Brother HL-L8360CDW Wireless Color Laser Printer

After 6 months I still love this printer! My previous Brother printers were always reliable and so is this one. When I need it to print a certain way it just does it. Manual feed, easy. Envelopes, easy (with envelope levers down). Thick stock. Lots of paper capacity.

Color reproduction is excellent! I was expecting only color documents but poor photo quality but NO…to my surprise this prints better than my 4-color photo optimized inkjet and I just got frustrated and tired of all the inkjet maintenance issues. Occasionally there are some minor color reproduction errors on some photos but I wont dock any marks because (1) I have a “printer’s eye” – so I’m naturally picky…my parents owned a print shop, (2) color lasers are not intended as photo printers (3) It is very minor and much less than I anticipated as a color laser.

The printer comes with four standard toner cartridges that they are practically giving to you for free. The Super High-Yield color cartridges cost $173.48 per cartridge. The Super High-Yield Black cartridge costs $82.48. A full set would set you back $602.92. Third party cartridges are hundreds of dollars cheaper, but the build quality of the cartridges is worse and the quality of the toner is not very good. You risk damaging the printer or the toner can leak into the printer when using third party cartridges. You won’t run out of toner for a couple years. The toner will outlive the printer most likely. Laser Printers use toner and Inkjet Printers use ink. Toner lasts much longer than ink. Make sure you maintain the printer and avoid paper jams as much as possible. You can order the printer with one paper tray or two paper trays. You can buy additional trays later, but they cost more individually. The paper trays are not for thick paper, glossy paper and envelopes, but the multipurpose tray is for thick paper, glossy paper and envelopes. It has an easy to use interface on the touch screen with access to a couple of applications. You can print from Google Drive and what not. This printer can’t scan, copy or fax documents, it only prints. It has Ethernet and Wireless connectivity. I chose to connect it via Ethernet to the router because a direct connection will always be more reliable than a wireless connection. I don’t know if the wireless connection is good, but I assume that it doesn’t disconnect as much as the HP Photosmart 7520 I have. It doesn’t support Gigabit speeds over a wireless network as it isn’t 802.11ac ready and it can’t connect to the 5 GHz band if your network broadcasts on the band. I am not able to install the utility on macOS 10.13.2, but I’m able to install the utility on Windows 10. Drivers for the printer are great, but they don’t offer any additional features that can be used for print jobs. I almost forgot to tell you that you can print from your iPhone or any modern mobile device. If your mobile device supports the NFC technology, then you can print without being on the same network as the printer, but you have to be near the printer. I have had no issues thus far. It’s a business printer and I’m using it for home and personal usage, so it should perform very well. This is my first color laser printer and thus far I’m happy.

The short version is that my wife & I are really liking this printer so far. As the headline reads, the color prints look great (including photo prints) and it prints fast (even from startup).

So I chuckled reading some of the reviews (which I carefully did for several models). People talk about this printer being hefty (aprox 40lbs). This printer replaced an old HP 4550N Color LaserJet I had. THAT printer was hefty (113lbs!). So, the approx 40lbs was a JOY! 🙂 I was very pleased with the HP but it was just getting old and was well beyond end of life. So I’ve been an HP fan for many years and felt I was really taking a risk trying out the Brother. My wife is a teacher and prints a lot of “stuff”. So far we (especially my wife) have been just very impressed by this printer. I even printed my first double sided print (full duplex) today and it worked great. We’ve probably printed 30+ color pages and the toner and other perishables don’t even show a dent in utilization (still 100% across the board). So thank you Brother for sending decent starter toner cartridges!

I appreciated the one reviewer providing the password “initpass” for the built in web server on the printer. The information and configuration options on the printers web page are impressive.

The pictures above are of the unboxing process. There are about nine pieces of tape that have to be removed and there are these orange clips that keep the toner cartridges in place during shipping. They are fairly easy to remove. You will need to pull down the main front door and pull out the cartridge drawer to get to them.

Last, it has been great getting this printer. It immediately prompted me to download and install updates (twice). My WIN10 PCs immediately see the new printer and it worked flawlessly. We own iPhones and we can print very easily from them straight to the printer. On the iPhones, if the photo is large it takes a little longer to print which I assume is because it’s going over WiFi to get to the printer. Speaking of which, I have this printer plugged into my network and am NOT using the built-in WiFi.

