Brother HL-L2460DW [HL-L2400D, HL-L2405W] Printer Review

The Brother HL-L2460DW feels impressively well-built. It's very similar in feel to other Brother printers like the Brother HL-L2325DW, with a dense plastic body, robust hinges, and a solid-feeling paper tray. Unlike the HL-L2325DW, however, the power cord is removable, so you can easily replace it if it gets damaged. The toner cartridge and drum are easily accessible through the top front of the printer, and the printer doesn't need to be on to access this. A drawback of the design is that the manual feeder can only hold one page at a time and lacks an extender to hold the page properly, so the paper just hangs off the feeder. Also, accessing paper jams can be difficult for people with large hands as the rear access door is quite narrow, and while you can get to the roller through the front by removing the cartridge and drum, space is still at a premium.

This is a low-maintenance printer. Unlike inkjet printers, there's no risk of printhead clogging if you don't print for an extended period. You don't need to replace the toner cartridge often as it yields a large number of prints. When you need to change it, the cartridge is easily accessible through the front, and the printer doesn't need to be on to do so. You have to replace the drum separately, although it's usually good for around 12,000 prints, so it's not too bad.

There are a few ways to access paper jams. The first is through the panel on the back of the printer. However, this panel only opens up to a 45° angle, so it might be hard to reach in if you have large hands. You can also remove the paper tray, the toner cartridge, and the drum to access paper jams or remove the duplex feeder in case the jam happens while duplex printing. The main paper tray holds 250 sheets of paper, the output tray holds 100, and the manual feeder holds one.

You can see the user's guide here.

The Brother HL-L2460DW has a rudimentary 1-line monochrome display that can only display 16 characters at a time. It doesn't allow for tilt or swivel adjustments, but it has good viewing angles, so it's easy to see from all sides. Navigating the settings menu is tedious as the screen can only show a limited number of functions at once, and the buttons have minimal labeling even though they serve multiple functions.

The cartridge system is very good. The standard TN830 cartridge has an impressive page yield, so you won't have to swap in a new one that often. Better yet, high-yield TN830XL and value high-yield TN830V cartridges are available, with advertised yields of 3,000 and 3,300 pages, respectively. Super high-yield TN835 toner cartridges, with an advertised yield of 5,000 pages, are exclusive to the HL-L2865DW variant of this printer.

The printer stops printing when the internal page counter detects that the installed toner has reached its estimated end of life. However, you can change the settings so that printing continues even when the printer thinks there isn't any toner left.

Putting in a partially used toner cartridge prompts a 'Replace Toner' message, and the product user guide recommends only swapping in new, untouched cartridges—you can see the printer's help section here.

This is a print-only unit. If you need a monochrome laser printer with a scanner, check out the Brother MFC-L2820DW.

This is a print-only unit.

• Quick setup guide
• CD-ROM with drivers
• Power Cable cable
• DR830 drum unit
• Starter TN toner cartridge

Note: The HL-L2865DW model variant is bundled with a super high-yield TN835 toner cartridge.

This is a corded printer.

The print quality of black-and-white documents is mediocre when the printer is in its default settings. Prints show substantial print artifacts, poor contrast in colored areas converted to grayscale, and minimal retention of fine details. At the very least, the text is crisp and highly legible.

Seeing as how this level of print quality is substantially inferior to a lot of other Brother monochrome printers that share similar hardware, like the Brother HL-L2325DW, we made several attempts to rectify this issue. There's no change in print quality when sending from the iPrint&Scan software from a desktop PC or from an iPhone with the Mobile Connect app. Performing a factory reset doesn't affect print quality. Changing the print resolution also has no impact, and changing the 'Print Setting' mode to 'Text' instead of the default 'Graphics' actually makes print quality worse, as seen here. Instead, you'll need to go deep into the printer settings and select 'Use System Halftone' instead of the default 'Use Printer Halftone' setting. Changing this setting brings print quality closer in line with other, similar Brother models, as seen here.

You can see other sample prints made using the settings below:

• Friends Picture
• Color dE Picture
• Color Gamut Picture
• Parrots Picture
• Small Details Picture

Since these settings are deep within the settings menu and are unlikely to be something that most people will adjust, we evaluated the print quality based only on the default settings.

This printer can only print in black. If color printing is a must, check out the HP DeskJet 2855e/2852e.

The Brother HL-L2460DW's cost-per-print is outstandingly low. Its TN830 cartridges have a high yield and aren't unduly expensive to replace. However, you need to replace the drum separately, which is an additional expense that's not factored into the cost. The drum usually lasts 15,000 prints, so you won't have to do it too often. Having the drum as a separate unit also makes the toner cartridge less expensive and is more eco-friendly since you don't need to replace it as often as the toner.

The Brother HL-L2460DW outputs pages impressively quickly. It takes a while to get the first page of a document out, but it gets much faster once it's warmed up and gets very close to the advertised speed of 36 PPM. The input tray is relatively large, so you don't have to reload it as often during big print jobs.

The posted maximum paper weight applies to the manual feeder. The main input tray can only support up to 163 g/m².

The Brother HL-L2460DW is a monochrome printer that can't print in color.

This is a monochrome printer that can't print in color.

The Brother HL-L2460DW does a terrible job of resolving fine details. The printing pattern is very noticeable and completely obscures fine details.

Brother's Mobile Connect App is fantastic. You can manage the Refresh EZ Print subscription service and print documents remotely. You can also perform maintenance tasks like updating the firmware, checking the toner level, and ordering replacement toner online. That said, unlike other Brother printers, you can't print HTML files directly.