Customer Reviews

Brother HL-3070CW Compact Digital Color Printer with Wireless Networking

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

Read the other reviews for details about this printer.

My problem is that I printed a few hundred pages and then the printer reported IT WAS OUT OF TONER. WTF? The "starter" toner was supposed to be at least a few thousand pages.

I made the mistake of buying a new black toner cartridge. Then after it printed a few pages, it said the magenta cartridge was out of toner! I was trying to print black! This printer has a serious problem of not knowing when or if the toner cartidges is either out of, or completely full of toner.

After I found this trick, I got another 1,000 pages out of that "empty" toner cartridge.

Here's how to fix the problem (quoted from someone else but it really works... you can Google this problem and it will say to put electical tape on the sensor, but that does NOT NOT NOT work with this printer. Only this will work):

1)' Turn the printer off and then on again.
2) Open cover.
3) Press Cancel and Secure Print buttons at the same time.
4) Press the + button and scroll through the colors that need to be reset. (reset both STR and STD when prompted. I just reset them all.
5) Press OK (twice, once for STR and STD)
6) You're done. You don't even need to take the cartridges out and the printer thinks you just installed four new toner cartridges.

Reset menu for the durable parts counters:
1. Open cover where you access toners
2. Press GO and + button at once, you'll see menu come up displaying reset counters for drum, fuser, etc.

This unit has stopped printing four times, telling me that I've burned through three magenta toner cartridges. Each time I used this "secret" reset method and fixed it. I'm still on the original magenta cartridge. This "secret" reset method has saved me $200.

Oh, Brother... fix this problem and quit robbing people by making your printers tell them they are out of toner when they really are not. What you are doing is just plain weak. WEAK!

In this day of laptops, netbooks, and sophisticated phones, a network printer can simplify things greatly. With a wireless network already running in the house, we could add a wireless printer and put it where it most convenient for us rather than where there was a network connection. Enter the Brother HL-3070CW.

First a bit about printing technologies: Inkjets are cheaper to purchase, but the cost of ink cartridges is staggering over time. The HL-3070CW comes with a set of "starter" toner cartridges, rated for 1,000 pages each. Compare that to an inkjet, where ratings of 150 - 200 pages from a full set of carts are common. (Our Epson CX5800F is lucky to get 75 pages out of a set of cartridges, given the amount of ink we waste on clogged print heads.) The Brother toner cartridges cost more to replace, but you'll be replacing them much less often. The replacement black toner cartridge is rated for 2,200 pages, and the replacement color cartridges are rated at 1,400 pages each. The printer's drum units are also user-replaceable, and are rated for 15,000 sheets. By my calculations, assuming that we get half of the rated pages from the toner cartridges, we'll have made up the cost difference between these technologies in less than a year. The Brother will be significantly cheaper to run over time, without the frustration of clogged printheads.

I bought the Brother HL-3070CW shortly after it was released. This was a bit of a leap of faith, given that there were no reviews available at the time. It took about 20 minutes to unbox the printer, set it up, and connect it to our (WPA-PSK secured) wireless network. It was a painless process from start to finish. The toner cartridges slot into the top of the printer easily, and the paper tray (250 sheets) slides in the bottom.

The LCD screen on the printer is very basic, but it's easy to read, it includes a back light, and it does its job well. The menu system is very simple (one item at a time, scroll with the up and down keys), but the choices are easy to understand and the menu works exactly as expected. I've never had to read the operating manual that came with the printer. (Installation documentation is supplied on paper, but the operating manual is a pdf file on the included disc.)

Print quality has been excellent from the start. Characters are well-formed and easy to read, and graphic quality is very high with solid, vivid colors. Although not true photo quality, images are perfectly suitable for business purposes (brochures, presentations, etc.).

I've used paper from 20 to 32 pounds without incident with this printer. I have not had any paper jams, and the printer always picks up just one sheet of paper. The output tray on the top is rated to hold 100 sheets, and it looks like it could do that easily. The printer will handle legal sized sheets, although so far all of my printing has been on letter sized paper. There's a manual feed slot for thicker media and envelopes, but I've not had a reason to try it yet.

The printer uses 10 watts while asleep, and wakes from sleep very quickly. It takes less than 20 seconds for the first page to print if the printer's asleep when the document is sent. I've set my printer to go to sleep quickly, and have experienced no problems at all with it waking when documents are sent to it. The printer has also recovered gracefully from a power outage, including reconnecting to our wireless network automatically. It makes some noise when it feeds paper, but the noise level isn't objectionable.

