Customer Reviews

Brother MFC-685cw Color Inkjet Multi-Function Center with Wireless Network Interface

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I purchased the Brother MFC-685CW before there were any reviews for it. It was a toss up between the cheaper Brother MFC-665CW and the more expensive Brother MFC-885CW. I went to the Brother website to do a side by side comparison of the 3 printers and I found that the Brother MFC-685CW and the Brother MFC-885CW were almost identical in every way so I decided to get the MFC-685 because the price was right. Though I was wary because like I said there were no reviews for it. I must tell you, I don't regret getting this printer at all. It was a lot smaller than the gigantic Canon Pixma MP530 printer I was replacing. Getting rid of the old printer and getting this one in its place really freed up a lot of space on my desk. Because of it's size, I'm able to position the printer anyway I want now. Though it's a bit heavy, that's not a problem because I don't have to pick it up too often. The other reviewer said the printer is intended to be left on all the time. No it's not. I turn mine off whenever I turn my computer off or when I don't need it. There's no problem and all my settings are always the same no matter how many times I turn the product on or off. He also said that this model is around 3 years old. Amazon and his info is wrong because this model came out last year. But I do agree with most of his other points though ;o).

Now for the important stuff, the features. I think this printer is great. There's a bit of a learning curve to figure out some of the features and somethings you may have to refer to the manual in order to use them until you familiarize yourself with the printer. I made sure I used all of the functions of this printer and everything works well. The Brother MFC-685CW has a lot of positives but this product is not perfect so of course it has some negatives.

Positives:
- One of the smallest All-in-Ones that I've ever seen
- All the controls are in the front. You don't have to get up out of your chair to do anything. Everything is at your fingertips. No reaching around the side, back or inside of the printer to do anything. My favorite fingertip feature, being able to change the ink from the front without have to lift up the lid and reach inside the interior of the printer. To change the ink all you have to do is open the cap in the front, pop the ink in and that's it.
- It's wireless. I've got my laptop hooked up to this printer wirelessly and it prints out flawlessly just as if it were connected to the printer directly. The setup was pretty easy. Everything took about 10 minutes or so.
- I like that there's a speaker phone so that you don't have to pick up the receiver when sending or receiving a fax.
- The corded handset and it's base can be removed from the printer entirely, making the printer's width even smaller. The printer comes with
an extra cap that you can place on the spot where the handset and the base were removed so that it looks like they were never there. Very cool.
- It takes most types of media cards so if you don't want to hook up your camera via USB cable and you would rather take out your media card and view and print your pictures that way, you can.
- The printer has a color screen, which is especially useful when you put in your media card and you want to view or make any adjustments to your photos before you print them.
- You can preview your fax before sending or receiving it.
- Prints documents almost immediately. No long thinking or waiting time.
- You can use LC51 compatible inks. You don't have to use Brother's. The ink monitor recognizes them as the official inks.
- Printing with the black ink could be a tad bit sharper but it's still nice. This also all depends on the type of paper you use and the print settings. I've printed photos and they come out quite nice on this printer. The heavier the paper you print on, the better your prints. I would recommend 24lbs(standard inkjet paper weight) or higher. Though printing on 20lbs. is decent.
- The speed depending also on the print settings is pretty fast. The speed on "Normal" printing could be a little faster. I have my printer
set to "Normal Fast", I have "Slow Drying Paper" checked, and I also adjusted the "Color Enhancement" settings, in order to get nice prints
from this setting. If you don't do this, the prints at the "Normal Fast" setting aren't that great. Set at "Normal Fast", my prints come out in a flash.
- Ink monitor is placed in the taskbar of your computer so that you can always check your ink status.

Negatives:
- No duplex printing. No worries if you, like me, don't use this feature too often.
- A little weird and cumbersome putting in 4x6 photo paper. It's not a matter of opening or taking out the tray and putting in the photo paper. It involves a lot of maneuvering and adjusting when in reality it should not be so complicated.
- Printing photos is slow and the photo quality is not all that great. Photos appear dull and dark and not vivid at all. I've tried various settings from using the default factory setting to manually adjusting the settings, still no luck. Unless my printer is defective, this what I'm experiencing.
- The ink monitor is not 100% accurate and not that smart. I found that sometimes when I take out any one of the inks cartridges, even if it's half full, put it back in and it asks you on the printer screen if you just put in a new cartridge and you said that you did, it will register the cartridge as being new ink. This is very bad because I never know when I'm going to run out of ink because the monitor is incorrect. Capping off this fact is that Brother cartridges are all enclosed and not clear so you can't even look at the cartridge to know how much ink you really have unlike say, a Canon ink cartridge. Canon cartridges are clear so you can tell you're out of ink without the help of an ink monitor.

