Too many disagreements about whether it worked or not in the reviews to spend a minimum of $99 on it.

Epson is only marginally better with the Ecotank, the components are dated to fail within 2 years after the warranty. That being said, they're second best to Brother because they actually price ink fairly.

I’m guessing he’s leaning on brand power and the exec thinks he can convince the shareholders because subscription is guaranteed income. He’s probably assuming the other big printer companies will follow suit and offer the same kind of service. In the end it won’t last and it will kill their printer business once everyone wises up to the fact that there is, at least, one better alternative. My office staff now won’t buy anything else they’ve been so impressed with the reliability and ease of use of the Brother I got a month ago to start replacing their old equipment. Word of mouth and shared experiences are still very much alive, and that’s his misstep.

Of course, he probably doesn’t care since he has a golden parachute and this will keep making him money in the short term.

EZ Ink is who we use at home and it works exactly like the OEM stuff.

You can do even better buying plain old used instead of refurbished.

I got a pair of MFC-9340CDWs -- with duplex and color -- off Craigslist for like $50 each a couple of years ago (one to use, and one as a spare). Even if I have to buy a new fuser relatively soon because the ones in both of them are almost worn out, it's still an incredible deal.

Yeah, their refurbs are great if you can get one before they sell out. That’s how I scored my first Brother for $99. Thing is a champ at home.