How recent does the printer have to be for them to do this?
The two that I have are old and the toner cartridges don't even have a chip in them, so I doubt they could tell if the toner is 3rd party.
this post was submitted on 04 Mar 2025
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Damn, Brother was the only company left I was happy to blind purchase from by name alone.
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Are there no good guys left?
I've had an Epson Ecotank for the last couple years and I have no complaints. I just refilled my black ink and it was $11 for 9 oz., which should last me years (but I don't print that often).
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...I remember Brother intnetionally making their stuff VERY user servicable.
Wha happen
Okay, so after reading this, they're not specifically degrading print quality, they're just making you do the alignment manually. This is probably legal, but still scummy.
O, damnit. Not the last bastion of hope!
Edit: 100% serious. Like Rossmann, Brother was the go-to brand.
Oh, this one stings.
Well, whatever that update was, I probably installed it (assuming it's the same here in Japan).
Use pen & paper – Do you really need a printer?
I had to laugh at this. At least in my use case, it's printing out forms and documents that various levels of government needs and I am absolutely not talented enough to reproduce them by hand (also, my handwriting is not fantastic).
I also need one. Our library will print documents for 5¢ per page. Once my Brother HL-2040 craps out, I guess I'll be going there.
I used to just print at the convenience store closest to us, but that got to be a real pain buying a house, moving across Japan, renewing SoR (visa), applying for PR, starting my business, doing my taxes, etc. Printing was like 10 yen/page for black and white A4 I think.
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Epson Ecotanks. Liquid ink in, prints out. There's nothing to lock out.
Only if you can keep it working for ten consecutive minutes. I went through three of them under warranty until my warranty expired, then Epson told me to fuck off.
If have a Canon color laser now. If that conks out and everything on the market by then is locked out shit I'll just convert my 3D printer to a plotter, or maybe go back to clay tablets.
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Canon has a tank printer line too. Absolutely recommend any tank printer (you'll have to check reviews for specifics obviously).
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I've been saying that for a couple of years now. They started fucking with third party ink at least a year ago
Have to keep things offline and outdated nowadays 🫤 to prevent things like this happening.
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The last bid I reviewed for a new office recommended Brother printers (woot) but the color laser had toner lock-in. I recommended an alternative and the owner agreed.
Too bad these companies won't know about the products they don't sell because of this crap.
Are there actually any good printers? I would pay more for the printer itself if you just don't try and scam me afterwards. It feels like a hopeless space.
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