One other interesting feature: The printer includes a USB port that can be used with PictBridge cameras, or that can be used to print some document types (e.g., pdf, jpeg) directly from a thumb drive.

The Brother HL-3070CW is easy to set up, it uses little energy in standby mode, it feeds paper reliably, its consumable costs are reasonable, and it produces excellent quality output. I'm not sure what else one could ask for from a printer. I'm very happy with this unit, and have recommended it to others who have also had good experiences with it.

Very easy to configure, at least with my Mac, and using the plug-in Ethernet connection. Great color, and very crisp printouts, nearly laser quality output (it's actually an LED printer, which uses a less-costly print technology than laser, but has the same basic laser-type toner cartridges). Even from an inch away the fonts look very crisp.

Toner cartridges are about $60 each. The starter cartridges are supposed to last 1000 pages but I've only had it a month so we'll see how that goes. You get (essentially) laser quality output but for $350, color, USB, Ethernet and wireless interfaces built in - so it's hard to beat. No problems at all to date, but as I say it's still new.

Colors are very good, but if you're looking to print photos it's not going to look as good as a photo printer. Great for color images and charts/graphs in documents, though, and better color quality than my $99 Epson ink jet (non photo printer).

Setup on the USB and plug-in Ethernet network connection is quite easy, there's a built in web interface in the printer that you login to. Had to download a driver from the Brother website but that was easy to do. Setting up the wireless interface looks like it would take 30 minutes or so, but the plug-in Ethernet setup only took ten minutes plus another ten to download the driver for my computer. Hardware setup (unpacking really, and inserting the four toner cartridges) was about 15 minutes.

Brother advertise this printer comes with a set of starter cartridges that will yield approx 1000 pages. After 282 prints of letters comprising address and 4 or 5 lines of text printed using the toner save mode the black cartridge has run out. Brother refuse to discuss any remedy and say the printer should be taken to a local service outlet to be checked ($75 charge even though under warranty). They stress they give no guarantee of how many prints per cartridge. Having purchased at least 50 laser printers over the years I am aware of the iso standards etc and that cartridge life is a variable, however this is THE WORST I have ever experienced and the Brother Customer Service is an oxymoron. Whilst I agree with others about the print quality being very good my advice is to avoid this printer (and probably all Brothers) unless you can afford to almost quadruple your estimates for running costs and are happy with a complete lack of customer service from Brother.

Been thinking about replacing a Canon i560 color ink jet. Actually I think of it every time I have to buy replacement ink cartridges. Well, I was in Office Depot and getting ready to buy a $[...]dollar package of cartridges (4 cartridges) and went over to look at the laser offerings. I really like lasers but wanted a color laser and REALLY wanted a wireless version. Was looking at the HP's but they were $$ when I saw the Brother HL-3070CW. (*Technical note: the Brother is not actually a laser but uses LED technology. I came across this fact in a review site in the UK. They say that this technology might actually be more accurate than the laser technology. Hope I got that right.) It was everything I was looking for and more...it was Mac friendly! Office Depot was selling them on sale for $[...] + tax. I put back my ink jet cartridges and went home and started searching the net for reviews. Well, it's a pretty new printer so not a lot out there but places I read said that it was a good home solution. Went to Amazon and of course they had it and the reviews were good. Oh yes, Amazon's price was $[...]and free shipping ( it is free standard shipping but I took them up on their Prime trial membership so I would get it in 2 days...pretty sweet) and of course no tax. I figure I save about $[...] by buying from Amazon and of course there is the $[...] I saved by not buying replacement ink jet cartridges so my price came down to $[...]. Yeah, I know a bit of rationalization there but hey. Well, UPS came 2 days later and I was in business. First, the unit is very well packaged. Oh yeah it's heavy too....49lbs I believe. Notes: it comes with "starter" cartridges. They get you going but don't have as much toner as a replacement cartridge. Still I think they have a lot of life. Also, no usb cord if you are going to go that route but I bought it specifically for wireless so no biggie. It does come with an install disc that has both Windoze and Mac drivers along with the complete manual. The quick setup guide also includes directions for setting up in both environments. Hooray for Brother! I was excited about getting this thing up and running but after looking at the quick start guide reference to wireless setup I stopped and thought to myself, "eeeewwww, this may be harder than I thought". Well, I did some "R&D" (that's Research and Delay) but came back to it a day or so later when I had some time and the house was quiet. I followed the quick start guide and their recommended method of setting up the wireless connection.....ethernet connection (yes, you need your own ethernet cord as the unit does not come with one) from the Brother to your router and install through wireless computer (old G5 in my case). Directions were clear and was able to get up and running in very little time and the "first" time. I believe that other reviewers have said that this was not clear and/or a bit difficult. I had no problems you just have to know what kind of security you have on your router, and basically the password. If your router supports "AOSS", "Wi-Fi Protected Setup", or "Secure Easy Setup", things are probably even easier. Installed the drivers on both my G5 and wife's iBook and everything worked! This doesn't happen to me very often so I was overjoyed. My wife is loving this printer. She's out in the living room and hit's "print" and the Brother wakes up and starts printing. Print speed is quite sufficient for our needs. Quality seems very good. We've only printed out documents with color printing and everything is very crisp. When you first install it you can print out a demo page that is just awesome! One thing you might want to remember is paper. Brother recommends laser paper that is 20-24lbs. Think I'm using some copy paper that is 20lbs and think my next purchase will be 24lbs paper. The unit holds 250 sheets in a paper tray below and has the ability to print envelopes and other stuff using a straight through path.
Lastly, everything I've read indicates that the cost of ownership of a laser is better than an ink jet so that's a plus. Print quality is top notch. Wireless is the way to go.....happy happy. I'd heartily recommend this printer to friends and even family. GO FOR IT!


