Customer Reviews

Brother HL-5250DN Refurbished Network Ready Laser Printer with Duplex

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I bought the Brother HL-5250DN printer from Amazon for five reasons:
1) fast monochrome (black and white) printer.
2) network capability.
3) automatic duplexing (printing on both sides of the paper).
4) Enclosed paper tray.
5) Price (and the one-year manufacturer's warranty is nice, even on the refurbished product).
I also like the low toner, paper, and drum replacement indicator lights on the printer. The cost of the toner cartridges is about the same with other printers I've seen.

What comes in the box:
Printer, drum and toner assembly, AC power cord, paper Quick Setup Guide, CD-ROM. The CD-ROM has the drivers, entire Owner's Manual, and animated installation guide.
Note: No cables are provided.
If you are going to connect the printer to a wireless router, you will need an Ethernet cable.
If you are going to connect the printer directly to one computer, you will need either a USB or parallel cable. The printer has connections for both.

Setup
The setup did not go as easily as I hoped.

I had two problems with installation and setup:
1) I was not sure which network to use (peer to peer or shared).
2) After installation, I could not print from one of the two computers on the network.

After easily removing some shipping adhesive tape, inserting the drum/toner assembly (looks like a full toner cartridge, not a starter cartridge) and paper tray, I was ready to proceed with installing the software drivers.

The Quick Setup Guide presents you with choices for Windows 98/Me/2000/XP: USB interface, parallel interface, and network interface. There are also choices if using Windows XP Professional x64 Edition and Macintosh. The manufacturer's website indicates Microsoft Vista has "built-in" drivers but Brother drivers are also available on the website.

Upon clicking "Install Printer Driver" from CD-ROM menu, I was presented with three choices: USB cable users, Parallel cable users, and Network cable users. I chose the network cable users since I wanted to add the printer to my wireless network router. I was presented with a license agreement that I accepted. I then had to choose between "Brother Peer-to-Peer Network Printer" or "Network Shared Printer". I chose peer-to-peer to print directly to the printer over the network rather than to a central server on a shared printer. On Step 8 I had to choose "LPR" or "NetBios". I had no idea which one to choose and I didn't find any useful information to help with the decision. I chose LPR and clicked Next. The printer was recognized. Make sure to write down the IP Node Address (for a wireless router it is something like 192.xxx.xx.x).

Now, I needed to access the printer from my wireless computer running Microsoft Vista. I went to the Control Panel and double clicked on Printers. I then chose "Add a Printer" and selected "Add a network, wireless or Bluetooth printer". The computer searched for and found the printer. A couple more clicks and I was successfully printing from the wireless computer.

Printing from the desktop computer running Windows XP, connected to the router with an Ethernet cable, would not be as simple. The computer recognized the printer but would not send any data to the printer. I went to Control Panel, Printer and Faxes, right clicked on Properties. The General tab did not have the Location of the printer. I added 192.xxx.xx.x and clicked OK and tried printing a document but I was not successful. After two hours of dealing with it and looking at the company's website, I called the company (toll-free phone number right on the box). The company was closed; I called the next morning just after the company opened at 9 a.m. Eastern. I went through a very brief voice prompt menu and I was connected to Robby in all of about two minutes. He was polite but he was not able to solve my problem. He told me second level support would call me within 24 hours. Just over two hours later I got a call from Debbie, who was in Memphis, Tennessee. She was very helpful and quickly identified the problem. When hovering over the printer icon in the Printer and Faxes folder, the little popup message indicated the printer was offline. I don't know how I missed that. To correct the problem all I had to do was right click the printer and select "Use Printer Online". After a few seconds the printer was in Ready status. Problem resolved.

Summary
This is my first Brother printer and I am very favorably impressed. I don't think there is another printer on the market with these features at such a low price, at least at the time of this writing.

The product is shipped in the manufacturer's box, not an Amazon box, so all your neighbors will know what's in the box on your doorstep. The box looks like the box for a new printer, listing many features of the printer but it is clearly marked "Factory Refurbished". The printer itself has a sticker on the back with "Re-manufactured Product". My printer was originally manufactured in September 2005. I bought it in May 2007.