All in all, I really like the Brother MFC-685CW and I'm glad I decided to purchase it. It's attractive looking, pretty easy to use and very compact for an All in One. I've always used the Brother faxes but was a little wary about getting a printer from them but I've been very please so far. I was a Canon printer lover but after my previous Canon flaked out on me, I decided to give Brother a try and I'm glad I did.

I don't know what the previous reviewer was referring to as the Brother MFC 685cw is the newest of the printers and only came out October, 2007.
I have waited and waited to see reviews on this machine before I bought it. I did alot of research first but decided to take the plunge! I was very surprised at how heavy the printer is as no other printer weighs as much as this but, I guess because all the features they have packed in, it is heavy. It still has a small footprint and low profile. I took it out of box and put in ink cartridges and set up paper cartridge
I am fairly technical so as I went to connect to two wireless laptops. I found the insructions cumbersome and too lengthy. I gave up fairly early, thank goodness and called 1-877-BROTHER. It was Christmas eve morning. A gentleman asked about my registration and as soon as he took my information he transferred me to a delightful woman in Memphis, Tennessee. She had my printer hooked up flawlessly to two wireless laptops in 20 minutes. I had to find my WEP password so she could get in. It would have taken her less time if she weren't working with me. I couldn't believe how easy it was and I wanted to make sure that it was right. They have both worked perfectly.

PROS I love the fact that I can at any time, print something out. It prints beautifully and quickly.
I also love the paper cartridge like a copy machine as opposed to as Lexmark, which I have always loved in the past, where they are flapping out the back and getting dusty. Also this machine is 6,000 dpi instead of 4,800 for the Lexmark creating vivid colors.
The display is beautiful and easy to use.
I scanned a written document and wasn't sure how to put it in a word document so I called 1-877-BROTHER and they told me to go into tools and configure for Word. Great support. I had a Brother fax for 15 years and I finally did something to it so I got dark lines on it but I knew Brother products were great.
Also, I read in my research that it is best to buy Brother ink cartridges since the heads are on the printer and the generic ink can ruin the print heads. But I have found the black for 16.88 and color for 11.88. But I'm sure on the internet you can find them for less. Also paid $138.00 for printer, Yes the MFC 685. Also ordered the MFC 465 for my sister for 99. I don't need phone or answering mach but like it for the fax speaker.
There is a cartidge inside for 4x6 pictures
that is easy to use.
Stand alone fax and picture printer!
I got a new camera for Christmas so looking forward to printing pictures.
Well I hope this helped. Enjoy

If you need a good inexpensive inkjet printer with a network interface its not a bad choice. The printer is good quality but slow. HP printers are much faster but had issues with their software. the Brother software used to get the printer setup on my network was flawless. The answering machine function sound quality is good, but has many quirks. If the ans machine picks up and you pick up a handset after it, you can't shut off the ans machine recording your voice! Just Dumb. The remote pickup function menu structure is incomprehensible and I'm tech savvy! Don't plan on using the answering machine. The phone in it is useable although the case of the handset is sensitive to vibration that you will hear in the sidetone.

I like everything about this printer EXCEPT that when you run out of colored ink, you cannot print---even if you have a full black ink cartridge. It's Brother's way of forcing people to buy more of their ink cartridges (although the Brother representative who spoke to me about the problem gave me some bull about how the machine would be damaged if it printed from only the black ink cartridge).

Anyway, I solve the problem by putting some electrical tape over the middle part of each cartridge that is registering as out of ink. That middle part is where the machine reads the ink level. The black electrical tape fools the machine into thinking that the cartridge is full (the machine registers the darkness). Anyway, that solved my problem. Who feels like shelling out $25 bucks for colored cartridges when I don't even print in color?

UPDATE 5/14/11: Just wanted to point out that this printer is still going strong. I would highly recommend any Brother product as they have great customer service. I've phoned Brother several times since I bought this printer, and they've always helped me despite the fact that my warranty has long expired. I'm pleased with the product and the service.

Overall it is good, if you plug it in via USB. Its a little slow to start printing. Getting it setup for wireless, which I have yet to accomplish, is a pain in the butt, and most people say just to call in without even trying it yourself. I tried, and they hung up on me and never called back. The WORST thing is though, every time the power goes out it erases the answering machine message and defaults to just receive fax with no message. i do not think I would purchase this again for these two reasons.

after using for a while.... nearly impossible to send a fax if you have an external phone hooked up. answering machine is cumbersome and unreliable at best. document feeder has issues with more than one page, although after multiple attempts it may work. wireless is useless, I can't get it to work on anything except plugged directly into my computer. the only thing that seems to work is the scanner and media drive. I would NOT recommend this for a home/office or office of any size.

