Customer Ratings & Reviews

Fantastic printer, super high quality scans and more

I have spent many hours over many days trying to get this printer to print. After jumping to many different places in order to get full and understandable instructions regarding the printer error message DRUM ! - Having followed the instructions several times I am now just going to return this printer. Also, while looking at other of Brother's documentation I saw that there is a lot of maintenance and clean up expected from the owner of the PC. I just want a printer to handle 99% of these tasks. GOOD BYE to this printer. Very disappointed.

Love this printer! Over a year later I'm just now having to buy replacement ink.

I needed a new printer and took a chance on this. I don’t print much but this has met my needs. No issues so far.

It may be a great printer BUT not for use by anyone in a wheel chair or who sits down to work at their computer and print. the control panel faces the ceiling and you cannot see it sitting down. Also THE DIMENSIONS ON LINE ARE SMALLER THAN THE PRINTER'S ACTUAL DIMENSION--TOO BIG FOR MY LIMITED SPACE.

t what we needed. We didn't want an all in one for our office and this worked out great!

Overall rating for both response from brother and BEST Buy. Horrid. This printer jammed paper from right out of the box. Switched paper. Made attempts to contact Best Buy and Brother. Brother does not have this printer listed under their support info so very difficult to link with them, even through chat. Chat at Best Buy useless. After I made contact with them right after Christmas, I waited over a half an hour on chat. Brother just spent 90 minutes on chat with brother. Also useless. I don't have time to spend hours trying to fix this problem. 300 dollars and what now? Im furious.

Really enjoy using this printer in my office. Has not caused any problems. Works greatly.

Really nice printer. Worked with minimum setup right out of the box. Setup was quick and I was able to customize the printer for my network and workflow easily. Built in web server allowed me to configure the printer using my laptop rather than the small LCD screen (which in itself was quite effective). Prints quickly and with high quality. Using Eco and quiet mode slowed the printing down bit made a big difference in printer sound (quiet mode was as quiet as a typical inkjet). Printer speed was more than adequate - by the time I got up to fetch my printout it was done. I didn’t really notice any lengthy waiting for the printer to start up and start printing. It is noticeably faster with Eco and Quiet mode off if printing large amounts of pages. But for one or two pieces I left Eco and Quiet mode on. Printer quality on fine / vivid color mode was equal to any non-professional inkjet. On Eco / Quiet / Normal mode the color graphic printing was acceptable but clearly not as good as the higher quality modes. AirPrint from my iPhone was seamless and required no configuration whatsoever. The printer is heavy so get a sturdy table or desk to place it on. The only reason I give it 4 stars is the ‘entry’ cartridges they supply. I mean really why can’t they just include regular full sized toner cartridges, charge an extra $30-50 initially and I would still purchase.

I'm neutral on the printer because i never opened the box. This review is to warn others to look at all the pics of this printer. It's not a scanner, multifunction device. It's simply a Laserjet printer. Change the listing need buy.

Horrible printer! It's App-based so you can only print through the app. But the app doesn't connect to the printer. It continually says "Receiving Data" but it doesn't. I'm be returning this piece of crap.

I love color laser printers and was thrilled to get the chance to review the Brother HL-L3280CDW. I've had the chance to use a ton of printers over the last few years both in my work and personal life where I am the personal IT guy for my elementary educator spouse. For the last year or so our primary printers have been the "tank" variety, but I've used everything from "dumb" ink jet and laser printers to subscription based printers. The Brother HL-L3280CDW seems like kind of an in-between of a traditional non-tank printer and a subscription model. Brother offers the "Refresh" subscription for this model which allows you to pay for a monthly allotment of pages, or you can just buy the toner cartridges. More on that in a second, I want to talk about the high points with this printer first. First, and I've said this before about Brother products - unboxing and physically setting this printer up were super easy thanks to smart packaging design. Kudos to the Brother packaging team for the well thought out bag with reinforced handles which let you easily take the printer out of the box. Also kind of shocking to me is that this printer could be configured incredibly easily without having to use an app or computer. I just plugged it in and was able to use the touch screen on the printer to add my wifi network. The touch screen was remarkably good for something that's an afterthought on many printers. Print quality and speed were phenomenal for what is really a low-cost device. I was able to easily add the device to my Android phone and a Windows computer and print within 60 seconds on either device. Kudos again to Brother for not badgering me to install a Windows app to use the printer. On the value proposition though, this printer is a tough call. In the era of "tank" style printers, the HL-L3280CDW is kind of a dinosaur since it uses traditional toner cartridges (4 in total, black plus 3 colors). The cost of replacement cartridges is incredibly high compared to an ink/toner kit for a tank style printer. The Refresh service could be a decent value if you have a constant, predictable usage pattern, but in my experience the risks of such a service make it hard to recommend subscription services. You pay way too high a price for overages with these services, to the point that any realized value of the service evaporates pretty quickly. Right now a standard yield 4 pack costs around $247 from Best Buy, and that prints 1500 pages in black and 1200 in each color. The top monthly option is 500 pages per month and costs $35. That does save you some money if you constantly print just under 500 pages per month in black, but the overage charge of $2 for 30 pages. That's 2 bucks whether you print one extra page or 30. It's just not consumer friendly when they could just as easily charge overages on a per-page basis since they clearly track usage on a per-page basis. The overage fee is even worse if you choose one of the lower page plans as you only get 10 or 20 pages per overage block on the 75 and 200 page plans. I just don't like it. So, if you have a real need for a color laser printer from a speed and quality perspective, this Brother printer is a great choice in terms of up front cost and easy setup. It becomes a less great deal compared to "tank" style printers unless you fit the right usage patterns to get your money's worth on the Refresh subscription. I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for great deals on the toner cartridges, myself.

