Customer Reviews

Brother MFC-5840CN Network Color Inkjet Multifunction Printer with Photo Capture Center

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I went shoping for a new printer a few months ago, originally shopping for a color injet (NOT All-In-One) for my start-up business. I wanted to be able to be able to give my cliets color prints of simple things like invoices, diagrams, or product photos.

When I got to the store, I came accross the MFC-5840CN by Brother and was amazed by the number of features for under $200. I had a Lexmark X85 I was replacing and that thing was a pile of junk, and made me cautious of All-In-Ones. After a few days of online research I decided to buy the Brother (my first Brother product) printer and let me say this think is awesome!

For a printer it does a good job, with good B&W as well as color prints. Now I have not tried photo paper, but it prints better then I expected and seems good (I'm not a photographer- I just want some color in my documents!). I REALLY like the fact that it has built-in 10/100Tx networking as well because I do have a few computers as well as a wireless laptop I use it from (BOTH PC and Mac).

As a Fax machine the MFC once again does a good job. I was suprised that the machine supports the "Distinctive Ring" feature and has not failed once to pick up my distinctive ring number I use as a fax line. It also has not once picked up my regular voice ringer. I can tell the fax machine as well as copier which paper tray to use as well, which is cool. I very much like the auto-feeder it makes everything that is more then one page that much easier to copy and fax.

I have used the fax-from-pc and that works great too. From wired and wireless computers around my house I can send faxes, print, and access the memory card slots!

In conclusion I must say that this is a excelent printer, especially considering the price. I have also bought two for some clients who like it very much with no problems so far. I hope this helps you!

I've had terrible luck with most all-in-one's that say they're Mac compatible. The software never really gives you everything you get on a PC. Brother's solution really is a truly mac-native system and it works like a charm. Printing is fast - even over a wireless network, which was a breeze to set up with the built-in networking feature. Scanning was crisp and clear. Faxing is a breeze. And the included memory card reader is spot on. I highly recommend this unit for anyone looking for an all-in-one solution.

I have had this machine for other a month now & I really love it. It was easy to install over my LAN. It has so many features and for a terrific price (what it is priced now, is even less than what I paid).

I did a lot of research before I bought this device. I have owned Brother devices before and many others. I love the low cost of printer cartidges for this device, especially since I print a lot of digital photos. The print quality is excellent! Having two paper trays is very nice, I enjoy keeping my photo paper in one and regular paper in the other. You can also check the print volumes on the MFC directly, which is very convenient.

I also use the scanning feature a lot. There are many options to choose from when scanning. Having an ADF which can scan both letter and legal is very helpful. The PaperPort program that it comes with is great too for organizing and viewing your scanned documents.

I have also found that you can scan thru the ADF and print at the same time. I found it really amazing how much having memory in the printer helps my pc performance. Even when I have it printing and scanning I can still run programs at the same time on my pc with little performance loss. When I used to print with my Epson, I couldn't do anything else until it had near completed the print job.

I have yet to use the card reader, because I have another and I also haven't hooked up the fax yet. Those parts are nice to have in case I need them.

I bought this printer back in February 2005 and it has been the biggest ink hog ever. I buy a lot of printers for my business, but I really needed an all in one that had a good automatic scanner and would print photos from my memory card. Out of the box, it is a super thrill - it works great, it looks good, it prints great pictures and it scans fast and trouble free. The biggest down side to this printer is the way it senses the ink levels in the cartridges. It allegedly is an ink dot counter but that's not true it really has a light sensor and when your ink cartridge is about half full, you get an out of ink message and the machine will not do a thing. Even if all you want to do is scan, you can't even get the machine to turn off. It's incredible that an "empty" ink cartridge would lock up the machine, but that's how Brother wanted it apparently. The only way to get it to work again is to put in a new ink cartridge. Since Brother's ink cartridges are not "full" when you buy them, you really get very little printing from the cartridge. Seems like no one at Brother will tell you how to fix this problem, they talk to you like "whats the problem?" In the meantime, I'm replacing those little ink cartridges every month and every time the "empty" cartridge is half full. A couple of times the cartridges looked nearly full. If you print on a regular basis - you are going to spend a fortune on ink. Even with the remanufactured cartridges.

I finally figured out how to get around the light sensor. But I am moving this machine to occassional use only and scanning - and I'm getting my secretary a laser MFC machine. You can bet it won't be another Brother though.