28 Aug 10 ......Update
Just wanted to add that this printer is playing well with a bevy of new laptops. My eldest son when home from UGA (GO DAWGS!) connects up wirelessly with his Lenovo laptop (Win 7). My wife's ancient iBook died a couple of months ago and was replaced with an ASUS UL50Vt-A1 running Win 7. Connection was easy and it works great. I recently purchased a Sony VAIO VF111FX/B running Win 7 and it too was a piece of cake to get up and print wirelessly. NOW, I'm at the stage where I'm looking at replacement toner cartridges to replace the "starter" cartridges. Be very careful when ordering and don't be confused between toner and drums. Amazon has a four pack of drums but you'll need toner before you buy drums so be careful and order correctly. I'm looking at buy some remanufactured non oem toner cartridges....a four pack for around $[...]. If anyone has a suggestion as to where and how much for a four pack of toner I'd love to hear.

I have been looking to replace my HP Photosmart inkjet printer for a couple years now. Although I enjoyed the photo capabilities of the inkjet, it just didn't do it when I needed important black & white copies or color copies of my excel financial workbooks. I wanted a color laser printer but not at the expensive business prices plus it had to be wireless, network ready, & both Mac & PC friendly. Until I saw this Brother printer, no home color laser met all those requirements.

I was a bit apprehensive with this purchase since I had always owned HP printers & respect their reliability. But I have been using the Brother printer for over a month. It has far exceeded my expectations! Once I got rid of the cheap inkjet paper & replaced it with higher quality laser paper, the print jobs really shined. It is both a joy to print out my work financial statements in color and print jobs for every day use. I recently printed out my tax returns & enjoyed the laser black & white capabilities sorely missed with the inkjet.

This is the perfect printer for a home office. It is built like a small tank too (nothing cheap about the quality). Although I was a bit put off having to buy four print cartridges (at $40-$50 each), after shopping online I found some good buys. Plus, the output is more than double from anything you get from inkjet cartridges. The only thing it can't do are photos. But, I kept my HP inkjet for those jobs. I highly recommend this color laser printer (btw, Brother calls it digital color LED print technology).

This printer, so far, has been a money pit. The quality is okay, but it seems like I'm always buying cartridges and drums for this printer! In addition, we had a defective leaky yellow cartridge, and a black cartridge (or drum?) that started putting out "blobs" on the paper prematurely. The toner is always nagging to be refilled, even though it has plenty. The starter cartridges are a joke. I have spent SO much money on ink and supplies for this printer since I got it! I'm going back to Canon inkjets for color and buy another Samsung laser for black printing. This thing is going in the trash heap the next time it dares nag me for something else...

Update 11/29/10: It's in the trash. Now I'm stuck with all these cartridges and drums I bought for it, amounting to hundreds of dollars, believing it would get better. One of the worst purchases I've ever made.

I just purchased this printer and found the same problem that others have. I got 175 sheets on the starter toners and then around 200 on the next set ($200 per set) (that is way below Brother's advertisement). The printouts were color presentations 8x10, but I used to get over 2500 per set with my old HP 2500L laser. Brother's help line is a joke! I waited 45 minutes+ 3 times and never got through. I would not recommend this printer to anybody that prints alot. Also, if it breaks, you are in big trouble. As for the good: The print quality is great and it does seem well built. I don't usually write reviews but I didn't want anybody else to make the same mistake I did. I saw an earlier post here about the trouble with with Brother tech support and also the low number of prints out of a set of cartridges. I should have paid better attention. I wish I had my old HP 2500L working again.

