Kyocera M2040dn

I bought this machine because the Brother printer in our office had problems. Paper jams, three or four times a day. I couldn't take it anymore. At that time, our office had just four people, with a monthly print volume of about two to three thousand pages. That Brother machine had been bought for less than two years before it started having all sorts of issues. First it was paper jams, then there were white streaks on prints, and eventually it started squeaking during paper feeding. I had our receptionist contact after-sales service, and they said the pickup roller needed to be replaced, quoting over 300 yuan. I said forget it, this piece of junk only cost 1,200 yuan when I bought it—not worth fixing.

I'm in Shenzhen, and I have a friend near Huaqiangbei who specializes in office equipment wholesale. His name is Lao Zhou, and I've known him for over ten years—I used to get supplies from him when I worked at another company. I called him to ask for recommendations. He said if your print volume isn't high, get a Kyocera—they're tough. I said my budget was around 3,000 yuan. He said the M2040dn would work, it has duplex printing and network connectivity, enough for your needs.

I asked him why he recommended Kyocera. He said a bunch of things, basically that Kyocera machines use good materials, last a long time, and have cheap consumables. He said if you look at the printing rooms of big companies, they all have Kyocera or Ricoh machines—nobody uses Brother or HP. I said those machines cost tens of thousands. He said that's the high-end product line; Kyocera has low-end options too, and the M2040dn is one of them. 2,800 yuan for you.

I hesitated a bit at the time because I'd never used Kyocera before. Our company had always used Brother—they're cheap. HP was too expensive, and I'd used a Canon before, which felt mediocre. I knew the Kyocera brand, but my impression was that they made ceramics. I looked it up later and found out that Kyocera's printer drums use ceramic materials, which is why they're so durable. I didn't know this at the time; I only gradually learned it after using one for a few years.

The day I brought the machine back, I set it up myself. Lao Zhou asked if I wanted him to send someone to install it. I said no need, it's just a printer. I didn't read the manual (I never read manuals), just plugged in the power and network cable. Windows recognized it automatically—didn't even need to install drivers. This made a strong impression on me because the previous Brother printer had taken me an entire afternoon to set up the drivers. The driver from the official website wouldn't install, and I ended up using the generic system driver, which had half the features missing.

When I first started using the M2040dn, I was a bit uncomfortable with it. This machine is a size larger than the Brother, and much heavier too. Carrying it by myself from the first floor to the third floor really wore me out. After placing it on the cabinet, I never moved it again. The machine's panel has lots of buttons, and it took me about a week to figure out which one was for copying and which was for scanning. Some functions I still haven't used to this day, like secure printing, delayed printing, and stuff like that.

The first two years were basically problem-free. When the drum ran out, I replaced it, and that was it. Kyocera drums and toner are separate, which I didn't understand at first. Brother uses an all-in-one drum-toner cartridge that you replace entirely when it runs out. I asked Lao Zhou why Kyocera separates them. He said it saves money. I asked how. He said the drum can last a very long time, 50,000 pages or even 100,000 pages—when the toner runs out, you just buy toner separately. I did the math and found it really does save money. A bottle of genuine Kyocera toner costs about 150 yuan and can print 7,000 pages. Brother's all-in-one cartridges cost 300-400 yuan and can only print 2,000-3,000 pages. The difference adds up over time.

In 2020, there was one issue. Prints came out with background gray—a faint gray layer on white paper. You couldn't really tell unless you looked carefully, but it looked bad when printing formal documents like contracts. I thought the drum was bad, so I replaced it with a new one. Still had the problem. Then I thought it was the toner, so I changed to a new bottle. Still had the problem. I started to panic—this machine had only been used for two years, was it already breaking down?

Later I looked it up online, and a post on Baidu Tieba said this situation might be a charging roller issue. I opened up the machine and took a look. The charging roller is that thin black roller next to the drum. I wiped it with an alcohol swab, put it back together, and it was fixed. The background gray was gone. I can handle these small problems myself, no need to contact after-sales service. I've never dealt with Kyocera's after-sales service, so I don't know how they are, but I've heard their repair fees are quite expensive.

Detailed Usage Experience

Kyocera machines have a characteristic: solid build quality but mediocre software. The driver interface is ugly as sin, Windows 98 style. Functions are buried deep, menu after menu. The machine's own panel operation isn't very intuitive either, too many buttons. Every time I need to change a setting, I have to consult the manual. Compare that to HP machines—HP's driver interface is quite nice-looking and easy to operate. But HP's consumables are highway robbery, I can't accept it.

The machine itself is not quiet. It whirs when working, kind of like a hair dryer sound. Our office isn't large, maybe 50-60 square meters. When we're having a meeting and someone's printing, you have to raise your voice to talk. It was a bit annoying at first, but I got used to it. Now I actually notice when the machine isn't making noise, and I check to see if something's wrong.

The machine is quite heavy, as I mentioned before, about 20-something kilograms. Once I placed it, I never moved it again. I put a small cabinet underneath it, the height is just right for operation. Once I wanted to clean the dust under the machine, tried to lift it, too heavy, gave up. Just let it stay there.

Consumables Situation

I've replaced the drum twice in total. Genuine drums cost seven or eight hundred yuan; I bought compatible ones for just over 200. The first drum lasted about 50,000 pages before black spots started appearing on prints, so I replaced it. The second one is still in use, having printed over 30,000 pages already, still in good condition.

I can't remember how many bottles of toner I've gone through, maybe a dozen or so. Compatible toner, 40-50 yuan a bottle, bought on Taobao, always from the same shop. Once that shop closed, so I switched to another one. That bottle's quality wasn't great—prints came out faint. Later the original shop reopened, and I switched back. With compatible consumables, finding a reliable shop is important; don't switch around randomly.

Never replaced the fuser unit. This is supposedly the most expensive part in a printer—replacing it costs several hundred or even over a thousand yuan. My machine has printed over 100,000 pages and the fuser unit still hasn't broken, which shows the quality is indeed solid.

Never replaced the pickup roller. The previous Brother broke because of the pickup roller, constantly jamming paper. The M2040dn has only jammed a few times that I can recall, maybe three or four times, all because the paper was loaded crooked—not the machine's problem.

Replaced the waste toner box a few times. This thing is cheap, just over ten yuan each. The machine alerts you when the waste toner box is full, just replace it. This is another feature of the separate drum and toner design—there's a dedicated place to collect waste toner, unlike all-in-one cartridge machines where you don't know where the waste toner goes.

That's less than my original estimate. Probably because a lot of things have gone digital these years—contracts can be e-signed, reports sent directly by email, no need to print.

Memorable Events

I don't plan to replace my M2040dn now. As long as it works, I'll keep using it. When it finally breaks down completely, I'll deal with it then. At that point I might still buy Kyocera, or maybe not. Depends on the situation then. The printer market has changed quite a bit these past few years—domestic brands have risen, Lenovo, Deli, Pantum and such, very cheap. I haven't used them, don't know how the quality is. Maybe I'll try them next time.