SKU:

CS-Bro-OEM-tn221-Black

Printer Brand:

Brother

OEM Number:

TN225BK

Ink Color:

Black

Page Yield:

Black:2500

Printer Type:

Laser Cartridge

Condition:

New

Frequently Asked Questions

My HL-3170CDW is years old — does it still make sense to feed it genuine toner?

For most owners, yes. The HL-3140/HL-3170 generation of Brother colour LED printers was built for long service lives, and a machine that still feeds paper cleanly has plenty of work left in it. This TN221BK is the factory black cartridge for that platform, rated at 2,500 pages, so one purchase at $118.72 returns the printer to as-new text output for roughly another year of typical home-office use.

How many months should 2,500 pages actually cover?

Divide your monthly volume into 2,500. At 100 pages a month — invoices, letters, schoolwork, the odd form — the TN221BK lasts about two years. At 300 pages a month it lasts eight to nine months; a busy small office printing 500 pages a month will see five. Black does the heavy lifting in most offices because everyday documents are overwhelmingly text, which is exactly why the black rating (2,500 pages) sits well above the colour ratings on this platform (1,400 pages each).

What does each printed page work out to?

At the current $118.72 selling price, the arithmetic is $118.72 spread across 2,500 rated pages — about 4.7 cents per page for toner. That figure assumes the standard five-per-cent coverage yield test; dense pages with heavy graphics consume toner faster, while plain text often does better than the rating.

How will I know the TN221BK is nearly finished?

The printer reports a low-toner warning first, then print quality tells the story: text turns grey and uneven, solid black areas go streaky, and pages look washed out down one side. A gentle rock of the cartridge can redistribute the remaining toner for a short run of extra pages, but once output fades again the cartridge is genuinely done and a replacement should already be on the shelf.

Can I keep a spare TN221BK in a cupboard without it going bad?

Yes — a sealed genuine cartridge stores well for an extended period if it is kept flat, out of direct sunlight and away from heat sources. Many owners of this older platform keep one spare black on hand precisely because the machine gives limited warning before quality drops, and ordering only when the last page fades means days without printing.

If the cartridge arrives damaged, what happens?

You have thirty days from delivery to send it back under our returns terms, whatever the reason for the return. Beyond that window, cover on a genuine Brother cartridge comes from Brother as the manufacturer. The full wording sits on our shipping and returns page, and our support team is reachable Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM CST, if you need a hand.

About This Brother TN221BK Toner Cartridge

This is Brother's own TN221BK black toner cartridge — genuine OEM, not a compatible or remanufactured unit — made for the colour LED platform that includes the HL-3140CW, HL-3150CDW and HL-3170CDW printers, the MFC-9130CW, MFC-9330CDW and MFC-9340CDW all-in-ones, and the DCP-9020CDW. Rated at 2,500 pages and priced at $118.72 against a $166.21 list price, it is the standard black supply for a generation of Brother machines that offices are still running daily. Orders leave from our warehouses in IL, PA, GA or CA. See the rest of the range on our Brother page.