After following all the instructions for installation both for wireless and wired mode (separately), at the last step where the Brother software indicated that everything was finished (including intermediate steps when a page was printed correctly), my computer came up with the message that the driver is not compatible with my system, Windows Vista, because it is kernel-mode driver. I downloaded the driver again from the web, same problem. The customer service person told me over the phone that Brother does not provide support for this printer over the weekend. This is printer for use at home. During the week I am at work and their evening hours are limited.
The printer clearly received a wireless command from my computer and printed a page during the installation, but the installation could not be completed for the driver.
I don't blame the printer; I blame the company for lack of information and help on their website and over the phone in connection with this type of problem.

Update 9-27-10
I contacted the Brother Customer service several times now. The last time I insisted to talk to a supervisor. All he could say is that the problem is with my operating system and to contact Microsoft! He could not offer any help nor could he verify whether the print driver is kernel-mode print driver, which is apparently incompatible with my operating system.

UPDATE: See the pictures I uploaded.

REVIEW

My fiance, who is a computer whiz and has a degree in it, helped me with the review, so the problems I experienced are probably not due to my own fault.

I set up this printer on my Windows XP desktop and laptop. The setup process was troublesome and I'm not impressed with the print quality. My experience is described below.

**Setup**

Unpacking and cartridge installation is well documented and relatively straightforward, but unless you follow the instructions and have some manual dexterity, you will get toner on your hands and possibly elsewhere - the protective plastic films that must be removed from the cartridges have toner on them. (Arrange the foil bag you took the cartridge from so that you can put the protective film into it while holding the cartridge in your other hand).

The procedure to connect the printer via USB or wired-ethernet is straightforward too, although annoyingly Brother encourages you to run their own driver installation program (supplied on CD) rather than adhering to the standard Microsoft Windows printer driver installation scheme. As supplied CDs are often out of date, I went to download the latest version from the Brother website, but alarmingly, the installation program supplied on the CD is not available there. (There is a driver there, but it is nothing like the program described in the manual supplied with the printer).

Setting up the printer for wireless networking is where things started to get troublesome. If your wireless router is quite new and supports SES/WPS/AOSS (where you press a button on your router which tells it to allow the printer to connect and get the wireless password and settings, similar to bluetooth pairing), you're in luck. Otherwise, to complete the setup, Brother's oxymoronic recommendation is to hook up the printer to your access point with an ethernet cable (note that you need to go through an access point - you can't just hook a laptop directly to the printer without a crossed cable), which completely defeats the purpose of the wireless feature, that is to allow the printer to be located where it's not practical to run an ethernet cable. If it was a light inkjet printer, temporarily carrying it to your access point would be tolerable, but this printer weighs ~ 45 lbs.

Thankfully, there is another method to complete the setup wirelessly from a laptop or desktop with a wireless network card, if you can find it buried in the "Network User's Guide". There's no mention of it in the only printed manual that comes with the printer (the quick start guide).
This method temporarily changes your wireless settings to connect to the printer to give it the password and settings for your wireless network.

During setup, I also discovered there have been several firmware updates in the short time this printer has been available. It doesn't instil confidence that Brother released this printer with several problems that needed fixing. My firmware was out of date so I updated. The "Status Monitor" program installed with the driver will check for updated firmware, but not install it. It just directs you to the website where you have to manually download and install the firmware.

**Print Quality**

The demo page printed during setup looks very impressive, after some real-world tests, it's clear that this demo image is carefully chosen to mask many potential quality problems. Text and lines, at least, print very well. They're sharp and crisp, and the colors are bright if you print in color. Images are a different story however. Periodic banding (perpendicular to the paper feed direction) is visible throughout the image and is especially noticeable in areas of solid color. Updating the firmware and running the calibration routine didn't improve the print quality.

**Conclusion**

Pros:
Reasonably priced toner
Built-in wireless networking
Good quality text printing
Fast

Cons:
Poor quality photo/graphics printing
Bigger and heavier than some of the competition (e.g. Samsung CLP-315)
No USB or network cable included
Noisy
Not the most asthetic design

Full disclosure: I received a test model of this product for review but was not compensated in any way for reviewing it.