I have a consumer grade Brother and it’s pretty good, but it has stuff I just can’t fix:
- wireless G only - it has Ethernet, so it’s fixable
- scan to PC doesn’t seem to work - I just use a USB drive, so it works
- copies and scans use the built-in display, so if that breaks, I’ll probably be SOL
It’s about as good as a consumer printer gets. I paid $150 or so for it, and it has lasted 8-ish years so far without any issue (I only remember one jam, which took 5s to fix).
But I’d like it so much more if it had open firmware and open schematics. If it did, I could probably fix each of the above issues, as well as implement a ton of cool features. I’d start by making the web page a lot better, making scan to my Linux desktop work, and override the stupid low toner check.
So I’m satisfied, but things could be better.