My experience with Brother International has been very positive. I got a great printer with excellent features, a full-size toner cartridge TN-550 (not a starter toner cartridge!), and a one-year warranty. From idle/sleep, the first page took only 20 seconds to print and the text quality is great. The icing on the cake was the technical support provided by Americans. Their promptness and knowledge was impressive. This was easily the best technical support experience I have ever had!


Update December 4, 2007:
I am still very pleased with the printer but it is noisy when printing and it does make "tick, tick, tick" noises sometimes. Neither of these issues has effected performance. The only annoyance I've experienced is with envelope printing - the envelope always crinkles. This isn't a big deal for me but it is something to consider if envelope printing is important to you.

Update October 7, 2008:
I purchased another refurbished HL-5250. The toner and drum are also factory refurbished. The drum unit (DR-520) has life expectancy of 22,500 pages, about 90% of new. The toner cartridge (TN-550) has an expected yield of 3,150 pages at 5% coverage. A new toner cartridge has an expected yield of 3,500 pages.

I am a medical student that requires several printouts (10-20 pages each) per day for class lectures. So this little unit has been getting alot of work for the past month.

Prior to this I had a HP inkjet...but it was eating ink so fast that it wasn't cost efficient (after like 50-100 pages it would give me low ink cartriage). So I decided to invest in a laser printer. I knew i wanted automatic duplex to save paper (better for environment)...my old HP had duplexing but required me to manually refeed the paper after 1 side printed.

I'm VERY pleased with this Refurbished model.

PROS: It came in a pretty big box, but was basically a new model (i could not tell what was wrong with it before...maybe they just replaced the drum unit). It prints SUPER fast...even on duplex...and I love the fact that it's network capable...bc it frees up an extra USB slot on my laptop and will one day allow my gf to print on the network too without having to mess with any cables. It only takes about 5 seconds to warm up, but it'll print right after that. ITS SUPER FAST - at least 20 pages a minute single sided...probably even 20 ppm on duplex. And it has a large tray underneath - holds like 200 or 250 pages at a time. I only print 8 by 10, and have not tried envelopes or 11 by 14 paper. It's not too huge either...just sits in my living room next to the wireless router.

CONS: The paper that comes out does have a slight bend to it on the 4 corners...nothing too bad, i just put them in my binder and it goes away on its own. I once printed 100 sheets in a job, and they curled up a little...prob cuz the printer got warmer...but still it wasn't a big issue. But if you were a small business and were printing this stuff for clients, i'd recommend a laser printer that didn't curl the corners. Also, the noise clicks that the printer makes may bother you upon start up...if you are printing right next to your own computer...but it doesn't bother me cuz its in a different room. If this model was in color and did not curl the corners...then it would get a 5 star rating.

ITS DEFINETELY AN UPGRADE from inkjet...(much faster and cheaper - i think it comes out to be only like 1 or 1.5 cents per page) and for the price, i dont think you could beat the network features plus true automatic duplexing. It shipped fast too.

If you are deciding whether to buy refurbished or new...i highly recommend the refurbished model (it's brand new to me).

This is my first review of an online item - so if this helped you, please let me know!

First the good. Don't hesitate to order the refurb model. It looked brand new. Even though the drum had a sticker saying it was only 90% full, the printer told me it was 99% full. It prints *fast*. Duplex is great and paper saving. Having it on the network is a dream. I can print from laptops and desktops all over the house.

Now the bad. The page curling complaints others have mentioned are real and significant. If you print a number of pages single sided, then you'll end up with a mess. My spouse prints large documents and she basically has to babysit the printer so she can pull pages out and straighten them because of this curl problem. I don't know why this printer has it...I haven't seen curling like this since the mid '90's in a laser printer. The problem is a real drag.

When the printer arrived I had to spend a bunch of time trying to figure out why it wouldn't wake up after sleeping. It's a known problem. Read the discussion on this Amazon page for the answers--it was the *only* place on the 'net I found them (including Brother support).

So, overall, it is still a good value. However, had I known just how bad the curling problem really is, I would have researched a bit more in case I found something else just as good but without the curl.

