Laser printers are not too hot to run fabric through. They are too hot to run 'printer fabric sheets' like Printed Treasures through because those are coated with adhesive and the adhesive can melt inside the printer. Fabric ironed to freezer paper is perfectly safe to run through a laser printer, as is fabric 'basted' to paper with 505 spray it seems. :wink:
Bubble Jet Set is not usually needed on fabric printed with a laser printer. Heat setting is not necessary on fabric printed with a laser printer as the heat of the laser process is sufficient.
It would be my guess that the reason your photos washed out was due to the type of ink cartridge your laser printer uses. There are two types of ink cartridges, dye-based and pigment.
Dye-based ink is water soluble. It fades quicker than pigment ink, is cheaper, and is used in most current ink jet printers. Bubble Jet Set counteracts the water-solubility issue with dye-based inks in ink jet printers. Pigment inks are more expensive, water-resistent, and are often called archival. Laser printers can use either type of cartridge, though the majority use pigment inks.
My guess is that your ink cartridges could be dye-based and it might be worth trying some Bubble Jet Set to see if it will counter the water-solubility issue. It'd probably be cheaper than buying pigment ink cartridgess, if that's even an option with your printer model.