Customer Reviews

Brother HL-5250DN Network Ready Laser Printer with Duplex

5 star:		(133)
4 star:		(58)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(19)

 

 

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 problem, but I think the installation software should guide you through checking to see if everything is up to date, and help you upgrade the firmware.

The paper tray only holds 300 pages, which is less than a ream of paper. At 30 pages per minute, you could run out of paper in only 10 minutes! So it may not be the ideal printer for all but the smallest office settings (but still better than an inkjet for b&w printing). However, I believe you can add an additional paper tray, and there are other models with extra paper capacity built-in.

When I ran into my problem with sleep mode interfering with printing, I e-mailed Brother's technical support (they don't give you a number you can call), but I don't think a human actually reads your e-mail. It was pretty frustrating. Next time I'll try calling their customer service line and see if they can transfer me to tech support.

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 power draws of 900+ watts and voltages around 104 volts on recent 15A residential wiring. This did not cause my UPS to go online, however it is equipped with undervoltage regulation. Many UPSes would go online at this voltage. In any case, your mileage may vary.

On a completely different note, one small drawback compared with the model it replaces (HL-5140) is that it no longer has a straight through paper path for thicker paper or envelopes to prevent curling.

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 duplex shuffle, even for a single page. I've not had that problem.

The only aspect that has given me a bit of trouble has been trying to print files directly from Adobe InDesign CS with clear (not screened) type. Whether it is the Brother's emulation of Postscript or its PPD or some mismatch between it and InDesign, I've not yet figured out, but I've had to do a workaround of exporting a PDF and printing from that. (And then only after turning off the "Brother Photo" mode in the Print Settings which seems to be the default for some reason.) For printing from MS Word or the Web, the printer has been speedy and flawless.

So, the InDesign matter aside (for which I dock it one star), it is nifty printer for the price.

I spent a few months looking at laser printers and I was convinced that HP was the way to go... However, after comparing the features and the price I was totally sold on the Brother 5250DN. For 250$ you get networking, duplexing, almost instant-on printing, and 30 pages a minute. With HP printers you would pay a whole lot more to get the same features.

My first impression of the printer was that it was utilitarian at best. There is no LCD display, only two simple buttons and a few LED lights on the control panel. Since I'm a gadgety-kinda-guy I wanted a printer with an LCD screen and some other cool things on it. I quickly ignored the lack of the LCD screen when I saw how nicely the printer worked. After printing just a few documents I was totally sold on the quality of this machine. Everything that I print looks flawless and razor-sharp. I started to enjoy the way the printer was designed even more... don't let the outward simplicity deceive you! Also, since the printer is almost cube-like, there aren't any protruding paper-trays or other pieces to make placement awkward.

One of my favorite features is a button combination that you can press (I think you have to hold down the 'Go' button for 3 seconds-- check the manual) to re-print whatever you had just printed. This has come in handy a few times since the printer is downstairs and, if I suddenly realize that I need another copy, I can print it without having to walk upstairs to my computer and resend the print job. Also, if you want to print more than one copy you can, you hold 'Go,' release it, then press it the number of times that you want reprints made. It's a handy little feature that I found while reading the manual.

Also, while I haven't done this yet, the printer uses common SDRAM for its memory upgrade module, not some expensive, proprietary memory. I'm not sure if this is a common practice but it definately made sense and I applaud Brother for choosing to use something generic and consumer friendly.

The network sharing took me a little to figure out, but after installing the Brother network manager the printer worked much better. At first it would totally drop print jobs since I had Windows interfacing with the printer directly. Now, after installing the Brother network software and printing to the BNT port, every print job is handled successfully.

I've had the printer since January (so coming up on six months), and 780 pages later this printer is still performing wonderfully. I've never had a paper jam or a bad quality print. The 5250DN just sits there patiently waiting for me to give it something to do, and I never have to worry about clogged nozzles or poor quality output. I have noticed that it draws quite a bit of power initially (I can tell when the printing starts because the lights in my house flicker ever so slightly). The printer is quiet overall, it just makes a nice humming noise as it is working and it spits out pages like you wouldn't believe.

