Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This is my toner review. It comes after using one cartridge as it is now at the "replacement toner warning light" BACKGROUND: I use a Brother HL-2270DW duplex laser printer. This is a great small business printer, which I found on sale $79 at a big-box computer store. Much better and more efficient that previous Samsung, HP, and Apple lasers from beforehand. I replace cartridges via Amazon about every 5-6 months, soon after the replace toner warning comes is displayed on my computers. I've used three OEM Brother-branded cartidges, before trialing this compatible cartridge (see data points below). The printer's web maintenance page is where I've taken my page count data points below, when the "REPLACE TONER" warning is shown. (Just FYI, the page count does advance by 2 when printing a single duplex sheet on both sides). My "STARTER" Brother-branded cartridge made it thru 804 pages. My first OEM Brother-branded TN450 cartridge at $46 printed 2680 pages, or 1.72 cents/page My second OEM Brother-branded TN450 cartridge at $43 yielded 2510 pages, or 1.71 cents/page My third OEM Brother-branded TN450 cartridge at $45 yielded 1924 pages, or 2.46 cents/page *My first COMPATIBLE Brother TN450 cartridge at $16.49 yielded 1824 pages, or 0.91 cents/page PROS: 1. Print QUALITY is just as good as my Brother OEM. In the beginning, no loose toner, no odor, no issues with toner fusing. Just now, at the end, with the replace toner warning, I'm now getting light banding (light horizontal streaks). 2. Price per Page is still about twice as good as OEM cartidges at 0.91 cents/page. CONS: 1. My yield was 1811 pages (not the rated 2600 pages). Note, that I also didn't get a high yield with one Brother-Branded cart. 2. When warning light came on, it also started light banding (OEM lasted about 100-200 pages after warning when lighter prints started). 3. I had concerns reading some of the reviews, but I was willing to try it (see explanation below). MY THOUGHTS: 1. Not clear why my toner yield is decreased over time or was it just the last two carts? It may also be that we are printing more densely than two years ago, and I use duplex more often (does anyone know if that decreased toner AND drum yields?) 2. Part of my reasoning to trial a compatible cartridge is that I am approaching my end-of-drum life (about 20% left, yield will approach 12,000 total pages). At that point I will have to consider whether to buy a new drum (OEM DR-420 retails $70-90), or buy a brand-new laser printer. I thought that if this compatible toner botched my printer, I had at least had great use of my Brother HL-2270 for the past 2 years, and would be willing to replace it with a brand new Brother laser printer. I hope this review helps you. I will be buying at least one more compatible cartridge, and hope to update you after next one. *** UPDATE 12-10-2013 *** I was very amused to see the many comments on print costs. :-) My math was not wrong -- other contributors have double-checked this. I will try to refrain from using "cents per page," although I had always believed a good laser printer will cost only a few pennies per printed page. It's certainly cheaper compared to ink jet printers and (I'm dating myself) my still working Epson dot-matrix printer and my daisy-wheel printer (yes I re-inked that one myself). I even had an HP pen plotter back in the early 1980's. We are all trying to say this compatible toner costs under a penny (one cent) per page. The update: My drum unit went out before the next compatible toner. Printouts became lighter and lighter with horizontal banding. I suspect the worn-down selenium drum picks up less toner than a new one. After pricing out whether to change the drum ($66) or replace the whole printer ($120), I elected to stick with my trusty friend, the Brother HL-2270DW printer. I replaced my drum unit at 11,377 prints (3% life remaining), close to manufacturer's 12,000 page suggestion. I changed at 3% as light printouts were not acceptable for work. I bought a BROTHER DR-420 OEM replacement drum for $66.05 at the time (Oct 9, 2013). At that time there were no compatible drum units on Amazon (there is one now in Dec 2013 for $16-18, but no stellar product reviews yet) After replacing the drum unit, my printouts were better, but still a little light, now without banding. I then chose to replace this compatible toner cart at 1514 pages (it did feel light on toner). I again turned to this replacement, now at $13.20 (Oct 28, 2013). I now believe you get lower yields as the drum unit is closer to it's end of life. My tables do show a downtrend drop off. I will have to report back as to how this compatible toner goes with a brand new drum unit. In any case, replacing both the drum and toner, made my Brother HL-2270DW printer behave like brand-new with dark, high-contrast printouts. No problems. It's been 180 pages so far and working great. So far, I'm happy with my choice to replace drum and toner, instead of buying a new printer. For all calculations, I have ignored the price of the printer, drum unit price, and paper prices. These calculations are only based on current toner price and total page yield. Even changing out a bit early at 1514 pages, I only spent about $13.20 to purchase this last compatible toner -- this comes to $0.00872 per page. (under a penny per page). BOTTOM LINE: It is less expensive than the OEM cartidges which previously cost me $0.0171 to $0.0246 per page (about 2 pennies per page). Simply put, I'm spending less than half the amount per page using the compatible cartridges over OEM toner cartridges. I did buy this compatible toner product again, and I'm grateful to have a good outcome. I hope this update helps you. Kudos to Brother for making a great small laser printer ;-) *** UPDATE 10-11-2015 *** I thank you all for the fun comments, and hope these comments help you. My Brother HL-2270DW is still going strong after 5 years. After the first year and a half, I switched to non-OEM toner. My brother is now at 15,720 pages lifetime total, and working great after one drum replacement as noted above. I've had good luck with almost all (except one NON-OEM toner cartidge that came a bit streaky). They are now selling at under $10 per cartridge. My cost is UNDER a penny per page of toner, and I do NOT use the toner saver mode. In general, I was taught in the 1980's era of mainframes to believe a good laser printer will cost a few pennies per page. Although these replacement non-OEM carts are getting 1,500 to 2,400 pages of their advertised 2,600 pages, I do find them economically better than the OEM original Brother cartidges. My yield is under one penny per page. I'm very happy with my Brother printer and the decision to keep it and replace the drum unit, rather than buy another laser printer when the drum life finished. Thanks to y'all and hope this helps!