Best Printer

[cpabsd]

What is your favorite printer for all these tax returns we are printing?  My printer seems to be on the verge of going.  I need network and duplex capabilities.  

[Margaret CPA in OH]

I've been very happy with my Bother HL-L2325DW.

[BTS]

Second on Brother printers.  Cheap and you can buy non Brother toner cartridge's and drums on the cheap.   We use LD Products for replacement toner and drums.  

[Abby Normal]

I love my Brother color laser HL-L3280CDW. It has a great envelope bypass and it was very reasonably priced, but it's monthly duty cycle is only 3,000, so it might not be good enough for printing a lot of pages.

[BTS]

We have two 6200dw's and both are over 100,000 on page counts.  Our original 1800dw (very old model) has over 300,000 pages on it.  Still works great !!  But LD Products is a great place to buy toner and drums.  So much cheaper than OEM stuff.  We used Ricoh units before Brother and toner was not cheap for those. And aftermarket toner was hard to find.

[mcbreck]

What I like about Brother is that you can buy refilled cartridges on Amazon for a very cheap amount. Some of the makers have utilized tech to try and prevent that. It also will hit 100k pages by the end of next week. I'm thinking about moving my color printer to the side and using a mono / black only printer for general usage when I don't need color. I'd like to limp this color print along until retirement.

[GLJEANNE]

Ditto on Brother, I have the MFC-L5850DW and it's been a good workhorse.  The high-yield toner cartridges are good.

 

[artp]

I have brother MFC-L2750DW and am well pleased for over 6 years.  As others have commented replacement toner and drum units are easily and cheaply available thru LD products and are very reliable.

[Hahn1040]

My first printer when I was on my own in 1998, was a Brothers HL1040.  When i saw the model number, I knew that was the one.

I am now up to an HL6200.  I've had this one about 5 years.  I always buy Brother.  and use LD toner

[BulldogTom]

I like my Canon ImageClass D1620, but it may not be available anymore.   Copy feeder, scan, 500 page paper drawer.   I don't do color printing, so I like a b/w only printer.  It was about $300 when I got it 3-4 years ago.   I get aftermarket toner cartridges on Amazon fairly cheap.   

Tom
Longview, TX

[Catherine]

I miss my Brother printer. When it died I replaced it with an HP, which works well enough but can be very annoying as well. Checking in with the mothership to make sure I'm using "real" HP cartridges, deciding to stop and recalibrate halfway through a print job, waiting up to a minute before printing in case I decide to override which paper feed to use (when only one has any paper in it). They are "improving the user experience" to the point of wanting to take a sledgehammer to the thing on occasion. But the print quality - once it deigns to start - is terrific, as is the speed, and the ease of duplex printing.

[ILLMAS]

If I may recommend try going digital, I say 95% of my clients get digital copies and the other 5% get a print out.  Someone here recommend Verifyle secure portal and I've been happy with it.

[Margaret CPA in OH]

Oh, I use Verifyle and love it as do many of my clients.  But a surprising number of them still want a printed client copy of their returns.  When I began my own practice I used and still do use twin pocket folders with the year label on the outside, my card inside and copies on the right with acknowledgements and my invoice on the left.  So many long time folks still want those folders because that's how they keep their records.  Of course, most of my clients are 'of a certain age' and the younger ones (most, but not all) just retain digital copies.  One  year I tried gray folders.  Didn't go over well.  My business cards and stationary are light gray and wine.

My office is about 99% digital.  I never keep paper copies of client data either downloading the pdf copies from Verifyle and/or scanning provided records with my trusty ScanSnap 1500!

[schirallicpa]

I've been doing this for 30 years.  I've had 2 printers - both brothers.  They are the best.

[Slippery Pencil]

7 hours ago, Catherine said:

 replaced it with an HP

Back in the 80s, 90s, and maybe early 2000s, HPs were supposedly the best.  Today they're worthless garbage.  I've bought three.  The first two were good but I don't think they lived up to their reputation.  The third I bought in 2011.  This was before HP required HP toner cartridges, tried to trick users into signing up for ink subscriptions, and remotely turned off printers, but it was still worthless trash.  Takes forever to warm up when turned on, prints at half it's stated speed, noisily re-calibrates numerous times per day even if nothing has been printed, and nosily runs a cleaning routine numerous times per day even if nothing has been printed.  Now that HP requires their own ink cartridges and is turning off peoples' printers, I'm surprised anyone still buys their junk.

