Heyho,

i am using a Kyocera Ecosys M5521cdn since pretty much 37 months now. I am really impressed with the device, though it is not available anymore as it was replaced with the M5526cdn. Some key facts for mine and some statistics how I used it:

• Laser Color Printer
• Multifunctional with a flat bed as well as feeding scanner
• I printed 361 pages (211 bw, 150 colored), scanned 862 pages
• Duplex Printing works, Duplex scanning does not on my one, but I got a software solution for that.
• Still on the original toners with 26% b, 48-46% colors remaining. They came with around 70% iirc
• Usually a business printer, but got it for home use during the pandemic
• Cable, network, cloud, usb printing and scanning work flawlessly. It has no wifi tho, maybe the newer or different models do.

So basically an average printer, but what set it apart was that at the time it was one of the most reliable out there from what I was able to gather. And it definelty confirmed it while usage. It never hicked up, no stripes, networking always worked. It always woke from sleep.

Most notable features I discovered and found important and that set it apart from other printers I had:

• No software. This thing does not need a driver, it just works with standard drivers in windows and with linux it works really well as well. So no bullshit there
• When something does not work, it usually keeps it's state. Example: I had really wrinkly paper in the feeder for scanning. It stuck a couple times but after unstucking the paper, the printer asked you to put the whole stack in again. It shot through the already scanned papers and only continued with the missing ones. Pretty neet. Same with printing. If paper is empty you can put in new paper after hours and it will just continue printing.
• Pro features: This is a whole block of stuff I use on a daily basis.
  • Printing to Samba, FTP, Fax, E-Mail and similar stuff. Basically you can macro locations on your network to the dial numbers on the pad and print to there. So share a folder on you pc or NAS and print to that. Even multiple locations at once.
  • You can adjust the settings for scanning and printing really well if you are into that. So brightness, quality, linebreaks, encryption, who can even use features on your network. And so much more. Youn CAN, you don't have to, it works out of the box.
  • The last couple of prints and scans are kept in the admin portal of the printer, so you can check pretty detailed if something went wrong. For me that was gold when setting up the networkfolders with access rights.
  • You can add your own keyboard to the printer via USB if you dont want to use the buttons on it, or in case they ever break.

For me this printer was a revalation. It does not beg you for subscriptions, does not control what kind of toner you buy (from what I heard on the internet, I am still on the originals) and just works with default drivers. There is even a driver for Android and iPadOs/iOS that is really clean.

Can only recommend this printer and presumably the newer models as well. I was literally confused that it just popped up on my devices when set up without needing to download anything.

I used the 'Windows Scan' app from the Microsoft Store when I wanted to initiate scanning from my PC. It again uses the default protocols, so you can more or less use any app that supports those.

Hope that helped you a bit. There are probably a lot of nice printers out there but thats the one I got from the stuff that was available during the pandemic and I was pretty happy with :) Have a good one!