I purchased this printer to replace a 5 year old Samsung Printer.

I was looking for a laser printer that:
1) had a native ethernet network interface
2) allowed for duplex printing
3) worked well with vista

The printer is great. I didn't even have to install drivers for Vista. However I have had two problems.

1) the paper tends to curl. This seems worse when you are using duplex.
2) the network connection flakes out after a few days if you are using DHCP.

To fix the network problem use a static IP address for the printer, and all will be great. To configure the printer simply navigate to the printer's webpage. Details below.

I also disabled the Automatic Private IP address (APIPA) feature on the printer at the same time so I'm not sure if that would work.

Basically what I found was:

After the DHCP lease time expired AND the printer was asleep, it would not successfully renew the lease and would default to an Automatic Private IP.

Possible fixes are:
1) assign a static IP (foolproof fix) on the printer configuration web page.
2) turn off Automatic Private IP on the printer configuration web page.
3) extend the DHCP lease time on your router

or all of the above.

To assign a static IP or disable APIPA

1) navigate to the web page for your printer (http://)
2) click on the network configuration page
3) username: admin password: access
4) click Configure TCP/IP
5) change the IP address and uncheck Enable APIPA

Some history: I bought a [nice] Canon [MP830] inkjet over a year ago. It's a great unit.. prints, scans, copies, faxes, color, etc. But it's still just an inkjet. And after the "starter inks" ran out I had serious sticker shock on how much new ones cost. The whole inkjet thing really torques me at how these co's rip people off with ink. But that's beside the point here.

So I was on a quest to find another printer. I was looking at everything from the 5250, to the Canon's, to the high-end color Brother mfc. While I liked each of them, I ended up with this model.

I was primarily looking for an laser MFC with duplex and network. But I didn't really have luck finding the magic combo of features and price.

In my searching I eventually stumbled on the reconditioned 5250 and after some deliberation purchased it. I've now had it for a couple weeks and it works like a champ.

*Important Note*
When I ordered it I wasn't sure if it included toner and assumed it didn't--which would explain why it was so cheap. But yes it *does* come with a toner/drum. The only "catch" is the drum is reconditioned so it's rated at 90% life. The toner is rated at 3500 pages btw. Since I assumed it didn't I also ordered the high-cap cartridge.. so I'll probably be set for printing for the next 3-5 years. Just need to buy paper.

It also comes with the instructions, warranty card, and CD.

It works great, prints duplex great, hangs off the network fine. Also has USB if you need that instead. Print quality looks great.. and it's also *F A S T*. It's got a [10W] sleep mode.. which is higher than the 3W Canon sleep, still is okay. From what I've read that's really the biggest grip with Brother is they gobble a bit of electricity.

For me it came down to a) overpaying for current color technology and b) cost-per-page. The cost/page is what ultimately steered me away from the Canon.. I figured it around .03 per page for the 3270, whereas this unit is less than a penny (not including paper).

Also, with the colors the cost/page is still pretty high. And in my case I'd have to "need" color which I realistically didn't.

Overall I'm very happy with the reconditioned printer. There are a couple spots behind the flip-down door where you can tell it's been "used", but other than that the machine is practically new. For $150 you really can't go wrong. It comes with everything you need. Just add paper and either network or usb cable and you're set to go.

Even though I am using it for home, I wanted a printer that is network ready, that wouldn't dry up (inkjets dry up if you don't use it often), quality text printing, auto-duplexing. I didn't really care for printing photos since I realized with my last photo printer that printing them at a CVS or from a website that does prints produces much better quality unless you have one of those expensive Epson printers. Also another concern of mine was the fact that I have multiple OSes (3 laptops and 1 desktop, of which 2 are Ubuntu Linux, 1 Window, 1 Solaris), which prevents me from choosing the option of sharing printer through one machine.

After reading review, I decided on this printer. I was able to set up the printer for all these OSes very easily (for Solaris, I used CUPS and the ppd file that I found from googling it; for Ubuntu, the printer was one of the supported printers). I really love the freedom of being able to print from any laptops and desktop connected to my network, which means that I can print from a laptop in living room wirelessly (which works flawlessly).