APPROX. 1 YR UPDATE
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So we purchased this in August of ’19… now July ’20. So far this printer has been VERY impressive. We’ve gone through the starter toner… got approx. 2k prints from those alone!!! I purchased the high yield toner cartridges… that’s pricey but not when you compare number of prints to traditional toner. We’ve been so pleased I recommended this to my mother (and she purchased it). I’ll occasionally log into the printer and upgrade the firmware (if a new one is available) and check the stats. So far we have 2,650 color & 151 b&w prints. Excluding toner, all the perishables (drum unit, fuser unit, laser unit, etc are above 90% with most being just under 100%.

OVER 2 YR UPDATE
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Printer is still going strong! My wife is a teacher and prints tons of stuff… I have three teens cranking out reports, you name it. I’m on my second FULL toner cartridge set (four). That is to say, I’ve gone through the starter, a regular full set and on another. So far I have 6,690 color pages & 548 B&W pages. As I mentioned… I have my second FULL / extended toner set in and they are almost 100% each. Sad to hear anyone has issues with this model… I can just tell you my experience. I DID however have one issue where I purchased a full (black, yellow, cyan, magenta) Brother toner replacement. ONE of the toner cartridges didn’t work… it was brand new out of the package and the printer showed empty. I tend to purchase this stuff some months before they run out so I don’t get caught empty. The bad thing about that is that it was past the seller’s return date. I was disappointed with the seller for that. Unfortunately Brother wouldn’t help me out either BUT… to Amazon’s credit they gave me some credit for the single toner. I ended up purchasing a stand alone toner cartridge to replace the “defective” one and it worked great.

I purchased this printer based on my research and the fact that this printer is an PC Magazine 2017 Editors Choice Award winner. Brother printers have been very reliable at work and having one at home just made sense. I was originally going to get monochrome only, but my Epson Artisan 835 ink cartridges were not lasting very long, so I found this printer was color. I Also purchased a high capacity toner cartridge and now print black and white 90% of the time and color only when I need it. This is a heavy printer and build quality is very high. The output is superb. I printed pictures of a white board from a meeting and the pictures were crisp, clean, and clear and color was accurate. Printing is FAST! Setup was relatively simple, once you setup the wireless LAN connection to your router, installing the software is a breeze on your computer! The touch screen is superb and works very well. I highly recommend this printer. It is a good value for a color printer and I am very happy with the purchase.

I was excited to see this HIGHLY RECOMMENDED on sale for PRIME DAY as I was in the market for a printer. Tons of research and AMAZON ranked this as the one to own. Everything works fine until last Tuesday, 10.22.2019.

The printer display said that the Black Toner needed to be replaced. The good news was when I purchased the printer I bought a back up black toner. The bad news is when I put in the black toner it only showed one bar full instead of full like it should have and then the toner screen showed that I was now out of Magenta Toner as well. I do no color printing so I thought that was strange.

I reached out to Amazon Customer Support and received a prompt call. Loved that! The lady walked me through some trouble shooting steps and we cannot get a remedy so Amazon gets me on a 3-way call with a Brother Representative. We go through the same trouble shooting to no avail. The Amazon representative said she was sorry for the inconvenience and because the call had already been 45 minutes she would see what else she could do and then call me back. She asked if there was a best time for a call back for that day and I said anytime day or night would work for me but I needed to get the printer going.

There was no call back… so I reached out to Amazon Support the next day and again there was a very fast call back… Still love that.

I went over the issue again and ended up with a 3-way conversation with Amazon and Brother. The Brother representative explained that the problem with the black toner not showing full levels was probably not from the printer but because of the black toner that was purchased. He stated that there is a 90 day warranty on toner from when it is sold and since I was at 92 days there was nothing that could be done. When I explained that I purchased both items at the same time not knowing that the toner has no warranty he had me read off the serial numbers off of what I purchased. He said it did prove to be authentic (thank god, I bought it from Amazon) but it had passed the 90 days so there was nothing he could do.

I am making the argument that the problem is not the toner but is the printer itself. How does changing the Black Toner make it so the Magenta Toner is showing it is now out and the Yellow toner is very low. He says that it is the toner and that I have to buy a Magenta toner and then the printer will work and if it does not then they can work on replacing the printer. I express my concern on having to spend another $80 on a toner when I have already spent $400 on a printer that is not working after 3 months.