[BulldogTom]

9 hours ago, Slippery Pencil said:

Back in the 80s, 90s, and maybe early 2000s, HPs were supposedly the best.  Today they're worthless garbage.  I've bought three.  The first two were good but I don't think they lived up to their reputation.  The third I bought in 2011.  This was before HP required HP toner cartridges, tried to trick users into signing up for ink subscriptions, and remotely turned off printers, but it was still worthless trash.  Takes forever to warm up when turned on, prints at half it's stated speed, noisily re-calibrates numerous times per day even if nothing has been printed, and nosily runs a cleaning routine numerous times per day even if nothing has been printed.  Now that HP requires their own ink cartridges and is turning off peoples' printers, I'm surprised anyone still buys their junk.

Don't hold back Pencil....tell us how you really feel.

I would never buy an HP for the reasons you state.

Tom
Longview, TX

[mcb39]

I have four HPs in my main office and have had no issues to speak of.  Of course, they are all older models and some are refurbished.  I also have a HP Color printer for special things.  Couldn't ask for anything better.  I always use off brand toners from Amazon and V4ink.  If I get a bad one, they replace immediately.

[Gail in Virginia]

I have used HP for years, but if and when I have to replace my printer it won't be with HP for the reasons given above.  In fact, the last HP fax machine that we had in the office was the reason I switched to an electronic fax service.  

[Randall]

I've always used HP.  Will continue.  Not too many years to go.  I have the low end ones.  Not any problems.  I assume the other big names are good too.

 

[Margaret CPA in OH]

Gail in Virginia, when you switched to an electronic fax service, were you able to maintain your original number?  We are likely moving this summer so will lose our land line including the fax line.  I can change my business number to a cell easily enough but not the fax, I think. 

[mcb39]

This old fashioned office still has a working fax machine and two land lines in addition to my cell.  Believe me, that land line rings all day long unless I unplug it because of office in my home.  On top of that, an entire handful of paper bill payments are in limbo somewhere and we are fighting the late fees on all of these bills.  Companies are being very cooperative and checks have not cleared the bank,; but the loss of time is something that I don't need right now.  End of rant.

[Lee B]

I dropped my fax line several years ago due a lack of use and I switched my land line to Google Voice back in November, thanks to Abby.

I have used both HP and Canon printers over the years although I think my next printer will be a Brother based on everyone's posts.

[Lee B]

On 4/2/2025 at 7:42 AM, Abby Normal said:

I love my Brother color laser HL-L3280CDW. It has a great envelope bypass and it was very reasonably priced, but it's monthly duty cycle is only 3,000, so it might not be good enough for printing a lot of pages.

What do you mean by it's monthly duty cycle is only 3,000?

[mcbreck]

I can't even imagine a world where my clients could download their tax returns without me printing it. Even people who I think it should be a no-brainer get hung up on it and almost always it's because their corporate networks won't allow them to download. Um, use your personal computer at home? 

A brokerage firm sent me their 1099s via a portal and the broker said more than 50% of their clients couldn't figure it out. All you had to do was put in your email address and last name.

Have a guy who I sent everything through the portal 2x and he asked for it a third time to be sent via email. Finally his business partner texted me and confided he knew the guy was scared of the portal. I knew he hadn't downloaded the items but at least try?

[Lion EA]

I've had a lot of old HP workhorses since I went into biz. I had one after another Brother fax machines that broke down fast when I started, so switched to all HP for anything that prints.

My current IT guy told me that he still recommends the high-end HP models, but for small offices like mine he prefers Brother in my price range. I now have a Brother, small/fast/B&W, for printing tax returns.

Probably going with a Brother all-in-one after tax season to replace my old HP all-in-one that served me well for years/decades but that's giving me fits re not using HP cartridges when HP no longer makes cartridges for this very old printer.