I ordered this product for my Brother HL-2170W printer. Upon removing this cartridge from its packaging and comparing it to my OEM Brother TN-360 cartridge, I was struck by how different the profiles of the two cartridges were. The original cartridge is slightly larger, and has hubs that hold it in position, plus a locking tab that ensures that the cartridge locks into the drum assembly with a satisfying "click." For those HL-2170 owners out there, you will recognize this as being the tab that ensures that you cannot pull the cartridge out until you depress the little green release lever on the left hand side of the drum assembly. This cartridge has no such tab, nor hubs for that matter. For a while I wondered if I was sent the wrong product, and was a little afraid to install it in my printer for fear that I might break my printer.
When I decided to install the cartridge into the drum assembly, the cartridge fit loosely in the assembly, and I had to press it into place, forming a sort of "friction fit." The instructions on the cartridge, in fact, say to "press the handle of the cartridge until it is placed properly." There was no "click" of the locking tab, and indeed, on my first attempt to slide the drum assembly back into the printer, the cartridge shifted out of position. I pushed the cartridge back in place and reinstalled the drum assembly, but my printer did not recognize the new cartridge until I turned it off and back on again (I don't usually have to do this with OEM cartridges).
Bottom line: the cartridge does work, but I have concerns about its ability to stay in place. If price is your primary concern, this product is untouchable, but I think I'd spend a little more money for my own peace of mind. TN360 Compatible High Yield Black Toner Cartridge
After owning perhaps 20 printers and always using the manufacturer's ink/toner I inadvertently ordered a generic toner cartridge for my Brother laser printer and darned if it doesn't work the same as the original cartridge (which was a partial cartridge that came with the printer). I have friends who have used generic for years and they have been happy, too. I plan on continuing to try the generics until I get burned and plan to enjoy the money saved in the process. Perhaps I can not be a part of the razor and razor blade racket any longer.
Glad I took a chance and ordered two of these yesterday, to get nearly free express shipping on the second.
Already delivered in good packaging, already ran the 270-page print job I needed today, just fine from first page to last on cheap copy paper. All that under $60, which was less than the price of the Brother HL 2140 printer--which I bought because it was cheaper than buying a single toner for my old printer! Yes, the economics of this industry are a bit screwy.
Installed easily and with perfect fit once I figured out a couple of things [my first time replacing HL 2140 toner]:
1. Ignore the instruction on the toner box cover to remove 'sealing tape'--there isn't one;
2. What you pull out of the printer is toner cartridge + print drum. You need to separate the two, you keep using the existing drum. Put the new cartridge back in the drum assembly, and clean the drum's 'corona wire' by sliding a colored tab at the front from right to left several times [I did 6].
I wonder if this drum disassembly and reassembly is why some reviewers failed to get a good fit? It's the first time I've had to do that with a printer, and it wasn't obvious at first glance--thanks to one of the reviews here for clarifying it.
For budget work, this toner is first class.
DISCLAIMER: Follow these steps at your own risk, though they were perfectly harmless for me (just annoying that I had to spend the time doing the research to figure this out).
I absolutely abhor the printer manufacturer's manipulation of customers when it comes to toner cartridges. Brother cartridges say they are empty so much sooner than they really are. There's a fix to that: Take the toner drum out, then remove the cartridge, and then notice there are little circles on either side. Cover them with tape. They're optical sensors that try to see if there is toner left in the cartridge. The problem is, the Brother printers will freak out several hundred pages too soon because of that sensor. With as little printing as we do in our house, I taped the sensors and bought myself another year before I needed another toner cartridge (that's the point of a laser printer, after all-- high volume printing for cheap).
When the toner finally ran out (really ran out), I ordered one of these cartridges. Who really does stuff on paper any more? This is mostly for casual printing (online coupons, maybe directions) or for the kids' school assignments. Contrary to Michael Scott (The Office), businesses don't run on paper anymore. This cartridge does just fine for that.
However, enter in Brother's schemes to maximize their revenue. That's fine; they can do these tricks all they want, so long as people like you are reading this and are realizing you can use their tricks in your favor and maximize pages out of the cartridges a bit farther, and then overcome the next hurdle that I had to deal with ....
When I opened the new cartridge (which was shipped in practically bomb-proof packing, really beyond many things I have seen from Amazon before), I followed the 4 step directions and inserted the cartridge into the printer. Then powered it back on, only to see the toner light again. I used the tape method on the sensors (like above), but still ... toner light. I then did some searching and found a neat little sequence of steps which sounded like they'd resolve my persistent problem:
(For Brother 2170W)
1. open the printer (toner door)
2. power off the printer (switch, not power cord)
3. close the printer door
4. hold the "GO" button while flipping on the power switch
5. after a couple seconds, let go, then push the "GO" button 2 more times, pause a couple seconds (lights will all go off), and then push the "GO" button 7 times in a row (lights will stay off until the end of the sequence).
6. Lights should all come back on and the printer should return to normal
Sound good? To no avail ... I then had to search further, only to find out that on the side of the toner cartridge (the part that you just bought that goes into the toner tray/drum), on the left side there is a little half-circle with a tab in it. I read somewhere that the tab probably would be at the 3:00 position, but to move it to the 10:00 position. I tried that and repeated the button sequence above 5 times-- no dice (that probably works for a different model of Brother printer or something). But then I moved it all the way to the right, re-inserted, and ran the button sequence and Voila! I finally am printing again.
4 stars because the cartridge is good, but I had to go through that mess of steps and the time it took researching. If I thought those steps were entirely this printer cartridge's fault, I'd give them a lower score. Clearly it's Brother's fault, because I'm sure the Brother brand cartridges have the little tab in the correct place and the sensors work perfectly out of the box (as to trick you into thinking there is value from the extra $50 you'll spend on their brand cartridges).
Bottom line, though: it was worth the hassle to save the $50 from this cartridge over the Brother brand cartridge. Now that I've just recapped it for you (and more importantly: for me for next time in case I forget between now and the 2-3 years from now when I finally run this cartridge out), hopefully you won't have to waste the time I just did. - Toner - Tn360 - Brother Toner - Tn360 Compatible'
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