The HL-L3280CDW Wireless Color Laser printer is a good printer for small business needs. It’s most likely recommended for small business due to the size and number each cartridge can print before it needs to be replaced. The printer has a somewhat of a small footprint compared to large laser printers. Don’t let the small footprint fool you, because it’s a fairly heavy printer. Unpacking the printer and installing the toner cartridges was fairly easy. I ran into issues during the setup process. It has a QR code sticker on the printer directing you to download the Brother Mobile Connect app on my iPad. After downloading and installing the app, I had issues getting the app to connect to the printer. First the instructions said I should press and hold the WiFi button. This printer does not have a manual WiFi button. The WiFi settings are accessible through the printer’s touchscreen interface so I’m not sure why they have incorrect instructions for this printer via their app. I then went through the user menu on the printer’s LCD screen and connected the printer to my WiFi network. The printer was then connected to my WiFi network. The Brother Mobile Connect app said it could now search for the printer if it’s connected to my WiFi network. After trying for several minutes, the app was never able to find the printer. While going into the settings on the printer, I noticed there was a firmware update. After the update the app still was not able to find the printer. I then saw there was another firmware update. After the second firmware update install, the Brother Mobile Connect app was finally able to locate my printer. I was then able to proceed and setup the mobile print feature. Being able to print documents from my mobile device to the printer remotely is a nice feature. It’s a feature I don’t use too often, because it’s easier for me to email the documents back to the office for them to print, or upload them to a cloud account for them to download. However, it’s convenient for those times when you need to print something to the office without having to email the documents. I was unable to find a driver on the Brother website for my Mac. I was able to go into the Mac settings and add the printer via Bonjour, which was easy and painless. The pages that are printed from this printer are of good quality and the printer is also capable of duplex printing. Overall, I’m happy with the size and quality of this printer.

Trash box, Doesn't always print all the jobs sent to printer. Struggles to print PDF documents from Google Docs, and Chrome browser.

I must admit up front here that I am a huge fan of Brother printers. I've owed two of their black and white laser printers, and the only reason I bought a second one was to get wireless connectivity. The original Brother Laser printer I bought is now over 20 years old and still works great! When I saw this Brother HL-L3280CDW available, I knew it had to be my first color laser printer, and I am not disappointed. The fit and finish on this printer is exactly as good as I've come to expect from Brother, and so is the speed and quality of printing. I am impressed by how well this prints, and I've tried both photos and pdf reports. Both come out looking crisp and professional at the 2400 x 600 dpi resolution. I'm even more impressed in the 2-sided printing, ease of setup, and ease of adding this printer to Windows computers on the network. There are both wi-fi and gigabit ethernet connections to be had. Particular advantages of this printer include a 4-month trial subscription to Brother's Refresh EZ Print service, which sends out new toner cartridges when it sees that you're getting low. I am typically no fan of ink/toner refill subscriptions, but Brother does not make its program mandatory to use the printer. You can cancel and re-buy toner whenever you need it, just like in "the old days." And before I decide whether to do that, this 4-month trial will give me ample time to evaluate the HL-L3280CDW's ability to handle my needs. After the trial, a plan costs between $9.99 and $34.99 per month for 75-500 pages, and additional pages are automatically charged at an affordable rate. The only thing I'm not in love with when it comes to this printer is the name of the App. Yes, I said "name," haha. Using the app is fine, but you have to remember that it has neither "Brother" nor "Print" in its title when searching for it in your app drawer. Instead, it's just called "Mobile Connect." Come on and change the name, Brother! Other than that tiny gripe, I am impressed with the HL-L3280CDW, and I recommend it to anyone looking for a capable wireless color laser printer for their home or small office!

Do not have yet, expected on May 7th, which is 2 weeks after purchasing . this the 5th printer I have gotten, from Best Buy with the past 6 or 7 months, that is 4 printers are being replace due to different faillers. There was no abusive use, used minimal My complaint, is Home Depot .My main complaint 2weeks between order and delivery.

