Customer Reviews

Brother MFC-3820CN Color Inkjet Multifunction

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

For the money I could not find another MF device that even came close to this unit.

Printing, Fax, Scanning, and copying are all as expected with output quality on par with other units in the $150-$400 range. However, it is its advanced functions that really make it shine.

First, the MFC has a built in 10/100baseT server. Not just a print server but a server that will support both local network and internet based printing, faxing, and even FTP access to memory cards. Want to share your digital photos; just put your CF, SD, etc. card in the printer and have your friends FTP in and copy the files. Or, use a memory card to store other files that you want to make accessable via FTP.

You can also do a lot of other interesting things like auto-forward faxes, store and forward on demand, broadcast, and so on. In all cases a Fax can be sent via normal phone line or via email depending on the 'address' you enter.

One very cool feature if you have broadband is that by opening port 515 on your home router/firewall you can print to the Brother MFC from anyplace you have internet access. Print from a hotel, airport, friends house, work (as long as port 515 is not blocked), etc. Very cool.

Also, the 20 sheet ADF is great for making copies or faxing larger documents while the flat bed scanner allows copy/fax of bound books, etc.

One the down side:
- The unit is not small; allow enough space for it
- The paper tray only holds ~100 sheets; a common issue with consumer printers
- Memory is limited at 16MB; don't expect to store tons of complex documents
- Color faxing ONLY works if you print the Fax when it arrives; you can't store a color fax and print it later or forward it to another Fax
- You have to install all 4 ink carts. for the printer to work and if one cart. is out of ink the printer stops printing; e.g. if your Yellow is out and you want to print a B&W fax you are out of luck
- Unlike HP units, the Bother has fixed print heads so if you have a failure you can't just replace the cart.; your have to replace the printer
- You can't change the IP Ports that the printer uses for its various network functions; e.g. FTP is fixed at 21, printing is fixed at 515. It would have been nice for security reasons to be able to change these to a user-defined value.

All in all this is a great all-in-one unit that has some great features that no other unit it its class has. For the price you can't go wrong!

I bought this machine about a week ago and have used almost all of its features. I am very impressed with the quality, user interface, and versatility. It's pretty easy to program and the user manual is pretty good, and they also have an 800 number for support which I called. Their support was pretty good, although the person I spoke with seemed to need a different job.

I agree with the previous post that the scanning software could be better, but most programs have scanner acquisition built in so it's not a big deal. But I will say that even though the machine has a special button to press for scanning, there isn't a section in the user's manual about scanning. Must have been an oversight. But it was not that difficult to figure out. I was totally amazed at how great the print quality was when I printed photos from a Kodak CD that I had made when I processed prints. The prints I made were superior to the photographs in that they were much more vibrant and alive than the photos. I used Epson Glossy Photo Paper which I got at a warehouse club.

I have only used the doc feeder a few times. This was one of the reasons why I chose this machine because the feeder was built better than the competition and it's a real time-saver. But it has worked flawlessly in the few times I've used it. Faxing works great and you can even keep the machine off and it will turn itself on when it senses a fax coming in. Copying is very good too. Print quality is very good, but it's not laser quality; it's definitely an inkjet. I have a laser as well, so this does not bother me. I have not used the network feature or the interface for digital camera media.

I did a lot of research on the other products and came very close to buying a similar HP costing about a hundred dollars more. But I am glad I didn't. This is an amazing machine for the very reasonable price. It's well built, has a nice fit and finish and works very well. It could be a little smaller, and I also hear that it's good to cover so that dust doesn't enter through the paper tray, drying the rollers and interfering with paper uptake. And sometimes it can be a little slow in faxing or printing very high quality photos. Don't believe the number of pages per minute either, since that's based on a page with only 5% filled. But those are not deal breakers if you use the machine for what it is intended -- it's not a machine to get if you expect to print a hundred color-saturated pages or photos a day -- it's a light-medium duty machine. Overall, I am extremely happy with my purchase. Hopefully it lasts as long as my last Brother fax of over 12 years -- which is still going strong.

One last thing. Don't underestimate the value to having separate ink cartridges like the Brother. Other companies like HP put all of the colors in one ink cartridge requiring that you buy the entire cartridge when one color runs dry. The Brother has 4 different cartridges assuring that you get your money's worth from each. This is one of the dirty little secrets to color printers -- they sell you the printer cheaply and then you pay through the nose for ink for the printer's lifetime.

I had always thought that Brother manufactured good products over the years from what I had seen and heard, so I finally decided to give them a try. But this turned out to be a big mistake...

To begin with, what's good about this machine is that the normal functions it was dsigned to do for you work fine. The machine prints, copies, scans, and faxes at an acceptable level. But the quality of the color when printing is not as good as compared with my $45.00 Epson C40UX printer that someone gave me as a gift.

The real problem with this machine lies in how fast it uses ink and the fact that it shuts down all functions whenever one of the four ink cartridges needs replacing.

I've had the machine for about 8 months now and at most I've printed maybe 100-150 pages with it. And all the pages have been 100% black ink only. Still, over this time I've had to replace the black ink and color ink cartridges two times since I purchased the machine. For some reason this machine goes through its color ink cartridges even when you're printing only requires black ink. I basically use this machine for incoming faxes and occasional copies only, and during most weeks I don't even print a single page with it.

