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HA-friendly printer that won't take us to the cleaners? (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 weeks ago by early_riser@lemmy.world to c/homeassistant@lemmy.world

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At my insistence we bought a Canon laser all in one printer in 2022. It's turning out to be more trouble than it's worth, and it can't do some stuff that some family members need, like printing on thick card stock.

I do, however, like the fact that the Canon reports toner levels to HA. Is there a normie inkjet printer that also has this functionality and won't fleece us with BS ink subscriptions and lock us into using their ink?

I'd also like it to be JUST a printer, not an all-in-one. I'm looking at a dedicated scanner, which doesn't need an HA integration.

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[–] 18107@aussie.zone 18 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

I bought a Brother laser printer (all in one). HomeAssistant immediately detected it and asked if I wanted to install the integration. All diagnostics were available immediately, and aside from some Wi-Fi issues (not the printer's fault), everything worked perfectly.

Unlike my old Cannon printer, I can print flawlessly from Linux and from my phone with no additional setup. I haven't tried aftermarket toner, but I see no reason that it wouldn't work.

My Brother printer has a local webpage for advanced settings. I used the webpage to add a shortcut to the printer screen so that family members can scan to the NAS with one button.

A Brother mono laser printer is probably the best value you'll get. I certainly didn't need an all in one color laser printer, but it's nice to have.

[–] JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl 5 points 2 weeks ago

There have been some big changes at brother in the past couple of years. I am holding out hope that they don't enshittify and go the way of the others with firmware updates.

[–] early_riser@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Just quickly searching "Brother Printer" on Amazon and every listing has "Includes Refresh Subscription Trial" in the title.

[–] paequ2@lemmy.today 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Brother sells a toner subscription service, but you don't have to sign up for it. I believe people online have had luck buying third party toner cartridges. I haven't tried the 3rd party toner yet though. I'm still on my first cartridge. HA says I have 89% left. I bought this printer like 3 or 4 years ago and it still prints great!

(I also bought the monochrome laser printer.)

[–] RheumatoidArthritis@mander.xyz 14 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

The standard Brother brick laser printer also reports toner level to HA (I never actually made use of that information)

[–] sic_semper_tyrannis@lemmy.today 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Keep your eyes on this

https://www.crowdsupply.com/open-tools/open-printer

[–] early_riser@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

While this is interesting it wouldn't work for my needs, mostly because I'm not the one using the printer most of the time. I need something that can print on heavy card stock.

[–] pro_user@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

While it won’t offer all the bells and whistles that a vendor-specific integration has, the Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) integration is a nice generic integration that reports status and ink/toner levels of network enabled printers that support IPP. Its a very generic protocol, so I believe most network printers will work fine with that. That might help broaden your search a bit (our 2014 Canon laser printer works fine with it).

[–] just_another_person@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

Brother

[–] realitista@lemmus.org 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

If you are just talking about monitoring ink levels, a lot of printers are supported I think. I use an Epson 3260 ink tank and it's been the best ink jet I've owned. Ink is fairly cheap, reports ink levels to HA, and clogs less than other ink tank printers I've owned, the wireless printing works well with iOS too.

[–] idunnololz@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Similar model here and can vouch that they are pretty good. I picked up some spare ink for it from costco when it was on sale and I still have half of it after like 3 years.

[–] hateisreality@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

8 years in and I am still working on emptying my first refil set.

[–] hateisreality@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

I cannot recommend the Epson Eco Tank series enough. 8 years now and I've purchased one set of refill ink.

[–] paequ2@lemmy.today 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

This is what is visible from HA for my Brother printer.