The Amazon Representative jumps into the call and asks if there is anyway that they could send out a Magenta toner and after 5 minutes with the Brother Representative talking to his supervisor he informs me that he can offer a one time “Courtesy” Magenta toner to hopefully resolve the issues we are having with the printer and if there are any further problems to just contact them.

This call was about an hour long but it seemed like Amazon came in to make sure things were done right…

So I can get a printer and back up toner in one day shipping from Amazon, I still cannot believe how good their shipping is… but to send out a Magenta Toner from Brother to fix the printer must come on a covered wagon as I just received it today. Not fun to be down a printer with a small business for over a week, dang it sucks how much you miss a printer…

I place the Magenta Toner in and full bar, Yeah… but wait now the Yellow Toner is out, I have not been able to print but somehow we ran thru that. I make the mistake of giving up and racing to Office Depot/Office Max and purchasing the Yellow Toner. I NEED TO PRINT!

$70 later I put in the Yellow Toner and it still reads that it is empty. I reach out to Amazon support now VERY convinced that there is a problem with the printer. I was on the phone with Amazon and Brother for 1 hour and 24 minutes. I went over the previous reasons why I thought the printer was malfunctioning, first with Amazon and then on a 3-way with Brother. I did restarts, took out and wiped, reset again to no avail. The Brother Representative has has me read all the serial numbers to insure that they are authentic. They are. He talks in circles about how they will need to send me a Yellow Toner to replace the one that I purchased 2 hours ago. I am as calmly as possible explaining my frustration and that the problem has to be the printer.

Now I am speaking with SYKANA, the supervisor for Brother, and he asks for the serial numbers again…if you are going to need them so often please increase the font! He explains that all he can do is send the Yellow Toner and he will throw in a Black Toner next day shipping. I ask if that means I will receive it tomorrow and he tells me that it might show up on Monday, today is Thursday… THAT IS NOT NEXT DAY. I say no thanks. I am buying another printer.

I never write reviews but this was crazy and hopefully I help someone from making the same mistakes I did.

I have had MANY FANTASTIC PURCHASES from Amazon. Truly the only time were I feel like I got jobbed on a purchase… sucks to be the $450 variety. If you sell it and have your representative keep telling you that they understand and would be upset too but there is nothing that can be done after 30 days then maybe they should not sell it.

Brother- SHAME ON YOU!!! I have toner all over my fingers and keyboard, wasted $450 and still cannot print. I cannot believe the amount of time wasted.

I am hoping I have some protection with purchasing it with my Amazon Prime Card.

My mistake was following Amazon’s recommendation

After reading all the negative reviews AND living in an area where UPS delivery consists of kicking the package from one end of town to the other (after it is been opened to see if there is anything to steal) I was expecting the worst. That I would have to return it. Sure enough the box was badly mauled and dented as is every package I get from UPS. But I opened it up anyway. No damage to the printer and nothing missing. Yea!!

The printer was very heavy. A good sign! And when I plugged it in it worked. The WPS did not work. But not being a novice, I had no difficulty setting it up on WiFi. Really its completely straightforward with no surprises. Once I had an IP address for it I downloaded the Brother Linux driver and it installed perfectly. Zero knowledge needed, the driver works by itself. And it prints beautiful full color pictures that look like photographs (because they were). My hat is off to Brother for supporting Linux just as well as HP does. They had better if they want to sell printers in China!

Some people complained about a delay before printing. Yes,,, but the delay is no different from the HP laser jets I have and all the laser jets at work. In fact the longest delay is only after the printer has not been used for a while, lasts for about 30 seconds and then subsequent prints are much quicker. THATS A GOOD THING PEOPLE!! It means that Brother is not burning your electricity keeping the drums warm! In an office environment it would never be an issue because the printer would be constantly in use and the electricity saver would never kick in.

The noise is no worse than any Laserjet I have had for the last 20 years and it is a lot quieter than most. The Laserjets at work make much more noise (but at an acceptable level – (the noise is useful because the printer is 20 feet away and thats how you can tell it worked). This printer could sit on your desk without a problem.

