Brother HL-5250DN

Pros
  • Excellent print quality
  • Good speed
  • Durable enough for a small office
  • Low costs per page
Cons
  • Not built for heavy office use
  • Some complaints of paper curls and jams
  • Photo quality
 
 
Where to Buy
 
 
 

Reviews say the Brother HL-5250DN is a great value among black-and-white laser printers for PCs and Macs, offering excellent print quality for text, duplex printing (both sides of a page) and speeds competitive with printers costing much more. Reviews say you'll also get good quality on graphics and fair quality on photos, and one estimates your cost per page at about 2.2 cents, which is very low. These printers are not designed for heavy office use – the Brother HL-5250DN has a maximum duty of 20,000 pages per month. User reviews are overwhelmingly positive, with the usual complaints – paper jams and curls, difficulty printing on envelopes and power surges at startup. One feature that's missing is Wi-Fi; for that, look to the upgraded Brother HL-5280DW (*est. $355).

There are solid reviews of monochrome laser printers at Better Buys for Business, which rates almost every brand-name printer and tests them thoroughly. You'll need at least a free online trial subscription, however, to read these reports. PC World is thorough enough to have timed the Brother HL-5250DN at 21.6 text pages per minute and 9.6 graphics pages per minute. We found good coverage at PC Magazine as well. About 200 user reviews at Amazon.com and more than 100 at Newegg.com are overwhelmingly positive.

Where To Buy
 
 
Brother HL-5250DN Network Ready Laser Printer with Duplex

 (241 reviews)
Buy new: $249.99   7 Used & new from $160.50

 
 
 

Our Sources

1. PC World

PC World tests many printers and gives the Brother HL-5250DN a "very good" rating and says its speed beat more expensive printers -- 21.6 text pages per minute, 9.6 graphics pages per minute. There are also about a dozen user reviews – most of the complaints concern noise.

Review: Brother HL-5250DN Review, Paul Jasper, Feb. 10, 2006

2. PCMag.com

PC Magazine reviews many printers, although ratings are at the time of the review, not in comparison with more recent models. The Brother HL-5250DN gets a rating of "very good" for small offices, with an excellent rating on text quality, good on graphics and fair on photos.

Review: Brother HL-5250DN Review, M. David Stone, Dec. 20, 2005

3. Amazon.com

About 200 owner reviews give the Brother HL-2070N a good average score, about three-quarters scoring it four stars or the maximum five stars. Aside from the normal complaints about paper jams and curls, some say it uses so much power on startup that it dims your lights.

Review: Brother HL-5250DN Network-Ready Laser Printer Reviews, Contributors to Amazon.com

4. Better Buys for Business

Reviews are based on extensive testing, and almost every major printer on the market, including the Brother HL-5250DN, gets rated. A subscription is required to read reviews, but free, three-day trial subscriptions are available online.

Review: Printer Reviews, Editors of Better Buys for Business

5. NewEgg.com

More than 120 owner reviews give the Brother HL-5250DN a very high average rating, about three-quarters scoring it the maximum five. Most of the complaints concern paper curls and difficulty printing envelopes. Some Mac users have hookup problems.

Review: Brother HL-5250DN Reviews, Contributors to Newegg.com

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