The Brother 5250DN is the perfect low-maintenance printing solution and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a laser printer. I would definately buy from Brother again.

I ordered this printer to print double-sided reports which were 150 sheets. I used a heavier paper (24/60lb txt) but not what I would consider unusual paper for a report. The duplexer has to turn the paper so tightly that it curls it. Add the heat of the machine, the paper becomes permanently bowed. Even after weighing the paper down with heavy books, the paper flattened a bit but was wavy. This might not be noticeable on a small report, but when you stack over 100 pages, it looks like the report got watersoaked! It was also impossible to tamp the pages to get them even on the edge.
Otherwise the printer worked fine right out of the box. The print quality was nice and it was fast. You just have to keep the duplexing to a minimum or perhaps only 20 lb text.

I was originally going to purchase an HP LaserJet, but due to it being out of stock, I opted to order this printer. I have to say I am glad I did. My first impression was that it reminded me of my old Samsung QwikLaser, but the print quality and machine quality exceeds what I had expected for $250. My main reason for purchasing this machine was to print duplex technical reports, which my HP Color LaserJet can't do (can't print duplex), and toner for that machine is exponentially more. I have read that the print cost for this machine is about $0.02 a page, which is good in comparison to others costs, and I do not see any "chip" in this toner cartridge, as most new lasers have.

Right out of the box I ran a 10 page report, 50 copy count, duplex, and it handled it without a single problem. I'm using a Mac with OS X 10.4, btw. The document I printed was a technical report with many screen captures, and the screen shots were very legible, and the print speed was exceptional. I would estimate about 12-15 pages per minute double sided. Machine is fairly quiet in operation. The loudest noise is the obvious "click" when it loads a sheet of paper. Machine is quieter than my HP Color LaserJet. Like all lasers, after a few copies it starts to warm up and smell a little. Not as badly as I had expected, though.

Overall very pleased with my purchase.

Update: 10-30-06

I have now printed well over a thousand pages, duplex, and it works wonderfully. I have never had a jam, a wrinkle, or a dog-eared page. Printers works perfectly with Mac OS X Tiger and Windows XP.

My only complaint would be that the buttons and lights are on the top, and as I have this on a high shelf, I can't see them, but you never need to turn the machine off (automatically sleeps after a set time), and your computer will tell you that you are out of paper.

Excellent Printer!

I have been using a Brother HL-1440 for the past four years. It has been totally reliable. It was networked through a Netgear PS121 so it could be easily shared with other computers in the house.

I decided to get the HL-5250DN for the duplexing capability. The HL-1440 has manual duplexing, which can get annoying if you're in another room and have to either waste paper or run back to the printer to turn the pages over.

Amazon got the HL-5250DN to me in two days with free shipping. Setup didn't take long, though I must have made a mistake during the network install portion as the printer didn't show up under Windows. A bit of fiddling with the printer port and IP setup solved the problem. I tried to use Brother's Driver Deployment Wizard to setup the printer on my other computers, but I had trouble there possibly because of the way it was set up on my main computer. I was able to get it working with 3 other computers after a bit of fussing around.

The duplexing seems to work fine. Starup and first page out is much quicker than with the HL-1440. I was able to use a 128MB stick of PC133 SO-DIMM memory left over from a laptop upgrade and so did not have to buy additional memory (never throw anything out)!

My only complaint is that the multi-purpose feeder is a bit of a pain. With the HL-1440, you just stuck an envelope in the front slot and printed it. With the HL-5250, you have to open the multi-purpose cover, insert the envelope, and then change the printer settings to tell it that you have envelope stock. Otherwise, it seems to think that you have plain paper loaded and it won't print.

