Customer Reviews

Brother HL-5280DW Wireless Laser Printer Network Duplex

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I have owned the printer for about two months now and I am satisfied with the purchase. It is hard to find another printer in this price range (I paid $315 at Amazon) with similar feature set. I use it on my wireless LAN at home with both PCs and my MacBook Pro, and have not had any major trouble so far. I did not dare to setup the security features, so I can't relate to the other reviewer who had problems with enabling them on the printer. I rely on MAC address filtering on my access point for the time being.

Now, there are 3 aspects of the printer I did not like a whole lot :

1. Fan noise.
2. Clicking sound during warm-up.
3. Surge of current generated by the printer upon startup.

I emailed the tech support, and received an answer promptly, to my satisfaction, so I decided to keep it.
Overall I rate it with 5 stars based on the price/performance.

The answers from tech support are below for your reading pleasure.

The fan will run until the fuser is below 100 degrees Celsius. Make sure that the printer has adequate space on each side for proper ventilation,at least 3 to 4 inches around all sides. The HL-5200 Series machines may make a clicking, ticking or popping noise when the machine is warming up, in standby mode or cooling down after making copies. This noise occurs when parts within the fuser
Unit (part of the machine that adheres the toner to the page) expand and contract as part of the normal heating up and colling down process.
PLEASE NOTE: This noise ONLY occurs when the machine is warming up, is in standby mode or when cooling down AFTER printing a document. This is normal operation and not an indication of a malfunction of the machine. If the noise is accompanied by a machine malfunction (for example: a paper jam, machine error, loud grinding when making prints etc), please contact the Brother Customer Service department at 1-800-276-7746.

Lights flickering or dimming when using the printer can be explained by the following information. The average operating current for the printer, as determined by Underwriters Laboratory (UL) testing is 5. amps. However, when the fuser is cold or when the printer is warming up,it will jump to 7.5 amps. This is a design element to enable the printer to get ready for a quick time to first print. The power spikes up to ready the printer quickly. Sometimes the spikes will cause lights to flicker as the power is drawn.

The printer has been tested and approved by UL. The printer will not damage home wiring. UL has confirmed that the home circuit breaker would trip before any damage would occur. This design element ensures the printer performs 30 pages per minute printing and fast wake up time. This design cannot be altered and is not an indication of a manufacturing defect. We do recommend not to share the same power circuit with other high-power appliances, particularly an air conditioner, copier, shredder and so on.

I bought this printer for my wife and I to use. I wanted a fast laser printer with wi-fi connection and this printer fit the bill. My only source of frustration so far (after one month of ownership) was that the using the printer's easy installation and set-up software was a complete bust. The printer simply couldn't find my computer (I'm using a Mac with 10.4.5 OS X.). I followed all the steps repeatedly in the printed instruction manual, both with a wired and wi-fi connection, but to no avail. I thought I might have to send the printer back, but then I started wading through the much longer instruction manual that's included on the CD. Using this, I was able to create a connection with my Airport Extreme terminal using the controls directly on the printer itself. Because it was the weekend and the company's customer service is closed on weekends, it took me a ridiculously long time to figure this out - 6 hours easy. But since I did, the printer's worked like a charm. While my printer needs aren't particularly demanding, I'm happy with the print quality and speed. It feels sturdy and reliable, so here's hoping.

So far (after a month), we have been overwhelmingly satisfied with this printer. Setup was plug-and play easy, even considering our password-encrypted wireless network. It is a luxury to have a printer whos only cord is a power cord. We are using a second paper tray, which is also working great.

Print performance is fast and sharp - the duplexing feature works well, and the printer is relatively quiet (except when duplexing, then there is considerable clacking).

I cannot comment on durability - at this point we have only run about 1500 pages.

Bottom line - a good unit for a small to moderate networked environment!

Printer has proven over the short haul to be reasonably quiet and reliable. I spent quite a bit of time getting it to talk to the wireless network, which was made even more difficult by the WEP encryption on my network. You have to initially direct-connect the printer to the wireless router in order to set it up. Other than that, anyone should be able to set it up provided they have some basic understanding of networks, IP addressing, and the like. I'm not sure I'd advise a non-network savvy person to attempt it without a computer geek to help.

