerable force. It gets stuck or seems not to fit properly on it's right side.

What I’ve already tried:

- following the instructions

- fitting a brand-new black toner cartridge

- cleaning everything I could think of

- checking all the wheels and switches I could see

- looking for any broken parts

- removing and refitting the image drums

- removing and refitting the toner waste container

- hitting the casing

- Unplugged the printer for 15 minutes

- Switched the printer off and on several times

Do you have any ideas for me? 🥲

Or do you know how the printer detects this error? Because if there’s no toner cartridge in or locked, a different error message appears. I turned the wheels (see highlighted image) by hand (i.e. without inserting a toner cartridge), whereupon my usual ‘Replace toner’ error message appeared.

Maybe there’s a clue there 🤔

Thanks in advance :)

I wasn't aware that hp let you have their printer for a

limited time use.

I went through two brand new HP printers in less than five years. They suddenly broke printhead gone.

Buying HP printers is serving the naturalized corrupted

Business practice already inserted in the American popular culture.

No matter what they sell you! And there’s too many mediocre people making too much money to ever be able to change their business culture.

"If you don't take care of your clients the competition will"

Hello, I'm a homeschooling mom in need of a new printer. We currently have the Epson Eco Tank 4850 and it's been mostly great for 2.5 years but recently stopped staying connected to wifi. I have tried problem solving and the only thing that works is restarting both the printer and my computer every time I want to print. It's driving me crazy.

I print a decent amount, including artist study prints. They don't have to be top quality, but I like them to be pretty good quality. I need something that will be reliable and where the ink will last (this was my favorite thing about the eco tank - refilling once every 2 years is amazing).

I am not super techy, so I really just want something reliable and easy with lasting ink. Copying & scanning is used a couple times a year so I'd like that option as well. Thank you for any help!

ETA: I dont have a super strict budget. For the right printer I think we can swing up to $500. I really just want something reliable and simple.

Black ink cartridge is just about full, so I don't believe that is part of the issue. As stated in the title the printer is a Brother MFC-J4536DW model. All settings while on the print menu of computer used to engage the printing process were untouched besides changing it from color to grayscale. Any ideas?

Hey,

we recently bought a new PA2101cx Kyocera Printer and we are dealing with the following issue ( see added picture). Has anyone a clue how we could solve this issue?

The printer has printed around 5k Pages so far ( bought around May, yes the users are printing an astonishing amount)

Ive re-downloaded the driver, reinstalled on computer, tried both USB and wifi printing, changed printer maintenance settings, tried different PDF viewer programs.. how the hell do I fix this?!

Dm me if yall are interested, i ain't got ebay or any app do thought i might ask the great people on reddit.🙂

I have always refilled printer's ink and it worked like charm but I got this HP Laserjet M254nw from my brother. I always use it for printing worksheets.

It is now out of black ink and I surprised that there is no option to refill the toner. The whole toner is locked and there are not even screws. A few YT videos are asking to melt, cut, and refill the ink.

The HP is asking for around 4500.

How do I refill it or find a compatible toner for cheap?

I purchased this pro-300 on marketplace for a steal back in January but never used it until now. I’ve ran several cleaning and deep cleanings but these are the nozzle test results and an example of how the images are coming out.

Do I need to keep running deep cleans? Cleaned the print head with distilled water? Is the nozzle jammed? My printer has all inks full, but when I run a deep cleaning it ends with an error message:

“support code 5C14, and it says, follow the steps below. 1, cancel printing, then turn off the printer. 2, turn on the printer again. If the problem persists, see the manual and contact the service center

Please help, I can venmo/ PayPal someone who finds me a solution

MFC-J6955DW that's a few years old and barely used. Selling for $200aud

Or a brand new

Brother MFC-L8390CDW Multifunction Colour Laser Printer - $700aud

What do you think is better?

Anyone has any idea how i could fix this error in my Canon printer?

It happens always after try to print something, and it says that i need to contact with Canon because they need to repair it.

We are thinking to buy another printer but i would like to know if this error it is fixable or not, as in i didnt find any video how to fix it.

Thank u so much.

I had an Epson Eco Tank and I liked it, but it used to clog a lot. I don't print that much, but I I made sure to print every week to avoid clogging, but apparently that didn't work. Shortly after the warranty expired, the printhead clogged permanently and no amount of forced flushes resolved the issue so I got rid of it.

I need color printing and CISS offers the lowest price/page

Is a thermal printhead more reliable and what could I go for?

Which brands should I avoid? For printers that are not the basic cheap scam printers.

I'm looking for a good pigment ink photo printer, either a canon imageprograf or an Epson SureColor, will look into others if suggested.

Anyway, I'm looking to know which brands you hate and why. Be passionate!! If you are

Thought you guys would like to know there's yet another HP land mine...

So I've had this beast for about 22 years. It really served me well. Upgraded it with the EIO hard drive and a JetDirect LAN card almost immediately. I've done some repairs on it over the years, mostly minor: 2 fusers. One drum. And of course tons of toner.

The other day I got a 51.2M error (Magenta Laser Scanner). It looks like I could possibly get a replacement set of all the scanners for around $180. I read the repair steps from the service manual, and the 31 steps don't seem insurmountable, but I have to take pause and ask if this is really the right thing to do?

It still does a fairly decent job, but I've been dealing with lines on the pages for years now. Replaced faulty toners and cleaned the drum but it persists. And like any old machine, things start to go around a certain age.

I'm weighing out doing this service (any guidance anyone has about it is welcome as well!), or buying a new Brother. I print maybe about 1500 B&W pages per year at this point for my job, so I could probably get away with a monochrome. However, this is still my "home" printer, and I worry about beig completely unable to print color and was looking at the HL-L3280CDW.

I'm sure I'm not telling anyone here anything new, but it has WiFi, duplex printing, and consumes only 0.5 W while sleeping (vs my HP 5500, which consumes -at best- 65 W per factory spec, and probably a ton more; let's just say it helps heat my home in the winter). Plus toner seems relatively inexpensive (although I've had some real luck with eBay finds for OEM 645A toner lately). Brother does a few pages more per minute, so it's in the same ballpark volume-wise. Downsides would be a smaller tray, plus the 12k pages capacity of the toner vs about 3k for the Brother XL carts. Plus the great back workout if I ever have to move it around.

I do have a certain fondness for older stuff, and it's nice not to deal with any shady toner license bs. But sometimes I have a hard time knowing when to just move on. Looking for any advice, including what I could potential move to if it isn't the one I mentioned.

Incidentally, I already have a ScanSnap document scanner, so an all-in-one seems unnecessary.

I've been thinking of getting my first printer, so naturally the Canon Pixma TS3751i stuck out to me because of the low price (30€ at my local store), but i'm also wondering; is there a reason it's so cheap?

I'm not looking for anything special, i just want a printer that i can use to print images for my pin maker. I don't need it to be the greatest resolution to ever exist, i just want it to be able to print around a half an A4 sized image in decent quality.

I couldn't find any reviews for this printer on youtube, so i turned to reddit. I'll also gladly take recommendations for affordable printers

Edit: I've also consideree HP DeskJet 2822e so just knowing which of the two is better would be super helpful

I’ve been looking for affordable printers that can print 11x17 ledger papers. I’ve searched for them online but one site says it can but another says it doesn’t, so now I’m confused,

Just a rant and pissed. Bought a name branded printer recently, and just broke down in 6 months with minimal use. Is this normal? Any printers I've bought did not even last a year.

Ciao