Well, finding the best duplex printer in the midrange printer market is a tough job, especially now that this section has been totally overcrowded by the likes of Canon, HP, and Epson. However, the Brother HL-L8260CDW has little something for pretty much everyone. So, is it the best printer available today? Let’s find out…
Related: If you are shopping on a budget, read the Brother Hl 5100dn review
Why We Like It – Brother HL-L8260CDW
The Brother HL L8260CDW is an awesome business printer capable of mobile printing. Even though its main purpose is to tackle professional grade high volume workloads, it’s also a great printer for home use. It’s one of the better printers from the Brother business printer line up.
- Up to 33 PPM print speed
- Support for high yield toner cartridges
- Automatic double sided printing (duplex printing)
- Ability to reset toner cartridge count removed by a recent firmware update
Related: Discover other printers in our Brother Hl L2300d review
Speed
Print speed is the best aspect of the HL L8260CDW color laser printer. You can get up to 33 ISO PPM out of it for both color and monochrome prints without sacrificing much in terms of quality. This Brother HL L8260CDW has better print speeds than all the inkjet printers available at the same price.
Print Quality
You’re gonna get the same kind of average print quality as you might expect from a midrange laser printer. It’s not really meant to provide prints with the highest amount of detail or even the best color quality. You should probably pick up something else for your photo printing needs, like the Epson WorkForce WF-3540.
Efficiency
The Brother HL L8260CDW color printer is a laser printer. So obviously, power efficiency goes down the drain right away. However, if you don’t use the included standard yield toner cartridges (color), the included standard yield black toner cartridge, and the included drum unit, you’re missing out. The paper capacity of the drum unit is some of the highest you can get at this price. And the multipurpose output paper tray can hold 150 sheets on top of that. It stays ink efficient even in the maximum print resolution setting.
Advanced Features
Even though it’s a wireless printer with Wi Fi, it also has gigabit ethernet for wired connectivity. And it has support for several different wireless networking options. Also, if the color toner cartridges (Cyan Magenta Yellow) run out, the machine will still print using the Black toner cartridge if you need monochrome prints. A few modern features are indeed missing from it. So, if you want, you can also go for the Brother HL-L2350DW inkjet.
Value
The Brother HL L8260CDW color laser printer comes with a one year limited warranty. So the value for money proposition of this color laser printer is actually pretty good. But, if $350 is way out of your budget, get the Brother MFC-J880DW instead.
Brother HL-L8260CDW Wrap Up
The Brother HL-L8260CDW, just like other printers manufactured by Brother, is actually a good option for both high and low volume users. It’s the best multipurpose color laser printer you can buy at this price.
