EDIT: I needed to use this printer, and because one of the color ink cartridges was too low, the printer refused to perform a black and white copy or otherwise function whatsoever. I bought black ink, replaced that cartridge (noticing then that the old cartridge of black ink was full) and the printer still refused to perform a black and white copy because of the color ink level.
I feel pretty clever because I figured out a rudimentary hack to override this ink check.
Remove the ink cartridge and you will see a clear window on the top. The cartridge also compresses, exposing a clear vial with lines across it in the back of the cartridge. I took a black sharpie and colored both windows (doing one or the other alone didn't work) and the printer then allowed me to use it for faxing, scanning, copying, and black and white copies. I still intend to buy color ink, but sometimes I don't have time for that when I need this device to function. I know Brother's competition generally has the same practice (comment below if you know of an example that does not), but this is really too much for me to accept.
I still stand behind the rest of my review, but I cannot call this a five star quality product. It's changed, in my estimation, from an excellent printer to just OK.
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Old review follows:
Apologies in advance for a lengthy review. For some reason, I really like thinking about printers.
I noticed that the printer's ink doesn't automatically show up on Amazon's ink finder yet. Ink cost is an important characteristic for any ink jet printer (in my opinion, by far the most important).
It's $10-$15 to replace the black ink cartridge
Brother LC61BK Ink Cartridge (Black). Off brand cartridges are available and inexpensive.
12 Pack. Compatible Brother LC-61 Cartridges. Includes Sophia Global Brand Cartridges for 3ea LC-61 of each Color Black Cyan Magenta Yellow. How many pages do you get? Believe it or not, but I printed about 300-350 pages per cartridge (3 cartridges total so far) before they started to gray in output and I switched back to my beloved Samsung
Samsung ML-2525W Wireless Mono Laser Printer (the laser gets thousands of pages per toner cartridge, but then it's an entirely different category of product).
I print an enormous amount of material, so it was easy to see how this printer performs economically. It's easily the most affordable per page inkjet I've ever used. A laser printer is cheaper, faster, and I like the quality, so bear that in mind if you're just planning to print black and white documents in large numbers. In fact, a limited paper tray makes printing more than 100 pages at once with this printer quite a hassle (most people see no issue here, I bet). I should mention that if you want your ink to last, use fast printing. I think the results were easy to read.
Of course, this printer does a lot more than my b/w laser. I printed a couple of photos, and they were color accurate and looked pretty good (not excellent). Loading images from my Sony camera's memory stick was simple (you can load from USB or SD card). Frankly, I think it's very silly to print photos at home when the quality and price per picture is much better at a store nearby (my grocer's website makes it easy). However, the results are reasonably good at home. Color prints at high quality take an enormous amount of time. It felt like at least a minute per page, but I didn't time it. The black and white printing seems slow as well unless you use the fast mode, and even then, is slow when compared to a laser printer.
I've always been highly annoyed with 'printer cleaning' that wastes a ton of ink. This printer does not waste much ink when performing this function.
I sent a fax to my wife (who was very surprised as she didn't know we had a fax machine!). This sucker really is a great fax machine. It was very snappy with the scanning. If you're running a business and worry about employees not being familiar with the fax machine, this is a very, very good one (it's so simple to use).
And onto the scanning. I consider the quality of this scanner to be outstanding! It's the strongest aspect of this all-in-one. Colors were accurate. Everything is sharp.
Of course, all of these features (except the fax) are tied together with its wi-fi interaction. And this is where I initially ran into problems. The CD's included software failed to complete installation, repeatedly (I use Windows 7). I find this unacceptable, but it's my only major gripe. I downloaded a newer version from Brother's website and that installed. You can log into your network from the printer's screen and keypad, either putting it in a mode where the software sets it up for you, or punching in your router login. The process is easy for people familiar with their network's equipment, but I think the process could confuse a few people. The printer's reception is acceptable, but it's not as strong as some of my other devices. One of the benefits of 802.11 N is increased range, but this printer is 802.11 B/G. Most people will simply keep this near their router and never experience a problem.
For scanning or faxing, I think this is good enough for any user. It isn't a professional photo printer and it's not as effective for high volume printing as a laser printer, but it's certainly not bad. And in all functions, I found it easy to use. Before you consider a different brand, please consider the cost to refill the ink cartridges. I always review Vine products (or anything else) with the price in mind, and I believe this is a strong value for around $100.