Initially, the envelopes were coming out creased and almost welded shut. The manual has a fix fo this, but it requires opening the back of the printer and moving some latches that apparently control the roller pressure or some such. That cured the creasing problem, but the manual indicates that you should put the latches back into the "normal" position for other printing. This would be a big hassle since they are inside the back cover. So far, I'm just leaving them in the "envelope" position and plain paper printing still seems to be OK.

Overall, I'm satisfied with the capabilities of the HL-5250. I'll be very happy if it holds up anywhere near as well as my HL-1440.

Update: It's Oct. 2007 and I've now had this printer for over a year. Still no problems at all!

This machine has two great features: (1) the option of automatic DUPLEX (two-sided) printing, and (2) it's a NETWORK READY printer.
I had the 5250DN up and running on a wireless network in no time. I just ran a short ethernet cable from the printer to a Linksys WET54G Wireless Bridge ($75-80) which in turn picks up a signal from a Linksys WRT54G Wireless Router a few rooms away. The router dynamically assigns the printer an IP address on the network. The "BRAdmin" software on the supplied CD found the new printer on the network almost instantaneously. From there it was just a few more mouse clicks and a bit of typing on each computer using the network to install the printer driver and to direct them to print via a Standard TCP/IP address. All worked beautifully on the first try. The machine is
So now I have tucked the printer out of sight in a side closet. Now any machine on the network can print DIRECTLY to the printer from any room in the house. Amazing.
For the money, this is one of the best purchases I have made considering that (after the Brother rebate) I paid less than $300 for the whole package including the wireless bridge. Very highly recommended.

I needed a printer for my home network consisting of Linux, OS X, and Windows XP machines. I had a very difficult time trying to find a network printer that worked with all three operating systems and didn't break the bank. Several other vendors charged as much as $240 for the network "upgrade" unit to their printers! I finally purchased this printer based on reviews of older Brother models. Thus far I couldn't be happier. The printer is quiet in sleep mode and wakes up in 30-40 seconds to handle my print jobs. The Web interface is simple and gets the job done. The lpd interface works great with my linux machines and the cups ppd file found on Brother's support site worked without any snags.

The print quality is very sharp, even in toner saver mode. The printer also supports duplexing, yet another option most other companies charged around $100 for. Graphics are on par to what I've seen on larger office HP laserjets. Standard text is printed very fast. Documents from word that are mostly text print very close to the 30ppm advertised.

The only drawback that I can see is the printer drum head is only rated for 25,000 pages and Brother recommends replacing it. Even so, this makes it an excellent printer for people looking to add to a home network or small business environment.

Okay first let me start off by saying that I researched many different printers before I decided on this one. It finally came down to the Brother HL-5250 or the HP-1320.

I was hesitant to get the HP because so many user reviews stated how cheap and flimsy it was made. HOwever my hesitation with the Brother was due to the power surge/drain problem that I read so much about.

Now that I've had the printer for a few months I can say with confidence that this printer is the best- I love this printer!

First the power issue. I live in an old home (built in 1960) and have old wiring so I was sure that I was going to experience the power problem! But surprisingly the first time it powered-up... nothing! No power drain, no lights flickering, nothing! And this printer is even plugged into the same outlet as my computer! So no power issue here.

Secondly, I read so much about paper curl. It is true that the printer curls the paper just slightly. But if you let the paper cool down and relax, the pages go right back to normal.

Next, this printer churns out pages like our huge "big bertha" printer at work! I cannot belive how fast this thing is! I haven't printed any large print jobs yet- but when I do it is going to be a breeze. For single page printing- it is so fast that it actually takes more time to power up than it does to print several pages.

Lastly I have to say that the construction is pretty decent. It is a sturdy little device that doesn't take much room at all. I love having the paper stored inside the printer so it doesn't get dusty and warped like paper does when standing in the back of most printers. If you are looking for a printer that you won't outgrow in a year or two (or three)... then you will most likely love this printer as much as I do.

Oh did I mention... the print quality is great too! I haven't even needed to use the 1200 x 1200 setting much cuz text and line art looks smooth and crisp in the 600dpi mode!