Products · Product
Brother printers
Raised as a usability problem by 42 people on Hacker News over 11 years (2016–2026), in 30 threads.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
- 1
- 2
Every issue, all time, most people first
Entering a long wifi password on a one-line LCD with two buttons is painfulUnreviewed
20162026- Entering a long wifi password with a one-line LCD and two buttons is a nightmare2026-03-27
- Entering a long wifi password with a 1-line LCD and two buttons is painful2026-03-27
- Typing a Wi-Fi password with arrow keys on a tiny screen takes minutes2026-02-14
Printer rejects new toner as empty, needing repeated reseatingUnreviewed
20162026- Printer randomly rejects new toner cartridge as empty, needing repeated reseating or obscure button combos2025-03-05
- Hard to figure out how to return toner cartridges for recycling2022-12-10
- Printers warn about cartridges in a way that pushes people into buying replacements2022-01-09
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 43 complaints
- Linux driver is a convoluted mess of Perl and binary blobs2026-08-23
- Four popups can't be closed except via a fake 'maybe next time' button2026-06-04
- Entering a long wifi password with a one-line LCD and two buttons is a nightmare2026-03-27
- Entering a long wifi password with a 1-line LCD and two buttons is painful2026-03-27
- Typing a Wi-Fi password with arrow keys on a tiny screen takes minutes2026-02-14
- Entering WiFi password via arrow keys on a tiny display is tediously slow2025-10-04
- Uses dark patterns that push people into choices they did not make2025-09-04
- Wrong calibration sheet included, and it would not fit the scanner in any orientation2025-03-05
- Printer randomly rejects new toner cartridge as empty, needing repeated reseating or obscure button combos2025-03-05
- Printer refuses to print mono jobs when a colour toner is empty, despite mono settings2025-03-04
- Brother printer not auto-detected on Linux and double-sided printing never offered2024-10-04
- Chain printing is unfriendly, forcing users to type labels with spaces and cut manually2024-07-06
- Wireless printing fails after the laptop installs the printer, so only USB works2024-07-06
- Confusing wording makes it unclear whether the printer needs the subscription2024-04-23
- The printer's user interface is poor, though rarely needed in practice2024-04-23
- Can't print from manual tray or choose A6 paper size from iOS2024-04-06
- Driver download site is a maze that pushes users toward an unwanted application2024-03-04
- Brother's driver download site is a maze of misdirection pushing an extremely bad app2024-03-04
- Cannot stop the printer from cleaning itself at midnight, disturbing sleep2024-01-20
- App forces location to be turned on just to use a label printer2024-01-13
- Tiny four-button, one-line display is hard to operate; printer must be power cycled to fix problems2023-11-27
- Official driver install throws errors on clean Ubuntu, failing three of four attempts2023-11-27
- Takes a good while to connect to the printer from Android2023-11-27
- Paper fed poorly from manual slot; opening tray triggers loud alarm, discouraging use2023-11-27
- Printer repeatedly forgets its WiFi password and connection, needing constant re-setup2023-11-27
- Documents with transparency cause 30-second delays per page, slowing printing2023-11-27
- Toner low warning appears very early, even right after installing new toner2023-05-13
- Hard to figure out how to return toner cartridges for recycling2022-12-10
- Sleep mode cannot be changed, so printer must be manually turned on before each print2022-12-01
- Printers have some of the worst setup and interfaces in the industry2022-08-17
- Printer is so loud and slow that printing big jobs nearby is maddening2022-06-24
- Setting up the printer took two hours, with many hoops and glitches2022-05-10
- Scanning straight to PDF gives garbage pages; a JPG workaround is needed2022-01-09
- Printers warn about cartridges in a way that pushes people into buying replacements2022-01-09
- Resistive touchscreen is unpleasant to use every time the printer is operated2021-09-17
- Setup gives errors and uninstalling leaves crud behind needing extra removal tools2021-08-01
- Scanning is more difficult, requiring the web interface or extra driver installs2021-06-09
- Scans can't be saved to ChromeOS Files via the prominent Save button; workaround needed2020-11-09
- Black-and-white scans on Mac come out in color and corrupt the PDF, requiring a workaround2020-11-06
- A background daemon occupied the port so the scanner could not be found2020-11-06
- Printer goes offline for no apparent reason every few days2020-11-04
- Brother's warranty service was impossible to navigate2020-11-04
- After Ubuntu upgrade, duplex prints blank pages and offsets; hours of manual fixing needed2016-09-27