In addition, when the machine indicates that you need to replace one of the ink cartridges, it stops all printing, copying, and fax functions until you replace that particular cartridge! So if people are faxing you something important, the fax will be quietly stored in the machine until you replace the ink cartridge. This is extremely disappointing that you aren't given the option of printing out the fax if you'd like to before you replace the ink cartridge. Plus, you may be waiting for an important fax not even knowing that it's already arrived because you see that no fax paper has been printed out from the machine.

Because of this and the fact that my Epson printer finally stopped working, a few days ago I upgraded to a HP Photosmart 2610 all-in-one, and so far it performs beautifully. But of course, the proof in how it really performs will come in the months ahead after I've had a chance to spend some more time with it.

But with respect to the Brother MFC-3820CN all-in-one, I really recommend that you look around and find a machine that doesn't have the problems that I've just described to you. There are so many other machines on the market in the same price range that don't have these same problems, and you'll easily find a much more reliable machine that will also save you tons of money on replacing your ink cartridges.

I never owned a printer that I came to hate so quickly as this. We have had this machine less than a year with fair results at best. Now I have the dreaded error 41 message. That's how I got here...I find that means throw it away or hassle with the company and still own a bad machine. Don't buy this!

The Brother MFC-3820CN is a wonderful device; it is very fast and easy to use. However, the software is horrible. I will set the software on Monday, shut down my computer and it will revert to default. the interface is confusing, and the max resolution though Windows XP's* interface i2 only 1200 DPI compared to the 4800 DPI achievable through the software. Overall, if you only want a stand alone Copier / Fax I would recommend the brother. If you are looking for a scanner, than I would keep looking.

*Windows is a registered trademark of the Microsoft Corporation

After suffering for years with a HP T45, then discovering that it simply would not work after installing Windows XP SP1 - I decided it was time for a change. "A Change" meaning - "anything but HP". If you're sceptical, read some Amazon reviews for HP Printers.
This Brother machine is designed for general business/home office use. So, the print/scan quality is not quite as impressive as more expensive units, but is perfectly adequate for general use. I actually use Draft mode for everyday printing anyway. If you want to print photos and glossy brochures, go buy a dedicated printer.

Control panel: simple to use, all buttons are clearly marked.
Computer Drivers: The software took about 5-10min to install, and was virtually painless. Software is roughly 45-100mb (as opposed to HP's 1.5GB). Software interface is pretty basic, but it provides access to all printer settings (and there's quite a lot).
Build Quality: Very good. I love the sheet feeder. Cartridges are extremely easy to change. Printing is reasonably quiet and fast - as is scanning. Was packaged well & came with simple installation instructions. The unit is considerably smaller than our old HP T45 (which did not have a flatbed scanner).
Network Capability: The network function was simple to get up and running (we connected the printer directly to our Netgear router), and it allows you to print, scan, fax or receive faxes directly to/from networked computers. All these features have worked with no problem.
Ink: Cartridges are inexpensive, but have no print head. Each colour cartridge is seperate.

We did a lot of research and were undecided between this printer or the Canon MP730. As we already have a specialist photo printer, and didn't want to spend too much, we purchased the Brother for it's network capability - and am extremely happy with it. I can't stress enough how fantastic the network feature is!

I bought the mfc3820cn because I wanted a multi-function to use on a network and this one has a network connection built in. It worked out of the box. Software install was painless and I was printing / scanning / faxing / copying in a few minutes over my network. There are 4 separate ink cartridges which seem relatively cheap..... another factor which influenced my purchase.

The ink cartridges have no print heads. The heads are part of the machine. So the machine does periodic cleaning cycles. Thats OK, except that these cleaning cycles seem to start up at random, often in the middle of the night. It wakes the whole house up. Even turning the power button off, or disconnecting the network or USB cables doesn't stop them. Theres apparently no way to stop them. I don't know how, in designing a printer, that something like this could be missed. It doesn't help that its quite a noisy printer anyway, much noisier than several Hewlett Packard printers I've owned.

The machine has a built in clock. A cleaning cycle could check the clock first and postpone the clean if its between certain hours. Brother tech support first suggested that I pull out the power plug at night. Not very practical for a fax machine.

If you intend having this machine at a business, then its probably fine, but if you intend having it in your home, then be warned, it will wake you up at night.

I purchased the Brother MFC-3820CN (...), my first one after 6 months died, after getting an ERROR 41 on its screen, the second one, well works, but its a pain to find ink thats cheap and it won't work well with Compatibles, so don't buy them, second, when you print out a picture, the picture quality stinks, everytime I printed out a picture after the first time, the pictures always had horizontal lines through it, It just stinks, I can't believe I purchased it. DON"T BUY IT... By an EPSON OR OTHER KIND..be sure that you've tested the Picture Print quality so that you don't get Lines through your pictures like I do with this one. The only thing good about it is that, you can make copies...and thats about it.

I have owned this unit for almost 2 years and have yet to actually have the printer/scanner on my home network. According to the user's manual, Menu/Set 5 should give me LAN settings. All I get is a beeping noise. Machine powers up, states the LAN is active, but never appears on the network. I have contacted Brother several times regarding the issue and I still have no access to my printer/scanner on the computer. I now own one of the most expensive FAX/COPY machines available on the market today. I would not recommend this unit and I would not recommend Brother Multi-Function devices.

This is a very good printer for 3 months until you get an error 41 and have to call the company. We own 8 brother mfc's and all 8 have failed some replaced 2 and 3 times.