Purchase
I purchased this printer yesterday. The criteria that I used to choose the printer were: 1) network capability, 2) easy to use, 3) photo printing a priority, 4) store recommendation, 5) available in stock, and 6) store discount. The box was big enough to carry home on the train. Price: US$283. This model is around 3 years old.

Installation
Despite the network capability, I decided to install via USB on WinXP. Installation was straightforward, and the installation guide was very clear. You need to read it carefully. I was impressed to find that the small footprint meant it would fit easily into the small space on my desk. You need to configure not only the PC software, but also the printer itself via its LCD screen. The printer is intended to be left on all the time, however, it remembered the settings after I turned it back on over 24 hours later. I am having trouble setting the paper size.

Initial Test
So far I have used it for photo and regular printing. The quality of the photo prints is great, particularly in the parts of the image which are in fine focus. You need to load the paper into the cartridge. I got a paper jam when I cancelled a print job. The ink performs brilliantly. So far I have wasted three photo paper pages in printing five pages of photos.

Comparison
The speed is much slower than I was used to with our old printer which was an EPSON Stylus C61. However, the old printer had a lot of problems with ink, and used up the ink very quickly - not to mention the photo paper! It is easier to load the paper into a feeder rather than a cartridge, but once I'm used to that I'll benefit from the cartridge use.

I intend to use this printer in our home office on our wired home network.

I bought the Brother MFC-685CW six months ago after reviewing a lot of all-in-one printers online and in stores. Despite Consumer Reports giving it a "doesn't quite live up to expectations" rating, I must say it was nice enough and had the features I like, with a great small footprint, and the must-have fax capability, so I picked it over HP, Canon, Epson, etc competitors. I got the idea of having wireless from a friend with a HP all-in-one that he loved. I think it was the HP Officejet 6310.

After carrying it home, I set it up for wireless within fifteen minutes, with absolutely no issues whatsoever. I noticed another review saying it was hard, but seriously - I don't remember it being hard, or even how I did it, so I guess I just followed the steps in the manual.

Printing is more than ok, but I agree that pictures come out less crisp than professional print. I mostly print web pages, family pics for the fridge, and the occasional airplane boarding card, so I'm more than fine. For real memorabilia or gifts, I get an Apple iPhoto Book instead of doing the printing myself.

I hooked this machine to the fax/phone line for a couple weeks, and it did great in sending and receiving fax messages. I never used the answering machine, so don't know about that. The document feeder hasn't given me any trouble, but I think it is limited to 20 or so sheets. And, no duplex printing, which is ok by me. YMMV.

Scanner also works great - I love that it scans directly to a USB memory stick, in PDF or JPG! (only drawback is that it first scans the USB stick for pictures, thinking you might wanna print them... give it a minute... :-)

This Brother is Mac OS compatible! I am running this printer mostly from my Apple laptop. It includes Mac OS software on the CD, which was fairly easy to set up, but the third party scanner software "Presto! PageManager" is ****. I just use the standard scanner software instead, or scan to a USB stick. A few times, the Brother Mac OS software has lost track of the printer and asks for everything to be restarted, which is a pain. But wireless printing works great from Mac OS and from Windows.

Positives:
+ Pretty cheap for an all-in-one
+ Fax/phone/answering machine included, can remove some clutter from your desk
+ Wireless 802.11b/g, USB and Wired Ethernet connectivity
+ Works on an Apple Mac OS machine and of course on Windows too
+ Really easy to work the front control panel "Scan", "Copy" etc... buttons
+ Document feeder for the scanner/copier
+ Scans to a USB memory stick

Negatives:
- as with any inkjet, genuine ink refills are expensive ($50+ on Amazon or eBay)
- Mac OS software a little off-the-beaten-track and sometimes stumbles
- Photo print quality not top of class for an ink-jet
- Menus and interface sometimes a bit on the slow side.
- Must select between Wireless or Wired network - can't have both at the same time.

I got this machine at a brick-and-mortar PC Richards after trying to get it at JR and Staples, who were both out of it at the time. After six months, and as it is time to buy my first set of refills, I am very happy with this purchase. I have detached the phone handset and stuffed the printer into a cupboard, out of sight. Since it only needs AC power and a wireless network, you can really put it anywhere!

I would definitely recommend this to a friend, and have done so a few times already.

After my HP printer developed a problem and their email "support" led me around in circles for 3 days, and at the same time learning that HP would not be making a Vista driver for my 4 1/2 year old scanner,I decided to shop for a non-HP all-in-one. I am in the process of going to an all wireless network at home, and this unit caught my eye. It reportedly had a good wireless interface, and in general, the reviews were positive so I jumped in. For the price I paid, it is an awesome machine. Shop around. Even BestBuy had it on sale for $139.