The color on this printer is every bit as good as my old HP K80 office inkjet and the 2000 dollar commercial HP color laserjet at work.

I am deducting one star because the instructions are not adequate for a beginner. There are plastic pieces and tape to be removed deep within the bowels of this beast that are nowhere in the instructions. And the instructions gives no hint that they are incomplete. I suspect the negative reviews are because people had no way to know they needed to take the thing apart to get all the tape and orange plastic gizmos out. Also while it may be Centurylink’s and not Brother’s fault, the WPS doesn’t work at all even for an experienced person.

If I run into any problems I will update but I am a very happy camper right now and recommend this printer.

I did forget to mention that the printer does slightly curl the paper. My guess is that the drum is too hot. I will contact Brother to see if that can be adjusted. In the meantime the curl is not very bad so I can live wth it.

EDIT: A year later still works perfectly. Zero problems. I have been printing almost every day and still have not had to replace the starter toner. Which is annoying because I bought new toner so I would have it on hand and its in the way! I keep hoping the starter toner will run out but it just keeps going. Also works perfectly with the Windows 10 I installed. Works perfectly in LINUX and Windows 10.

I was a bit uncertain about ordering this printer because of the very vocal minority complaining about Wi-Fi issues. I’m happy to report that no such problems exists for me, and I suspect user error. To assure success from the get go, here’s what I did:

– Turn on printer, dismiss setup wizard
– Find network settings and turn on WLAN
– Show info, and jot down the MAC address of the WLAN interface
– Configure DHCP on router to assign a fixed IP to the jotted down MAC
– Connect to Wi-Fi from printer
– Confirm fixed IP was assigned

After above, I opened a browser and navigated to the fixed IP, which brings up the printer’s admin page (default password was initpass). I was delighted by the myriad of supported protocols, and configured AirPrint, Google Cloud, and IPP.

All of my devices (Mac, iPhone, Android, Chromebook, and Windows) were a cinch to configure. I only installed software on the Windows machine – all the rest required no drivers. Not surprisingly, the Mac with AirPrint was the simplest.

Printer itself is fantastic. Great quality prints and very fast. It warms up in seconds from sleep and prints quietly. Changing paper type, etc. is very easy.

No regrets!

Note: my wireless access point is in a closet about 20 feet from the printer. Two walls in between.

It took me a very long time to decide on which printer to get! After setting up many formulas to figure out the CPP (Cost Per Page) to print, and this is not just after 1 month, this is to determine over a period of 6 years. Also the ROI (Return On Investment) of this printer. After running this formula on over 30 different printers by Brother, Xerox, HP, Canon, and Epson, I decided that this was the best printer to go with.

1. For the entirety of the 6 years, the CPP ends up being lower or the same as most other color laser printers in this class. Over that time if you figure in not just the paper, but the toner, drums, and all other replacement parts. This Brother printer came in above when also including print quality and auto-duplex.

2. The price for this quality makes this perfect! I have had a Xerox Phaser (large format) in the past and thought that I would never find another that could create that quality without the $5,000 price tag. (Keep in mind that this Xerox printer purchase was also around 12 years ago.) For photos, business cards, postcards and so much more, this Brother printer performed at the same level as others in its class.

3. As for the Return On Investment, not only does the 6-year Cost Per Page but also the power consumption and the number of pages per month (Work Load) that this printer can perform makes it so that over time your ROI is the best with this printer.

*Notes: The only thing that I really did not calculate into this is to how much I would eventually use the 2nd tray. There have been many times that I have found myself wishing for the second tray. So if you think that you might need it, go for the HL-L8360CDWT instead. But if you will not be needing it except for only once-in-a-while, then stick with the 1 tray.

Also, many people look at the DPI only, or the Speed of Print and ignore some of what really matters. The human eye has a hard time seeing the difference once the DPI hits a certain level when printing on 8 1/2″ x 11″ or smaller. So don’t be fooled by just that!

1 more note! Sometimes the replacement toner cartridges may be higher or lower, but make sure that you take into account your Average Page Coverage (how much ink/toner that you use per page) into account. Toner and Ink does not last forever. Plus some of the more expensive replacements did not actually provide as much toner. So take the time to do a little math.

Good luck and happy printing!
(I have not been compensated in ANY WAY by Brother or Amazon for this review!)