[...] The scanner works great, the printing works great too, good photo printing even on plain paper! Card reader works, I use it with my Lexar/Olympus 512mb, Kodak 32mb, and Fujifilm 16mb xD-picture card that came with my E510 Digital Camera. This is my second All-in-one printer. The first one (MFC-7300C) I bought it around Christmas of 01'. It was slow, and I would get paper jams, and ink errors all the time.. But this AIO has a flatbed scanner, dual paper trays, media card reader etc. At first I had a hard time putting in the ink, finally (small framed me) got my mom to do it, because she is bigger and stronger than me. I haven't tried out the networking function yet. But like the MFC-7300C the new MFC-5840CN has some problems too, besides ink installing problems, coping is kinda on the slow side, no cables come with the printer like the USB or Ethernet cable, [...] Sometime the scanner functions stops working and I'll have to un-plug and re-plug the printer to get the printer working right again, this has happen 3 times already, I still can't get why this happens? Don't know if this is only happening to me or not? And as a matter of fact, when you run out of ink in one ink cartridge, like the black for instants, the printer won't work until you'll replaces the one emtpy cartridge. kinda dumb huh? I didn't have this problem with my old Xerox printer. I still recommend this cheap AIO printer, because it everything you want in a AIO, and more! There is a even a cheaper model(MFC-5440CN), this model doesn't have the media card reader, nor, does it have the etxra paper tray, but it has everything else the 5840CN have...

Pros:
Networking, media card reader, dual paper trays, fast printing and scanning, good photo prints even on plain paper.

Cons:
Slow coping, no color LCD, problems with installing ink, No USB or Ethernet cable included, for some reason the scanner function stops working, have un-plug and re-plug in the printer to get it working again, when one ink cartridge runs out, you aren't able to print anything until you replaces the empty cartridge..

Recommended: Yes

After trying three different Multifunction machines, (2 HP's and 1 Epson) and returning them, I've finally found one that does what it is supposed to do. I currently have a Compaq laptop and Powerbook G4. This printer was a breeze to set up on both. The scanning feature is wonderful. All of my scans have come out true to the original. The fax works great, never had any trouble sending or receiving. The only problem I can come up with is that when you are printing color documents, they can be pretty slow. Overall, I am very pleased with this purchase.

PRO:
* Cheap
* StandAlone Print/Scan/Fax/Copy
* Can Print/Scan/Fax/Copy over a network
* Has multimedia card reader
CON:
* Install failed to work. So I had setup everything manual.
Might need a geek to help you set this application up. One big problem I had with it is that if you are using DHCP to assign IP addresses to machines on your network. When your printer get another IP address you wont be able to print. So you have to assign it a IP address.
* Printing not that fast. Print quality is average.
* To access multimedia card you have to use FTP to connect to it.
* Photo printing on it is mediocore.

Conclusion: If you dont want spend a lot of money on multifunction printer than this is the right one for ya.

My husband and I purchased this Brother MFC (Multi-function Center) when our HP all in one quit after only 2 years!! (I later found out that is common for HP printers.) Anyway, this all in one works great!! It is simple to use and was a breeze to set up. Plus the ink is a lot cheaper than other brands. I have used the copied, scanner and the printer, but not the fax so I can't comment on that. The other features work great. The copier/scanner is very clear and doesn't leave 'lines' on the scanned/copied items, like some other printers do. This is a great product for a great price!!

For a Mac user, this is a fine mulit-function machine. The software drivers for the printer's less-used preferences are a little off, but the fax is fast, the scanner communicates with every application to which I've linked it, the printer is as good as any I've seen for the money (or more). My only complaint is the orientation of the paper delivery, and the fact that after a few copies or faxes start to pile up, the floor's where they finally rest. That part could use some help. It's too soon to tell whether it's an ink-hog, but I'm very happy with it.

Win XP PS2 made our Compaq A3000 obsolete, so as a simple solution our family sought out a new AIO..We settled on the Brother MFC-5840, easily installed the drivers, software without TechnoGeeks help. Print Quality is as good as I have seen on more expensive printers, color photo printing is adequate for our use, the color mode is a bit slow, but 15 ppm is more than some printers we researched. The card reader is a plus, and the Fax easily installed. For our use, this AIO suits our needs to a T...Thank you Brother..