For those interested in a color laser printer without forking over a lot of money, this is something you might be interested in. I've been an inkjet user for ages so I just always had an inkjet printer. I recently got a B/W laser printer that's really nice but, every once in awhile, I need to print color. I had the opportunity to try out this color laser printer and it's quite a nice device; the best of both worlds. Inkjet printers are really inexpensive which is why I've always gotten them. The price for lasers printers is sorta high still but even more so for color laser printers. This one, I think, is reasonably priced as is the toner for it. The print quality of a laser printer is unmatched so this is no exception. As far as connectivity, it'll print from wifi, ethernet, cable as well as through it's companion app. The companion app is nice in that you can print from anywhere so no need to sit around the printer like before. Print quality is very nice and very fast too. Color prints come out really nice. The unit is a bit hefty so you'll need to put it somewhere sturdy.

Garbage. We had nothing but trouble trying to use this machine. Couldnt connect it to either laptop we tried. Terrible

The Brother HL-L3280CDW consistently delivers stunning, vibrant color prints with sharp text. Whether I'm printing documents, photos, or brochures, the results are always impressive. The color accuracy and clarity are top-notch, making it an excellent choice for a variety of printing needs. This laser printer is lightning-fast. It can handle complex print jobs with ease and effortlessly churns out pages at a rate of 27 pages per minute. The automatic duplex printing feature is a time-saver, and the 250-sheet input tray means fewer refills, allowing me to focus on my work without interruptions. The wireless capabilities of this printer have been very useful for me. Setting up the printer on my home network was a breeze, and now I can print from any device, be it my laptop, phone, or ipad, without the hassle of connecting cables. The Brother iPrint&Scan app simplifies the process even further. This printer is built like a tank. It feels durable and well-constructed, and I haven't encountered any paper jams or other technical issues during my usage. The robust build quality instills confidence that it will serve me well for years to come. The printer is impressively quiet. I can print without disturbing others in my home, and that's a huge plus for a home office environment. The toner cartridges last quite a while, which is great for reducing ongoing costs. The in-box toner is rated to print 1000 black and white pages. However, I wish the replacement cartridges were a bit more budget-friendly. It's a minor concern, given the overall cost-effectiveness and quality of the printer, but worth noting. In summary, the Brother HL-L3280CDW Wireless Color Laser Printer is a fantastic addition to any home office or small business setup. Its exceptional printing quality, wireless connectivity, and overall reliability make it a standout choice. I highly recommend this printer to anyone seeking top-notch performance, efficiency, and convenience. It has certainly exceeded my expectations.

I am using this printer in a home office to replace an aging competitor's (not Brother) color laser printer. Thus far, I am pleasantly surprised with the printer. The form factor is about as compact as a color laser printer can be and, while I really do not move the printer around very much, it is actually a little lighter than my previous printer. Printing speed is good. The print quality is exactly what I would expect from a laser printer. Standby mode is great in that the display turns off and the printer is quiet to the extent that it may as well as be unplugged. Yet, when I send a print job to the printer, it wakes right up, warms up, and does its thing relatively quickly. (This is in contrast to my previous printer that sometimes would simply fall off the face of the earth, so to speak, and would not wake from sleep mode when a job was sent over.) The ability to print duplex was also a "must have" for me, so another one in the "plus" column for this printer. The printer is internet accessible and will actually check automatically for firmware updates, if you turn on that setting through its control panel (which I think is a rather nice feature). It is also possible to print from a remote location (using the Brother Mobile Connect application). The printer can connect wireless to a network or via ethernet (I use the hardwired ethernet option, personally). I like the color touchscreen display. One challenge I have experienced is that, given the smaller size of the screen, the on-screen keyboard can be difficult to "type" on with my average adult male fingers. It also lacks the feel of a smartphone or tablet... It feels like plastic and is "soft" to the touch (if that makes sense). Not necessarily a fan of how it feels, but it works and I do not have to access it often, so I suppose it is not a big deal. Brother also has their "refresh" EZ Print Subscription service for this printer. While I am not sure how I feel about being charged to use my own printer, that monthly charge covers replacement toner and, given how expensive toner was with my last printer, I am thinking it may not be a bad deal... (There is a free four month trial when setting up a new printer, so I am giving it a shot. Unfortunately, I do not have anything to report on at this time because I am only a few days into it.) The printer does ship with toner cartridges, but they are "low yield" cartridges, so I am guessing they will need to be replaced sooner rather than later with average printing volumes. Ultimately, there is a lot to like about this printer and, while I would probably give it 4.5 stars (if allowed to do half-stars), the positives I noted outweigh the negatives to the point where I am very comfortable rounding up to a 5 star rating (at least at this point having only used the printer for a few days).