Autoduplexing works very well, too. The printed text is professional quality. I would recommend the printer to anyone who have multiple computers (and different OSes) which you want to print from.

PROS: auto-duplex, network ready, nice text quality, support for multiple OSes
CONS: a little bulky (I hid it under my desk)

I have had this printer for almost a month and am very impressed so far. Under light use, I have had no problems, jams, etc. Duplexing has worked flawlessly. Setup (over ethernet) was very easy once I figured out that Mac OS X (Leopard) has the necessary drivers built in and will add the printer virtually automatically. Had I not known this was a refurbished item, I would not have guessed.

I bought this printer to replace an old inkjet which needed its ink cartridges replaced. For a little more than 2.5 times the price of new cartridges I was able to purchase this instead. As I anticipate my print volume increasing, I was looking for lower cost per page, better performance and print quality, and duplexing to save paper and my back. I also considered the lower-cost Brother lasers (lacking duplexing) but, with their starter toner cartridges, they end up costing more than this refurbished model once the starter cartridge is replaced.

Refurbished is GOOD! I've had this just under 2 months. Have printed 1,037 pages and 8 envelopes. About 6 jams so far, 3 of them experimenting with letter sized envelopes with the manual feed. Still comes out with maybe an edge smusched but it's reasonable. Not as good as my HP-5L with envelopes, but acceptable using MS Word "Envelopes and labels".

Paper has just a slight curl. Much better than with the HP-5L. When duplexing, the curl is not very noticable.

When printing a 'Print Settings' status it indicates status of consumables ('remaining life of'), like: PF KITMP (99.9%), PF KIT1 (98.9%), FUSER (98.9%), LASER (98.9%) and DRUM (95.7%). Seems like they will last quite a long time.

Attached through 'networking'. Five PCs on the network share the printer and one iMac G5 - 20/2. Works on either PC/iMac without problems! Unlike when you connect via USB or Parallel, you don't have to have the PC powered on & running for others to print!

Prints duplex from both PC and iMac. Easy setup in properties when printing duplex.

Printing at 600x600. Don't feel any need for a higher default setting.

Shockingly noisy when starting up with a clackely clack sound but you get used to that. The HP-5L was virtually noiseless.

Print speed is fast! Most of the time the printer is finished when you walk up to it. I had to wait alot at the HP-5L.

Did buy a 256MB memory upgrade for a cheapo price. Uses older 144pin SDRAM SODIMM PC133, somewhat expensive compared to current 200pin DDR2 SODIMM PC5300 prices, so it's an ROI thing. The 512MB upgrade just wasn't worth the price.

Mine was 'manufactured' "September 2005".

********* .. about 3 months later ...

Just updated toner with new TN-580 cartridge. Original toner 'Toner Life End' indicator came on at 2,873 pages. Used the tape trick and that lasted until counter was 3,653 pages.

The drum 'remaining life of' indicated "84.5%". All other 'remaining life of' counters are still over "96.x%". At this rate, will get more than 2x more of TN-580 replacements before the drum gives out ...

I was pretty excited about this printer based on all of the reviews that I've seen both here and on the Web. I looked at quite a few printers for that magical value versus cost and for the most part, this printer delivers. However - it's not great. For text printing I'd say it's worth every penny (and it's not a lot of pennies either!) - but for printing black and white pictures, it leaves a lot to be desired. Banding and washed out pixelated photos are what I'm getting. Perhaps it's part of the refurb - who knows... I had a gift certificate so it was worth the $50 total that I spent. I was a bit disappointed, however. What can I say - it is what it is. The good side - networking was easy to setup and includes a lot of different options. IP, Netbios, cups, Windows, etc. Duplex was also really nice and interesting to watch... It's also a pretty fast printer if you stick with the lower resolutions. There's a bit of a power surge when printing like what has been said here before... So - 3 stars...

No problem setting up to use with the PCs in my network, caused some problems with OSX istallation, in fact, cannot use it with my Mac and am still fixing problems the installation caused to my iBook.