Setup took a bit longer than I expected, but then it is an all in one and you only do this once. I only ran into two glitches. I had to run through the network setup twice. I incorrectly entered my router encryption code the first time because of the text messaging entry system from the dial pad. I just do not text message so it was awkward for me. The second problem I thought I had was that the unit would not power off. I was only partway through the setup process and had to leave, so I tried to shut it down and the power off/on button did nothing but emit a couple beeps.

Rather than pack it up and ship it back, I returned and completed the setup. What I finally figured out is that the handset must be plugged in or it will not power off. God only knows why the setup is this way!

The print quality is as good as that of my HP 6122 printer, and the unit is quiet. The print speed is not remarkable but probably compares with that of the HP. I have some dexterity problems, but the button/controls are very easy to use. The wireless interface and other features are great. The only reason I did not give it a fifth star is because I do not know how long it will last and do not have any experience using Brother's support yet.

In sum, is was a good buy.

I stuck with HP for years even when it appeared that they were no longer making quality printers. Having wasted four hours on the phone troubleshooting an HP model 7250, which is, on paper, comparable to the Brother MFC-685cw I returned the 7250 and decided to quit buying printers from HP. The MFC-685cw was up and running in minutes. Since I was too lazy to read the users guide fully, I ended up calling a very knowledgeable (and patient) Mac tech support person at Brother's Memphis office for help on a minor issue. She got me on the right track in a few minutes. Brother has apparently been making quality products for many years. I also have an old Brother FAX machine that has worked perfectly for years. I think that HP has been trading in on its famous name for too long. If HP wants to be competitive then they need to do something to improve the quality of their machines. Benchmarking Brother machines would be a good way for them to start.

Update Sept 10: I still use this printer daily and still really like it. I wirelessly print from multiple computers seamlessly. I've stopped using the fax and now do e-faxing, but it's still used daily for my home based business. I do scanning, printing, copying with no problems. For me it's been a steady reliable printer. The only thing I have noticed is the printing has gotten really slow sometimes. I don't know if this is something with my wireless network feeding it the information to slowly or not.

Update Sept 09: I like this printer a great deal more then I originally did. Once you learn how to connect wirelessly, its pretty easy to do. Sometimes my network needs to be reset and it only takes a minute or two to reconnect to it on the printer, which is nice. It's still functioning like the day I bought it, and now that I've found generic ink on amazon, I like it even more. I do have trouble receiving faxes every now and then, but I honestly without a doubt believe that's a fault in vonage service, not my brother printer. And since I send faxes more then getting them, it's not a big deal for me.

UPDATE 10/26/08: I figured out the wireless problem with my HP laptop, not by actually attempting to fix it, bu just a random side effect of something else. I was removing norton anti-virus that was pre-installed on my laptop when I bought it, because it wanted me to pay to update, so I had decided to use some other free software. As soon as it was removed, my laptop was happily recognizing my brother printer icon(which tell you how much ink you have, etc). I had toyed with the firewall settings before, but removing this software made me all wireless, all the time. MUCH happier with my printer choice now.

Original Review: To start, know this: I deducted a star for the problems I had with wireless and fax. I'm pretty tech savvy and hooking up to wireless isn't beyond me. I set up my home wireless network and usually my boyfriend just hopes and prays I can make it work, cause if I don't do it, no one will. I guess what I'm saying is: I know my way around computers, I'm a girl who loves her gadgets. So for a person who isn't as good with technology, they'd probably toss this out the window.

I updated from an HP all-in-one because that one had stopped printing in color after only a couple years. I didn't use the color often but didnt expect it to stop working just from not using it. So, I saw this in the Staples ad for $120, it links with the wireless network and I got a free label maker(which I had been wanting, oddly enough). So I was sold. Out of the box, easy enough to start up, but the wireless network is where it gets tricky. I had wanted this printer because I have both a desktop and laptop, and get frustrated having to change computer or wire up to print. I'll say this, I HAVEN'T got it to print from my wireless laptop yet, works wirelessly with my desktop fine, don't know if it's my finiky laptop or the printer. Tried a lot of things, followed the manual, became frustrated and gave up. It's been on my to-do-list to call the brother people for about a month and 1/2.

The other thing that was difficult was getting the fax to work. I use Vonage(Voip) and when I called tech support the brother guy almost had me thinking that because I used vonage, I wouldnt be using the fax. I just nearly freaked out. But we did get it working, with button hitting on my end, and calling the vonage people to have them do a couple thing for me too. So in the end, it took a couple of phone calls that make it work.

I print a good deal in black and white, and occassionally in color. The color could be more vibrant, it seems more dull then on the screen. The black and white is just fine. I've scanned photos, made copies, sent faxes and received faxes. Everything is mostly as expected. I think, if I had a little set up help, I'd buy this again.