I read the reviews and was a little worried when the printer arrived. Would it cause the lights to flickers in my office with all the other power-hungry computer stuff plugged in? (No.) Would it make my office smell like ozone? (Not after the first week.) Would it make clicking noises and drive me crazy? (Not at all.) Would it work wirelessly with my network? (Perfectly.)

I love this printer. I love printing wirelessly from my living room. I love that it's totally silent when it is sleeping. I love that it was easy to setup and that it has worked flawlessly since I got it. The only thing I don't love about it, is the fan noise that it a little loud when it is cooling down after a job. Of course, it's only loud because the printer is one foot from my computer and three feet from my head. For the money, this is absolutely a great buy and a great printer.

First, read my review re: the 'Andrea Doria' HP6980 inkjet printer that I replaced with this Brother laser printer.

I received this printer (i.e., the Brother) and my faith in printers has at last, and to great relief, been restored - after the debacle that was HP. I have it connected to PC/Vista Ultimate/ethernet. 15 minutes total from recieving the box to actually printing documents. Setup worked fine for me. I turn it on. I hit print. It prints. HP - you've been pwned by this printer. THANK YOU BROTHER! After my nightmare experience with the HP dog, this printer is a breath of fresh air. All I ever wanted to do, alas, was to be able to PRINT. I give this a 5 star. I cannot comment on others' problems, but for me, it is perfect.

I purchased one recently, after comparing with HP's same level printer. This HL 5280DW has almost all the features of the HP's, yet has better memory and chip speed and lower price (only to have paid more before the new sale price). I followed the instructions on the CD and had no problem at all to have two of my laptops to communicate with the printer via my wireless network. It's been working pretty good so far. HP's is a name brand, but this Brother's product works fine, only with less cost to me.

I have had good success with Brother lasers before. This replaced an old 1670N. I couldn't be happier with it. I use it on a Mac G5 dual 1.8. The setup was simple, although I had to use the install disk, something I'm not accustomed to with Mac drivers. Went through the setup once and the wireless function has worked perfectly 100% of the time. More than I can say for my HP OfficeJet 7410xi wireless. It shows up in Safari Bonjour bookmarks and gives me a full set of network/printer information. I'd probably go with 4.5 stars if I could, as there here is some envelope curling. It's blazing fast!
I've never had the surge problem, although there is always some surge with a laser. I connect it to a home theater power strip, rather than the UPS my Mac is on.

I was looking for a printer that provided: Very high resolution, dual-side printing, and wireless. Kind of a strange set of requirements, but if that's what you're looking for, this printer is for you. I've had it several months now and it has performed well. It's true, the lights dim a bit when it prints. Otherwise, no complaints. Set up was easy on my Mac/Airport WiFi.

Long time user of Brother printers. Have had about 15 printers thru the years, from HL-1240 up to the HL-5280 DW. Have six Brother printers in current use, three are MFC- in office use. All are Double side printers.

Thru all these years only two problems and these were not the printers fault.
#1. Lighting srike took out one MFC,it was on a surge protector, but the power line ran across about 500 feet of open water. The FAX and double sided copier function still worked.
#2 Bought a couple of cases of recycled paper, OK on single side printing but paper failed on double side, took both cases back, girl said they had lots of returns on that paper. Been buying paper there for years.

Noise ??? Have two printers within 8 ft of this computer and I never noticed any noise. Trace of noise if I want to here it.
Lights dim ??? Have two printer and backup drives on the same plug with surge protector and a dedicated (#12 wire) direct connection to the main power box, litle light dim when I try to notice it. It has never caused a problem of any kind.

Have one HL-5250 DN that has printed over 110,000 pages and still going strong. Used lost of toner and 3 or 4 drums thru the years, but no problems.

To put it simple, we have just not had no problems with Brother printers, maybe we are just lucky, but I believe they are good.